Oct 11, 2023
WE DID IT! Just over 8 years and several hundred episodes since Ol’ 55, we’ve songed all the songs there are to Song by Song. Along with a little look back at Bad As Me, Kirk, Sam and Martin also give this alphabetically-first-but-chronologically-last track full consideration, and quickly check in to see how The...
Oct 4, 2023
A quintessential and sincere song of advice and experience for Kirk, Martin and Sam this week, perhaps also bordering on the sentimental? We discuss the paired imagery in the lyrics, more rhythmic shifting, and examine the questions these songs are asking (along with the answers they suggest).
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Sep 27, 2023
Diving into the three bonus tracks from the Bad As Me Deluxe edition, Sam and Martin welcome Kirk Hamilton of the Strong Songs podcast to explore isolated sax stabs, irregular rhythmic structures and sparse arrangements. We consider Waits's continued vocal experimentation, the oblique details of his lyric writing, and...
Sep 20, 2023
At the end of the album-proper, Andrea, Martin and Sam consider the festive season as well as all its associated traumas. We return to Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Rickie Lee Jones as well as 1970s Tom Waits, debating possible autobiographical elements, poverty tourism, and which lullaby is best used to ring in the...
Sep 13, 2023
With serious discussion of disturbing events from the start, Andrea illuminates for Sam and Martin some of the context for this song of military trauma. We consider musical presentation of problems and solutions to injustice, sonic and lyrical density, and Waits’s political engagement more broadly
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