Tom Waits, one argument at a time.
Song by Song follows Tom Waits one recording at a time, treating each track as a small world of lyrics, arrangements, performance choices, and historical mood. The talk is loose and companionable, but the judgments are specific, with room for delight, resistance, and reconsideration.
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Song by Song is a track-by-track Tom Waits project with the shape of a long conversation and the memory of a catalogue map. Its basic promise is narrow, almost stubbornly so: take one song seriously, then take the next one seriously too. Over hundreds of episodes, that becomes something larger than recap. The show builds a running argument about Waits as songwriter, performer, actor, image-maker, collaborator, and constructor of strange little worlds. The tone is relaxed, but the attention is close. A discussion can begin with a favourite line and end up in beat poetry, gospel rhythm, brass arrangement, period atmosphere, music video costuming, or the difference between a studio take and a live version. The hosts are comfortable disagreeing. They also know when a side path has made the point clearer rather than just longer. That gives the show its best quality: it sounds like close listening happening in real time, with all the caveats, jokes, corrections, and sudden changes of mind left intact. Recent episodes show the format stretching beyond individual album tracks into final-season specials, including recommended starting points, ranked favourites, music videos, and reflections on making the show for eight and a half years. Those specials make the scale of the project visible. They also show how much of the pleasure comes from comparison. A song is judged against an album, an era, a film, a stage persona, or the mood Waits seems to be summoning. Guests bring useful outside angles, from video knowledge to personal associations with songs and places. The show is not a slick primer. It is better for listeners who enjoy detail, argument, and affectionate exasperation. It can praise Waits for being hypnotic, joyful, or deeply odd, then turn around and question whether a particular object actually works. That balance keeps the fan service honest. Song by Song is for people who want criticism that still sounds like fandom, and fandom that has done the listening.
Made for: For Tom Waits listeners, music-analysis fans, and catalogue completists who enjoy conversational criticism with plenty of context and disagreement. It also works for curious newcomers who want guided entry points rather than a neat greatest-hits shortcut.
What sets it apart: Its strength is the cumulative, chronological patience of a project that keeps comparing songs, videos, albums, live versions, and eras against each other. The result feels less like a review show than a long shared notebook of changing judgments.
Song by Song is a podcast celebrating the music of Tom Waits, hosted by podcaster-musician Martin Zaltz Austwick and actor-musician Sam Pay. Sam and Martin set themselves the goal of listening to Tom Waits's back catalogue from beginning to end, and devoting an episode to discussing each track.Song by Song is in no way officially linked to Tom Waits, or endorsed by Tom Waits, or associates. All excerpts are used for criticism purposes - please purchase your own copies of the music at your favourite shop, app, or platform to get the full experience and support musicians' work.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Song by Song makes Tom Waits's catalog legible through close listening, reasoned disagreement, and an unusually durable record of changing critical taste.
Song by Song turns close listening into an extended conversation between Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay. Individual tracks provide the basic unit, with the hosts comparing arrangements, vocal choices, instrumentation, lyrics, and live reinterpretations across Tom Waits's…
A CB radio in a Tom Waits video gets the scrutiny your favorite odd detail deserves.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A warm, process-minded farewell to eight and a half years of Song by Song.
The final Tom Waits-style Song by Song episode loosens the usual format as Martin Zalt-Sorstwick, Sam Pay, and Sam Clements look back on eight and a half years of making the show.
A late Tom Waits ranking episode turns close listening into a debate about what endures.
Song by Song approaches the end of its Tom Waits project by turning a long listen into a ranking debate. The hosts begin with the bottom five songs, then work toward the records and performances that have climbed highest in their estimation.
A lively argument over which Tom Waits record makes the best introduction.
Martin Zalt-Sorstwick and Sam Pay take a practical question - where should a newcomer begin with Tom Waits? - and turn it into a lively disagreement about what a good introduction ought to do.
A thoughtful Tom Waits video discussion where collaboration and performance matter as much as the final image.
Song by Song's second week on Tom Waits music videos works best when it treats the clips as evidence of collaboration rather than simple vessels for songs.
A sharp tour through Tom Waits's videos, where costume, color, and compressed performance carry the argument.
Tom Waits's music videos make a compact final-season special, moving through 20-odd clips while pausing where the visual ideas turn strange, sharp, or unusually exact. The episode is at its best when it treats a video as a short film, not just promotion.
A loose, closely observed tour of Tom Waits live arrangements, crowd energy, and shifting opinions.
Song by Song treats Glitter and Doom as a brisk stop in Tom Waits's official canon, with Sam Pay and Martin Zaltz-Horstwick framing the live versions through a one-minute megamix.
Martin, Sam and Pete find the weight of Tom Waits's "Woe" in near-silent strings and a voice that keeps breaking apart.
Tom Waits's "Woe," from Bloodimony, rewards attention to how little it uses. Martin, Sam and Pete focus on two string players barely making a noise and a lead vocal that keeps breaking up, hearing a performance poised at the edge of decay.
Records worth hearing, reasons worth arguing over.
Annual Songlines Music Awards ceremonies spotlighting global artists, from Afrobeat to sevda.
A high schooler's music diary — Grammys press pass stories to family concert interviews.
Rap verdicts, fight-night takes and wandering movie arguments.
Hosts discuss Tom Waits's song 'Get Lost' from the album Bad As Me, sharing their reactions and insights.
The hosts discuss and analyze the Tom Waits track '219' from the album Orphans Brawlers, focusing on its rhythmic and percussive qualities.
Hosts Martin Zaltz Austwick, Sam Pay, and Pete Fraser analyze Tom Waits's track 'Woe' from the album 'Blood Money', discussing its fragmentary nature as part of a play.
Hosts Sam Pay and Martin Zaltz Austwick review Tom Waits' 2009 live album 'Glitter and Doom' in a rapid 'megamix' format, covering each track briefly.
Sam and Martin break their promise not to be comprehensive and announce they will cover all of Tom Waits's songs, including cameos and covers.
The hosts discuss Tom Waits's song 'Bad As Me' and its political references to the 2008 financial crisis.
Hosts discuss the song Chicago from Tom Waits's album Bad As Me, sharing personal reactions and musical analysis.
Hosts discuss Tom Waits's song 'Bottom of the World' from the album Orphans: Brawlers, analyzing its lullaby-like quality and references to hobo culture.
Martin and Sam discuss unreleased Tom Waits material from 1977, including a guest vocal on a Martin Mull record and an appearance on Fernwood Tonight.
Hosts discuss Tom Waits's song 'Lorde I've Been Changed' from Brawler's Orphans, focusing on its gospel and church-like qualities.
"There won't be a load of Tom Waits content in this episode" turns a final-season wrap-up into a show-about-the-show conversation.
Tom Waits albums split so hard that "Big Time" outruns "Night on Earth," while "Bone Machine" stays the clear number one.
Martin Zalt-Sorstwick and Sam Pay use a Song by Song bonus episode to map six ways into Tom Waits, starting with Closing Time and ending with Bone Machine.
Song by Song traces Tom Waits music videos from 1999's 'Hold On' through 2012's 'Hell Broke Loose,' with Philippa Spanos, Sam Pay, and Martin Salt-Sorstwick comparing directors Matt Mahurin, Lex Brands, Jesse Dillon, Danny Clinch, and Anders Lofgren.
Tom Waits's music videos are treated here as advertising he usually resists, because the panel points out that he has sued Levi's and Audi while music videos still function as promotion.