Billie Marten for the Public Song Project

Summary

Podcast Summary: All Of It – Billie Marten for the Public Song Project

Date: May 6, 2024
Host: Tiffany Hansen (in for Alison Stewart)
Guest: Billie Marten
Producer Contributor: Simon Close

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Overview

This episode of "All Of It" focuses on WNYC's Public Song Project, an initiative encouraging the public to adapt or cover works from the public domain—especially from the 1920s—into original songs. The show features English singer-songwriter Billie Marten as a guest contributor, exploring her process in selecting and covering Bessie Smith’s “Baby, Won’t You Please Come Home.” The team also highlights previous listener submissions, offering inspiration and practical advice for participants.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Introduction to the Public Song Project

• The Public Song Project invites all to submit songs based on the public domain, with a 2024 focus on works from the 1920s in honor of WNYC’s centennial (founded in 1924).
• Submissions can be covers, adaptations of poems, novels, movies, or any public domain material, with possible inclusion in a live concert at Lincoln Center.
  [03:16] Tiffany Hansen

Billie Marten on Song Selection and Interpretation

Choosing the Song

• Billie selected “Baby, Won’t You Please Come Home,” written in 1919 and made famous by Bessie Smith’s 1923 cover.

• Marten was drawn by the invitation to revisit musical history:

  "As soon as I read the words centennial from the NPR email, I was instantly alert. I love being revisiting the libraries of music and kind of hist what are now historical artifacts that maybe a lot of us have forgotten about."
  [04:41] Billie Marten

• She avoided covering Gershwin, feeling Bessie Smith was a more fitting pioneer for “the early days of kind of female rage.” Smith’s approach felt truthful and foundational for soul singers.

  "She led the way for everybody else."
  [05:21] Billie Marten

Performance vs. Lyrics

• Billie emphasized the importance of Smith’s delivery over just the lyrics:

  "Certainly her performance...immediately hers was the one that was the most truthful to me, I guess. And yeah, the passion of that comes through in her voice."
  [05:47] Billie Marten

• She noted the complexity of the chord changes and vocal power as both challenging and creatively inspiring.

Creative Approach to Covering Songs

• Although sometimes covers feel less original, Billie found deep creativity in interpretation:

  "I found it kind of hugely creative and enlightening...I feel that I had backed myself up into a musical corner. And playing through and going through this song opened me up to some new ideas."
  [07:21] Billie Marten

• She recommended artists develop their own identity before covering others, so their covers retain a distinct voice.

Embodiment and Storytelling

• Marten adopted a different storytelling style for this cover, “putting on a hat” to emulate Smith, which required significant effort to feel she approached Smith’s intent.
  [06:36] Billie Marten

Artistry & Upcoming Work

On Her Next Record

• Billie Marten is preparing a new album, to be recorded in Brooklyn in July. She will spend significant time in New York, performing at several US festivals (Newport Folk Fest, Calgary Folk Fest, Pickathon).
  [08:13] Billie Marten

• Hinting at the new music:

  "It is heavily US New York influence, which I hope I, I will say… no, I won’t. I won’t."
  [08:47] Billie Marten

• She promises fans attending her shows will hear new material live.
  [09:14] Billie Marten

On Song Selection and ‘Happy-Sad’ Melodies

• Marten feels a personal resonance with melodies that blend sadness and happiness—like “Baby, Won’t You Please Come Home.”

  "I have a high fidelity...with happy, sad melodies..."
  [09:59] Billie Marten

• She references “Old Man River” and Frankie Valli’s “The Night” as other important examples of this ‘happy-sad’ feeling—a “hugely mournful, melancholic melody” in a major key. [10:23] Billie Marten

Billie Marten’s Performance

• A full performance of Marten’s cover of “Baby, Won’t You Please Come Home” is featured.
  [11:10-13:03]

Notable Moment

“I’ve got the blues I feel so lonely / I give the world if I could, could only make you understand... / Baby, won’t you please come home?”
[11:15-13:03] Billie Marten singing

Listener Submissions: Highlight Reel

Simon Close discusses standout past submissions and creative project approaches:

[13:33-26:05]

1. Glint of Green by Masa Gibson

   • Original composition using 1927 poetry; all instrumentation created from blown glass bottles.
   • Submission note:

     “Playing on the theme of breathing new life into an old object…”
     [15:13] Simon Close quoting Masa Gibson

   • [15:45] Sample played.

2. Lisa, Sweet Weed of My Day by Frank Cipriani

   • Rewrites lyrics to a Scottish folk song from the early 19th century, as a love song dedicated to his wife and her academic field.
   • [17:17] Simon Close reads submission background.
   • [18:27] Sample played.

3. My Somnambulist by Sarah Moskowitz (Sarah the Mouse)

   • Original song inspired by 1920s silent film "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari."
   • Example of drawing from non-musical sources.
   • [20:31] Sample played.

4. Uke, a Lady Rhapsody by Krugi

   • Mashup of Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2" and the American standard "Ukulele Lady" using samples and original recordings.
   • Demonstrates creative sampling and combining disparate elements from the public domain.
   • [22:33] Sample played.

5. They’re Fracking by Amy from Manhattan

   • Parody adapting Tom Lehrer’s work, which the artist placed into the public domain by personal release.
   • Introduces government works and creator-released works as public domain sources.
   • [24:49] Sample played.

Insights and Advice for Listeners

• Submissions can adapt from a range of public domain materials: songs, poetry, film, official government works, and more.
• Creators are encouraged to find personal connections and innovative interpretations, not just make straight covers.

Project Details & Call to Action

• Deadline: May 12, 2024

• How to Submit: Visit wnyc.org/publicsongproject

• Special Focus: 1920s works, celebrating WNYC’s 100th birthday

  “Take a piece of work, make a new song out of it, send it in by May 12… You can go to wnyc.org/publicsongproject to help find resources to explore the public domain and listen to some of the songs that we’ve received so far.”
  [25:33] Simon Close

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Memorable Quotes

• On public domain music:

  "I love being revisiting the libraries of music and kind of hist what are now historical artifacts that maybe a lot of us have forgotten about."
  [04:41] Billie Marten

• On covering Bessie Smith:

  "She led the way for everybody else."
  [05:21] Billie Marten

• On creative revitalization:

  "I feel that I had backed myself up into a musical corner. And playing through and going through this song was... opened me up to some new ideas."
  [07:21] Billie Marten

• On the happy-sad melody:

  "Anything that's kind of minor but set in a major key, which is what ‘Baby, won’t you please come home’ is."
  [10:23] Billie Marten

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Public Song Project Introduction: [03:16]
• Billie Marten interview begins: [03:44]
• Discussing Bessie Smith & Song Choice: [04:41]
• Artistry of Covering & Storytelling: [06:26], [07:21]
• Upcoming album & performing new music: [08:13]
• On happy-sad melodies: [09:59]
• Billie Marten performance: [11:10]
• Listener submissions & project inspiration: [13:33-26:05]
• How to submit: [25:33]

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Tone & Style

The conversation is warm, creative, and enthusiastic, encouraging both personal expression and musical innovation. Billie Marten communicates deep respect for historical music, while Simon Close and Tiffany Hansen foster an inclusive, motivational vibe for would-be songwriters.

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For more, submit your own song to the Public Song Project by May 12 at wnyc.org/publicsongproject.

Transcript

[Tiffany Hansen]

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[Simon Close]

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[Billy Martin]

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[Tiffany Hansen]

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[Simon Close]

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[Tiffany Hansen]

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[Simon Close]

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[Tiffany Hansen]

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[Billy Martin]

Hello. How are you?

[Tiffany Hansen]

Great, thanks. Billy covered Baby, Won't you please come home, a 1919 song by Clarence Williams and Charles Warfield that became a hit in 1923 when Bessie Sue Smith covered it. So let's start off by hearing just a short clip of that version.

[Billy Martin]

Every hour in the day you will hear me say, baby, won't you please, please come home.

[Tiffany Hansen]

That song, of course, Bessie Smith singing Baby, won't you please come home. Billy I love hearing that song. It's very, it's inspirational, obviously, for you. What was really exciting to you about that song and the project?

[Billy Martin]

As soon as I read the words centennial from the NPR email, I was instantly alert. I love being revisiting the libraries of music and kind of hist what are now historical artifacts that maybe a lot of us have forgotten about. And this specific song I actually remember hearing growing up and then I sort of put it away and I didn't have it in my record collection, which I now do. So I chose Bessie Smith because I feel that, well, first of all, I wasn't going to attempt to Gershwin for obvious reasons and also that she was more of a pioneer of kind of the the early days of kind of female rage. I thought that she, she, she really kind of I, I don't know, it sort of she, it was just the beginning of, I guess proper soul singers speaking truthfully. And she was kind of, she led the way for the for everybody else.

[Tiffany Hansen]

So would you say it was more her performance or the lyrics of the song that kind of got you excited.

[Billy Martin]

Certainly her performance, I think with any of those old honky tonk style songs, they can all sort of blur into one. And I actually listened to a few versions of that song and. And immediately hers was the one that was the most truthful to me, I guess. And. And yeah, the passion of that comes through in her voice, actually. When I was learning it on guitar, first of all, the amount of chords used per second was so much greater than how we maybe view music today. Everything's very simplified and compact. And secondly, the power in her voice. I found it a real challenge to sing and it was a great sort of vocal expedition for me.

[Tiffany Hansen]

You do hear kind of a pining in her voice, but also coming from a place of power.

[Billy Martin]

Would you.

[Tiffany Hansen]

How would you say you try to embody that?

[Billy Martin]

I would say I certainly looked at my own style of storytelling very differently. And you sort of had to put on that. That hat, so to speak. And I do that when I pick up certain covers. But yeah, it was a real challenge. It took me. It took me quite a while to kind of feel that I got it to a place that was even close to. To what she imagined.

[Tiffany Hansen]

You know, cover songs can feel like cover songs. Cover songs can also, maybe for an artist, I'm guessing, feel not as creative. Right. Because you're not involved in the composition of the music or the lyrics. And I'm wondering how you were able to find creativity in this.

[Billy Martin]

I found it kind of hugely creative and enlightening. I certainly. It also opened the door. I'm writing at the moment for the next record and it opened the door for me just on a very bass chordal level. I feel that I had backed myself up into a musical corner. And playing through and going through this song was. Opened me up to some new ideas. I think whenever an artist covers a song, they should have enough of an identity themselves before they start doing covers. And then ultimately it has a new form of expression and a new kind of blanket over it, you know, that makes it yours.

[Tiffany Hansen]

You mentioned what you're working on next. The last time you were here was for Drop Cherries, your last album. What are you working on?

[Billy Martin]

Well, this is. This is related to you. I'm gearing up for the next record, which will be done in Brooklyn in July. So I'm going to be spending the whole month in New York, which I love very much. And I'm also doing a couple of US festivals. There's Newport Folk Fest and Calgary Folk Fest and then one in Oregon. Called Pickathon Festival. So I'll be over over in the States quite a bit this year, which, which is my favorite thing.

[Tiffany Hansen]

Anything you want to say to fans about the new album and the new work?

[Billy Martin]

I will say it is heavily US New York influence, which I hope I, I will say, no, I won't. I won't.

[Tiffany Hansen]

We almost have. We almost had it. Well, you're going to be here in New York, so it's going to kind of seep into your bones anyway, right?

[Billy Martin]

I'd say yeah, most definitely. And if you are coming to a show this year, you'll. You'll definitely hear some of the new record live. So.

[Tiffany Hansen]

Okay. So before we hear your version of Baby, won't you please come home, that song in the public domain, written by Charles Warfield, Clarence Thomas, most famously recorded by Bessie Smith. Anything else you want to tell us about this specific song and why you chose that among the entire canon of things that are now in the public domain?

[Billy Martin]

There was a lot, there's a lot in that list to troll through. And I. Yeah, you could have written.

[Tiffany Hansen]

A song about Mickey Mouse or no, wait, it's not Mickey Mouse. What is it now that the Mickey Mouse that's now it is the public domain.

[Billy Martin]

Yeah, right.

[Tiffany Hansen]

You could have written a song about Mickey Mouse.

[Billy Martin]

Yeah, true. I don't know. It really just, it spoke to me. I have a high fidelity, I guess, with happy, sad melodies. And I feel that maybe the first song that ever did that. That and Old man river, which is I think also in the same year. Yeah.

[Tiffany Hansen]

Happy sad melody, say what that is.

[Billy Martin]

I'd say it's most people's category of favorite song without them realizing. A good example of that is the Night by Frankie Valli, which is also one of my favorite songs. But if you strip everything down, it's. It's a hugely mournful, melancholic melody. Anything that's kind of minor but set in a major key, which is what? Baby, when you please come home is.

[Tiffany Hansen]

All right. We're talking about our public song project. You still have time to send your song in to us before May 12th. That's this coming Sunday. You can get [e-mail] Publicsong Project. We're talking with Billy Martin. Billy, I think we're going to just hear your version now. This is Baby, won't you please come home, as sung by Billy Martin. And thanks, Billy.

[Billy Martin]

Thank you so much. I've got the blues I feel so lonely I give the world if I could, could only make you Understand? It surely would be grand I'm gonna tell her phone My baby asking won't you please come home? Cause when you're gone, I'm worried all day? Baby, won't you please come home? Cause your mom is all alone? I've tried and fail evermore to call your name when you left, you broke my heart that will never make us bo. Every hour of the day you can hear me say? Baby, won't you please come home? Mommy. Baby, won't you please come home?

[Tiffany Hansen]

That was Billy Martin's cover of Baby Won't yout Please Come Home. It's for our public song project. We've heard a lot of special guest contributors over the last few months. Billy Martin, They Might Be Giants, Valerie June, Jonathan Colton, and a bunch of other friends of the station. So with one week left to go for our public song project submissions, we thought we'd take some time today to focus on submissions from listeners like you. With us now is all of it, producer Simon Close. Hi, Simon.

[Simon Close]

Hi, Tiffany.

[Tiffany Hansen]

We're going to share some of the songs we got in last year's public song project, maybe give you a little inspiration about what you can submit. It's not too late. May 12th is the deadline. Okay, Simon, what do we have up first from last year's submissions?

[Simon Close]

So today I came with some clips from songs we received from people last year that were not the winners. But these were still some of my first.

[Tiffany Hansen]

They're all winners.

[Simon Close]

It's true. Everyone who enters is a winner. This is true. But these ones didn't get to be interviewed on the air. But I still really love them. And I brought along sort of a mix of different songs that I think represent different ways that you can go about doing this project.

[Tiffany Hansen]

Okay, so this first one is called what?

[Simon Close]

Glint of Green is the first one.

[Tiffany Hansen]

And this is from. Do we know what era this is from?

[Simon Close]

Yeah, this one. So this is a song based. It's an original song from a submitter named Masa Gibson. And they took a poem by a poet who. I'm not sure if I'm saying her name right, but Marian Thanhauser, I think. So this is a poem that appeared in poetry magazine in 1927. And Masa took this poem, created an original musical composition around it, took the lyric, you know, made the verses of the poet the poem, the lyrics of the song. But what I also really love so well, so. And this is a good example of one way that you can approach this project, right? Taking poetry rather than just covering a song. But what I Also, really love about this song is that Masa, all of the instrumentation for this song is glass bottles that Mas is blowing into. And apparently they, over the pandemic, decided to start collecting glass bottles and then using them as instruments. And I have a quote from Masa, if I could read that. So when they sent in the song, they said, I started collecting glass bottles mid pandemic. I've now amassed quite a collection, and over the past year, I've been exploring their musical potential. I decided to put them to use for this contest, playing on the theme of breathing new life into an old object. Excellent. Thank you, Elysa. I also think they lend a mystical quality to the piece that's fitting for the poem. And I agree.

[Tiffany Hansen]

Well, clearly somebody was doing good things over the pandemic when they were at home. That was not me. All right, let's hear a clip. In a forest of pines.

[Simon Close]

Of flickering.

[Billy Martin]

Green.

[Simon Close]

That is more cod in a breath than sea green, Green.

[Billy Martin]

Green.

[Tiffany Hansen]

All right, so that is glint of green. I do have so many questions about how you get the different pitches on the glass, but we'll let that go.

[Simon Close]

Sure.

[Tiffany Hansen]

Next one, Lisa Sweet Weed. Tell us about that.

[Simon Close]

Yes. So, Lisa Sweet Weed of my day. This one comes from Frank Cipriani. It's based on, I think, a Scottish folk song from the early 19th century that is usually called Jesse, the Flower of Dunblane. So this is more of a. In this case, Frank took a song and rewrote the lyrics, but, like, repurposed the melody of this original folk tune.

[Tiffany Hansen]

Scottish folk tune.

[Simon Close]

Scottish folk tune, yeah. And the lyrics were changed in this case to be sort of a love song for Frank's wife. And I have another quote from Frank.

[Tiffany Hansen]

Yeah, let's hear it.

[Simon Close]

Frank says, my wife is a scholar of early American literature. I was looking to write a love song for her that would be reflective of her scholarship, but wanted to feature a melody and feel for the kind of music people were playing during salons in the 1830s in Philadelphia and New York, a period she was writing about. And so there have been many different versions of this originally Scottish folk song, but Frank came across it, and it spoke to some of the stuff that his wife was writing about. And so I think that one. I like this song. I just like the way it sounds. It's got sort of like a Radiohead vibe to it. But also, Frank does some kind of pitch correction stuff and creates, like, vocoder sounding effects that I think are just really interesting to listen to. But for the purposes of maybe someone who's listening and trying to figure out what angle to approach this project. I think the fact that Frank found a personal connection to a piece of work really moving. And the more submissions that we get from people who say that it helped them connect with a loved one, you know, a grandparent or something, the stronger I think the project is.

[Tiffany Hansen]

All right, let's hear a little Lisa Sweet weed of My day. Or maybe so we broadcast affection both.

[Billy Martin]

Through nature and naming, thus love roots.

[Simon Close]

Yeah. So I think we skip my Somnambula.

[Billy Martin]

The sweet wheat of our day. And this weeds perseverance from nature and naming us.

[Tiffany Hansen]

In naming love grows that sweet weed of our day.

[Billy Martin]

How fair is the milk?

[Tiffany Hansen]

So that is Frank singing for his wife Lisa. Sweet weed of my day. What's up next?

[Simon Close]

Next let's go to my Somnambulist.

[Tiffany Hansen]

All right.

[Simon Close]

Which comes from Sarah Moskowitz, who also performs as Sarah the Mouse she in her submission. And this is an original song that Sarah wrote that was inspired by the German expressionist silent horror film the cabinet of Dr. Caligari. I don't know if you've ever watched I have not.

[Tiffany Hansen]

I have not.

[Simon Close]

I also have not. But it's apparently a silent horror film from the 1920 or 1921, I think. And basically Sarah told us that she wrote this song after watching the film and being utterly captivated and heartbroken by the Somnambulist, which means sleepwalker. And it's a simple song of unrequited love written in a single morning after waking from a dream. And I guess one of the reasons I wanted to highlight it. I like the simplicity of Sarah's recording, but I also think that it's another good example of taking a non musical source of inspiration and creating a new piece of music out of it.

[Tiffany Hansen]

Love it. Somnambulist. Let's hear some of that.

[Billy Martin]

Uninvited guest that leaves my heart a mess But I can't help but welcome you each night While it's clear to me Where Shirley meant to be maybe you awake and you don't recall your mind.

[Tiffany Hansen]

Listeners, we're talking about our public song project. You still have until May 12th to submit your song. You can get [e-mail] publicsong project as we've been hearing from Simon, it doesn't have to be a song in the public domain. It can be based on a film, as we just heard. It can be based on a poem that you read or found from decades ago. It can be anything that's basically in the Public domain. You can take it, turn it into a song.

[Simon Close]

Exactly.

[Tiffany Hansen]

All right, so, Simon, what do we have up next?

[Simon Close]

Next up, let's go to a song sent it to us with the name UK A Lady Rhapsody. And this comes from a creator named Krugi. And so this is a song made of some original recording, but also audio samples. And it's sort of a mashup of the second Hungarian Rhapsody by Franz Liszt, mashed up with an American songbook standard called Ukulele lady by Gus Kahn and Richard Whiting. And that is just a very strange combination of two things, but it works somehow. I think that this recording is really interesting. And yeah, it's just another example of how you can take from two very disparate parts of the. The public domain and just different kinds of works of art and put them together to make something new. And also that you can take audio recordings for this project, so.

[Tiffany Hansen]

Oh, all right.

[Simon Close]

So you can sample songs if you want to, like, create a beat that way.

[Tiffany Hansen]

That's another thing you can do sample songs in the. In the public domain. Got it. All right. And who's the artist on this one?

[Simon Close]

This is Krugi.

[Tiffany Hansen]

This is Krugi Uke. A Lady Rhapsody if you like a ukulele lady Like a you.

[Simon Close]

If you kiss a UK Ukulele lady Ukulele lady Linga too. If you kiss a ukulele lady Will you promise ever to be true?

[Tiffany Hansen]

If you like a ukulele lady. I'm just fascinated by everything that's happening there. So that was sampling some songs, that. And works of music, the Franz List you mentioned. Right. That were already in the public domain. Recordings that were already in the public domain.

[Simon Close]

That's right.

[Tiffany Hansen]

Okay. And so next up, their fracking. Is that what we're doing?

[Simon Close]

That's the next one we're doing. Yeah. So this is a rewrite of a Tom Lehrer song called Tom Love Tom Lair.

[Tiffany Hansen]

Love Tom Lehre.

[Simon Close]

A really interesting thing about Tom Lehrer in the context of this project is that most of Tom Lehrer's work would not be in the public domain because of the. Because of when Tom Lehrer was. His career was. And when he was active, it. The copyright wouldn't expire. But in 2022, Tom Lehrer announced that he was releasing all of his work into the public domain. So everything that Tom Lehrer has made, for the most part, is available to be used freely adapted, whatever you want to do with it. And it's pretty rare that things enter the public domain that aren't from, you know, around 95 years ago, because that's the way that terms normally expire. But there are also some places, like the catalog of Tom Lehre, that you could pull from. Or another example that people could go to is government works. Like anything created by a government official, and official capacity is part of the public domain.

[Tiffany Hansen]

I love that. That's a rabbit hole we just went down.

[Simon Close]

Totally.

[Tiffany Hansen]

All right, so let's hear their fracking.

[Billy Martin]

If you live above big oil shale.

[Tiffany Hansen]

They'Ll come and ask if your land's.

[Billy Martin]

For sale or if they can lease it.

[Tiffany Hansen]

But best beware if you want drinkable water and breath that will air.

[Billy Martin]

They're fracking.

[Tiffany Hansen]

They're fracking.

[Billy Martin]

They'll offer you lots of dough. But before you sign, there are some things you need to know.

[Tiffany Hansen]

Okay, well, we're not going to get into the whole list of what we need to know about fracking, but I.

[Simon Close]

Do want to just say if anyone listening recognizes that voice, that is Amy from Manhattan, a frequent flyer on this show in the Brian Lair Show. So, Amy, thank you very much for participating, and I hope to hear from you again in this year's project.

[Tiffany Hansen]

So, Simon, I shall let you do the honors and give the details one last time about the public song project and how people can submit.

[Simon Close]

Sure. So the deadline to submit is May 12th. We're asking anyone to take a piece of work that's in the public domain, especially if it's from the 1920s, because we're recognizing WNYC's 100th birthday this year. And take a piece of work, make a new song out of it, send it in by May 12, which is Sunday. Which is Sunday. And you can go to wnyc.org publicsongproject to help find resources to explore the public domain and listen to some of the songs that we've received so far.

[Tiffany Hansen]

All right. All of it. Producer Simon Close. Thanks so much.

[Simon Close]

Thank you, Tiffany.

[Tiffany Hansen]

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[Billy Martin]

Could you sign it again? Anything to help, I suppose.

[Simon Close]

Get more than just savings.

[Tiffany Hansen]

Get more with Geico. I'm gonna put you on, nephew.

[Simon Close]

All right, unc.

[Billy Martin]

Welcome to McDonald's. Can I take your order, miss?

[Tiffany Hansen]

I've been hitting up McDonald's for years. Now it's back. We need snack wraps.

[Billy Martin]

What's a snack wrap?

[Tiffany Hansen]

It's the return of something great.

[Simon Close]

Snack wrap is back.