Song of the Day 5/26: Tom Waits, “Step Right Up”

Every time I hear Trump’s latest promise of a peace deal with Iran I remember the old halls on the Atlantic City boardwalk where hard-sell pitchmen like Ed McMahon sold the kind of products that later made Ron Popeil famous. It was like a live as-seen-on-TV ad combined with a religious tent show – once the pitchman finished, people would flock to the stage to buy whatever he was hawking. Trump would be good at it, at least with his fans.

Tom Waits’ mockery of such sales patter was released in 1976 on “Small Change.” Years later Frito-Lay wanted to use it in a radio ad. Waits declined, saying the song was meant to lampoon marketing, not become a tool of it. When the company instead used a sound-alike singer with a sax player imitating Lew Tabackin’s hard-bop backing, Waits sued and eventually won $2 million.