You're listening to Nakedly Examine Music, a podcast about songs and songwriters. My name is Mark

Linsonmeyer. My guest for episode 235 is New York City's Willie Nile. He released his first album in 1980 to a great acclaim.

Pete Townsend personally requested that he opened for The Who.

But after releasing one more album in 1981,

Billy got tired of major labels, tired of the music business,

and took some time off, so his third album didn't come out until 1991.

With his fourth album in 1999, he became an indie artist,

and has steadily been releasing music since then,

including his newest 16th album, The Great Yellow Light.

We're going to discuss an Irish goodbye from that album,

and we're going to look back to 2006's Streets of New York to discuss the song,

Cell Phones Ringing in the Pockets of the Dead. Then back to that third album, 1991's, Places I Have Never Been, we'll discuss the title track from that. And to close, we'll listen to another track from the new album, though it was released as a single a couple years ago, Wake Up America, featuring Steve Earle. For more information, please see at willie nile.com.

For more about this podcast, see willy nile.com.

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I will play a little bit of Vagabond Moon from your debut album, Willie Nile, from 1980, to warm things up.

Still, your biggest hit, the thing that people suggest?

I think cell phones, it varies.

You know, Vagabond Moon made a lot of noise in 1980.

It got in the top charts, like 26 or 27 in UK charts.

It's hard for me to gauge. Someone told me cell phone's got the most. Someone said there's a

song called, I will stand, kind of a wedding. So it varies. It depends who you're asking.

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