Storytelling songs
I have no idea what most of the music I listen to is about. I can know every single word of a song without ever understanding what they mean. I often think that some songwriters make their songs purposely cryptic so they seem mysterious and edgy. Sometimes it’s an advantage, if I understood the Christian references in the songs of Athlete, it would probably ruin them for me, and there’s a lot to be said for everyone interpreting their own different meanings to songs. But some seem to make no sense whatsoever, and just leave me confused.
Because of this, I find songs that are literal and explicit with their meaning refreshing. It allows a stronger connection with a song and its writer if you know what they’re singing about. Literal songs tend to be the domain of popular music, which means that most are tragically awful and clichéd, but occasionally you get songs that are as poetic as they are understandable.
One type of song I particularly like is a song that tells a really clear story, with a beginning, middle and end. It’s something I’ve been considering since falling in love with Airborne Toxic Event’s “Sometime Around Midnight”, a beautifully sad telling of someone seeing their ex that they still love.
The music video fails at capturing the true power of the song, so, please, if you’ve never listened to it before, listen to it alone. The reason it fails is because it’s impossible to recreate visually. The song is so powerful because it creates a vivid image in your mind, likely with yourself in the lead role, and the video with its pretty boy lead guy and off-putting trendy band can never match that.
Another one of my all-time favourite songs is Hands Down by Dashboard Confessional. As the singer says before playing it on their unplugged album, “here’s a song about the best day that I’ve ever had”. The singer is retelling his first date with a girl and how perfectly it went.
“And this walk that we shared together
And the streets were wet
And the gate was locked
So I jumped it
And I let you in”
It’s not going to win any awards for poetic lyricism, but it paints a great picture. Despite being a very specific story it works by reminding you of great dates that you’ve had, something that most other love songs don’t do.
Another story song which I’ve liked for years is Bus Stop by The Hollies. It’s a happy love song, and it tells the sweet story of how a man fell in love at a bus stop and what that led to.
“Bus stop, wet day, she’s there I say please share my umbrella,
Bus stop, bus go, she stays love grows, under my umbrella,
All that summer we enjoyed it, wind and rain and shine
That umbrella we employed it, by August she was mine.”
The story doesn’t go into quite as much detail as the previous two, but there is clear progression in the events, and it still struck me as engaging when I first heard it and took in the story.
As I was trying to remember other storytelling songs, I thought of Eminem’s Stan, which I remember at the time being really impressed by. Stan was a clever, thought provoking alternative to the usual repetitive themes rappers dealt with, and, ultimately, a great story. In this instance, the music video is actually pretty good.
Keeping on the pop theme, a couple of special mentions, to two story song guilty pleasures, Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” a less tragic Romeo and Juliet, and McFly’s “That Girl” about wanting, then getting, then losing the perfect girl. Pure pop, but catchy as fuck.
Finally, a story song by a friend of mine, Gary Raisbeck, under his musical pseudonym Lampwick. I’m not putting this in as some kind of favour, I genuinely consider it to be one of my favourite songs, plus being categorized with Dashboard Confessional and Taylor Swift isn’t something he’s likely to appreciate. The song is called Grand Hotel and it’s about a tragic love affair. It’s the perfect example of a song with a story that has a beginning, middle and end. And it engages you because you want to know how the story plays out.
If anyone can recommend or remind me of other great storytelling songs, I’d love to hear them.
