This week Jen over at My Skewed View asked for us to create a playlist of songs that tell a story. Initially I thought, sweet, that leaves this open to damn near anything. After all, doesn’t all music tell a story? No? Okay, doesn’t all music with the exception of maybe dubstep tell a story (unless blenders converting into transformers is a story)? I mean, it may not be a deep story, but it’s a story nonetheless. But I get it, she wants GREAT stories. She wants a saga. She wants ahem, EPIC (shudder).
Still there are so many great stories out there! How do I keep this to (around) five? Great googly moogly, Led Zepplin could fill out every participant’s list with 5 unique songs. And then you have Billy. Is there a Billy Joel song that doesn’t tell a story?
Here are mine….last on the list as usual. Some how I’m always late when I post at lunch time. Y’all TMers are CHEATERS I tell ya! I guess I’m gonna start writing my next Tuesday post right now and wait with bated breath till Jen’s link goes up so I can yell first triumphantly. I need to get back in with the cool kids.
Anyway, here’s my list and despite the name, I didn’t feature any Oasis (sorry Lance).
What’s the Story Morning Glory?
Billy Joel- The Downeaster Alexa
Shall we get Billy out of the way first? I struggled to pick one, just one, Billy Joel song (hello, Leningrad, Goodnight Saigon, Captain Jack…..Allentown!), but this has always been a favorite of mine. Tell me a great story about gritty fishermen, their warm hearts, and their families Billy!
Notable lyrics:
So if you see my Downeaster “Alexa”
And if you work with the rod and the reel
Tell my wife I am trawling Atlantis
And I still have my hands on the wheel
10,000 Maniacs- Poison in the Well
Natalie Merchant has one of the coolest voices in music ever. Let’s just go ahead and acknowledge that. This song used to make me so curious as a kid. I imagined an actual town with an old fashioned well. There was someone poisoning the village. Yeah, it’s just as chilling when taken as a metaphor.
Notable lyrics:
O, they tell us there’s poison in the well, that someone’s been a bit untidy and there’s been a small spill. Not a lot, no, just a drop. But there you are mistaken, you know you are. I wonder just how long they knew our well was poisoned but they let us just drink on.
Led Zeppelin- Battle of Evermore
Any song that references Tolkein is epic by definition.
Notable lyrics:
Queen of Light took her bow, And then she turned to go,
The Prince of Peace embraced the gloom, And walked the night alone.
Oh, dance in the dark of night, Sing to the morning light.
The dark Lord rides in force tonight, And time will tell us all.
Pearl Jam- Jeremy
Yeah, I couldn’t do this list without including some PJ! I am still reeling from the concert at Voodoo. When they played this song…..chills. Such a sad, sad story of abuse and bullying coming to a horrible end.
Notable lyrics:
Daddy didn’t give affection
And the boy was something that mommy wouldn’t wear
King Jeremy the wicked
Ruled his world
The Allman Brothers- Melissa
The song that spawned my name. I used to HATE hearing this as a kid. I’d get super embarrassed. But it is a cool story about a music man on the road who can only be fulfilled by one.
Notable lyrics:
Crossroads, seem to come and go, yeah.
The gypsy flies from coast to coast
Knowing many, loving none,
Bearing sorrow havin’ fun,
But back home he’ll always run
To sweet Melissa..
Bonus- Lana Del Rey- Gods & Monsters
If you still haven’t checked her out, do yourself a favor. Talent. This song is about the recklessness of those in the music industry (drugs, fame, youth, etc.).
Notable lyrics:
In the land of Gods and Monsters
I was an Angel
Living in the garden of evil
Screwed up, scared, doing anything that I needed
Shining like a fiery beacon
Stay positive & love your life!
-Melissa
Today:
Listening to: Bronski Beat – Smalltown Boy
Eating: Leftover potatoes and lima beans
Drinking: H2O
Random fact: I saw the Broadway play “Movin’ Out” which was review based on all Billy Joel songs. It was great!
Quick Stepp 
My confession, I just heard the Battle of Evermore yesterday for the first time. One thing I love about Sirius Radio..(70’s channels, Classic Rewind, Classic Vinyl etc ) is that I am hearing music that I never had before.
I actually said to John (my husband) yesterday in the car, that is a great song for the EPIC songs hop.
and Billy, oh yes, almost every post and I’m so glad. He is the storyteller of the music world. Also, I live in Bethlehem PA which is actually the inspiration for the song Allentown. Bethlehem Steel is one mile from my home.
I adore that Gods and Monsters song and when I asked John what he thought would be on his list his first song was Jeremy.
suffice it to say that I loved this list. 🙂
Thanks Kir. My mom’s side of the family is from outside of Youngstown. So I’ve heard all about Bethlehem Steel. My uncles and grandfather were all steel workers. Sad to see so much of our country’s industry dry up.
🙂
I agree. You know Bethlehem Steel is now the SANDS Casino and a shopping outlet center with plans for a mall. There is a hotel and Steel Stacks (which you’d love because they put on all kinds of music shows) but it’s not the same as what it used to be.
my great grandfather was a coal miner and that too is a dried up industry. We’ve taken the tour underground many times and it always takes my breath away that my great grandfather was down in that hole for almost 14 hours a day.
Crazy! And people bitch about working hard today. I’d love to conjure up a time machine and send them back to learn what “real” work was!
Amen my friend, Amen.
“…I guess I’m gonna start writing my next Tuesday post right now and wait with bated breath till Jen’s link goes up so I can yell first triumphantly. I need to get back in with the cool kids.”
lol I came as close to that (adding my Post early) as ever last night… as to bing in with the cool kids… maybe some day (in high school, I was one of those people who the cool kids knew, but the kids who hung around the cool kids didn’t.)
damn! that last little ditty… I loves when a video enhances a song rather than just give the eyes something to do.
of course, with Led Zep… a struggle to pick the one you like the most.
this is turning out to be quite the TMT week.
Lana is quite the story teller and she’s pretty bad-ass too. All of her videos are good. I hear more and more girls attempting to copy her “old fashioned” voice….ahem, Miley, but she’s an original.
Impossible to pick one Zeppelin song.
good list here…I especially loved the addition of PJ…love that some particularly, but funny little story…when I was 12-years old we were in Idaho doing migrant work (long story, but my family did this every year to teach us kids about hard work and making money)…anyhow, the summer I was 12 there was a new family in “camp”, a family I had not seen there in previous years; mom, dad, daughter, son and big ol’ dog named “Bear” … the boy was close to my age and we hit it off from day one and we had puppy-summer-love … more than 2 decades later … it turns out, that “boy” Stoney, turned out to become the drummer for Pearl Jam 😉 … I wonder if he remembers me LOL :p
That’s a great story! You should totally shoot him an email. I’m sure he remembers you. No one forgets childhood romances!
i will say this….he was a GREAT kisser and he was my very first “real” kiss, i.e. french kiss so I know I will never forget it. You know how I discovered all of this? One of my bosses was showing my pictures from a fishing trip…I recognized this dog and the girl in the pic…I asked if the dog was named, “Bear” he was like, “yeh it is…” and I was like, does that girl have a brother named, “Stoney” and he was like, “hahaha yeh everyone knows who her brother is…”…My response, “Oh really? Why’s that?” and then he told me…apparently my boss was an old friend of the family.
This story is a blog post in and of itself! Write it!
I just might, and maybe I will write it for Jen’s “Raised on the Radio” site 🙂
Sounds like a plan. I’m probably going to ask to do one there as well. I just can’t narrow down the topic to pitch. I want to write about a million different music things.
LOL well, if you’d like, we can try pitching ideas with each other first 🙂
Hmmm that’s an interesting idea. Let me narrow it down to a few and then maybe we can tag team! 🙂
okie dokie 🙂
OMG! Love your mix! I totally forgot the story that Jeremy told….sad. But wow, I love this one! 🙂
Thanks!
Excellent list of some great stories. The line “And the boy was something that mommy wouldn’t wear” has to be one of the best lines ever.
I’d never before heard Gods & Monsters before. Wow. What a haunting voice and holycrap the video! Thanks for sharing!!
Yeah, her videos are strange to say the least, but then again, so is she. I included “Ride” on a previous post. That’s my favorite thing she’s done.
We both picked at Pearl Jam song. Glad to know that we are still living on the same mental plane. =D
I battled with picking a LZ song too and finally just left them off the list because I couldn’t settle on just one. Outstanding choice for the one you picked and your list is just all full of awesomeness!
Thanks. Yeah, that was a kinda a tough pick, but considering the Tolkien ties my decision made itself.
Oh now you are still one of the cool kids no matter when you post! But if this list is gonna grow much longer I will have to put a cut-off for posting sometime late Wednesday. So just get her in before then.
Meanwhile I really love this list, Melissa will always have my heart. It was a calming song during a very stormy period of my life. And of course, Billy Joel, you are so right, what song of his didn’t tell a story?
Seriously, we are getting to be quite a large group. Getting through everyone’s list is quite the task, but it’s great to see so many music lovers!!
The original reviews for Pearl Jam;s Jeremy and nirvana’s polly were smarmy about how they just wrote songs from the newspaper. That’s so shortsighted. They breathed life into sordid sad tales and made you care – great storytelling.
as always, wonderful choices
*fistbump*
Thanks. Apparently they thought everyone should be singing about nonsense vs real life issues!
Natalie Merchant!!! 🙂 The video of “Jeremy” never fails to give me the creeps. Great choice for the list. And it’s my first time to listen to Lana Del Rey and I love her voice. I hope her music’s good.
Thanks Kat. I like Lana’s music. She’s a weirdo which in my book gives her extra points.
I only post early because otherwise I’d basically miss all of Tuesday. Then apparently this week I comment late because of, well, life getting in the way of the interwebs (grrr). So I’m in no way cool over here 😉
I’m listening to the Billy Joel song now – hadn’t heard it before – but I love it! But you had me at Jeremy – one of my favourite albums – which is odd because it is the only Pearl Jam album I own, but I think it falls firmly into “time and place” music for me. It resonated when I was 15 – and is STILL a great album.
Your comment got hung up in spam…..but I retrieved it! Check out PJ’s new album. Good stuff, but yeah, I get the whole time and place thing!
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