Story songs

Corpsey

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
[OLD MAN VOICE] I wish today's rappers would tell stories more, or include stories more in their lyrics-maybe they do and I'm just unaware of it?

I thought about starting this thread when I was listening to 'Liquid Swords' recently and there's this lyric in 'Gold' where he's plunging you into this grimy narrative that fits the paranoid dusty NY sounding beat



"I'm deep down in the back streets, in the heart of Medina
About to set off something more deep than a misdemeanor
Under the subway, waiting for the train to make noise
So I can blast a nigga and his boys, for what?
He pushed up on the block and made the dope sales drop"
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Then there's this from Only built 4 cuban linx which isn't really a story, but includes an important aspect of many stories—describing a character



Fly like cashmere, last year, my team caught bodies in Grasmere
Hit a store owner named Mike Lavogna
Italiano, slanted-eyed bangin' them fat Milano
Sellin' coke right out the bottle
Sometime, a nigga brought nines to test with minds (sit back, relax)
Crazy piece, buyin' keys in Greece
Was a rich nigga, picture the nigga without dope figures
Condo with his chick, rockin' the gold vigor
Mafia flicks, tyin' up tricks was his main hobby
Teachin' his seed, Wu-Tang karate
Mixin' drinks in clubs, hairy chest with many minks
Night time rollin' with sphinx
Extra live, he claimed he couldn't die, top rank
Sixteen shots in his fist to bank
And his pet piranha, he named him Marijuana
Smokin' ganja, callin' his weed pipe Sandra
Claimin' New York was ancient Babylon
Where the sky stayed the color of grey, like heron...
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Not just rap songs here, ofc
 
version

version

Well-known member


It's just another day, drowning my troubles with a forty
That's when I got a call from this brown skin shorty
She asked me where's my crew at, said we could do whatever
She got a crew too and said that we should get together
I said, "Aight, just call me back in a hour
So I can take a shower and gather up the manpower"
Then I hung up the horn
And I thought to myself that it might be on
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Corpsey

Corpsey

bandz ahoy

Now there she goes again, the dopest Ethiopian
And now the world around me be gets movin' in slow motion
When—ever she happens to walk by, why does the apple of my eye
Overlook and disregard my feelings no matter how much I try?
Wait, no, I did not really pursue my little princess with persistance
And I was so low-key that she was unaware of my existence
From a distance I desired her, secretly admired her
Wired her a letter to get her, and it went:
My dear, my dear, my dear, you do not know me but I know you very well
Now let me tell you about the feelings I have for you
When I try, or make some sort of attempt, I symp
Damn I wish I wasn't such a wimp!
'Cause then I would let you know that I love you so
And if I was your man then I would be true
The only lying I would do is in the bed with you
Give a try and consider the one who loves you dearly
P.S. Love me tender
The letter came back three days later: return to Sender
Damn!
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M

martin

----
The Pogues were big for this - songs about dying London rent boys, kids getting maimed at Gallipoli, character names randomly tossed around, etc.

In a minority, but I also like Sham 69's punk opera "That's Life", which is way better than "A Grand Don't Come For Free"...getting sacked by your cunt boss, gambling down the bookies, fighting over disco girls, being misunderstood, persuading your porn addict mate to go down the pub...but, plot twist: is the character really YOU??!? 😵
 
B

blissblogger

Well-known member
The vast majority of pop and rock and etc songs are not story songs - they usually hover within a mood or emotion, or move between two emotional states and back again - tension to breaking loose is a common one. Or it's like a vignette, a scene. Or it stakes out a stance.

But it can be a great little artform within the basically non-narrative artform

The Jam, "Down in the Tube Station At Midnight" (Weller said he wanted to do a 3 minute version of a Play For Today tv drama)
David Bowie, "Space Oddity"
Pulp "Common People"
Roxy "In Every Dream Home A Heartache" (kinda - there's definitely an ending)
Jilted John, "Jilted John"
Eagles, "Hotel California" (in an allegorical sort of way)
Harry Chapin, "Cat's in the Cradle"

Beatles, "Eleanor Rigby" is kind of a story - there's a sad ending - but it's also more like a mini-movie
 
shiels

shiels

_
Casisdead tells stories. Usually in the same grim hedonistic vein but the latest album had some good ones. Saw him live last year - absolute trunks



 
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