It is 5am. And you are listening. To a story backed by music.
September 1, 2011 11:07 AM   Subscribe

I love songs where a story is spoken (not sung) over backing music that adds to the story, but doesn't overtake it. Almost a spoken-word narrative over music. Help me find some amazing examples.

Some examples of this genre include:

Tom Waits - Putnam County
Soul Coughing - Screenwriter's Blues
Arlo Guthrie - Alice's Restaurant

And while I know someone will say that I've effectively described much of the genre of rap, I'm looking for more story telling and less stream-of-consciousness rhyming (or, frankly, rhyming is not necessary, and might even be too 'musical' for my tastes depending on how it is utilized). Will take rap examples, but that's not really what I'm looking for.
posted by evadery to Media & Arts (73 answers total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 


(Worth it just to hear John Cale say, in his Welsh accent, "That schmuck!")
posted by Judith Butlerian Jihad at 11:10 AM on September 1, 2011


First this that comes to mind is Home. Although it's only partial.
posted by Garm at 11:11 AM on September 1, 2011


Perhaps too "lyrical" in delivery, but C.W. McCall - Classified.
posted by lantius at 11:12 AM on September 1, 2011


Several songs on Nick Cave's Murder Ballads album are like this. Actually, they all tell stories, but not all of them are spoken, per se. Song of Joy comes to mind in particular. Stagger Lee is also sort of spoken. It is uber macho and full of profanity, but also kind of fun and ridiculous.
posted by torisaur at 11:12 AM on September 1, 2011


My personal favorite epic tale of marihuana use: Shel Silverstein's "The Great Smoke Off."
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 11:15 AM on September 1, 2011


Try The Hold Steady's Separation Sunday. A lot of the songs, though not all, are like that.
posted by dortmunder at 11:16 AM on September 1, 2011 [1 favorite]


Leonard Cohen's The Partisan was the first thing that sprang to mind.
posted by jabes at 11:17 AM on September 1, 2011


Primus, Tommy the Cat.
posted by KathrynT at 11:18 AM on September 1, 2011


Gorillaz's Fire Coming Out of a Monkey's Head.
posted by El_Marto at 11:18 AM on September 1, 2011 [1 favorite]


Well, it's about half talking, half singing, but I love it for exactly the reasons you're looking for: The Dismemberment Plan - The Ice of Boston.
posted by adiabat at 11:20 AM on September 1, 2011 [1 favorite]


Arab Strap, The First Big Weekend
posted by IanMorr at 11:21 AM on September 1, 2011


Ani DiFranco and Utah Phillips might suit.
posted by librarina at 11:26 AM on September 1, 2011 [2 favorites]


You have "Putnam County" by Tom Waits: the next step for you are his works "9th and Hennepin" (on the album Rain Dogs) and his fantastically creepy "What's He Building In There?"
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:27 AM on September 1, 2011 [1 favorite]


Eels - Susan's House
posted by humboldt32 at 11:27 AM on September 1, 2011


The Flying Burrito Brothers - Hippie Boy
Belle and Sebastian - A Space Boy Dream
posted by LionIndex at 11:27 AM on September 1, 2011


Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes has a cute spoken-word dialogue in the middle
posted by lizbunny at 11:30 AM on September 1, 2011


D'oh, let's see if I can find links:

* A fan-made video for 9th and Hennepin

* What's He Building In There?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:31 AM on September 1, 2011 [1 favorite]


Laurie Anderson's work stands in a kind of middle ground between performance art and music, and a lot of her work falls into this category: for example, Sharkey's Day/Sharkey's Night
posted by drlith at 11:33 AM on September 1, 2011 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: What I love about this thread is that I'm realizing there's all these songs that I already love - Tommy the Cat, Ice of Boston, A Space Boy Dream (and all of Looper's stuff).

Amazing! Keep it coming!
posted by evadery at 11:43 AM on September 1, 2011


Thela Hun Ginjeet by King Crimson. It's a story about street crime, and the title is an anagram of "heat in the jungle."
posted by jbickers at 11:52 AM on September 1, 2011


All of King Missile.
posted by coolguymichael at 11:53 AM on September 1, 2011


Not strictly spoken, but Leonard Cohen's Famous Blue Raincoat will probably be to your liking.
posted by The Deej at 11:53 AM on September 1, 2011


I never would have expected it, but William Shatner's Has Been album is good. He got help from Ben Folds and Brad Paisley on the music.

A couple of good ones are his cover of Pulp's Common People and Real.
posted by AgentRocket at 11:54 AM on September 1, 2011 [1 favorite]


MC 900 Foot Jesus - If I Only Had a Brain
posted by doctor_negative at 12:08 PM on September 1, 2011 [1 favorite]


Seconding Shatner's cover of Common People.
posted by atbash at 12:17 PM on September 1, 2011


Two things:

Moulty by the Barbarians

The entire B side of Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake by the Small Faces. (Must be listened to in order.)
posted by phunniemee at 12:22 PM on September 1, 2011 [1 favorite]


Jim Stafford has a few songs like you described, Wildwood Flower is one popular one

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised is rather popular

Deck of Cards is an old spoken word song.
posted by 2manyusernames at 12:25 PM on September 1, 2011


God's Own Drunk by Jimmy Buffet.
posted by Addlepated at 12:29 PM on September 1, 2011


oh heck yes to ani d and utah phillips!

two of my favorites are from fellow workers:

most dangerous woman
direct action
posted by nadawi at 12:32 PM on September 1, 2011


Can't rustle up a link for it, but Spill The Wine is a groovy radio classic in this vein. Spill the wine, dig that girl!
posted by Sublimity at 12:34 PM on September 1, 2011 [1 favorite]


One hit wonder alert: Ponderous by 2Nu.


posted by peep at 12:37 PM on September 1, 2011


second Ultravox song I've recommended today: the enigmatic Mr. X
posted by scody at 12:39 PM on September 1, 2011 [1 favorite]


as to genre - might i suggest just perusing "talking blues" - woodie & arlo, bob dylan, (and dan bern, who cracks me up), and a lot more. it's a lot of story telling over folk/blues riffs.
posted by nadawi at 12:41 PM on September 1, 2011


Tindersticks - My Sister
posted by crocomancer at 12:42 PM on September 1, 2011


Valley of the Giants is the name of a Canadian supergroup (Broken Social Scene, Silver MT. Zion, Do Make Say Think, Godspeed You Black Emperor) and the name of an album by said supergroup. It features one of my favorite spoken tracks ever, "Whaling Tale." A great track and a great story.
posted by Polyhymnia at 12:44 PM on September 1, 2011


William Shatner, seriously.
posted by robself at 12:47 PM on September 1, 2011


Collaborations features Chris Chandler delivering his trademark stories/poetry/spoken word rants over songs by a number of artists.

TRACKS:
1. No one I could talk about this with (with Catie Curtis)
2. No hiding place down here/ Vinegar (with Austin Lounge Lizards)
3. Come heres and the been heres/ Border line insanity (with Chuck Brodsky)
4. Hannibal/ Would you die for a neck tie? (with Dan Bern)
5. Lionel say/ Breakfast serial killers (with Jim's Big Ego)
6. This town/ That town (with Mike West and Myshkin)
7. Who are these people?/ This person (with Trout Fishing in America)
8. Never lived at all/ G chord (with Ellis Paul)
9. Hard times/ 9th ward New Orleans (with Martin Sexton)
10. Someone's gotta pay/ Injustice (with Tom Prasada-Rao)
11. To be more beautiful/ Sofas and #2 Pencils (with Dar Williams)
12. Isn't that so/ Too much of nothing/ Whoop (with Peter Yarrow)
13. I wanna be like you/ The ballad of Theodore (with The Convenience Store Troubadours)
posted by tdismukes at 12:51 PM on September 1, 2011


Thirding William Shatner's Has Been. It Hasn't Happened Yet and That's Me Trying are also very good tracks from that album. But the whole LP is brilliant, really.

Also Seen and Not Seen by Talking Heads.
posted by greycap at 12:53 PM on September 1, 2011


Pretty much anything bySlint.
posted by flod logic at 1:03 PM on September 1, 2011


Nthing Ani DiFranco and Utah Phillips, especially The Past Didn't Go Anywhere.

Phillips was one of our greatest storytellers.
posted by purpleclover at 1:06 PM on September 1, 2011


Brian Evenson's reading of Altmann's Tongue, with production by Xingu Hill and Tamarin, is absolutely my favorite example of the genre.
posted by pmugowsky at 1:25 PM on September 1, 2011


Ohmigosh the choruses are sung but you should really really check out "The Cabriolet" by Momus.
posted by mintcake! at 1:33 PM on September 1, 2011


Daniel Lanois — "Fisherman's Daughter"
Godspeed You Black Emperor — "The Dead Flag Blues"
Radiohead — "Fitter Happier" (synthesized voice)
Glueleg — "Fresh Pigs" (note: kind of silly, sung choruses)
King Missile — "Detachable Penis" (also silly)
posted by Johnny Assay at 1:40 PM on September 1, 2011 [1 favorite]


If. Had to include it simply because I had this terrible teenage crush on Telly Savalas when this was released...
posted by sianifach at 1:44 PM on September 1, 2011




Brian Eno - Bone Bomb (warning: This is spoken word from the perspective of a suicide bomber, but it touching and beautiful)
On the lighter side, The Lounge Lizards - The Yak
posted by Kafkaesque at 1:55 PM on September 1, 2011


Walter Brennan-Old Shep.
posted by pianomover at 1:59 PM on September 1, 2011


i just saw Mandy Patinkin so two that jump to mind are Rock Island and Trouble from The Music Man.
posted by rtimmel at 2:06 PM on September 1, 2011


Red Sovine - Vietnam Deck of Cards
posted by pianomover at 2:06 PM on September 1, 2011


I am personally fond of a Todd Snider cover of Kris Kristofferson's "To Beat the Devil". There is a bit of explanation before the song begins, which is Todd's style.
posted by Bachsir at 2:08 PM on September 1, 2011


Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror by Jeffrey Lewis
posted by chr1sb0y at 2:21 PM on September 1, 2011


The video is arguably NSFW (on account of being sultry) but the very first thing I thought of was "Hey Pretty" by Poe, feat. Mark Danielewski (her brother) reading from his novel, House of Leaves.
posted by juliplease at 2:46 PM on September 1, 2011




*the crazy river, my bad
posted by googlebombed at 2:59 PM on September 1, 2011




Yes to Nick Cave's Murder Ballads.

The Devil Went Down to Georgia
posted by waitangi at 3:48 PM on September 1, 2011


The Rolling Stones - Girl With the Far Away Eyes (featuring Mick trying to sound like a hayseed).
posted by doctor_negative at 4:25 PM on September 1, 2011


I know I say this for every question, even ones that have nothing to do with music, but you're really describing The Hold Steady.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 4:47 PM on September 1, 2011


All of Stan Ridgway's "Mosquitos"
posted by andreap at 5:03 PM on September 1, 2011


Crap, I didn't know that video I linked for "9th and Hennepin" was so short. Here's a better one.

seconding the Robbie Robertson. Which is also MAD sexy.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:16 PM on September 1, 2011


Oh, and I also found a video for Detachable Penis, because it's always a good occasion to watch a video about a detachable penis.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:23 PM on September 1, 2011


Shawn Mullins! Twin Rocks Oregon.
posted by 2oh1 at 8:16 PM on September 1, 2011


Colin Hay, Are You Lookin' At Me?
a House, i am the greatest ("What ever happened to good music?")
posted by 2oh1 at 8:24 PM on September 1, 2011


Bobby Gaylor - Suicide. Actually, his whole album (Fuzzatonic Scream) is spoken+music.
posted by fings at 9:34 PM on September 1, 2011


"The Church Of Logic, Sin and Love" by The Men.

I have no links because I cannot find any. And I'm lazy. But it's a great song.
posted by Thistledown at 9:39 PM on September 1, 2011


The Sweater.
posted by brujita at 10:49 PM on September 1, 2011


Losing Haringey by the Clientele.
posted by troywestfield at 8:26 AM on September 2, 2011


Harry Nilsson's The Point is filled with this!
posted by yaymukund at 10:30 AM on September 2, 2011


Derek Bailey is incredible at this--improvised, even.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 12:05 AM on September 3, 2011


*was
posted by Joseph Gurl at 12:05 AM on September 3, 2011


Evidently Chickentown by John Cooper Clarke.
posted by HandfulOfDust at 11:56 AM on September 3, 2011 [2 favorites]


Tim Minchin's Storm.
posted by getawaysticks at 12:12 PM on September 3, 2011


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