Songs as stories
I started writing songs when I was 14 and over the years have penned hundreds of them. To be honest, songwriting is not my forte. I guess that’s pretty obvious considering the most popular song I wrote was a country tune called “How Can I Get Over Her, When She’s Still Under Him.” Despite my shortcomings as a songwriter, I’m glad I worked on that craft as I think some of my understanding of narrative structure derives from writing songs.
The fact is good songs tell good stories. Here’s one that not only tells a powerful story, its lyrics evoke strong images. The song is titled “What Sarah Said” and it’s by the band Death Cab for Cutie.
And it came to me then
that every plan
is a tiny prayer to father time
As I stared at my shoes
in the ICU
that reeked of piss and 409
And I rationed my breaths
as I said to myself
that I’d already taken too much today
As each descending peak
on the LCD took you
a little farther away from me
Away from me
Amongst the vending machines
and year-old magazines
in a place where we only say goodbye
It stung like a violent wind
that our memories depend
on a faulty camera in our minds
But I knew that you were a truth
I would rather lose
than to have never lain beside at all
And I looked around
at all the eyes on the ground
as the TV entertained itself
’Cause there’s no comfort in the waiting room
Just nervous pacers bracing for bad news
And then the nurse comes round and everyone will lift their heads
But I’m thinking of what Sarah said…
That “Love is watching someone die”
So who’s going to watch you die?..
It pulls you in, deeper and deeper, then ends with a wallop, the profound comment, “Love is watching someone die,” followed by the haunting question, repeated in the recording over and over, “So who’s going to watch you die?”
184 words — and quite a story.
How about you? What songs can you recommend that tell a good story?
[Originally posted November 28, 2008]
Here is Death Cab doing one of my favorite songs from their newest album “I Will Possess Your Heart”:
Speaking of Death Cab, listen to their song “Passenger Seat”:
Doesn’t that recurring piano melody sound an awful lot like this track from the soundtrack for The Social Network?