For centuries, music has been used for storytelling, and the tradition has not been lost in recent times. Here, we take a look at ten of the best stories told through music:
“39” by Queen
The narrator sets out for space in the year 1939, in turn leaving behind a wife. However, due to the theory of time dilation, a hundred years pass on earth, while only a year goes by for him. When he returns, he finds that all those he loved have died and that his only connection to the people he left is his grandchildren, with whom he is the same age.
“Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” by Gordon Lightfoot
All those who grew up near the Great Lakes have heard the story of Edmund Fitzgerald, the titular ship in this 1976 song. The year prior, the cargo ship set out from Wisconsin with 29 men aboard and went down just north of Whitefish Point, Michigan. The sinking of the ship took the lives of everyone on the ship, creating a harrowing tale showing the treachery of the lakes, captured in the song.
“Ain’t No Rest For the Wicked” by Cage the Elephant
Three stories are woven together in Cage the Elephant’s “Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked”, all told from the perspective of a single narrator. The first explains an encounter with a prostitute, the second explains an attempted mugging and the third explains a priest on TV who was found guilty of taking from the church. All three give the same explanation for their actions, simply stating that “there ain’t no rest for the wicked”.
“Welcome to the End of Your Life” by The Driver Era
Life is fleeting, and this is explored in the song “Welcome to the End of Your Life”. The narrator is killed in a car accident, and as they die, they begin to reflect on everything they have and haven’t done. It is a song about regret and living life to the fullest, told through an incredibly morbid story.
“Fool For Love” by Lord Huron
Love makes people do crazy things. In this upbeat folk tune, a man is desperately in love with a woman named Lily, to the point where he is willing to physically fight her fiancé to win her affection. However, her fiancé, the aptly-named Big Jim, beats the narrator, leaving him to die in the snow. As the narrator bleeds out, he reflects on his decisions, coming to terms with the fact that he was destined to lose as a fool for love.
“Eleanor Rigby” by The Beatles
“Eleanor Rigby” tells two intertwined stories, that of the titular woman and Father Mckenzie. Eleanor Rigby lives a lonely life, a cycle of cleaning the church and returning home. Father Mckenzie lives a similar life, delivering homilies for sermons that no one comes to and going home to darn his socks. The only change in their lonely lives comes at Eleanor’s death, in which Father Mckenzie is the only one at the funeral, and only to bury her, leaving them both permanently lonely.
“America” by Simon and Garfunkel
At its heart, “America” is a song for the wandering soul. The story follows a narrator and their lover, Kathy, as they board a bus in Pittsburgh after a four-day hitchhiking trip from Saginaw. Together, the two begin to travel toward the East Coast, making light of their journey as they go on. However, as they reach New Jersey, the narrator realizes that the journey didn’t fill the void he had and that he is condemned to forever be a wandering soul, looking for something to fill that emptiness inside of him.
“Malibu 1992” by Coin
Watching someone you love move away forever is hard, and this feeling is encapsulated in “Malibu 1992”. The narrator describes an old love he had, one who had to move back home with their parents because of financial problems. As time passes, he finds he still misses that old love, reflecting on their names carved in the pavement, how he told his mom about her and all the memories they shared in their time in Malibu. Twenty years on, he finds that that old love moved to New Jersey with their rich old husband, seemingly forgetting him. Nonetheless, he never forgot her.
“Lyin’ Eyes” by The Eagles
Slightly similar to Coin, the Eagles tell a story of a girl who marries a rich old man in order to have a financially stable life where she doesn’t have to work. However, the marriage is completely loveless, and she finds herself cheating on her husband with a younger man she knew from school in order to feel loved. As she returns to the big, empty house, she feels torn between the financial stability of her marriage and the romantic and sexual fulfillment of her affair. She comes to realize that while money isn’t everything, she still wants to remain financially stable.
“In the Woods Somewhere” by Hozier
“In the Woods Somewhere” is a horror story set to music. A man awakens in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, hearing a scream from the woods. Fearing it could be someone in need of help, he runs into the woods, only to find a mortally wounded fox. He crushes it to put it out of its misery and then begins to wonder what could have possibly wounded a fox that badly. However, his question is soon answered, as he spots a mysterious creature watching him. The creature lunges at him and chases him. Whether he escapes or not is open to interpretation, but one thing can be certain: he found something in the woods somewhere.
