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Old 01-03-2008, 11:08 AM   #19
JohnStinson
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Aurora Ontario Canada
Posts: 218
Default Re: Great songs that tell a stories

Cherokee Bend is a DEFINITE one, I think.

Here's a very subjective view point on this subject of songs that tell stories. They probably should have some element of "time" passing. Should also probably have a subject like a character or boat or a car some thing that the story is about.

So a song like Cherokee Bend clearly has time passing by.

If you look at On Yonge Street, its is a series of observations about what you see on this Street. If Gord had said something along the lines of "in 1900 it was all dirt..then the paver came along in 1945...then the burger joints opened in 1965"...then the song has a subject..the street...and an element of time. So it is then a story song.

But my way of thinking is always questionable. Thats what my wife tells me all the time.

The House You Live In. ..To me this is more a "sermon" on how to live.
Any mention of "time" is general in nature and not specific to any particular moment.

A song like Gypsy might qualify. It tells the story of a visit to a fortune teller gypsy. The time element is there...He tells of the visit, what happened during the 'reading' then he goes home and goes to sleep. The time element is short, just an evening but it is a very specific time element.

Oh and ...the list has to be GREAT songs...unless we think that every Gord song is great.
I'll update the list.
Oh and we need to have an explanation of what the STORY is about for the list ...help me out here.

john
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