It’s all about story telling on Sunday’s Now Playing (6-8pm) when we’ll compile a yarn-spinning playlist of YOUR tall tale song choices.
Don McLean’s enigmatic lyrics to ‘American Pie’ sold at auction this week for $1.2 million (nice work if you can get it). The lyrical message behind this Uncle Sam slice of Americana is debatable, but one’s things for sure, it takes the listener on an epic journey.
So that got us thinking, this week’s Now Playing must unquestionably be all about songs that tell a story.
There are of course many artists who excel at this genre. Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Tom Waits to name a few, but we think you can do better than choosing the obvious ones.
Who can forget the apologetic tenor of Outkast’s ‘Ms Jackson’? What is Mike Skinner if not an expert narrator? Pulp’s ‘Common People’ is a great song but also a terrific fable, right? Even Barry Manilow’s ‘Copacabana’ is a story-telling song! “Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl…” Congratulations on the marriage by the way, Bazza.
You could choose some of your favourite contemporary musical parables from the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Bright Eyes, Eminem, Arcade Fire, Jay Z, Sun Kil Moon…and many more.
Perhaps you’re familiar with artists who made their careers with spinning yarns in song form, such as Springsteen, Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, Simon & Garfunkel or Meat Loaf.
Or you could always play it safe and go for ultimate story-telling song, Johnny Cash’s ‘A Boy Named Sue’.
You pick the music, so get your story-inspired suggestions to Tom via the hashtag #Stories6Music to help create a playlist. Comment on the Now Playing Facebook page, here on the blog, email nowplaying@bbc.co.uk or drag tracks onto our Spotify and Rdio playlists.
