Title Photo by Jesse Orrico on Unsplash

Ever since humans have looked for ways to entertain themselves, they enjoyed telling stories to each other and making music. Whether it be cave painting of Stone Age, Epic Poetry of Ancient Greek, MEver since humans have looked for ways to entertain themselves, they have enjoyed telling stories to each other and making music. Whether it be cave paintings of the Stone Age, Epic Poetry of Ancient Greek, Medieval Legends, the music of Ancient Rome, folk dance of Mexico, or Nineteenth-Century Classical Music, both stories and music play essential roles across all human cultures. But what happens when music and storytelling get combined? I personally believe that this kind of merging unlocks the potential to create timeless cultural masterpieces. To prove my point, in this article, I will present three of my favorite examples of well-made songs that tell stories.

“Il Ragazzo Della Via Gluck” by Adriano Celentano (1966)

The song’s title translates to “The Boy from Gluck Street.” Not only has the song won the hearts of the Italian audience, but it also inspired a number of international covers including versions in French and German. In total, “Il Ragazzo Della Via Gluck” was performed in 18 languages. ¹ In the original version, the song tells the story of “one of us” who used to live in a house located in the country, close to nature and in an idyllic setting. One day, he decides to leave for the city but promises to return one day. After eight years have passed, he finally comes back and is confronted with a totally different view of a place with ever-growing settlements and streets. He also cannot find his childhood friends.

To my mind, the boy’s story epitomizes several important topics. It illustrates the reasons why country people move to cities, namely because they can earn a better living and life is more comfortable there. At large, these developments can be subsumed under urbanization. Urbanization is so massively present that in 2007, the United Nations even proclaimed the “Urban Age” meaning that for the first time in human history, more people were living in cities than in rural areas. ² What is more is that the urban lifestyle with technology, infrastructure, shopping facilities, etc., increasingly finds its way into rural areas, and this is what the song’s lyrical self discovers when he comes back.

Besides, one could argue that on a philosophical level, the song’s story is a silent witness of impermanence. The fact that the lyrical self does not find his familiar surroundings and friends fits into Heraclitus’ wisdom panta rhei (“everything flows”).

“Conversation on the Train” by Mashina Vremeni (1985)

This Russian song (originally “Разговор в Поезде”) narrates about two men sitting on the train and debating over free will. Whereas one man pursues a deterministic view stating that we are at the mercy of our destiny, the other man claims that we can choose our actions freely. Both men utilize the allegory of a moving train to explain their viewpoints.

The advocate of indeterminism expresses that our path is open for many years but the other man counters that the number of years depends on the price of the train ticket. He also believes that on the train ride of life, we are just the passengers and not the machine operators. In his view, we cannot lead this train as it goes only along the pre-determined tracks.

It is also remarkable how the story ends because the lyrics read that both men dismount the train and begin pursuing their own ways whereas the train follows its own one. I interpret this ending like this: Both men are wrong in their assumptions, and the reality is neither purely deterministic nor indeterministic but something in between. In case you haven’t noticed, pay attention to how the singer is being illuminated in orange or blue lights depending on which man’s opinion he is presenting.

“In The Ghetto” by Elvis Presley (1969)

With this hit song, the King of Rock ’n’ Roll induces his listeners to reflect on segregation and social responsibility. This song tells a story of a boy and young man as it may happen time after time within socially discriminated neighborhoods. The story starts with a boy who is born into a ghetto in Chicago and suffers from hunger from the very beginning of his life. At this point, the lyrical self warns the audience that the young boy needs a “helping hand.”

As his adolescence is continuously marked by starvation and hopelessness, he ends up stealing and fighting. One night, he tries stealing a car and gets killed. The next morning, another baby is born in the ghetto.

The song’s lyrics were written by Mac Davis who himself was a famous country music star. He shared that he was inspired by his own childhood experience with a playmate to write the lyrics. It is noteworthy how the key takeaway of the song’s story, that is the circularity of negative socio-economic developments in bad neighborhoods, finds its expression in the song’s structure; both the music and the lyrics are composed of repetitive components. It is also known that the original title of the song was “The Vicious Circle.” ³

Outlook

In my view, songs telling stories serve as exceptional examples for something that social and natural sciences call “synergy” or “emergence.” On an abstract level and in simple terms, these phenomena can be described with Aristotle’s “The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.” Accordingly, I find that a unique beauty arises from music that intertwists with lyrics telling a story.

It goes without saying that there are many more songs of different genres, languages, and époques that are worth being listed in this enumeration. In case that you are likewise enthusiastic about the combination of storytelling and music, feel free to submit your favorite examples here.

• “Mirror” (originally in German: “Spiegel”): During a group therapy session, three attendees explain why they hate their respective mirror images. The fictional personalities are Kerstin, a teenager suffering from obesity and lack of self-confidence; Michelle, a model experiencing toxic relationships; Bernard, a mobbing victim and a father who lost his job. ⁴
• “A Million Scarlet Roses” (originally in Russian: “Миллион Алых Роз”): Georgian painter Niko Pirosmani (1862-1918) was so extremely attracted to a French actress that he made a portrait of her and, on his birthday, he sold all his property to present to her a sea of roses in front of her house when she visited his town. ⁵
• “Stan”: An obsessive fan of the rapper Eminem, he addresses him with three letters stating that he sympathizes with the star in many respects. As a result of not getting any response, Stan gets increasingly angry and eventually decides to commit suicide through a car accident. In the last strophe, Eminem himself replies to the fan’s letters.

References

¹ Tzvetkova, J. (2017, p. 20). Pop culture in Europe. ABC-CLIO.
² Our World in Data (2019). Urbanization – Number of people living in urban areas.
³ Paulson, D. (2014).  Story Behind the Song: ‘In the Ghetto
⁴ Wikipedia: Spiegel (Song)
⁵ Background Story: Million Scarlet Roses from Niko Pirosmani