Story Songs…

I have ALWAYS had a great fondness for old-school story songs like this one.

Man, I absolutely LOVE that song. It’s even better for me that the musicians behind this ripping old yarn were Canadian. This is one of the tunes that I made famous – (or infamous) – at the warehouse that I used to work in back when my back was a working machine. I’d unload semi-trailers for a living and when I got back in the guts of the rig and the sweat was crawling down my forehead I’d take advantage of the unique acoustical situation and I would bellow out old tunes while I heaved and hauled, all day long.

But there is something about a story-song that always gets me grinning. I love to hear a good yarn put to music like this.

That’s Jim Stafford – the fellow that made Mr. Bojangles sing not to mention “I don’t like spiders and snakes”.

🙂

How about this one?

Yup, that’s Jimmy Dean – the fellow who put the sauce in sausages.

🙂

Mmm-yum – sure could use me some sausages right now.

There is something that I find compelling about an old-school story song. It hearkens back to the “Oh come all ye…” ballads of old and it leaves me with a bad case of the old fart blues every time I hear some of this modern stuff where the singer gets two or three lines stuck in his head and sings it out for three or four minutes and calls it a hit.

Piss on that shit.

Speaking of murder ballads how about this one?

I could go on and on. I think that at the heart of every story ever told lies a deep clear song – even if the rhythm behind that song is nothing more than the steady gnawing chatter of my fingers upon the keyboard.

Lastly – what Canadian out there can’t at least mutter a few lines of this great old story-song.

Come on and sing along with me. I’ve got a truckload full of words to unload this morning and I could use your help on the high notes.

So what’s YOUR favorite story-song?

Yours in storytelling,

Steve Vernon

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