Sing Me a Short Story

I was busy compiling a CD play list this week when I realized that a high percentage of my favorite songs incorporate narrative lyrics. Apparently, I've been immersed in books for so long that I'm drawn to songs that are, at their heart, gem-like short stories set to music. Consider the following "Short Story Collection," which I recently burned on CD:

1. Magdalene Laundries, lyrics by Joni Mitchell, as sung by Emmylou Harris

This tale is told by a young woman who has been involuntarily committed to the Magdalene Laundry, a convent workhouse in Dublin where "immoral girls" were locked up, forbidden to communicate with each other or the outside world, and forced to work ten hours a day until many of them were driven to death by illness or madness. Listen and weep.

2. Leslie Anne Levine, music and lyrics by The Decemberists

The Decemberists are consummate storytellers, and this narrative, as told by the ghost of a child who was abandoned to die at birth by a young single mother, is a gothic masterpiece.

3. Black Annis, lyrics by Antje Duvekot, as performed by Solas

This song derives its lyrics from a legend out of the British Isles: Annis, a flesh-eating sorceress, would lure unwary children into the mouth of her cave (Black Anna's Bower), from which they never returned. The song's story is told in lush, lyrical prose.

4. The Crane Wife, 1, 2, & 3, music and lyrics by The Decemberists

This 3-part set also derives its lyrics from a legend -- a Japanese folktale about a man who wakes one morning to find an injured crane on his doorstep. After nursing the crane back to health, he releases it and is surprised at the appearance of a beautiful woman on his doorstep several days later. Love, marriage, and a tragic betrayal follow.

5. The River, music and lyrics by Bruce Springsteen

This heartland tale of young love withered by the crush of premature responsibility, financial stress, and lack of opportunity in a dying industrial town is classic Springsteen. He's the blue collar bard of Middle America.

6. Romeo Had Juliette, music and lyrics by Lou Reed

Don't expect a sweet story here -- Romeo Rodriguez' and Juliette Bell's romance is as raw and gritty as the mean NYC streets they inhabit, and yet their awkward attempts at tenderness in the face of societal forces that will inevitably crush them can't help but move you.

7. Chelsea Hotel, music and lyrics by Leonard Cohen

The historic Chelsea Hotel in NYC has housed countless bohemian artists and inspired myriad stories, but Leonard Cohen's song, in which he remembers his times there with former lover Janis Joplin, is one of my favorites.

8. Making Pies, music and lyrics by Patty Griffin

Listen to the middle-aged character in this song tell you the story of her life as she makes pies at the TableTalk cafe. You'll never look at the 50-something waitress at Denny's the same again.

9. Pancho and Lefty, music and lyrics by Townes Van Zandt, as sung by Emmylou Harris

Don't let country music phobia keep you from listening to this classic desperado story from south of the border -- it's like a musical miniature of "Lonesome Dove."

10. Sailing to Philadelphia, music and lyrics by Mark Knopfler

This is the tale of Mason and Dixon, a surveyor and astronomer who came from England to America to determine the southern border of Pennsylvania. James Taylor, as Charles Mason, and Knopfler, as Jeremiah Dixon, bring this historical short story-in-a-song to life.

11. Papa Was a Rodeo, music and lyrics by The Magnetic Fields (Stevin Merritt)

I'm not sure which came first, Annie Proulx's "Brokeback Mountain" or this three-hankie song about a lifelong romance between two cowboys, but they are both superb short stories about the same topic. Stevin (yes, that's how it's spelled) Merritt's voice is perfect for the part.

For $10-$15 dollars and some time logged in with an online music provider, you can make your own musical short story collection. Try it -- it's fun.