Why don’t we have great story songs anymore? This lament cropped up around twenty years ago and then the conversation seemed to go quiet. But we shouldn’t give up. Bring back proper story songs with a beginning, middle and end – David Bowie’s “Space Oddity”, Diana Ross and the Supremes’ “I’m Livin’ in Shame”, ELO’s “Diary of Horace Wimp”, and Squeeze’s “Labelled with Love”, to name a few of the best examples of the genre. The peach of tragic story songs has to be Paper Lace’s “Billy, Don’t Be a Hero”, from the incoming foreboding of the military drums and the opening line – which, like all the best songs, cuts straight to heart of the action – to the whistling off as life goes on. Sigh.

The historic glory of pop music is its wonderful variety, but story songs are always the most haunting. The Brotherhood of Man’s “Angelo” might be pseudo-ABBA with just one verse and chorus, but the lyrics are borderline sinister – two young lovers taking control of their destiny by running away to die. “Wuthering Heights” is the crowning moment when the genii of two of the greatest Anglo-Irish storytellers meld together – wild, ethereal femininity and the supernatural, romantically transposed to Bush’s tinkling piano. Transfixing. Another one that gives the chills is Godley and Crème’s “Under Your Thumb”, a classic ghost story. From Danny Kaye’s “The Ugly Duckling” to Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side” and Rod Stewart’s “The Killing of Georgie”, story songs have encouraged open minds, compassion and empowering transformation.

We are at a navel-gazing peak, lyrics wise, and have been for several years, as personal diaries are thrown open and shared for the world to sing along to. Otherwise, it’s sex and solipsism: a by-product of the social media age. Story songs have been giving succour to humanity for hundreds of years, with their engaging characters and simple, affecting plotlines. If only to improve our mental health, it would be good if writers started to look up and out, for narratives that fit a bigger picture.

As seen in Perspective June/July 2024