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HELP! Show you know your music


TheAlphaNerd

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I'm trying to put together a presentation on the concept of Story and the act of retelling... I want to do this by playing segments from various songs that are essentially telling the same story.

Just as a clarification I want songs telling a real story... such as the story of Bonnie and Clyde, or perhaps the shooting of JFK.

Can you help me?

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You've got my head stuck on Bonnie and Clyde (which I always thought great names for children) now from your first post. If you don't mind the french, Luna once did a fantastic rendition of Serge Gainsbourg's 'Bonnie and Clyde' to close out an album. And then there is also the original.

Here's both the original and the cover. And now, given the beginning lines, I'm thinking you might want to find another Jesse James song, too.

via videosift.com

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Also - Cortez the killer

And Mack the Knife:

(I'm a total Bobby Darin slut, but you could just as easily go for the more sophisticated Ella Fitzgerald / Louis Armstrong versions if Bobby isn't your speed)

Edited by Guest
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Guest Low Roller

The easiest example of what you are trying to demonstrate is songs inspired by the Vietnam War. Songwriting was based on telling stories and delivering a message back then, unlike today's boastful and vapid radio content.

Songs inspired by the Vietnam War off of the top of my head (and a quick Google search):

- Unknown Soldier by The Doors

- Fortunate Son by CCR

- Machine Gun by Jimi Hendrix

- War by Edwin Starr

- What's Going On? by Marvin Gaye

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The easiest example of what you are trying to demonstrate is songs inspired by the Vietnam War. Songwriting was based on telling stories and delivering a message back then, unlike today's boastful and vapid radio content.

Songs inspired by the Vietnam War off of the top of my head (and a quick Google search):

- Unknown Soldier by The Doors

- Fortunate Son by CCR

- Machine Gun by Jimi Hendrix

- War by Edwin Starr

- What's Going On? by Marvin Gaye

I'd put Sam Stone by John Prine in that list, too.

Aloha,

Brad

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...the shooting of JFK.

Can you help me?

"Dallas 1 p.m." by Saxon

JFK always reminds me of the Peter Gabriel song "Family Snapshot". Love it. While it reflects the JFK incident' date=' it is about Arthur Bremmer and the attempted assassination of presidential candidate George Wallace (the story that was also the basis for Scorsese's "Taxi Driver"). Great song, great story telling, well crafted lyrics. Give it a listen:

[b']Family Snapshot

The streets are lined with camera crews

Everywhere he goes is news

Today is different

Today is not the same

Today I make the action

Take snapshot into the light, snapshot into the light

I'm shooting into the light

Four miles down the cavalcade moves on

Driving into the sun

If I worked it out right

They won't see me or the gun

Two miles to go, they're clearing the road

The cheering has really begun

I've got my radio

I can hear what's going on

I've been waiting for this

I have been waiting for this

All you people in TV land

I will wake up your empty shells

Peak-time viewing blown in a flash

As I burn into your memory cells

'Cos I'm alive

They're coming 'round the corner with the bikers at the front

I'm wiping the sweat from my eyes

-It's a matter of time

-It's a matter of will

And the governor's car is not far behind

He's not the one I've got in mind

'Cos there he is-the man of the hour, standing in the limousine

"I don't really hate you

-I don't care what you do

We were made for each other

-Me and you

I want to be somebody

-You were like that too

If you don't get given you learn to take

And I will take you."

Holding my breath

Release the catch

And I let the bullet fly

All turned quiet-I have been here before

Lonely boy hiding behind the front door

Friends have all gone home

There's my toy gun on the floor

Come back Mum and Dad

You're growing apart

You know that I'm growing up sad

I need some attention

I shoot into the light

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Eminem has a gang of stuff along the Bonnie & Clyde vein. There's a million hiphop tracks that tell the stories of JFK, MLK, Bobby K, and X as if they were one story... slippery allegories, you know. Pharoah Monch, Dead Prez, Common, BlackStar, The Roots, Wu-Tang (specifically Ghostface if you can read through the slang).

word.

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