Sunday Night Selections: Storytime

"A need to tell and hear stories is essential to the species Homo sapiens--second in necessity apparently after nourishment and before love and shelter. Millions survive without love or home, almost none in silence; the opposite of silence leads quickly to narrative, and the sound of story is the dominant sound of our lives, from the small accounts of our day's events to the vast incommunicable constructs of psychopaths."
- Reynolds Price

Pop
Mark Dunning & Alex Murray - "Teen Angel"
Nothing like starting off this week's selections with a tale of sadness and woe. This classic from the early 60s tells the story of a young couple who were the unfortunate victims of their car stalling out on a set of railroad tracks. The song, told from the perspective of the boyfriend, starts off on a somewhat positive note as both the driver and passenger were able to escape the vehicle safe and sound. However after getting out of the car, the narrator's girlfriend runs back to the car. Why did she run back to the car? What was it she was looking for?


Rap
2pac ft Dave Hollister - "Brenda's Got A Baby"
I was torn as to which 2pac song to include here, this one or "Me and My Girlfriend." I went with this track as "Girlfriend" is more of an elongated metaphor than it is a pure story. Here Pac details the story of a young woman (named Brenda for those of you who are slow) who was impregnated by her cousin. If that's not messed up enough, I guess I should mention that Brenda's 12 years old and comes from a broken home. This unexpected pregnancy changes Brenda's life and unfortunately, not for the better.
Watch The Video

Electronic Rock
Gorillaz ft Dennis Hopper - "Fire Coming Out of a Monkey's Head"
Different from the rest of the songs here, this track is more of a story told over a musical piece than it is a musical piece that tells a story. I'll refrain from providing background on this story as I'll leave its meaning up to your interpretation.
Watch The Video

Rap
Eminem
"Kim" from "The Marshall Mathers LP" (2000)
"'97 Bonnie & Clyde" from "The Slim Shady LP" (1999)
The idea of extending a story across multiple albums is nothing new. Artists will develop a character or situation and revisit that scenario multiple times over the course of their career. Though most of the time, those stories are told in chronological order. With these two tracks, Eminem provided the end of the story in "'97 Bonnie & Clyde" while only alluding to the events that preceded it. A year later with the release of the "Kim," Eminem fleshes out the events that transpired before the playful but morbid scene of "'97 Bonnie & Clyde." While neither song alone is Em's best work in terms of storytelling, together they provide an interesting look into the mind and life of one of rap's most underrated storytellers.
"Kim"

"'97 Bonnie & Clyde"