My Favorite songs are often ones that could be the great novels or scripts for whole movies – The story songs. Now this is a tradition in folk music and old ballads, but there are modern incarnations and here are some of my favorite “stories in song”
I’ll kick it off with a May December Romance in Crimes of the Heart written and sung by Amanda McBroom
Then a couple with nothing in common but their dreams – John Buchino’s “Sweet Dreams” sung by Barbara Cook
Next up a pair of “Star Crossed Lovers” only this time on meaner streets than Shakespeare’s Verona. Mark Knopfler with Romeo and Juliet (Had a hard time picking just one Knopfler song as he is a modern master of the art – Check out “Done With Bonaparte”
Shotguns at the ready Bonnie Raitt takes you on a wild ride on the freeway to chase down a runaway.
Now a slice of real life. Leonard Cohen’s song Chelsea Hotel #2 that is supposed to be about his encounter with Janis Joplin written after her suicide. Warning for the sensitive about such things, it kicks off with a graphic sexual description but if you love Cohen, you are used to that.
