Songwriting with Story

One thing I try and do with my songs is to paint stories.  Most songs have a broad theme of one form or another - invoking an emotion, telling a message, raising awareness of a subject, and, my favourite, telling stories.  In 4-6 minutes or so, you can put together a cute short story in musical form, and use that story to bring the listener along for the ride.  In "These Cards Rolled Me", I talk about a gambler's woes; in "Bleeding Whiskey", I narrate a night of insomnia accompanied only by a bottle of the amber stuff.  In this latest song, "Blackout Road", I explore (in abstract) some of the major events of my 20s that shaped the way I think today.

Lyrically, I find stories easier to write, as the lyrics themselves lead naturally from scene to scene.  From a music perspective, the story structure also lends a hand.  As conflict arises within the story, so the music crescendos; when reflection occurs, the music is softer.

Perhaps the hardest thing regarding storytelling songwriting is keeping songs around the 3-minute mark.  But then, I never cared about that, anyway.