Do you know a long song that doesn’t repeat itself and sort of tells a story through music (maybe without words)?
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1CPB-gBhcNVqwY0-fWgIdjnkPeMcfFFE David Bowie narrates Sergei Prokofiev’s ‘Peter And The Wolf’. The narrator tells a story and the orchestra illustrates by using different instruments to play a “theme” that represents each character in the story.
For modern stories I like The Curse. It’s about an archeologist that falls in love with a mummy that comes to life.
This is a pretty epic story telling song by a dude called Ren.
Dating myself a bit here, but Meatloaf’s Paradise By The Dashboard Light, and Billy Joel’s Scenes from an Italian Restaurant are 2 that need to be on this list.
Alice’s Restaurant by Arlo Gurhtie. Actually, just about anything by Arlo Guthrie and his dad, Woody.
Indian Ira Hayes by Johnny Cash. It’s not very long, but a poignant story that shouldn’t be forgotten.City Hall by Tenacious D
Iron Maiden - Empire of the Clouds
Iron Maiden - Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Hell yeah
If you like jazz piano, Keith Jarret’s köln concert is a masterpiece.
There were a bunch of issues with the venue and he ended up playing the whole thing on a broken piano.
This video sums up how the peice happened.
Edit: I like to think it’s a story of stacked disasters and a master artist somehow making the whole mess gorgeous.
The Phant albums together tell a story, the first 4 albums were even bundled with short novels.
there is a hindi song which is sorta long (5 mins without music, 6 with) - Breathless (not really breathless, but full song done in just 16 breaths(that is roughly 3 per minute), but almost none are easily audible) - it is a romance story - meetup - love blossom - heart break - life ruined - reunion - together forever. The lyricist is one of the best hindi/urdu lyricist, maybe among the best in the world
also there are many old classical concerts (for example - beethoven) which are music only and at times were in conjunction with plays or dramas going through stories
Now playing AIR - All I Need
Most of Coheed and Cambria’s albums follow along with a graphic novel written by Claudio, the lead singer. I’ve never read them and don’t know the story, but if you listen to an album start to finish, you can tell that it’s more than just lyrics.
Ten Speed of God’s Blood and Burial. Perfectly clear.
The Coheed and Cambria comics are awesome. They’re hard to get your hands on, after Umbrella Academy got popular, but worth it.
Avenged Sevenfold - Exist is a 15 minute song that is about the big bang all the way to Earth forming and cooling.
American Pie - Don McLean it’s the history of rock and roll from the 50s through the 60s
Cats in the cradle, has no one said this one 😭 😭 😭
Arlo Guthree’s Alice’s Restaurant has you covered. I play it every Thanksgiving.
So does my family! I think it’s a New England thing.
I figured there’d be plenty of mentions of Rush’s 2112, but they have a lot of other songs that fit the bill too. The Necromancer, Fountain of Lamneth, Xanadu, Natural Science (well I guess that’s more of a rant than a story), Cygnes X-1 books 1 and 2. Since you say maybe without words, La Villa Strangiato.
If you want to stick to classic prog then Yes has some songs that fit the bill too like America and Harold Land. I confess to not really understanding the lyrics of most of the rest of Yes’s discography, they can be really poetic, but I think the whole Closer to the Edge album fits on it’s musicality alone. The title track’s a freaking journey.
Led Zeppelin has a few of these too, though musically they are a little repetitive. Achilles Last Stand, Battle of Evermore, Gallows Pole.
