# Songs that are really bad at storytelling **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [March 12, 2025, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-really-bad-at-storytelling/1015475 "2025-03-12T15:44:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-really-bad-at-storytelling/1015475/41 "2025-03-28T16:08:00Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Ha, yeah, this is the first song I thought of when I read the thread title. I like Dylan and I like the song, but it does seem like at least 3 separate stories smooshed together. There is a sudden point of view change there, from the narrator to the woman he meets (or meets again). I read the book based on samples from the Dylan archive, and it says that his writing style is to write lots of verses and then select the ones that will be in the song. That explains a lot, such as the out of order lyrics in “All Along the Watchtower.” ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-really-bad-at-storytelling/1015475/42 "2025-03-28T16:45:15Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > I always took it to mean that he was standing before a _statue_ of a conquistador on a horse, not an actual corpse. Yeah, I’ve always pictured the singer as contemplating a statue. (And I would certainly not take the Wikipedia entry as evidence that he’s not; as far as I can tell, it’s just a random Wiki editor’s attempt at paraphrasing the lyrics, rather than being based on anything the songwriter said.) On another note I don’t know if “Bohemian Rhapsody” is even _trying_ to tell a coherent story, but it’s pretty bad at doing so – the singer seems to go back and forth between being indifferent to everything and desperate to escape the consequences of his crime without any internal logic to the transitions, and there’s no explanation of why he committed the crime in the first place, or whether he is actually under arrest (by law enforcement? by Beelzebub?) or free to go anywhere he likes. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-really-bad-at-storytelling/1015475/43 "2025-03-28T17:06:21Z")
> [@solost](#): > > For my own nomination for a bad storytelling song, I’ll submit 'The Devil Went Down to Georgia": Have you seen this? [Thirty-Nine Questions for Charlie Daniels Upon Hearing “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” for the First Time in Twenty-Five Years](https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/thirty-nine-questions-for-charlie-daniels-upon-hearing-the-devil-went-down-to-georgia-for-the-first-time-in-twenty-five-years) > 1. Because isn’t that totally amazing fiddle feedback thing the Devil plays (which sounds like Hendrix gone bluegrass) a hundred times better than that high-school-band piece-of-crap tune Johnny plays? ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-really-bad-at-storytelling/1015475/44 "2025-03-28T17:18:58Z")
> [@sciurophobic](#): > > Have you seen this? > > [Thirty-Nine Questions for Charlie Daniels Upon Hearing “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” for the First Time in Twenty-Five Years](https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/thirty-nine-questions-for-charlie-daniels-upon-hearing-the-devil-went-down-to-georgia-for-the-first-time-in-twenty-five-years) Haha, no I hadn’t seen that, but it perfectly mirrors my opinion of the song, and well beyond. And I thought _ **I** _ was overanalyzing the song 😁 Thanks for sharing that! > [@sciurophobic](#): > > > 1. Because isn’t that totally amazing fiddle feedback thing the Devil plays (which sounds like Hendrix gone bluegrass) a hundred times better than that high-school-band piece-of-crap tune Johnny plays? Hell **YES**. 100% agree! ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-really-bad-at-storytelling/1015475/45 "2025-03-28T18:52:02Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Who is imposing quotas on the Devil-- God? Is God the Devil’s boss, then? According to Job, yeah, kinda. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-really-bad-at-storytelling/1015475/46 "2025-03-28T19:06:57Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > > [@solost](#): > > > > Who is imposing quotas on the Devil-- God? Is God the Devil’s boss, then? > > According to Job, yeah, kinda. Old Testament God was a _ **terrible** _ boss. But, in Job 1 they come across more as friendly rivals, cynically using Job as a pawn in a bet. **The Lord:** Where you been? **Satan:** Y’know, around. **The Lord:** Check out my boy Job- pretty righteous dude, right? **Satan:** Sure, anybody would be plenty righteous when you give them anything they want. But take it all away and he’d curse your ass out. **The Lord:** OK, smart guy, do your worst and we’ll see. Just don’t lay a finger on the man himself. > **[Bible Gateway passage: Job 1 - New International Version](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Job%201&version=NIV)** > > Prologue - In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. He had seven sons and three daughters, and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke... ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-really-bad-at-storytelling/1015475/47 "2025-03-28T19:47:10Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > > [@solost](#): > > > > Ha, yeah, this is the first song I thought of when I read the thread title. I like Dylan and I like the song, but it does seem like at least 3 separate stories smooshed together. > > There is a sudden point of view change there, from the narrator to the woman he meets (or meets again). > I read the book based on samples from the Dylan archive, and it says that his writing style is to write lots of verses and then select the ones that will be in the song. That explains a lot, such as the out of order lyrics in “All Along the Watchtower.” Many people are confused by the pronouns changing from first and second to third person and back, but as I understand the song, the protagonist and the woman are always the same. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-really-bad-at-storytelling/1015475/48 "2025-03-28T22:20:40Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Many people are confused by the pronouns changing from first and second to third person and back, but as I understand the song, the protagonist and the woman are always the same. The lyrics of _Tangled up in Blue_ have famously changed, sometimes dramatically, over time: > **[Listening to Every "Tangled Up in Blue" in Chronological Order](https://www.flaggingdown.com/p/listening-to-every-tangled-up-in)** > > 1993-02-17, Muziekcentrum Frits Philips, Eindhoven, Netherlands The key to the song is in the final verse: > We always did feel the same > We just saw it from a different point of view The point of view is constantly shifting throughout the song. Not just in the original ablum version, but in and between all the versions to come. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-really-bad-at-storytelling/1015475/49 "2025-03-28T22:25:55Z")
Yeah, I know, I estimate that I have about six different versions of “Tangled Up In Blue” in my record collection. I have almost anything officially released by Dylan. It’s one of the most fascinating songs in Dylan’s catalog, the ever changing song, and a mystery, in a body of work that contains many fascinating songs and mysteries. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-really-bad-at-storytelling/1015475/50 "2025-03-28T22:46:59Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > Guy happens upon a dead Spanish conqueror on the beach, complete with vulture. He’s been dead long enough that his scabbard is rusty, but not so long that his horse has run off or starved. I love the song. I assumed the conquistador has been in South American jungles long enough for his sword to rust. I always pictured some Aztec-type coming up on him. Maybe died on the shore trying to get back to the ship. I actually like this better than LSoP. And, FTR, I always thought it was “place”, too. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-really-bad-at-storytelling/1015475/51 "2025-03-28T22:53:43Z")
> [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > On another note I don’t know if “Bohemian Rhapsody” is even _trying_ to tell a coherent story, but it’s pretty bad at doing so Try this, > **[Literal Bohemian Rhapsody](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJO7bcRVPvI%2F1)** > > Thanks to Video Blocks for helping to make this video possible! Visit them at http://videoblocks.com/CorridorDigital\_1116GET LIT. Quick lighting tips from us... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-really-bad-at-storytelling/1015475.md?page=2)