# Songs that paint a picture **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 14, 2011, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622 "2011-10-14T13:26:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/1 "2011-10-14T13:26:07Z")
I’m kind of mixing my metaphors but some songs have such vivid imagery, you can see and experience their characters and time and place. I think it adds another dimension to the song and can make a mediocre song good and a good song great. Some examples: “Piano Man” is probably the classic example of what I m talking about. With just a few words, you can see that bar and feel like you know the people in it. “Don’t Stop Believing” Not as complete as “Piano Man” but still pretty vivid, especially the first few verses. “Same Old Lang Syne” by Dan Folgelberg. The song that always makes you wistfully sad at Christmas time. Any others you like? ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/2 "2011-10-14T13:49:54Z")
“[All I Wanna Do](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5ouOa9k0gE)” by Sheryl Crow is good at setting up a scene you can visualize. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/3 "2011-10-14T13:50:59Z")
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/4 "2011-10-14T13:54:11Z")
The first two that sprang to mind are _Boys of Summer_, by Don Henley, and _Echoes_, by Pink Floyd. Although with the first song I think we’re all visualizing the same thing. The latter I’m not sure. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/5 "2011-10-14T14:05:12Z")
The Pink Floyd songs that immediately come to mind are [Grantchester Meadows](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfZPNQPNw-U) and [San Tropez](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkRcwqxLEuk). ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/6 "2011-10-14T14:20:20Z")
John Fogerty used to write very evocative lyrics for CCR, and was very good at painting a picture in your mind. That’s one reason that, when he made his big comeback in the Eighties, he was very ambivalent about music videos. A song like “Green River” paints a vivid picture, one that would be sort of undermined if it were accompanied by a video that SHOWED a “barefoot girl dancing in the moonlight.” ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/7 "2011-10-14T14:22:07Z")
Neil Diamond’s “Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show.” Kenny Rogers “The Gambler” painted such a good picture it was made into a movie, and the line “know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em” is a part of our lexicon. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/8 "2011-10-14T14:28:35Z")
_The screen door slams Mary’s dress waves Like a vision she dances across the porch as the radio plays_ Springsteen’s pretty good at this. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/9 "2011-10-14T14:44:35Z")
> [@](#): > > Obie looked at the seeing eye dog, and then at the > twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy pictures with circles and arrows > and a paragraph on the back of each one, and looked at the seeing eye dog. > And then at twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy pictures with circles > and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one and began to cry, > 'cause Obie came to the realization that it was a typical case of American > blind justice, and there wasn’t nothing he could do about it… I don’t know if _Alice’s Restaurant_ should count, since the actual sung part of the song doesn’t really say much. But the spoken parts sure paint a picture. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/10 "2011-10-14T15:08:14Z")
- She was just seventeen, you know what I mean - The Beatles, I Saw her Standing There - I guess I shoulda known by the way she parked her car sideways that it wouldn’t last - Prince, Little Red Corvette - She’s so fine, there’s no telling where the money went - Robert Palmer, Simply Irresistable Little snippets that evoke full visuals, no doubt unique in each person… ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/11 "2011-10-14T15:11:38Z")
_Ode to Billie Joe_ ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/12 "2011-10-14T15:21:38Z")
[Vincent (Starry Starry Night) of course.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dipFMJckZOM) > [@](#): > > Starry starry night, flaming flowers that brightly blaze > Swirling clouds in violet haze reflect in Vincent’s eyes of china blue > Colors changing hue, morning fields of amber grain > Weathered faces lined in pain are soothed beneath the artist’s loving hand ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/13 "2011-10-14T15:22:39Z")
On a morning from a Bogart movie In a country where they turn back time You go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre Contemplating a crime She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running Like a watercolor in the rain Don’t bother asking for explanations She’ll just tell you that she came **In the year of the cat** What do I win? ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/14 "2011-10-14T15:25:21Z")
[Family Snapshot](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYV1mnwVXZg&feature=related) by Peter Gabriel. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/15 "2011-10-14T15:41:03Z")
["Tom’s Diner](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-26hsZqwveA), Suzanne Vega. ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/16 "2011-10-14T16:00:50Z")
Run For the Roses by Dan Fogleburg. Born in the valley and raised in the trees Of western Kentucky on wobbly knees With mama beside you to help you along You’ll soon be a-growin’ up strong. All those long lazy mornings in pastures of green The sun on your withers, the wind in your mane etc etc If that doesn’t say Thoroughbred foal nothing does. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/17 "2011-10-14T16:12:25Z")
Paul Simon’s [_Graceland_](http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/graceland-lyrics-paul-simon/82494ec0cee7ee944825698a000f073f): The Mississippi delta was shining Like a national guitar I am following the river Down the highway Through the cradle of the civil war I’m going to Graceland ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/18 "2011-10-14T16:13:32Z")
> [@PapSett](#): > > Run For the Roses by Dan Fogleburg. > > Born in the valley and raised in the trees > Of western Kentucky on wobbly knees Does the song really say “western Kentucky”? That’s funny - practically all the horse farms in Kentucky surround Lexington, in the center of the state. That’s as good as “born and raised in South Detroit” from _Don’t Stop Believin_’. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/19 "2011-10-14T16:22:45Z")
powerful imagery of two childhood friends. One of them dying young. It’s on youtube It’s taken on a new meaning as I and my childhood friends age. knowing we will be gone eventually too. I miss those days of running in the fields. Seasons in the Sun by Terry Jacks Goodbye to you my trusted friend We’ve known each other since we were nine or ten Together we’ve climb hills or trees Learned of love and ABC’s Skinned our hearts and skinned our knees Goodbye my friend it’s hard to die When all the birds are singing in the sky ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/20 "2011-10-14T16:30:56Z")
_[Misplaced Childhood](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misplaced_Childhood)_ by Marillion. The whole thing. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622.md?page=2)