# 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:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2011, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/41 "2011-10-15T04:41:19Z")
Well the obvious one for me is [The Picture](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0DS24O4bBg) by Loudon Wainright III. Also, [Jack Gets Up](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MdyIOX7szM) by Leo Kottke, and pretty much any of Robert Earl Keen’s songs. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2011, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/42 "2011-10-15T05:21:43Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. I was also going to say this one. Anecdote: this summer I went on a four-hour fishing trip with some people from work. Literally less than two minutes after we got on the boat, this song came on the radio. “Kim” - Eminem “Allentown” - Billy Joel ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2011, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/43 "2011-10-15T05:36:55Z")
Steve Goodman’s [City of New Orleans](http://www.arlo.net/resources/lyrics/new-orleans.shtml) is a good example of painting a picture with words. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2011, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/44 "2011-10-15T12:40:40Z")
**Townes Van Zandt**. Many of his songs do this, but these lines from _Pancho & Lefty_ are posssibly the best - “Livin’on the road my friend Was gonna make you free and clean Now you wear your skin like iron And your breath’s as hard as kerosene.” For a more recent example, _Dust Bowl Dance_ by **Mumford & Sons** is astonishingly vivid. I’d like to quote the whole song, but that’s not allowed so here’s a snippet. “There will come a time I will look in your eye, You will pray to the God that you always denied, The I’ll go out back and I’ll get my gun, I’ll say, “You haven’t met me, I am the only son”.” ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2011, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/45 "2011-10-15T14:16:29Z")
Too many realistic pictures to choose from. So I’ll mention Bob Dylan’s “Desolation Row,” which is dada. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2011, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/46 "2011-10-16T01:21:05Z")
A couple more that have come to me. I saw an **Iron Maiden** tribute band tonight, and it reminded me how evocative their lyrics are. Here’s an example, from _Hallowed Be Thy Name_ - “I’m waiting in my cold cell, when the bell begins to chime. Reflecting on my past life and it doesn’t have much time. 'Cause at 5 o’clock they take me to the Gallows Pole, The sands of time for me are running low…” And for someting completely different, but no less evocative, from **Richard and Linda Thompson** ’s masterpiece _I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight_ - "There’s crazy people running all over town There’s a silver band, just marching up and down And the big boys are all spoiling for a fight I want to see the bright lights tonight Meet me at the station, don’t be late I need to spend some money and it just won’t wait Take me to the dance and hold me tight I want to see the bright lights tonight" ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2011, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/47 "2011-10-16T02:38:49Z")
[The Stones’ “Jigsaw Puzzle”.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyyLOOvwIts) It starts off as a typical 1960s London street scene but then gets out of control by the end. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2011, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/48 "2011-10-16T15:18:30Z")
**Strange Fruit** by Billie Holiday. Can’t get much more evocative than that. ---
**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 16, 2011, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/49 "2011-10-16T17:46:54Z")
A whole bunch of Leonard Cohen’s songs. ---
**Author:** ![Skara\_Brae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Skara\_Brae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skara_Brae)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2011, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/50 "2011-10-16T19:24:02Z")
The Airborne Toxic Event has has a few songs that vividly envoke images (or situations) to me. [Sometime Around Midnight](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYPoMjR6-Ao&ob=av2e) describes meeting an ex and discovering that they are over your relationship, and you’re really, really not. And she leaves With someone you don’t know But she makes sure you saw her She looks right at you and bolts As she walks out the door Your blood boiling Your stomach in ropes And when your friends say, “What is it?” You look like you’ve seen a ghost Also, [All I Ever Wanted](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z4gnELPvxM) describes laying next to someone you care about, but realizing that you aren’t happy with them anymore… I can only say these things to you while you’re sleeping I hear the hum from the wires and the sounds of the morning creep in I lie awake and pretend you can hear me You tell me that you’re scared that you’re turning into your mother I feel myself turning into my father As we lie to each other like they do and say we’re still happy I guess its easy when you’re young and you still want it so badly I turn over again and feel my heart beating faster I stare out the window and I think I might scream ---
**Author:** ![Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/51 "2011-10-17T01:34:33Z")
I caught you knockin’ at my cellar door I love you, baby, can I have some more Ooh, ooh, the damage done… I hit the city and I lost my band I watched the needle take another man Gone, gone, the damage done. ---
**Author:** ![BTEzra04](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9f8e36/32.png) [@BTEzra04](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BTEzra04)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/52 "2011-10-17T02:05:20Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > “Same Old Lang Syne” by Dan Folgelberg. The song that always makes you wistfully sad at Christmas time. Saw the thread title and came in to post just that 🙂 Was just listening to it too, haha. Gorgeous song. A lot of Christmas songs do too, like “In the Bleak Midwinter.” As for others, “Goodnight Saigon” by Billy Joel comes to mind. ---
**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 17, 2011, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/53 "2011-10-17T14:19:25Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > Also **John Eddie** Who the hell’s John Eddie? ---
**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 19, 2011, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/54 "2011-10-19T17:01:07Z")
Carly Simon’s You’re So Vain. ---
**Author:** ![Truman\_Burbank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/55 "2011-10-20T07:44:39Z")
First 2 I thought of were Mary Chapin Carpenter’s I Am a Town, and Dylan’s Tangled Up In Blue. A lot of MCC’s songs fit this bill, but then I think she’s a lyrical genius… ---
**Author:** ![bldysabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@bldysabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bldysabba)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/56 "2011-10-20T09:15:00Z")
‘Temple of the King’ by Rainbow. Very medieval fantasy-world kind of imagery. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/57 "2011-10-20T10:22:15Z")
How about the old romantic favorite, Sink the Bismark! > [@](#): > > Out of the cold and foggy night came the British ship the Hood > And evry British seaman, he knew and understood > They had to sink the Bismark, the terror of the sea > Stop those guns as big as steers and those shells as big as trees ---
**Author:** ![DonLogan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@DonLogan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DonLogan)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/58 "2011-10-20T10:32:48Z")
Clair de lune, Debussy D.O.A., Bloodrock Timothy, The Buoys ---
**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 20, 2011, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622/59 "2011-10-20T16:40:50Z")
Dylan’s Lily, Rosemary & the Jack of Hearts. Juice Newton’s The Queen of Hearts. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-paint-a-picture/599622.md?page=2)