“Hot Rod Race” (#29 for Tiny Hill)
“Hot Rod Lincoln” (#9 for Commander Cody)
“Transfusion” (#8 for Nervous Norvus)
“An Open Letter to My Teenage Son” (#10 for Victor Lundberg)
Definitely not a hit, but, “Legend of the U.S.S. Titanic” by Jamie Brockett.
The chorus is sung, but the “verses” are spoken words. It’s about a prize fighter who was not allowed on the Titanic because he was black, and a possible explanation for its sinking.
Many examples from Cake, but I guess the hit-est example would be The Distance.
Yes, though, to make you feel even older, three of the original five members are dead.
ETA: Making the band name pretty appropriate!
“Subterranean Homesick Blues” is pretty much as close as you can get to rap/hip-hop while technically being bluesy folk/rock. Had it been made 50 years later, though, it’d probably be called rap.
Wait… page 2 and no mention of “I’m Too Sexy” by Right Said Fred? Or did I miss something?
Yep, you missed the universal agreement to forever wipe that atrocity from our collective memories. Someone will be with you shortly to assess the appropriate penalty.
I have this fragment… from a country song… “Should you go first and I remain…” I don’t know. Ferlin Husky? Who knows that line?
I think Suzanne Vega’s “Tom’s Diner” kinda lands somewhere in the middle. It’s rhythmic and melodic, but it seems like much of it is…spoken tunefully rather than sung.
IMHO, both rap (and SHB) are descended from Talking Blues. To me SHB is still more blues-rock rather than rap precursor but can easily be turned into rap in much the same way as Run-D.M.C.'s version of Aerosmith’s ‘Walk This Way:’
I think it’s all about really hammering the spoken beat with help from a chorus/backup.
Now there’s a backseat** lover**
That’s always under** cover**
And I talk til my daddy** say**
Said you ain’t seen** nuthin**
Til you’re down on her muffin
FWIW here’s “First Aid Kit” rapping Subterranean Homesick Blues:
Johny’s in the basement
Mixing up the medicine
I’m on the pavement
Thinking about the government
There is the bit at the end about, “I am thinking of your voice,” where she’s singing. Beautifully too. Though that’s on the DNA remix, and I’m not sure if it’s on her original song.
Reading the O.P.: wasn’t this pretty much Johnny Cash’s entire gig? Though the line between spoken and lightly sung is a hazy one, I guess.
I cruised the original posts and didn’t notice
Ed Ames “Who Will Answer?”
Not only did he protect Ol Daniel but he had a Hell of a voice as well.
I’m surprised that no one has mentioned Uneasy Rider by Charlie Daniels.
Here are a few others:
One Piece at a Time by Johnny Cash
Wild Wood Weedby Jim Stafford
Found. Beyond the Sunset by Hank Williams.
Also, The Baggage Coach Ahead by Doc and Chickie Williams et al.
Red Sovine and “Giddyup Go”? More just spoken it did hit Billboards #1 slot for a while.
Sheryl Crow’s All I Wanna Do is mostly spoken.
And I am not sure how to categorize what Jennifer Lawrence is doing on The Hanging Tree, melodic speaking?
See that’s one of the greatest songs of all time, so you lost me there.
Big Bad John! I’ll second that. Country songs like that developed the style.
Hey, if anyone does look up “In the Baggage Coach Ahead” (Doc/Chickie Williams), brace yourselves. It’s appalling and sad. Back in Appalachia, our mothers used to play it to watch us cry.
I also recall Little Becky’s Christmas Wish being used for that purpose. It came much later than Baggage Coach. It was an anti-war song. (Vietnam)
Forgive me if there was an earlier mention of this, but we must not forget that masterpiece of trashy garage rock, “Little Girl” by the Syndicate of Sound.