Count To Ten: Songs that tell a Story

“Cohen’s soulful delivery over a delicately fingerpicked blues acoustic tells the story of an uncomfortable pair of lovers that just can’t seem to part. The simplicity of the lyrics about the duality of this relationship leaves an inconclusive sense of passion that drifts through my mind whenever I have a quiet moment.”

“Helicopter parents, institutions and NOT being given a Pepsi: What’s not to hate? Angst-fuelled vocals spat over crossover thrash, Mike Muir refuses help from his peers or parents in this spoken- narrative punk staple. Muir’s retaliation is only inflamed by the frantic progression in pace, it makes me want something to be pissed off about.”

“Saloons, guns and brawls over broads frame this ballad. Set in 1932, Nick Cave retells the notorious shooting of William ‘Billy’ Lyons by gun-slinging gangster “Stag Lee” originally set in 1895. Nick Cave howls almost every profanity under the sun over a raunchy bassline and clean drumbeat in this homicidal recital.”

“Smoothly fusing nihilistic spoken word with a blunt sung chorus, Black Box Recorder reminisce an unusually bleak childhood experience. In her early years the protagonist of this story visited a series of child psychologists to try and cure her of being mute and her disruptive behaviours at school. The controversial chorus repeats ‘Life is unfair, kill yourself or get over it’, perfectly capturing late 90s cynicism.”

“A spiralling account of falling over the edge on psychedelics, Jeffrey Lewis’ distorted fingerpicking and quivering vocals make me never want to touch drugs again. The slow folk build-up accommodates the unsettling climax of the song, where Lewis screams ‘Mindless, meaningless, nothingness’ repeatedly, embodying the epitome of a bad trip and hallucinogenic revelations on LSD.”

“Under the alias ‘Viktor Vaughn’, MF DOOM takes the mic with Apani B recounting the story of player Vik Vaughn in this conversational collaboration. The interaction is smooth, sleazy and picturesque, a lust story. DOOM’s alter ego, Vik Vaughn, wrongly assumes he can fool Nikki with his sweet talk, in which Nikki responds with such captivating outrage in the closing lines of the song.”

“The arguably eeriest song on this list is mastered by Tom Waits, telling an unsettling rural horror tale describing a monstrous feminine creature, with a vocal delivery that I can only describe as villainous and a fragmented instrumental that I would only hear in my nightmares. Whether it be a love song or a mere fascination with this woman who ‘had these scapular wings/ That were covered with feathers and electrical tape’ and ‘collected bones of all kinds/ And she lived in a trailer under a bridge’. The imagery is bitter, visceral and terrifying. I am equally obsessed with this winged drunken presence as I am afraid of her.”

“A retelling of a folktale about a broken family from South Carolina, a tattooed redneck boyfriend choking a priest and red blood mixed with white milk on the floor. In this dialogue driven verse, Jack White recreates this pastoral murder with the perfect balance of bluesy elegance and unfiltered violence.”

“Set in the bands hometown Grand Rapids, Michigan, Jordan Dreyer tells the story of a heartbreaking drive-by shooting whom the victim is an innocent bystander. Told in first person, Dreyer imagines himself as a ghostly observer of a mother having to bury her son. The pain of this tragedy is reflected tenderly through the melodic yet chilling guitar and Dreyer’s raw screamo vocal narration, in which the climatic lyric ‘Can I still get into heaven if I kill myself?’ concludes the song.”

“In this enticing freestyle with effortless vocal delivery, Little Simz recalls her youth and upbringing in Islington, North London. Little Simz bounces between light-hearted nostalgia such as ‘Playing PS2/ Crash Bandicoot, Mortal Kombat’ and meaningful social commentary ‘Just another black boy in the system doing time in bin’.”