The Storytellers
September 10, 2023
Ron
I think music is one of the really superb things we do as humans that you don't find anywhere else — not like this, anyway — and music lends itself so well to story-telling. And the human voice? Oh my God. The human voice in the 20th century is unparalleled in history. Completely divine. Literally. These sounds brought interest from across the galaxy to listen in wonder at these vibrations and capabilities. "Are they angels," they wondered, "or something other?" When human vocals are joined with instrumentation, magical things happens.
All of the following numbers tell great stories — some directly and some a bit more obliquely — and they all have something else in common, too: they were all monster successes. But this first one is the grandmama of country/pop turbo-hits and it's a terrific story with a sexy, sultry narrator who scorched the airwaves in the late 60s culture with her impressive string of southern Delta-inspired odes.
"ODE TO BILLY JOE" (1967) — Bobbie Gentry
[BBC Live 1968.]
["The Andy Williams Show 1971."]
"Revisiting the Mysteries of Bobbie Gentry and Her Cultural Classic 'Ode to Billy Joe'” — James Perloff
[Great article. I like James a lot.]
"THE NIGHT THE LIGHTS WENT OUT IN GEORGIA" (1973) — Vicki Lawrence
“A BOY NAMED SUE” (1969) — Johnny Cash
"HARPER VALLEY P.T.A." (1968) — Jeannie C. Riley
[You have no idea how obsessed I was with it. And when I say I wore the grooves out on the record, I mean I literally wore the grooves out on the record until there was nothing but static; my parents had to get a new one. I was so drawn into this story.]
‘IN THE GHETTO” (1969) — Elvis Presley
"FANCY" (1969) — Bobbie Gentry
“CAT'S IN THE CRADLE” (1974) — Harry Chapin
"JOLENE" (1973) — Dolly Parton
[The story is funny. That poor girl. "You red-headed hussy!" LMAO.]
"ME AND BOBBY McGEE" (1971) — Janis Joplin
"COAL MINER'S DAUGHTER" (1970) — Loretta Lynn
[This is quite something.]
“THE SINGER” (1970) — Barbra Streisand
[It's a great singer's story, first released by the always-overwrought Liza Minnelli.]
“COPACABANA” (1978) — Barry Manilow
‘DARK LADY” (1974) — Cher
“HOTEL CALIFORNIA” (1977) — Eagles
“GITARZAN" (1969) — Ray Stevens
[I had a routine that I did to this number which truly never failed to make my dad wet himself. I could always make him laugh — and he liked to laugh so it was a good arrangement. And he constantly had me do this goofy number for horrified guests. I'd blast the 45 on our great big cabinet stereo and lip sync my over-the-top pantomime, and people were quite naturally humiliated and kind of speechless and very definitely horrified for me, but Daddy and I would just roll with laughter. Tickling each other was the game.]
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