Character in Song

[Stackabones]

After reading through some Edwin Arlington Robinson and some of his great poems based on a single character --Richard Corey, Minver Cheevy, Mr Flood's Party -- I've been wondering about songwriters who also did this. (btw, Browning is brilliant at this as well.)

 

Just off the top of my head I can think of Eleanor Ribgy, Stagger Lee, Frankie & Johnnie (I know, two), Johnny B Goode, maybe even Iron Man.

 

I'm not talking about songs with "I" as the main character like Norwegian Wood (I once had a girl) -- I'm talking songwriting fictions.

 

Whachoo got?

 

Have you written with character in mind? Or have characters shown up in your writing?

[LeonardScaper]

Great question!

 

I tend to write most of my songs witht a specific character in mind, sometimes two, as is the case with the last group of tunes that I put together to tell the story of two lovers.

 

It seems, however, that I don't give them names. Just went through my recent catalouge.........46 songs.....no names.

[Stackabones]

Just thinking through The Beatles ...

 

Dr. Robert, Sexy Sadie, Michelle, Julia, Hey Jude, Polythene Pam, Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da, Lovely Rita, Lady Madonna, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds

[dparr]

Rocky Raccoon

 

Mr Kite

 

Nowhere Man

 

Bungalow Bill

 

Dear Prudence

 

Maggie Mae

 

Maxwell's Silver Hammer

 

Mean Mr. Mustard

 

Dizzy Miss Lizzie

 

Anna

[dparr]

The Who:

 

Whiskey Man

 

Mary Anne with the Shaky Hand

 

Cousin Kevin

 

Tommy

 

Sally Simpson

 

Uncle Ernie

 

The Acid Queen

 

Baba O'Riley

 

Doctor Jimmy

 

Bell Boy

 

Sister Disco

 

Athena

 

A Man in a Purple Dress

[blue2blue]

About 2/3 of David Bowie's work, I'd guess.

 

Of course, the amusing thing with Bowie in his energetic prime was that he lived the characters, like a method actor gone berserk.

 

 

Toss in Ray Davies and the Kinks, too.

 

 

Check it: with few exceptions, most of the examples cited here are Brits. (Arlington and Chuck Berry notwithstanding, of course.)

 

I don't think it's a novel observation that, for whatever reasons, there's a larger tradition of observed narrative songs in British pop tradition. A lot of American music is very first person. It's all about you and me. Or perhaps I should quality: US American; I can think of a number of examples of such observed songs from Mitchell, Young, and Lightfoot. Cohen, OTOH, seems to always have worked into the story somewhere -- and usually in a provocative if ambiguous sort of way.

[Stackabones]

Good stuff, dparr! Thanks for refreshing the memory banks!

 

I don't think it's a novel observation that, for whatever reasons, there's a larger tradition of observed narrative songs in British pop tradition. A lot of American music is very first person. It's all about you and me . Or perhaps I should quality: US American; I can think of a number of examples of such observed songs from Mitchell, Young, and Lightfoot. Cohen, OTOH, seems to always have worked into the story somewhere -- and usually in a provocative if ambiguous sort of way.

 

Interesting point. 3rd person is what I'm after, though 1st seems to be common enough. I wonder if there is a connection (anecdotally) between 3rd person and the songwriter's songwriter? I'd think that the 3rd person perspective could give the song, for lack of a better word, a literary quality.

 

But then there's Browning and his dramatic monologues. He creates a character and then speaks from that character's viewpoint (1st person), so I'd guess you call 1st person just a literary as anything else.

 

*

 

I'd bet Tom Waits has a few characters in his work. I'll think through that one.

 

Give me some Cohen, Young et al that you were thinking about.

[floyd1991]

The Who: Whiskey Man Mary Anne with the Shaky Hand Cousin Kevin Tommy Sally Simpson Uncle Ernie The Acid Queen Baba O'Riley Doctor Jimmy Bell Boy Sister Disco Athena A Man in a Purple Dress

 

Don't forget Pinball Wizard!

 

EDIT: / touche

[dparr]

Don't forget Pinball Wizard!

 

I thought about that one, but Tommy "is" the Pinball Wizard so it would be the same character.

[dparr]

Jimi Hendrix:

 

Foxey Lady

 

Little Wing

 

Little Miss Lover

 

Little Miss Strange

 

Ezy Ryder

 

Astro Man

 

Angel

 

Dolly Dagger

 

Peter Gunn

 

Izabella

 

Laughing Sam

 

Hoochie Coochie Man

 

Captain Coconut

 

Trashman

 

Gypsy Boy

[eeglug]

US American; I can think of a number of examples of such observed songs from Mitchell, Young, and Lightfoot. Cohen, OTOH, seems to always have worked

 

I assume you mean Joni and if so, all of these artists you mention are Canadian. Sure they don't necessarily flaunt their Canadian roots and perhaps some or all of them are US citizens by now but still...

 

I just spent Christmas in the country that I am a citizen of and so I guess I'm feeling mildly patriotic...

[rsadasiv]

"Character" songs are almost definitive of the singer-songwriter genre.

[Chicken Monkey]

 

"Character" songs are almost definitive of the singer-songwriter genre.

 

 

I'm not sure that's true. I'd say the reflective "I" songs are definitive, but the 3rd person is definitive of the classic ballad, which got picked up a bit by the S-S types.

 

I almost always write in 1st or second person, but when I'm in 1st person, the main character isn't necessarily me. Does that count?

[AaronF]

Most Johnny Cash songs are character oriented. Bob Dylan tends to do this on occasion as well ("Hurricane").

[Sentry68]

The Eagles had a few- off the top of my head...

Witchy woman

Desperado

New Kid in Town

Doolin' Dalton

James Dean

 

Blue Oyster Cult

Veteran of the Psychic Wars

The Revenge of Vera Gemini (I think...)

Debbie Denise

About a thousand others, including concept albums about aliens

 

Led Zeppelin

Heartbreaker

Livin' Lovin' Maid

Immigrant Song

Gallows Pole

a few others I'm not thinking of...

 

Pink Floyd has an incredible number of characters in their songs, but they do all tend to revolve around the central 'I'. Still, very vivid descriptions of people and interaction throughout many albums.

 

Of course Steely Dan/Donald Fagan has far too many to mention. One of the best IMHO for developing characters and telling a story, even if they are often more like science fiction or at least fantasy.

 

Interesting question. I started looking through old songs and half-finished stuff and realized that I've written (or started) quite a few songs about characters within stories...

[Stackabones]

I almost always write in 1st or second person, but when I'm in 1st person, the main character isn't necessarily me . Does that count?

 

Sure, but I think I'm really searching out the 3rd person approach (though I'm really enjoying all the different suggestions so far). And I'm a bit more interested in characters with proper names rather than abstractions.

 

It's one thing to say "I" and that I is a character named in the title, but another thing if the "I" is not named, don't you think? I've written songs with the "I" that wasn't necessarily me, but can I be trusted, especially if you consider the intentional fallacy?

 

To continue that point ... when dealing with 1st person, the unreliable narrator could be a factor (not limited to 1st person, but it is more common than 3rd). And the unreliable narrator can never be trusted.

[Elias Graves]

I tend to write many of my own songs in 3rd person with characters (complete with names) to go with the story. I like the effect on the song. It seems that songs with stories and interesting or unusual characters pull the listener in to the story very effectively.

 

Many of my characters present themselves to me after I have started the story, other times the reverse is true; the character is there and I write the story to match.

 

There seems to be a couple of different groups that use characters. One is, of course, the story song where there is a traditional fiction style progression of exposition, conflict and resolution. Devil Went Down To Georgia and Turn of The Century both fit this mold.

 

The other style would be using the character for a study of that particular character. Mean Mr Mustard and Heartbreaker both fit here.

 

Using the "show don't tell" paradigm in songwriting, the 3rd person character makes it much easier for me to keep myself from "telling." If I have a character to work with I am able to keep myself focused on events that illustrate the story.

 

EG

[eeglug]

 

I think you missed something there.

 

 

Hmmm I think you're right - my mind is still on holiday. Apologies to b2b.

 

----------------------

 

Where does Randy Newman fall? He's usually singing in a character's voice. For 3rd person stuff, many Brian Eno songs on Here Come The Warm Jets and Taking Tiger Mountain are that way. A bunch of Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa are character-centric as well.

 

In some cases I wonder if the use of 3rd person is a mask for artists who would prefer not to be talking about themselves or being identified with the ideas in their lyrics.

[Stackabones]

 

In some cases I wonder if the use of 3rd person is a mask for artists who would prefer not to be talking about themselves or being identified with the ideas in their lyrics.

 

 

That's possible, but difficult to ascertain, don't you think? The same thing could be said for the 1st-person. A writer could say that the "I" is not the writer and then say what's really on his mind.

[Stackabones]

 

There seems to be a couple of different groups that use characters. One is, of course, the story song where there is a traditional fiction style progression of exposition, conflict and resolution. Devil Went Down To Georgia and Turn of The Century both fit this mold. The other style would be using the character for a study of that particular character. Mean Mr Mustard and Heartbreaker both fit here.

 

 

Solid way of framing the different approaches.

 

*

 

I'm going to flip through my memory today and see what Great American Songbook/standards examples I can find. Many were written for musicals, which is to say that the songwriter(s) wrote in a character's voice, usually 1st-person. There are so many of those that it probably doesn't need to be listed. But 3rd-person?

 

Here are a couple ... Makin' Whoopee, Mona Lisa, Girl From Ipanema, Dinah, Miss Otis Regrets, Stella By Starlight, Two Cigarettes in the Dark.

[Elias Graves]

Hiding behind the third person... Hadn't really thought of that before, but upon reviewing some of my own material, I did notice a few examples of songs I had done that way to get away from something personal. Maybe it is easier to write really personal stuff in the third person to avoid some embarassment or to just turn the pain down a little.

 

Other songs, though, just require that treatment to make them work.

[blue2blue]

I assume you mean Joni and if so, all of these artists you mention are Canadian . Sure they don't necessarily flaunt their Canadian roots and perhaps some or all of them are US citizens by now but still... I just spent Christmas in the country that I am a citizen of and so I guess I'm feeling mildly patriotic...

Really?!?

 

They're a bunch of hoser canucks? Damn!

 

Good thing they got out in time!

 

 

 

:D

 

 

Yeah -- I was actually making a distinction between American and British songwriting and then realized that our neighbors to the north were well represented in the singer-songerwriter category but might not totally share the US American self-absorption and obsession with self. (And I didn't even get around to Ian and Sylvia. ) And that they'd all written various character-driven pieces. (Pardon me for not searching through their songlists for specific examples -- I've got bogged down in that kind of thing far too often. But a few that come to mind: "Famous Blue Raincoat," "Suzanne," "The Loner," "Old Man," "Powderfinger," "Free Man in Paris," "For Free," etc.)

 

Heck, maybe we should add those hosers, the Band, too. They wrote plenty of such songs, "Lonesome Suzie," the harrowing "Tears of Rage" (told from the point of view of a incestuous father), "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," etc.