Narrative Voice and Songwriting

I  think jack and dianna by john melloncamp would fit in here.

Yes, that's a good one. Thanks for suggesting it!

Interesting question.  My first reaction was that I haven't written very many.  Then I looked at songs I've recorded on CDs and was surprised that out of 50 songs I've recorded, 16 of them are in the 3rd person or "neutral" (about rivers, sunrises, etc). None, however were from the opposite sex's point of view.

I used to attend a songwriters group.  One of the interesting exercises we would do was read an article in the newspaper and then write about what happened from different points of view.  For instance, there might be a story about a teenage couple being in a car wreck.  Each writer had to write a song from the view of a different person, such as the girl or boys mother or father, the police officer that arrived first on the scene, a witness to the accident, the hairdresser that liked to spread gossip, a fellow student, etc.  It forced you to look at a situation from a different perspective and sometimes resulted in some interesting lyrics.

DE

Dirty Ed,

Thanks for the additions to the third person list, and the song writing exercise is great! I look forward to trying it out.

I'm not familiar with all the songs you mentioned in your second post, but I believe "Desperado" (if it's  the "Eagles" version) is written in first person. The first verse goes:

Desperado, why don't you come to your senses ?
You been out ridin' fences for so long now   
Oh, you're a hard one,     I know that you got your reasons,
These things that are pleasin' you can hurt you somehow

The "I know that you got your reasons" suggests the first-person point of view.  If the writer had said, "you know that you got your reasons" then I think it would be in second person; on the other hand, if the writer had said, "Desperado, he never comes to his senses,/He's been out ridin' fences for so long now/Oh, he's a hard one, though he's got his reasons/These things that are pleasing can hurt him somehow," then it would be third person.

I'm not an expert on this, so comments/corrections are welcome.

Just got home from doing three 12.5 hour day shifts (14 hours each day if you include the drive to and from work) so my brain is a little foggy, but I believe your comment about "Desperado" is correct Artless.  The story is about another person but you can tell that it is being told by the singer/songwriter.  After a little thought, "Gospel According to Luke" and "Never Leave Harlan Alive" would fall in the same category.  I think "Sam Stone" would make the cut though (if I remember all the lyrics correctly). Since its the Christmas season, maybe "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer" should be considered too.

Then I began to think about songs that don't specifically use "I" but it is implied that the singer/songwriter is telling the story.  "Jack and Diane" begins and ends with the phrase "little ditty about Jack and Diane" which implies that the singer either wrote or heard the "ditty" and wants to pass it on.  In "Eleanor Rigby", the song implores you to "look at all the lonely people" - is it the singer writer that is asking you to do that?

Then I stretched it further and wondered about songs that use "I" but the lyrics don't seem to be referring to the writer, such as the "The Eagle and the Hawk" by John Denver which starts with "I am the eagle and live in high country" or maybe "I Am the Walrus" by the Beatles.

Anyway, all this thinking is giving me a headache.  I probably won't be able to sleep tonight because of it and will be tired when I begin my 12.5 hour night shifts tomorrow evening after just a 20-hour turn around.  I'll probably get drowsy on the drive to work, doze off and go left of center, hitting another car and killing innocent people.  Then I'll be sent to prison for 20 years for vehicular homicide, get raped by my cell mate "Bubba", catch AIDS and die............... all of this because you started this thread Artless.

You'll be hearing from my estate's lawyer after my funeral ...............................

lol,

DE

John Prine also does Donald and Lydia

Cam

Also:

Taxi by Harry Chapin
Shooting Star by Bad Company
Take The Money And Run - Steve Miller Band
The Devil Went Down To Georgia - Charlie Daniels

Oh yeah, "I was gonna learn to fly." I walked through the lyrics in my head but I misremembered that line. Oops.

The song I wrote for my anniversary is written in the third person.  It IS about us, but I did write it to be telling a story about two people so it could be sung by someone other than me.  I have high doubts that anyone but myself will ever sing it though.

Running Bear

Tom Dooley

I think a lot of story songs are written in the third person - I like story songs.  I wonder though about writing from the man's perspective instead of the woman's.  I tend to switch songs' lyrics up when they're "man" songs so that they sound right when I, a female, sing them.

I wrote a song one time describbing and partially including dialog from a young hooker on skid road..I wrote it originally many years before the hookers killed on that  Pig Farm Story outside Vancouver BC.. But after that happened I added a few appropriate words to the beginning and ending to show that in the song...