We are two mariners
Our ships’ sole survivors
In this belly of a whale

Its ribs our ceiling beams
Its guts our carpeting
I guess we have some time to kill

You may not remember me
I was a child of three
And you, a lad of eighteen

But I remember you
And I will relate to you
How our histories interweave

At the time you were
A rake and a roustabout
Spending all your money
On the whores and hounds
Oh Ohhhhh

You had a charming air
All cheap and debonair
My widowed mother found so sweet

And so she took you in
Her sheets still warm with him
Now filled with filth and foul disease

As time wore on you proved
A debt-ridden drunken mess
Leaving my mother
A poor consumptive wretch
Oh Ohhhhh

And then you disappeared
Your gambling arrears
The only thing you left behind

And then the magistrate
Reclaimed our small estate
And my poor mother lost her mind

Then one day, in spring
My dear sweet mother died
But before she did
I took her hand as she, dying, cried:
Oh Ohhhhh

“Find him, bind him
Tie him to a pole and break
His fingers to splinters
Drag him to a hole until he
Wakes up naked
Clawing at the ceiling
Of his grave
*sigh*”

It took me fifteen years
To swallow all my tears
Among the urchins in the street

Until a priory
Took pity and hired me
To keep their vestry nice and neat

But never once in the employ
Of these holy men
Did I ever, once, turn my mind
From the thought of revenge
Oh Ohhhhh

One night I overheard
The prior exchanging words
With a penitent whaler from the sea

The captain of his ship
Who matched you toe to tip
Was known for a wanton cruelty

The following day
I shipped to sea
With a privateer

And in the whistle
Of the wind
I could almost hear…
Oh Ohhhhh

“Find him, bind him
Tie him to a pole and break
His fingers to splinters
Drag him to a hole until he
Wakes up naked
Clawing at the ceiling
Of his grave

“There is one thing I must say to you
As you sail across the sea
Always, your mother will watch over you
As you avenge this wicked deed”

And then that fateful night
We had you in our sight
After twenty months at sea

Your starboard flank abeam
I was getting my muskets clean
When came this rumbling from beneath

The ocean shook
The sky went black
And the captain quailed

And before us grew
The angry jaws
Of a giant whale

oh ohhhh

Don’t know how I survived
The crew all was chewed alive
I must have slipped between his teeth

But, oh! What providence!
What divine intelligence!
That you should survive
As well as me

It gives my heart
Great joy
To see your eyes fill with fear

So lean in close
And I will whisper
The last words you’ll hear
Ohh Ohhhhh

‘Why Georgia’ by John Mayer tells a story about something a lot of people have gone through: a quarter life crisis. You know that time at some point during your twenties when you went ‘Shit, wtf do I really want to do in life?’or ‘Am I on the right path?’ …that sort of thing.

This song offers John Mayer’s own personal twist to the quarter life crisis though. He had dropped out of the Berklee College of Music after two semesters to try and build a music career in Atlanta, Georgia during his early twenties.

Things in Georgia got pretty rough for him and he started to wonder if he had made the right decision or if his life would ever turn out the way he’d hoped. You can hear the loneliness in the lyrics as he continually doubts his decision to try and make a life for himself in a place so far from home..

From the album Room For Squares by John Mayer.

Lyrics:

I am driving up 85 in the
kind of morning that lasts all afternoon
just stuck inside the gloom

Four more exits to my apartment but
I am tempted to keep the car in drive
and leave it all behind

Cause I wonder sometimes
about the outcome
of a still verdictless life

Am I living it right?
Am I living it right?
Am I living it right?
Why, why Georgia, why?

I rent a room and I fill the spaces with
wood in places to make it feel like home
but all I feel’s alone
It might be a quarter life crisis
or just the stirring in my soul

Either way, I wonder sometimes
about the outcome
of a still verdictless life

Am I living it right?
Am I living it right?
Am I living it right?
Why, why Georgia, why?

So what, so I’ve got a smile on me
but it’s hiding the quiet superstitions in my head
Don’t believe me
Don’t believe me
When I say I’ve got it down

Everybody is just a stranger but
that’s the danger in going my own way
I guess it’s the price I have to pay
still “Everything happens for a reason”
is no reason not to ask myself

If your’re living it right
Are you living it right?
Are you living it right?
Why, tell me why
Why, why Georgia why?

Ever heard the song ‘Landslide’ and wondered what the story behind it was? It’s been redone several times (Smashing Pumpkins, Dixie Chicks, etc) but it was originally written by Stevie Nicks during a time in her life where big changes were looming on the horizon. All her hard work towards a music career had left her broke and her family gently gave her an ultimatum…

She explained the story behind this song on VH1 Storytellers:

I guess it was about in September, 1974, I was home at my Dad and Mom’s house in Phoenix and my father said, “You know, I think that maybe, you’ve really put a lot of time in this (music career) and maybe, maybe you should give this six months. And if you want to go back to school we’ll pay for it.” And uh then basically you can do whatever you want to and we’ll pay for it. So, I have wonderful parents. And I went, “Cool, I can do that.”

Lindsey and I went up to Aspen and we went to somebody’s incredible house and they had a piano and I had my guitar with me and I went in their living room, looking out over the incredible like Aspen skyway and I wrote “Landslide”.

…three months later Mick Fleetwood called on the, on the, on New Years Eve 1974, called and asked us to join Fleetwood Mac. So it was three months, I still had three more months to go to beat my six month goal that my Dad gave me. So that’s what “Landslide” is about…

As specific as the story behind this song is, I think it’s really easy for people to relate to it thanks to how open she left the lyrics. What do you think? Y/N?

From the album Fleetwood Mac (Deluxe Edition) by Fleetwood Mac.

Lyrics:

Took this love and I took it down
Climbed a mountain and I turned around
And I saw my reflection in the snow covered hills
Till the landslide brought me down

Oh, mirror in the sky, what is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
And can I sail through the changing ocean tides
Can I handle the seasons of my life?
Oh oh I don’t know, oh I don’t know

Well, I’ve been afraid of changing
‘Cause I’ve built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Children get older I’m getting older too
Yes I’m getting older too, so

I’ve been afraid of changing
‘Cause I, I’ve built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Children get older
I’m getting older too oh yes
I’m getting older too

So, take this love, take it down
Oh if you climb a mountain and you turn around
If you see my reflection in the snow covered hills
Well the landslide will bring you down, down
And if you see my reflection in the snow covered hills

Well maybe the landslide will bring you down
Well well, the landslide will bring you down

Diamonds In The Dark, I love this song for it’s peppy sound that pulls you in, making you want to start singing along within the first thirty seconds. But if you really listen to the lyrics the story that’s told is a bit different than you might expect from such an upbeat tune.

It opens with the line ‘Looking back now I regret, You’re a promise that I never kept’ and with that the main character starts to tell his story of what could have been…

From the album Diamonds In The Dark by Mystery Jets.

Lyrics:

Looking back now I regret,
You’re a promise that I never kept.
Waiting in my room in vain,
Time winds back and back again.

Outside the school gates,
We first met in a basement near the park
(Diamonds in the dark)
We danced all night and then we kissed,
Your smile like diamonds in the dark.

It’s a long way to fall
When the words stray
No-one calls

We would have little children,
We would be together forever.
(Diamonds in the dark)
We would live on Delancy Street,
Then you cut your hair
And it ended there.

It’s a long way to fall (long way)
When the words stray
No-one calls

Looking back now I regret,
You’re a promise that I never kept.
Waiting in my room in vain,
Time winds back and back again.

Now I’ve nothing left to lose,
Clinging to a cliff-face
Staring at your shoes
And tell me, tell me, tell me
Do you feel the same?
Or are we just waiting for a day we can’t,
A day that we can’t change.

And now there’s this no-mans land
Between you and me
(Diamonds in the dark)
But I still wander in between
The sheets and streets
And other places we’ve been

It’s a long way to fall (long way to fall)
When the words stray
No-one calls (such a long way to fall)
It’s a long way to fall (long way to fall)
When the words stray
No-one calls

Looking back now I regret,
You’re a promise that I never kept.
Waiting in my room in vain,
Time winds back and back again.

Back and back again,
Back and back again,
Back and back again,
Back again

‘Late Bloom’ by Amy Ray tells the story of being run out of town, struggling with crazy dreams, taking second place sometimes, and trying to make meaning out of life’s relationships. At least that’s what it sounds like to me ;). What do you think, Y/N?

From the album Stag by Amy Ray.

Lyrics:

I won’t be a pawn
We roughed it up when we were young
I won’t say so much for that
What do you do when it is done
Cause I know
We grow
When it’s over

I used to dream
All the force of solyent green
Lazy geese and the weather warm
Oh my life of humidity
But I know
We grow
(I know we grow)
When it’s over

All that time
I spent walking behind
Now I don’t mind
Cause now I know

They ran us out of town
Oh come on they cut us down
Raised the flag of the fealty
Oh the life of futility
But I know
We grow
(I know we grow)
When it’s over

All that time
That you were walking the line
Well
Now I don’t mind
Now I know

All that time
That I spent walking behind you
Now I don’t mind
Cause now I know

We grow
When it’s over
We grow

‘The Engine Driver’ by The Decemberists is a great example of a song with different layers of stories in it.

The protagonist is a heartbroken writer who can’t forget about the one he loves. In desperation he tries to escape his own life by immersing himself in the act of writing and the world of his fictional characters: an engine driver, a lineman, and a money lender. But it turns out that his characters are just as trapped as he is…

At least that’s the way this song sounds to me, what do you think? y/n?

From the album Picaresque by The Decemberists.

Lyrics:

I’m an engine driver
On a long run, on a long run
Would I were beside her
She’s a long one, such a long one

And if you don’t love me let me go
And if you don’t love me let me go

I’m a county lineman
On the high line, on the high line
So will be my grandson
There are powerlines in our bloodlines

And if you don’t love me let me go
And if you don’t love me let me go

And I am a writer, writer of fictions
I am the heart that you call home
And I’ve written pages upon pages
Trying to rid you from my bones
My bones
My bones

I’m a money lender
I have fortunes upon fortunes
Take my hand for tender
I am tortured, ever tortured

And if you don’t love me let me go
And if you don’t love me let me go

And I am a writer, writer of fictions
I am the heart that you call home
And I’ve written pages upon pages
Trying to rid you from my bones
I am a writer, I am all that you have hoped on

And I’ve written pages upon pages
Trying to rid you from my bones
My bones
My bones

(And if you don’t love me let me go)
And if you don’t love me let me go
(And if you don’t love me let me go)
And if you don’t love me let me go

‘Patches’ by Clarence Carter tells the story of a boy who’s thrown into the role of breadwinner for the family after his father dies. The only thing that keeps him going is to remember what his father said to him two days before he passed away…

From the abum Patches: Dynamic Clarence Carter by Clarence Carter.