storytelling songs
Songs with plots
Songs that narrate a story with characters, events, and often a clear beginning, middle, and end.
The term encompasses folk ballads, murder ballads, concept pieces, and narrative country songs—any song where plot takes precedence over mood or feeling: Johnny Cash's "A Boy Named Sue" is a classic storytelling song.
Distinguished from lyric songs, which express emotion without narrative arc.
- troubadourMedieval Provençal lyric poet
- historical balladsSongs recounting past events
- murder balladsSongs narrating killings
- tragic heroCharacter whose flaw causes ruin
- balladNarrative poem or song
protest songs · cautionary tales · narrative arc · love stories · tale as old as time · sea shanties · drinking songs · folk tales · oral tradition · once upon a time · epic · traditional folk music · work songs · broadside ballads · suspenseful storytelling · lullabies · fantasy narratives · sing-alongs
storytelling songsinstrumental music
Music without vocals
instrumentals · ambient music · orchestral pieces · soundscapes · scat singing