Of Song and Story

Recently-- and by 'recently' I mean in the last few decades-- the trend in popular music has veered away from using the narrative mode. Listen to almost any genre station you like and take a count; the percent of songs that tell stories is quite low.

Most of songs that get airtime are focused on how rotten or happy somebody feels, how badly they want this or that or the other thing, and so on. That's primarily the lyric mode, and it gets a little tedious. 

I find myself craving story. And of course, I like science fiction and fantasy stories.

Uriah Heep's "Traveller in Time" from the 1972 release, Demons & Wizards. In a decade when narrative  fantasy and scif-themed songs were enjoying a small resurgence, Uriah Heep was one of the most prolific producers.

Robots! Rock opera! Styx!

America is another 70's band that was somewhat prone to lapsing into narrative mode. This song is from the movie, The Last Unicorn, which much impressed seven-year-old me. 

In 1970, Led Zeppelin gave us the original Viking rock song. (Well, probably not the original, since the Vikings presumably had plenty of their own rock songs...Beowulf, for one.)

Another classic, "Children of the Sun" by Australian Billy Thorpe. 

And one more scifi tune from Bill Nelson, "Jet Silver and the Dolls of Venus."