I loved hard-rock bands, and I loved songwriters who told stories.
I've always hated narrative songs. I hate those songs where, basically, it's an unfolding of a story.
I always like story songs, Dolly Parton, Tom T. Hall, Mel Tillis, Red Stegall, when they'd do their story songs. I was totally enthralled.
Songwriters I've always been drawn to are people who deal with something of depth in the lyric writing. ...I've always been influenced by the folk song, the storytelling tradition in folk music. And so for years I wrote mostly story songs. I still do that, but as I've gone on, it's gotten a little more personal. I used to write mostly in the third person. I write a little more in the first person now.
I listened to a lot of Bob Dylan songs to see how he works. I've gotten into writing story-songs.
I think songwriters are more related to fiction writers. The Odyssey was a story in song. To me, that's so beautiful, all those painted characters, all those travels and adventures.
I like any song that can tell a story that people can relate to.
I love story songs because I've always loved books.
When people tell really good stories in songs, I really like it.
In the society of illusion, reality must manifest itself. The story songs of Joel Rafael are that manifestation... the essence of minstrel.
That's one of the things I like best about folk music is the beautiful melodies - and the harmonies - that exist in it. And of course, some of the stories, the story songs.
I make up stories in my head all the time, but I've never written them down. But I write a lot of story songs. Any song I'm singing, I sort of see it like a movie in my head. That's why a lot of times I close my eyes when I'm singing.
I love story songs. It's just, for me, they're harder to write, and sometimes they sound too intended or something.
The songs I love to sing are story songs, from Yiddish songs to Tom Waits.
Country songs are theatrical songs, they tell stories, and wear the hearts on their sleeves and they have great melodies.
I love songs that tell stories. They make you feel something, something real.
A lot of my early career, I wrote story songs that had narratives, that had plots.
