Songs from three or more perspectives

So, I was listening to Nancy & Lee's 'Arkansas Coal', and thinking about how it constructs its narrative from three different perspectives, and I couldn't think of many other songs that do so. I assumed that multi-vocal groups would have a few but all the ones I looked up don't really change perspective with each singer.

Criteria:

- Three or more perspectives in the song's narrative.
- A back-up singer in agreement with the main character doesn't count as a separate perspective, no "that's right" or "ooh yeah" cheating.
- The band introducing themselves don't count unless they have something substantial to say that contributes to the narrative.
- Multiple singers expanding upon the same topic don't count unless they have different perspectives on the topic.
- Any number of singers can be involved (in 'Arkansas Coal' Nancy is both mother and daughter, while Lee is the father).

Give me some more, please.

'Bohemian Rhapsody' obviously counts, btw. I haven't even gone through the lyrics but I can think of three different perspectives straight away (the poor boy, the people asking for his life to be spared, the people refusing to spare his life).

Are we excluding musical theatre?

Hmm, that's a good question. I'd definitely allow good examples of it, but would rather it didn't get bogged down in *just* musical theatre songs.

I also grudgingly allow 'Float On' by the Floaters, as although I said introductions don't count, each Floater gives his individual preference for a partner, and therefore his individual perspective. I still don't feel like it's the best fit, though.

There must be some Lou Reed-penned songs that qualify. "Sister Ray"? "Street Hassle"? "The Kids"?

That Deep Puddle Dynamics song that was like Rashomon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMLSiM0oFIw

Oh that one is very nice! I had meant to mention rap stuff in the main post as I think it would be a genre with a lot of possibilities for this, but most of the tracks I could think of that did count were in on technicalities and weren't great examples of what I'm after (like yeah, there are a bunch of people saying different things but it's not really "different perspectives on a narrative").

^^ The first one I thought of was "Roxanne, Roxanne", where each individual singer ("rapper", if you will) ultimately agrees that Roxanne is a stuck-up skeezer, whilst they wildly disagree on whom of the four is the most suitable as her paramour. There must be a million rap tracks in this vein.

Maybe this is cheating, but I also really like songs from different views/places in time:

Shangri-las - Past, Present, and Future

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVMJN0fKJWI

Would something like “Harper Valley PTA” count, where there’s a narrator who is also a character and who is quoting other people?

dylan probably has a ton of these but 'who killed davey moore?' is a song modelled on 'who killed cock robin' about the death of a boxer and has a sequence of people that deny responsibilty - his opponent, his manager, the referee, the crowd who paid to see the fight, a journalist etc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IssR_J0QWr4

maybe bing crosby's 'do you hear what I hear?'?

Would Rush's "2112" count?

I know you have the perspective of the protagonist, the priests of the Temple of Syrinx and arguably the invaders at the end of the song.

"Peruvian Cocaine" by Immortal Technique and a bunch of other guys was the first thing I could think of. Each rapper does a different verse in character as assorted parts of a narcotic supply chain.

Pretty much musical theatre but Get 'Em Out By Friday by Genesis has the landlord, their agent, the soon-to-be-evicted tenant, Genetic Control and also some random guy in a pub all chipping in

Oh lord -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkOepnPJS3o

Rock n Roll Dreams’ll Through

Dylan's "Murder Most Foul" has at least three voices in it. In addition to the main voice, there's a bit where you're in JFK's head, and there's a bit where you hear the voice of his killer.

A few by the Who:

A Quick One
Probably more than one from Tommy
The Dirty Jobs

"There's a Change in the Weather" by the Kinks, specified as being sung by "Working Class Man, Middle Class Man and Upper Class Man".

The Coup has ‘Fat Cats Bigga Fish’ where the hustler, his cousin and a rich guy all get verses, which is followed by a song where Getty, Rockefeller and Trump explain how great it is to be rich.

Pretty much musical theatre but Get 'Em Out By Friday by Genesis has the landlord, their agent, the soon-to-be-evicted tenant, Genetic Control and also some random guy in a pub all chipping in

In "Harold the Barrel", you have at least the narrator, Harold, a couple of townspeople, the mayor, and Harold's mother.

They Might be Giants have like 50 songs which arguably could be about this, including "Particle Man"

In "Gallows Pole", you have the narrator waiting to be hanged, his friend who is too poor to save him, and the hangman who laughs and decides to hang him despite all his bribes.

Although "Particle Man" is sung from the perspective of an omniscient narrator, the characters never speak for themselves.

"Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts" is all third-person, but the POV shifts between the narrator, Lily, Big Jim, and Rosemary.

How about TLC’s “Waterfalls”? (1. T-Boz as narrator, telling two people’s stories; 2. The group, in the chorus; 3. Left Eye)

(I assume we’re not counting rap tracks featuring three or more rappers; but “Mind Playing Tricks on Me” is one of many)

The Highwayman, sort of

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFkcAH-m9W0

More Genesis: All in a Mouse’s Night

Pink Floyd, "The Trial"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtP52jRZFoE

Genesis, "The Battle of Epping Forest" has Mick the Prick and Liquid Len turning up for a line or so, then The Reverend narrates the second half of the song (I think - it's a bit unclear tbh).

Tragically Hip - "New Orleans Is Sinking": Gord himself; Colonel Tom who says "hey North, you're south/Shut your big mouth"; and the woman who says "Gordie baby, I know exactly what you mean" in reply to "sometimes I feel so good I gotta scream".

Sonic Youth- "Schizophrenia": Moore's main narrator; his friend's insane sister, who is quoted by Moore as well as voiced by Gordon; her brother who is quoted by Moore as rather unkindly describing his sister as a bitch with a golden chain.

In "New Orleans Is Sinking", though, those other voices are explicitly presented as Gord quoting? I don't get the feeling they have taken over the song to sing it for themselves.

There's been a lot of conjecture just who and how many people are speaking in the verses of "Tangled Up in Blue".

"Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts" is all third-person, but the POV shifts between the narrator, Lily, Big Jim, and Rosemary.

It's a good thing he removed the verse from the earliest versions from the perspective of Particle Man.

Yeah, if quotations don't count, the Hip one doesn't work and "Schizophrenia" only has two.

eminem’s “stan”: the title character, the artist, and dido’s chorus (standing in for stan’s girlfriend)

Rush - "Hemispheres": Apollo, Dionysus, Cygnus

mewithoutyou - "[dormouse sighs]": narrator, Sansevieria, Burning Books, Bluebird, Dormouse, Little Lamb, Josephine Foster, Nikolai Volkoff [in Croatian muffin hat], Lambs

Queensrÿche - "Suite Sister Mary": Dr. X, Nikki, Mary

mewithoutyou's "Another Head for Hydra" seems to have at least three speakers but I have even more trouble making sense of what is happening there.

Jane Siberry took this to the level of creating an "audio movie" with multiple scene changes in "The White Tent, The Raft" and "The Bird in the Gravel".

Kate Bush in "Waking the Witch".

The Band in "Daniel and the Sacred Harp": the man talking to Daniel, Richard Manuel as Daniel, then a third-person narrator.

Scott Walker's latter-day lyrics are a chaotic collage of multiple perspectives, maybe too fragmented to fit this definition. e.g. "The Cockfighter", which combines testimony from two different trials centuries apart.

John Lydon did a few from two perspectives, "Bodies" and "Banging the door" to start with..

If we are including narrators:

All Along the Watchtower
The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest
Love Henry

Kendrick- Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst

ELP's "Karn Evil 9" seems to have three narrators as far as I can tell - the "I'll be there! I'll be there! I will be there!" guy in First Impression, Part One; the carnival barker in First Impression, Part Two ("Welcome back my friends, to the show that never ends" etc); and the seemingly insane ship's computer in Third Impression ("STRANGER! LOAD YOUR PROGRAM. I AM YOURSELF"). Which all makes it sound better than it is tbh.

3 rappers obv., but "Paul Revere" by the Beastie Boys

'Self-Portrait in Three Colors' by Charles Mingus

"Arkanas Coal" is sometimes the greatest song I know of but I still had to re-listen for the 3rd perspective. How did I forget the wife's part!? It's fab.

There are a few songs on Blueberry Boat with at least three different “voices” going on – “Chris Michaels,” “Chief Inspector Blanchflower”

Oh wow, some great contributions here, thank you. More, more!

I'm not particularly keen on including ones where the narrator is quoting other people for a single line, but if the quote is long enough to get its own verse (or chorus, or something of substantial length) then I would count that, as it's a more in-depth exploration of that perspective.

The Beatles "Teddy Boy" - The narrator, Mama, and Teddy

It’s sort of another 3-rapper example, but: Taylor Swift’s “Endgame”

Can they all be the same person? Pulp's "Disco 2000" has the narrator remembering their past self imagining their future self remembering how they once felt (on that damp and lonely Thursday years ago)... so like 3 distinct perspectives (one imaginary).

Ain't Got a Home, Clarence 'Frogman' Henry - lonely boy, lonely girl, lonely frog.

I think "Harper Valley PTA" has the extended quote thing, def three solid perspectives

xxpost Kendrick's "Fear" has the same narrator at 3 different ages

Frank Zappa - "Flakes": Zappa's own voice, Bob Dylan (voiced by Belew), the moron and his wife, the unionized contractors

Another Zappa is "Brown Shoes Don't Make It".

De La Soul - "Bitties in the BK Lounge"

Ain't Got a Home, Clarence 'Frogman' Henry - lonely boy, lonely girl, lonely frog.

― ledge, Wednesday, March 23, 2022 11:33 AM (six hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

lmao, this is a great answer!

Bobby Bare, Norma Jean & Liz Anderson: "The Game of Triangles"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgXGdM_IcGk

title song of album, which you can also access from here (though the full trio only show up on six tracks)

The Replacements "Lovelines" has perspectives from slightly overweight girls, Mark, Kitten, and finally Paul - "it's all a bunch of shit."

Syd Barrett, "Effervescing Elephant"

The Elephant, the "little one", the hippopotamus, and finally the Tiger.

How to divide them up and assign them is somewhat oblique but I would put the Grateful Dead's "Terrapin Station" in this category - the narrator, the storyteller, the lady with a fan, and possibly also the soldier?

Billy Joel- Piano

Billy J
old man
John at the bar
the bar chorus

uh, Piano Man

Those are just descriptions of the bar denizens, they're not supposed to be singing the song? It's reportage, except maybe on the chorus.

"Son can you play me a memory?
I'm not really sure how it goes
But it's sad and it's sweet and I knew it complete
When I wore a younger man's clothes"

"Bill, I believe this is killing me"
As a smile ran away from his face
"Well, I'm sure that I could be a movie star
If I could get out of this place"

Similarly, "Ode to Billy Joe" gives speaking parts to the father, the mother and the brother

Dylan - Seven Curses

From the original post, I think this change of perspective has to be more than spoken dialogue, otherwise he'd be saying "As a smile ran away from my face".

disagree. That's a line from the narrator btw, which is why it's not in quotes.

I think what Halfway is saying is the narrator is still reporting and hasn't relinquished his perspective to any of the customers, so it's kind of still one perspective

characters can offer their perspective in a story even if they aren't the narrator

Don't we get the son's perspective in "Cat's in the Cradle" even though the father is the narrator?

Yeah, filtered through the father. It's a question of how totally does the perspective have to be transferred to another character to qualify (for our purposes). Does an entire verse have to be given over to another character? In "Piano Man" the narrator adds phrases like "he said" that make it explicit that he's quoting. But it's all about where you draw the line. We can be stricter or less strict about it.

I'll just say, a poem is not exactly a short story-- you give a character 4 lines in a song and that's like 10% of the verses

I mean a song is not like a story

Not sure if it counts, as the chorus/middle 8 is all from the narrator's view, but King Krule's "A Lizard State" involves at least three other people during the verses. And plenty of weird, uncomfortable slang along the way. Nice!

Also: wonderful topic! Very fun to read.

And this:

How about TLC’s “Waterfalls”? (1. T-Boz as narrator, telling two people’s stories; 2. The group, in the chorus; 3. Left Eye)

― Please don’t take / My time change away (morrisp), Tuesday, March 22, 2022 8:55 PM

. . .is always how I've heard this song! Love those 90s "song summary" raps.

in Nilsson's "Coconut" you hear from (1) the narrator describing a brother and sister, (2) the sister's doctor, then (3) the sister herself talking to her doctor.

Crass, "Big A Little A"

verses from god, PM, and queen