"Ethnographic" songs / lyrics?

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I'm looking for examples of songs that lyrically consist of detailled description of (everyday) situations, i.e. that are not confessional, do not tell stories, are not slogan-based, are not about feelings etc, but that rather describe detailled observations of situations of (everyday) life. Ethnographic glimpses into other people's lives, if you will.

To give you an idea of what I mean, "Piano Man" by Billy Joel, "All I wanna do" by Sheryl Crow and "Tom's Diner" by Suzanne Vega would be songs I'm looking for, but surely there are loads more. I'm not looking for specific genres, it's about the way the lyrics are made. Any ideas?

― Herr Fahrstuhl (Herr Fahrstuhl), Sunday, 9 July 2006 21:41 (nineteen years ago)

Starting with the obvious:

The Beatles - A Day in the Life

― Steve Go1dberg (Steve Schneeberg), Sunday, 9 July 2006 21:56 (nineteen years ago)

Two songs that seem to fit the bill, but I'm not really sure they're what you're looking for. I feel like all these songs tell stories. Regardless I'm offering

Madness - Our House
John Mellencamp - Jack and Diane

― kaygee (kaygee), Sunday, 9 July 2006 22:40 (nineteen years ago)

Busy Doin' Nothin" - Beach Boys

― Allen Baekeland (Allen Baekeland), Monday, 10 July 2006 04:21 (nineteen years ago)

String Bean Jean - Belle and Sebastian (maybe)

― ailsa (ailsa), Monday, 10 July 2006 05:46 (nineteen years ago)

kaygee: Our House would fit the bill quite nicely, Jack and Diane also kind of does, but is more about describing the couple than a situation.

To give you all some more information on where I am coming from: I am a student of cultural anthropology and within this area of study there is much discussion on how the observations researchers make in the field can adequately be put into words. Therefore, I want a sampling of songs that do this (or, rather, purport to do this), i.e. songs that describe a certain situation, environment, culture, whatever.

That's why "Our House" would fit the bill, because the song describes a sunday morning in a British working class household in the late seventies / early eighties. Another example: "Piano Man" is a detailled description of a late night lounge (good about this example is the detail the singer gives: "And the microphone smells like a beer").

Thanks for the input so far!

― Herr Fahrstuhl (Herr Fahrstuhl), Monday, 10 July 2006 08:36 (nineteen years ago)

And wrt the songs telling "stories": The songs I'm looking for would (if at all) be rather like a short story than a novel in that they focus on a "slice of life" rather than a long story development. The songs I'm looking for are not about story anyway; A song in which the singer describes his observations while standing on a bus stop in Madrid while the rain has just started (What people are there? What do they look like? Do they run or do they walk? Maybe a newspaper is blown across the street? Which one? Do people close their windows? How do the noises from the street sound?) would be just fine, even though there would be nothing in the way of plot development.

― Herr Fahrstuhl (Herr Fahrstuhl), Monday, 10 July 2006 08:42 (nineteen years ago)

Lots of Belle and Sebastian songs, then. "We Rule the School" and "Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying" come to mind.

― Steve Go1dberg (Steve Schneeberg), Monday, 10 July 2006 22:52 (nineteen years ago)

"Waterloo Sunset" by Kinks and "Sweet Jane" by Velvet Underground describe the behavior of hominid mating couples.

― O-Keigh (O-Keigh), Tuesday, 11 July 2006 00:29 (nineteen years ago)

big black 'kerosene'

― dave q (listerine), Tuesday, 11 July 2006 07:20 (nineteen years ago)

"On My Block," Scarface

― novamax (novamax), Tuesday, 11 July 2006 19:27 (nineteen years ago)

A song in which the singer describes his observations while standing on a bus stop in Madrid while the rain has just started (What people are there? What do they look like? Do they run or do they walk? Maybe a newspaper is blown across the street? Which one? Do people close their windows? How do the noises from the street sound?) would be just fine, even though there would be nothing in the way of plot development.

i believe you're more or less describing the beatles' "penny lane"

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 11 July 2006 20:18 (nineteen years ago)

sounds like Blur to me, especially Sunday Sunday

― winter testing (winter testing), Tuesday, 11 July 2006 20:49 (nineteen years ago)

Pleasant Valley Sunday - The Monkees

― jim wentworth (wench), Wednesday, 12 July 2006 01:18 (nineteen years ago)

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