3 Story Songs from the 1970s That Have Gut-Punching Lyrical Twists

Who doesn’t love a good storytelling song? If you’re a fan of tunes with more musical and compositional elements that stand out, more power to you. But there’s something so magical about a song that focuses on a linear story. Such songs are so captivating with the story they tell, and there were plenty of tunes like them in the 1970s. Let’s look at just a couple, shall we?

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“Cats In The Cradle” by Harry Chapin

This folk rock classic was released in 1974, and it still gets praise for the story it tells today. “Cats In The Cradle” by Harry Chapin follows a new father who more or less neglects his child. The little boy looks up to him and wants to be like him when he grows up. By the time you get about halfway through the song, it becomes clear what devastation awaits you. The son grows up, graduates from college, and starts a family of his own, with no time to be spared for his aging father. He did, indeed, grow up to be just like him. 

It’s a cautionary tale about the stereotype of the overworking parent and how we can influence our children negatively, often to our own detriment, in addition to theirs.

“The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia” by Vicki Lawrence

Few genres feature amazing story songs from the 1970s quite like country. And Vicki Lawrence told a very wild tale with her 1972 Southern gothic country pop hit, “The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia”.

In this song, our narrator weaves a tale about her brother, who was executed for a crime he did not commit. However, the narrator states that he did intend to do it. I don’t want to spoil too much of this song. It’s really enthralling to hear it for yourself for the first time. I’ll just say that it’s your classic murder mystery plot, with a twist at the end that you won’t see coming.

“The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald” by Gordon Lightfoot

This entry on our list of story songs from the 1970s is on the spooky side, and it’s quite a creative piece of work from Gordon Lightfoot. “The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald”, a folk rock classic from 1976, chronicles a ship that encounters trouble on Lake Superior and sinks, all 29 crew members on board with it.

The twist here is that the Edmund Fitzgerald was not only real, but Lightfoot’s song was written before anyone could even examine the wreckage. The tale he weaves sounds like some old 19th-century folk legend. However, the tragedy really did happen, and it happened in real time as Lightfoot penned this tune.

Photo by David Redfern/Redferns