The most famous storyteller in literature, Scheherazade, is a major female character and a storyteller in the Middle Eastern collection of tales known as the One Thousand and One Nights.
According to the story, after learning of his first wife’s infidelity, the monarch Shahryar vows to marry a virgin every day and have her beheaded the next morning before she can betray him. He marries and beheads all the virgins of noble birth in his kingdom except the daughter of his vizier, a clever and beautiful young woman named Scheherazade. To protect her father from Shahryar’s wrath, she offers herself to the king, but Scheherazade has a plan. She asks to say farewell to her little sister, who according to Scheherazade’s instructions, begs for a bedtime story. Shahryar is so taken with her storytelling abilities he spares her life each night for a thousand and one nights until she runs out of stories. By this time, Shahryar has fallen in love with her. He spares her life and makes her his queen.
Every civilization has its storytellers. The purpose of storytelling has changed throughout history. The first stories attempted to explain the unexplainable… why the weather changes or how our world was created. Stories became parables to guide our behavior in society. We evolved from gods to monotheism. We began to tell stories to preserve important events in history and unfortunately, we sometimes attempt to rewrite history to portray our ancestors in a more favorable light.
Originally an oral tradition, gradually songs and stories were written down and preserved for history.
Many famous stories feature characters who save themselves or their villages/kingdoms with their storytelling abilities. Some storytellers related their stories in song. Wandering minstrels roamed Europe entertaining peasants and kings for food, shelter, or gold.
One can argue that every song or written work tells a story, but many songwriters, authors, and poets have gained the distinction of being considered storytellers. I listened to many songs to compile a list of songwriters, I consider to be storytellers. It wasn’t easy, but I rated each songwriter by the mental images I get when I listen to their songs. There are many many other songwriters who deserve to be listed. For the authors listed, I selected authors who presented the strongest storylines. These authors have the ability to make you feel as if you are part of the story.
I’ve compiled a list of well-known songwriters and authors I consider to be storytellers with examples of their work. Who would you include?
Songwriters
Woody Guthrie “I Ain’t Got No Home in this World Anymore” and “This Land is Your Land”
Don McLean “American Pie” and “Vincent”
Bruce Springsteen “The River” and “Thunder Road”
Bob Dylan “Knocking on Heaven’s Door” and “Blowin’ in the Wind”
Willie Nelson “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” and “Angel Flying Close to the Ground”
Pearl Jam “Jeremy” and “Elderly Lady Behind the Counter in a Small Town”
Harry Chapin “Cat’s in the Cradle” and “She Sings Songs Without Words”
Paul McCartney & John Lennon “Blackbird” and “Eleanor Rigby”
Gordon Lightfoot “The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald” and “If You Could Read My Mind”
Elton John & Bernie Taupin “Bennie and the Jets” and “Your Song”
Bob Seger “Night Moves” and “Turn the Page”
Carole King “It’s Too Late” and “Will You Love Me Tomorrow?”
James Taylor “Fire and Rain” and “Her Town Too”
Dolly Parton “Jolene” and “Coat of Many Colors”
Loretta Lynn “Coal Miner’s Daughter” and “The Pill”
Joni Mitchell “The Last Time I Saw Richard” and “My Old Man”
Kate Bush “This Woman’s Work” and “Running up That Hill”
Laura Nyro “Wedding Bell Blues” and “And When I Die”
Patti Smith “Because the Night” and “Dancing Barefoot”
Christina Aguilera “Beautiful” and “The Voice Within”
Taylor Swift “Fifteen” and “Picture to Burn”
Madonna “Live to Tell” and “This Used to be My Playground”
Stevie Nicks “Rhiannon” and “Edge of Seventeen”
Christine McVie “Brown Eyes” and “Over & Over”
Tracy Chapman “Fast Cars” and “Give Me One Reason”
Abbey Lincoln “Throw it Away” and “The Music is the Magic”
Authors
Homer Iliad and Odyssey
Geoffrey Chaucer The Canterbury Tales and Troilus and Criseyde
William Shakespeare “Hamlet” and “The Taming of the Shrew”
Alexander Dumas The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers
Thomas Hardy The Mayor of Casterbridge and Jude the Obscure
DH Lawrence Sons and Lovers and Lady Chatterley’s Lover
Robert Louis Stevenson Treasure Island and Kidnapped
Charles Dickens Great Expectations and
Washington Irving “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”
Edgar Allan Poe “The Tell Tale Heart” and “The Pit and the Pendulum”
Mark Twain A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court and “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”
Joan Didion The Year of Magical Thinking and Slouching Toward Bethlehem
Toni Morrison The Bluest Eye and Beloved
Alice Walker The Color Purple and By the Light of My Father’s Smile
Stephen King Carrie and The Shining
Chuck Palahniuk Fight Club and Adjustment Day
Jesmyn Ward Salvage the Bones and Sing, Unburied, Sing
James Baldwin Go Tell it on the Mountain and If Beale Street Could Talk