Song story: Bonnie Raitt and narrative brevity

Want to amaze your friends? Impress your significant other? Be the hit of any writing brownbag? Pose this question:  What's the shortest story ever told?

Give your audience a few moments and then wow them with:

For sale.
Baby shoes.
Never worn.

Six words.

This story's provenance— the product of a bar bet waged by Ernest Hemingway—seems apocryphal, but I'm happy to be corrected by a reliable source.

But there's no question who wrote another masterpiece of brevity I've been obsessively playing on my iPod to and from work: Bonnie Raitt's "Nick of Time."

I marvel at the way the song treats universal themes--yearning, ravages of time, loss and redemption-- through a range of evocative characters, their predicament shaped by the classic beginning, middle and end triad, and, despite its brevity, a significant amount of repetition, all combined to produce a clear and compelling narrative:

A friend of mine she cries at night, and she calls me on the phone. Sees babies everywhere she goes and she wants one of her own. She's waited long enough, she says, and still he can't decide. Pretty soon she'll have to choose and it tears her up inside. She is scared. Scared to run out of time.

Verse ii
--------
I see my folks, they're getting on and I watch their bodies change.
I know they see the same in me, and it makes us both feel strange.
No matter how you tell yourself, it's what we all go through;
Those eyes are pretty hard to take when they're staring back at you:
Scared to run out of time.

Chorus
------
When did the choices get so hard?
With so much more at stake
Life gets mighty precious when there's less of it to waste.
Waste.
Hummmm...scared to run out of time.

Verse iii
---------
Just when I thought I'd had enough and all my tears were shed
No promise left unbroken, there were no painful words unsaid.
You came along and showed me how to leave it all behind.
You opened up my heart again and then much to my surprise,
I found love, love, in the nick of time.
I found love, darling, love in the nick of time
I found love, baby, love in the nick of time

--"Nick of Time." Words and music by Bonnie Raitt

A story, whole, in just 255 words. It's 3 minutes, 52 seconds of music are best appreciated by ear or earbud. (The tinny 29-second Amazon.com sample doesn't do justice to Raitt's whiskey voice or her soulful backup).

How does she do it in so short a space? That's why I enjoy listening to the song and pondering the power of its lyrics. 

Comments

[Mark Hamilton]

Chris:

At least once a semester I try to get my students jazzed about listening to good songwriters (Steve Earle is one of my favourite examples) for their ability to frame a novel -- or at least a longish feature story -- in three and a half minutes and for their use of metaphor to paint visual pictures (like Earle describing a road as "straighter than a preacher and longer than a memory").

Mark

[Kristin Ohlson]

I love that song. I also think Bruce Springsteen tells great, great stories. Not just in the iconic songs like Thunder Road, but in some of the less-known ones, too. And the stories are so distinctly American, too-- I often wonder if Europeans and others scratch their heads at this thing he has about cars.

[Rebecca Dube]

I too love Bruce Springsteen for narrative inspiration.
I got a fabulous book when I started at AP (a gift from a friend attempting to console me about my new length limits) called "The World's Shortest Stories" -- I highly recommend it. Here's my favourite, by Jeffrey Whitmore (and at 53 words, I hope it's not too long to reproduce here):
Bedtime Story
"Careful, honey, it's loaded," he said, re-entering the bedroom.
Her back rested against the headboard. "This for your wife?"
"No, too chancy. I'm hiring a professional."
"How about me?"
He smirked. "Cute. But who'd be dumb enough to hire a lady hit man?"
She wet her lips, sighting along the barrel.
"Your wife."

[Chip]

short shorts are big in fiction now, Rebecca. This is a great example. Thanks,
Chip

[lili]

I love this song. It's an simple and yet emotional approach to the live of women in their thirties, forties, and the challenges we're facing. Every day. Amazing writing, wonderful music. I'm glad you appreciate it as much as I do.
Best,
Lili (a Panamanian woman of 33)

[lili]

I love this song. It's a simple yet emotional approach to the life of women in their thirties, forties, and the challenges we're facing. Every day. Amazing writing, wonderful music. I'm glad you appreciate it as much as I do.
Best,
Lili (a Panamanian woman of 33)

[David Dawson]

Chip,

I ran across this post and felt compelled to comment. Bonnie Raitt is terrific, and Nick of Time is one of her best -- a whole world in three verses and a chorus, with some very nice slide guitar in the bargain.

An amazing storyteller in song is Richard Thompson, a British singer/songwriter who was once a member of Fairport Convention. His song "Dimming of the Day" has been widely covered, including a fine version by Bonnie Raitt on her "Longing in Their Hearts" album. Thompson finer songs include "Vincent Black Shadow" and "Bees Wing," but just about all of them do what you're describing here: build a story in three or four minutes of very good music.

[Chip]

Thanks, David. I'll have to check it out. I appreciate the read and the tip.
Chip

[Mike]

Of course, what would the evocative lyrical narrative be without the contributions of the great Leonard Cohen?