I like a song that tells a story. Songs have been doing this for over 5000 years. In fact, it is the song that carried the history of man on Earth for the great part of that time as troubadours passed their tales and cultures on to generation after generation.

Michael Jackson’s Ode To Billie Jean written by Bobbi Gentry is one of the more recent ones and one of my all-time favorites. Johnny Cash’s A Boy Named Sue is another. Some of my other’s I can think of are:

The Temptations, Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone
Joni Mitchell, The Last Time I Saw Richard
Jeannie C. Riley, Harper Valley PTA
Simon & Garfunkel, Save The Life Of My Child
Harry Chapin, Cat’s In The Cradle
Arlo Guthrie, Alice’s Restaurant
Jim Croce, Bad, Bad Leroy Brown
Lennon & McCartney, A Day In The Life
The Kingston Trio, Tom Dooley
The Who, Tommy

Of course this list can go on and on. As I look through the above lyrics, it’s noteworthy to me how different the forms and story telling styles of each of the songs are.

Some are simple and clear; some are illusive on purpose. All have a depth far beyond the typical pop song and all are dramatically revealing of the human condition. They each have one commonality however; they each tell a good story.

I humbly offer one of my own to the mix.

A Hole In My Life
Music and Lyrics by Peter Link

I heard his voice
There on the wind
Thousands had gathered to hear

Ah but his words were so soft
As I watched from afar
That the truths that he spoke were unclear

When the sun descended
And his words were ended
And the crowd dispersed and went home
I had come so far
And was so tired
I had no strength to carry on

I had come to find him
With a hole in my life
And the last hope all but gone
But I missed my chance
And knelt down there in the road
Too tired to carry on

Now all was lost
There on my knees
Time now to sleep  close my eyes

Suddenly there in the night
There on that road
He and his friends walked on by

And I called out, “Master
There’s a hole in my life”
But he heard not a word
So in my desperation
I reached out knowing
If only I could touch

Just the hem of his garment
Or the heel of his sandal
Or the light that poured from him
And yet all that I touched
Was the dust
Using the last
The last of all my hope

I heard his voice
He asked, ” Who touched me, friend?”
He said, “I felt the light drawn from me”

And I fell before him
And I finally wept
But the tears were all of joy
For the hole in my life
It had gone
Gone now to come again no more

I heard his voice
There on the wind

For more inspiring thoughts, music you can download,
and information about Peter Link, please visit Watchfire Music.