[Perry] Music That Tells A Story

Have you ever run into it before?

You hear a song and, as you listen to it, it speaks to you. It tells you a story. it carries your emotions on its refrains and it talks to you.

And no, I don’t mean songs like this or this.

I mean songs that have no words to them. Instrumental songs that ply your emotions and speaks to you in words formed of melody and choice of instrument.

I’m talking about a song like this one.

Yes, I’m talking about Bioshock again, but listen to that song.

The strings are used to deepen the tone of the song and to evoke a sense of poignancy and melancholy.

The crescendos and the thing that sounds like the bridge, marks the lowest and highest point in her story.

Listen to the song.

Do you hear it?

When the song starts, you’re introduced to our protagonist, locked in a tower, pining away for life in the outside world.

Then, you have that swooping down of the strings that starts at 0:26-0:28. The big rush of strings, all lowering together depicts our hero, thrust out into a world that isn’t at all what she imagined. Indeed, she starts coming to the realization that the world can be a cruel and hard place.

But she thinks that maybe she can stay bright. So long as she doesn’t give up hope, so long as she believes, she can still remain this brilliant spot of light in this dark and shadowed world.

But then? 0:57-1:00. The crash. Despite everything she’s done, she realizes that she CAN’T escape the grim darkness of the world. That no matter how hard she tries to stay bright, it catches up to her. It enfolds her in its embrace and forces her to take part.

It tells her that the darkness is the way of the world. It puts the scissors in her hands and gives her no choice but to plunge them into someone’s back.

This moment in the song? This is when she cuts her hair.

The Elizabeth of the child-like joy and the LOVE for the sense of newness to the world is gone.

And older, sadly wiser, Elizabeth stands in her place, certain that nothing but darkness can exist in the world.

But then? 1:50. Redemption. This isn’t the big, sweeping, triumphant chorus of trumpets, blaring out a call to glory.

No, this is quieter than that.

Simpler.

This is the joining of minds to a singular purpose. As you hear the strings, coming up alongside the main note to help support and uplift it, you realize, as Elizabeth does, that no matter how dark the night, the dawn will always break. Redemption is always possible for those with the strength of will and the imagination to reach for it.

And she does.

And the song ends on that note.

It is not a triumphant note. It is not a victorious cry.

It is a soft sound, the sound someone makes as they come to terms with an action they’ve taken that seems horrible, but is the best of all possible remaining choices.

It’s the sound of someone coming to grips with the fact that they’ve become a murderer, but secure in the knowledge that it was done for the right reasons and that one terrible act doesn’t make one a terrible person.

…at least, that’s what the song says to me.

What does it say to you?

Are there other songs out there that tells you a story through the language of notes and instrument? Without being bogged down with words?

What kind of story does it tell you?

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