Two musical questions

[rachelmanija]

1. What are the instruments playing in this song before the vocals come in? An organ? And... a piano? Chimes? Glockenspiel?

2. Please name a few songs with unusual subjects. Ideally, not pure novelty songs like "Mommy Got Run Over By A Reindeer."

Comments

[athenejen]

I'm not 100% sure what qualifies as an unusual subject, but here's a few that might suit:

"From Galway to Graceland" by Richard Thompson, a very pretty song about an Irish woman making the pilgrimage after Elvis Presley's death.

"John Allyn Smith Sails" by Okkervil River, about the suicide of the poet John Berryman.

"Skyway" by the Replacements is at least partially about the Minneapolis skyway system, though kind of more as a setting than about the thing itself. They also have a song called "Beer for Breakfast," but it's basically just a little b-side ditty that maybe falls under the novelty song category.

"Iron Man" by Black Sabbath might qualify?

"Rooks" by Shearwater is about an environmental apocalypse involving swarming birds. (Various apocalyptic themes aren't that unusual, but I feel like the particulars of this song sort of are.)

"Wichita Lineman" by Jimmy Webb, about telephone linemen.

"Cold Missouri Waters" by James Keelaghan, about the Mann Gulch fire of 1949, specifically the survivor of one of the smokejumper crews who in desperation spontaneously used an escape fire (which was not a technique known by the Forest Service at that time; he seems to have come up with the idea on the spot) to save himself.

Maybe also "Northwest Passage" by Stan Rogers? Though historical events in general could be considered a fairly common category, so I don't know...?

[athenejen]

My Iron Maiden-loving SO suggests "Alexander the Great."

Another one that occurred to me, maybe "The Queen & the Soldier" by Suzanne Vega.