Building a Mystery
Ever since I was a little kid I have kind of been intrigued by mysteries. I'm not sure if it was all that time watching Scooby Doo, or the random occasions when I actually picked up a book and it just happened to be the Hardy Boys. Actually, let's talk about the Hardy Boys for a second. Have you ever ready any of those books? I mean the really old original ones. I'm honestly shocked they weren't walking around with permanent brain damage from all the times they got knocked out. I feel like in just about every book one or both of them gets knocked out.
Talk about concussion protocol... They would have been the poster children for it.
As I got older, I graduated from The Hardy Boys and again on the random occasion that I would read a book, I found myself reading Clive Cussler and other treasure hunt style books like that. What is a treasure hunt except one great big mystery that needs to be solved right?
Well, that's what this post is going to be about today. You might have thought that the topic of this #threetunetuesday post sponsored by @ablaze was going to be all Sarah McLachlan based on the title. However, I'm choosing not to be quite so specific this week. Instead, I am going to present you three songs that tell the story of a mystery.
Now, you might be wondering what a photo of jellyfish has to do with mysteries. The fact is, I wasn't sure what photo(s) to use for this post today, so I went to my Google Photos and I typed in the word "mystery". That was one of the first photos that came up, so there you go.
Besides YouTube which I usually use to share songs with you for these posts, today I am going to be using another tool. It's a site called SongFacts and if you have never visited it before, you totally should. This site breaks down all the questions you ever had about almost any song with commentary and conjecture from people all over the world. For example, say you had a question about what a specific song means or who played backing drums on a song. Songfacts uses crowdsourcing to pull a wealth of information from a worldwide audience to usually answer all of those questions. Keep reading and you will see what I mean.
"Hazard" by Richard Marx is a haunting song about a young man who moved to a small town called Hazard Nebraska with his mom and as he grows up there he is eventually accused of killing his girlfriend. As it says in the song, "I swear I left her by the river", I swear I left her safe and sound". We never do find out what happened to Mary his girlfriend and like the other songs I am going to share, this open ended mystery without a solution is part of what makes these songs so special.
It gives you the opportunity to decide for yourself what might have actually happened and let's be honest, sometimes that can be a lot darker than the factual events. SongFacts has some good tidbits about this song. Feel free to jump over there and check them out if if you get a chance.
People disappearing seems to be a bit of a theme, but I would argue "Ode to Billie Joe" is quite possibly one of the OG songs about that subject. Bobby Gentry didn't ever really become a household name, but she is definitely most well known for this song. Billie Joe was actually a man, and if you listen to the lyrics, we know quite well what happened to him.
In case you missed it, it was suicide.
Where the mystery comes into this song is the fact that it is being told from the point of view of a girl who apparently knew Billie Joe quite well. In fact, there is a line in the song about her and Billie Joe throwing something off the same bridge that Billie Joe would later throw himself off.
Pretty mysterious right?
It's been asked several times what was actually thrown off the bridge and according to SongFacts the original artist would like to leave that open to interpretation. Her main focus was how casual and indifferent the people were while talking about the fact that a young man had killed himself. Apparently desensitizing isn't a new thing.
I think the largest held theory is that they threw a baby or a stillborn baby off the bridge, but I will leave that up to you to decide...
Finally, I'm going to leave you with a little more upbeat song, but mysterious nonetheless. "Ride Captain Ride" by Blues Image is a 1970 classic about a ship of 73 men sailing off into history, but we never really know what that means. I also felt this song fit really well because of the lyric in the chorus that says "Ride captain ride upon your mystery ship". I remember as a kid my dad talking about this song and how he always wondered what happened to the men and the ship.
There isn't a ton of info on SongFacts about this one, but someone did remember an interview with the lead singer where he said the 73 men actually came from the fact that there were 73 keys on his piano keyboard.
Several people feel the song was referring to Sir Francis Drake, but in reality, it was a totally made up scenario because they needed another song for the album and apparently Mike Pinera and Skip Konte pretty much wrote it on the spot in the studio.
Like all the others, purely made, but, but open to interpretation and fueling alcohol and drug infused late night discussions for centuries.
Pretty crazy right?
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Some interesting and slightly creepy choices this week LOL I enjoyed when I got down to the Blues Image song, that was a refreshing one for sure! All songs I've never heard of, but that's okay. It's pretty wild to think about how many songs are produced every year and how many go completely unnoticed by most people.
That's pretty nuts. I guess I am really showing my age or something. I really thought all of these would be pretty familiar to most people. I'm glad you enjoyed them!
Not heard of Richard Marx but I love Scooby Dooby Doo!
Will check him out tomorrow!
He had some pretty big hits here. He has a pretty iconic voice too.
Have been listening to him since I got up an hour ago, and you are right he does have an iconic voice.
Richard Marx new sound to keep in mind, not knowing any of the selection made today enjoyed the first.
I'm glad you liked it. You should check out some of his other stuff. It's really good.
When some time is one hand again will be settling into music, nice to hear new.
Talk about interesting... The first two I know well and are great, the third is completely new to me. Interesting tune and a bit odd, but I guess that's what makes it cool. It must have been nerve racking to have been a captain in the times of Drake.
Great job on your TTT, you never fail to make it interesting!
Thanks, I appreciate it! That is interesting to me that you never heard that song. I feel like it got played a lot on our classic rock station.
A music always changes a lot in life it can be a mystery too but some things in life are always remembered Life is a mystery but music always makes us see it in a sweeter way.
scooby doo was one of my favorite animation. I love solving mysteries but not the scary ones, always gets my heart pounding. These song do the event the artist is referring to realy happend or its just a song?
Yeah, I wasn't really a fan of the scary ones either back when I was a kid. All of these events are fictional.
but its the fun that matters and the stories it tells :)
Richard Marx was not very popular here, but I know 'Hazard' and 'Endless Summer Nights'. Story telling is an aspect of music I have been looking at lately and the former did pop up on my radar. I think it's a lost art.
I definitely have to agree with you there. As much as people hate Taylor Swift, she can tell a story with a song that a lot of people can't do. Yes, she has those pop hits too, but her really good stuff is the storyteller songs. Even modern country has moved away from what used to be its bread and butter.
Yeah, you keep going on about her, and I still don't get it!
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Not familiar with this one but my immediate reaction was of the boat crew that was struck by a whale and sunk. The real-life story was what inspired the book "Moby Dick". I read it recently but since I have very selective memory I don't remember the name of it .... hold on... It was a ship called the "Essex" and while they didn't ever go and hunt the whale, it did kill nearly everyone involved in the sinking of the ship far off the coast of South America back in 1820. It's kind of lame to find out that the song is about a piano..haha
Haha, yeah. I was kind of suprised to learn that all of these songs were purely fictional. Some of the places actually exist, but the events were made up. I never ready Moby Dick, but I did read Bartleby the Scrivener in school.
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Ha! I jumped into this post thinking "I know the answer" only to be crushed by it having nothing to do with Sarah
I'm sneaky like that!
I remember reading the old Hardy Boys mysteries when I was a kid. Then there was the TV show as well. I don't remember much from either of them. Now Scooby Doo on the other hand, I can remember those.