“To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive.”
- Robert Louis Stevenson
Here's a question I saw: “What are some songs where the vocals are just spoken?”
I take it they mean songs in a standard form and structure. I'm familiar with some. There are many out there but most tend to be as heavy as a dump truck. The ones by artists I like-- R.E.M., The Hold Steady and Talking Heads-- I don't care for at all. But, of course there's one exception, and it's no surprise that it comes from John Prine. His When I Get to Heaven is pure pleasure.
There is a category of spoken word song that I love very much, though, called the Talkin' Blues. They usually have a lighter, humorous tilt to them even when they're touching on serious things. They're really just a way to tell a story with a revolving three chord guitar background.
As I understand it, a South Carolina fellow named Chris Bouchillon came up with the style back in 1926. He was known as “TheTalking Comedian of the South.” He used the technique as a way of delivering lyrics despite not being a conventional singer. It caught on and has since been adopted by many to great effect, Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Todd Snyder and a host of others. Most every Talkin' Blues song I know of makes me smile.
Any favorites of either type?