Rickie Lee Jones : Danny‘s All-Star Joint [ purchase ] 1979 was a fine year on the charts for what I like to call speak-singing. This i...

Pink Floyd : Keep Talking [ purchase ] For millions of years mankind lived just like the animals. Then something happened which unleashe...

Blown : Orange Coloured Daydreams [ purchase The past is an interesting place. While it’s undeniable that we are all the sum totals of...

King Crimson : Thela Hun Ginjeet [ purchase ] Just a quick second post before this theme is over. As a prog-rock fan in the late 70’s,...

Luke the Drifter (Hank Williams): Pictures from Life's Other Side [ purchase ] When Garth Brooks reinvented himself as rocker na...

Gil Scott-Heron : Whitey On The Moon [ purchase ] Gil Scott-Heron : H20Gate Blues [ purchase ] For many, the epic “The Revolution Will ...

Taj Mahal : Linin' Track [ purchase ] Taj Mahal has been doin' his thang for many a year. His early recordings, back in the 60s...

James Brown : King Heroin [ purchase ] The Godfather of Soul sets aside the funk for a few minutes to rap brother to brother and brot...

Todd Snider: The Ballad of the Kingsmen [ purchase ] There are a whole lot of spoken-word songs to choose from in Todd Snider's c...

Laurie Anderson : Language Is a Virus [ purchase ] What does this song mean? Laurie Anderson likes to string together words and phrases...

Bela Fleck and the Flecktones: The Ballad of Jed Clampett [ purchase ] The Flecktones use rhythmic spoken word as if it were a jazz instrume...

Tom Waits : The One That Got Away [ purchase ] Billed primarily as a piano player, Tom Waits is also a poet who - in my opinion - rival...

Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen : Hot Rod Lincoln [ purchase ] What's the first spoken-word song that pops into your he...

Bruce Piephoff : Ransom Notes [ purchase ] Bruce Piephoff is a North Carolina bard with an affinity for both music and poetry. With col...

Dan Bern : Jerusalem [ purchase ] If I went to see Springsteen (and I haven’t since college) and he didn’t play “Born to Run,” I’d be u...

Frank Zappa : Valley Girl [ purchase at the Galleria or here ] This 1982 song may be totally obvious to the max. I'm like, whatever...

Big Bill Broonzy : Ridin‘ on Down [ purchase ] Talking blues is a style that is often associated with political songs, and with Woody G...

Over The Rhine: Faithfully Dangerous [ purchase ] I fell in love with Ohio-based band Over The Rhine in the new social media millennium, tha...

Sonic Youth : Teen Age Riot [ purchase ] Indie rockers finally realized that there really is no such thing as true love when alternativ...

Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer : Seven is the Number [ purchase ] "Yesterday, shortly after he went unconscious, he came back for a...