Beyond Story Elements: Pairing Narrative Songs with Short Stories

Yesterday, I wrote a field note about using “What’s Up?” by 4 Non Blondes to hook students into a short story. That idea brought me back to an article I wrote in 2016, “Teaching Short Story Elements with Music.”

In that post, I used eight narrative songs to help students identify characterization, conflict, plot structure, irony, metaphor, symbolism, and other literary elements. The songs gave students short, accessible texts through which they could practice recognizing the same techniques they would encounter in fiction.

But what if we went deeper?

Instead of using a song only to illustrate a literary element, we could place it in conversation with a short story that explores a similar conflict, question, or human experience. Students could compare how a songwriter and a fiction writer develop ideas about identity, relationships, courage, power, regret, or change. They could examine not only which literary elements appear in each text, but how those elements work together to create meaning.

The song and story would not need to share the same plot. They would simply need to give students different ways of entering the same meaningful conversation.

“Red Headed Stranger” by Willie Nelson

I grew up listening to country music, but I had never heard Willie Nelson’s “Red Headed Stranger” until one of my students chose it for a video project and created the accompanying artwork. She has since become an art teacher, which makes this song-and-story connection especially meaningful to me.

You could pair the song with “The Lady, or the Tiger?” by Frank R. Stockton to help students examine jealousy, possessiveness, love, violence, and uncertain motives. In both texts, students must infer what a character may be capable of doing when affection becomes tangled with control.

You might also pair it with “The Tell-Tale Heart” [CSSL only] or “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe. These pairings would allow students to consider how narrators attempt to shape the audience’s judgment of violent actions. Ask students to compare what the speaker tells them directly, what remains unstated, and what they must infer from the details.

A shared essential question for these pairings might be:

When does love or loyalty become possession?

“A Boy Named Sue” by Johnny Cash

You could pair “A Boy Named Sue” with “Names/Nombres” by Julia Alvarez to help students examine the relationship between names and identity.

In the song, Sue experiences his name as a source of ridicule, anger, and resentment. In Alvarez’s story, Julia’s name becomes connected to cultural identity, assimilation, belonging, and the ways other people attempt to rename or redefine her.

Ask students to consider who has the power to name someone and how a name can affect the way a person sees themselves—or the way others see them. You might also invite students to compare the different ways Sue and Julia respond when other people treat their names as unusual, inconvenient, or embarrassing.

You could also pair the song with “The Moustache” by Robert Cormier [CSSL only] to explore family legacies and the ways an older relative’s choices can shape a younger person’s identity. This pairing would allow students to think about resentment, misunderstanding, memory, and the possibility of seeing a family member differently over time.

A shared essential question for these pairings might be:

How do the names and stories we inherit shape who we become?

“Coward of the County” by Kenny Rogers

You could pair “Coward of the County” with “The Scholarship Jacket” by Marta Salinas to challenge students’ assumptions about courage.

Tommy has been taught that walking away from violence does not make him weak. Martha must stand against an unfair decision even though she has very little power within the school system. Both texts ask students to consider whether courage must be physical and who gets to define what strength looks like.

You might ask students to compare the pressure each character feels to accept someone else’s judgment. How does Tommy respond when others call him a coward? How does Martha respond when adults attempt to take away something she has earned?

You could also pair the song with “Amigo Brothers” by Piri Thomas to examine masculinity, competition, friendship, and physical strength. Antonio and Felix must determine whether winning a fight is more important than protecting their relationship.

Another possible pairing is “All Summer in a Day” by Ray Bradbury, which would shift the conversation toward bullying, group cruelty, and the choices people make when they witness someone else being harmed.

A shared essential question for these pairings might be:

Who gets to decide what courage looks like?

You could begin with an Agree/Disagree Continuum statement such as: Sometimes violence is necessary to defend yourself or someone else.

Invite students to respond before hearing the song, after listening, and again after reading the short story. Their movement along the continuum can become part of the discussion.

“Harper Valley PTA” by Jeannie C. Riley

You could pair “Harper Valley PTA” with “A Glitch in the System” by Hollis Penley Reed [CSSL Only, but you can listen to the audio adaptation here] to help students examine social rules, public reputation, institutional hypocrisy, and the consequences of speaking back.

In the song, Mrs. Johnson publicly confronts a group that judges her according to standards its members do not apply to themselves. In the short story, Ro begins to recognize the unwritten social system operating within her school and discovers that writing can help her question the roles students are expected to perform.

Ask students to compare how each character responds to a system that depends upon silence and conformity. What risks do they take by naming what others prefer not to discuss? How do audience and setting affect the way each character delivers her message?

You could also pair the song with “The Scholarship Jacket” to examine unfairness and hypocrisy within a school institution.

For a broader conversation about communities and conformity, consider pairing it with “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. Students could explore what happens when a group continues to enforce a harmful practice simply because everyone has learned to accept it.

A shared essential question for these pairings might be:

What happens when one person publicly challenges the rules a community prefers not to examine?

“Cat’s in the Cradle” by Harry Chapin

You could pair “Cat’s in the Cradle” with “The Moustache” by Robert Cormier [CSSL only] to explore family relationships shaped by time, absence, memory, and regret.

The song shows how small, repeated choices gradually create distance between a father and son. In “The Moustache,” Mike’s encounter with his grandmother reveals memories and regrets that have remained unresolved across generations.

Ask students to identify the moments when each relationship begins to change. Which choices seem insignificant at first? When do the characters finally recognize the consequences of those choices?

You could also pair the song with “Mother and Daughter” by Gary Soto [CSSL only] to examine the distance that can develop between parents and children even when they care deeply about one another. Yollie and her mother struggle with adolescent expectations, poverty, embarrassment, and the difficulty of seeing the same event from another person’s perspective.

A shared essential question for these pairings might be:

How do ordinary choices gradually shape a family relationship?

One possible activity is to ask students to create a two-column timeline. In the first column, they can record moments when a character or speaker chooses something else over the relationship. In the second, they can identify the later consequences of those decisions.

“The Devil Went Down to Georgia” by the Charlie Daniels Band

You could pair “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” with “The Monkey’s Paw” by W. W. Jacobs to explore temptation, pride, risk, supernatural bargains, and unintended consequences.

Johnny confidently accepts the devil’s challenge because he believes in his ability to win. Mr. White uses the monkey’s paw even after being warned about its power. Both characters believe they can face danger and remain in control, but the outcomes of their choices are very different.

Ask students to compare Johnny’s confidence with Mr. White’s. Why does confidence protect one character but endanger the other? At what point does bravery become recklessness?

You could also pair the song with “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne [CSSL only] to deepen the discussion of temptation and evil. Students could consider whether danger comes from an outside force, from the individual’s own choices, or from the community surrounding them.

A shared essential question for these pairings might be:

What makes someone believe they can bargain with danger and remain unchanged?

The song also works well as a model for plot structure. Because the contest has a clear setup, rising action, climax, and resolution, students can trace the structure before comparing it with the more complicated consequences in the short story.

“Ocean Front Property” by George Strait

You could pair “Ocean Front Property” with “Hearts and Hands” by O. Henry [CSSL only] to help students examine the difference between what a person says and what the audience understands to be true.

The speaker in the song makes obviously false claims to conceal emotional pain. In “Hearts and Hands,” the characters also attempt to manage appearances, and readers gradually realize that the surface explanation does not tell the whole story.

Ask students to create three columns:

1. What the speaker or character says
2. What the audience knows
3. What the speaker or character may be trying to protect

This structure can help students understand irony as more than simply saying the opposite of what someone means. It can also function as a strategy for protecting pride, reputation, or vulnerability.

You could also pair the song with “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant [CSSL only] to extend the discussion into appearances, self-deception, social image, and situational irony.

A shared essential question for these pairings might be:

Why do people sometimes say the opposite of what they feel?

“Every Rose Has Its Thorn” by Poison

You could pair “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” with “The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant” by W. D. Wetherell to explore romantic disappointment, idealization, regret, and the painful realization that desire can cause someone to ignore what they truly value.

The speaker in the song looks back on a failed relationship and attempts to understand what went wrong. In the short story, the narrator sacrifices something meaningful because he is focused on impressing Sheila, who does not value the same things he does.

Ask students to compare what each speaker understands only after the relationship or opportunity has passed. What did each person want? What did that desire cost? What do they recognize in retrospect?

You could also pair the song with “The Third Wish” by Joan Aiken [CSSL only] to examine love, sacrifice, loss, and the unintended price of getting what we believe we want.

A shared essential question for these pairings might be:

What can disappointment teach us about what we truly value?