Episodi

  • Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
    Oct 19 2026

    This love song is based on Sonnet 42 by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. It is one of the English-language’s best-known love poems.

    Sonnet 43

    How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.I love thee to the depth and breadth and heightMy soul can reach, when feeling out of sightFor the ends of Being and ideal Grace.

    I love thee to the level of everyday’sMost quiet need, by sun and candle-light.I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.

    I love thee with the passion put to useIn my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.I love thee with a love I seemed to loseWith my lost saints, — I love thee with the breath,Smiles, tears, of all my life! — and, if God choose,I shall but love thee better after death.

    How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.I love thee to the depth and breadth and heightMy soul can reach, when feeling out of sightFor the ends of Being and ideal Grace.

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    3 min
  • Walk Away - A Love Ballad
    Sep 10 2026

    This is an original song written by me (John Kremer). As you can hear, it’s a simple song with five lines repeated three times, along with an Oo oo oo chorus. Enjoy!

    Walk Away lyrics

    You can walk away from a placeBut you can’t walk awayWalk away from your pastWalk away from your familyOr walk away from those you love

    Oo, oo, ooOo, oo, oo-ooOo, oo, ooOo, oo, oo, oo

    You can walk away from a placeBut you can’t walk awayWalk away from your pastWalk away from your familyOr walk away from those you love

    Oo, oo, ooOo, oo, oo-ooOo, oo, ooOo, oo, oo, oo

    You can walk away from a placeBut you can’t walk awayWalk away from your pastWalk away from your familyOr walk away from those you love

    Oo, oo, ooOo, oo, oo-ooOo, oo, ooOo, oo, oo, oo

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    4 min
  • Six-Word Stories: Reggae Style
    Sep 1 2026

    This song is based on various six-word stories submitted to SixWordStories.net and SixWordMemoirs.com. Source: https://bookmarketingbestsellers.com/six-word-stories-for-those-who-want-to-write-better.

    Six-Word Stories lyrics

    For sale: baby shoes, never worn.Born a twin; Graduated only child.New genes demand expression—third eye.Strangers. Friends. Best friends. Lovers. Strangers.Found true love. Married someone else.Best friends. Some beers. New lovers.Friends. Liquid confidence. Admit love. Marriage.Two lovers. One parachute. No survivors.“Wrong number,” says a familiar voice.

    Just tried. Failed. Will try again.Wasted day. Wasted life. Dessert, please.It cost too much, staying human.I win lottery. Sun goes nova.Big bang. No God. Fadeout. End.Bang postponed. Not big enough. Reboot.

    Born in the desert, still thirsty.Stone cold. Rock solid. Gem pretty.Bad knee. Sore arm. Good heart.Stayed up too late. Found this.Hanging on by aspirin and caffeine.Where do we go from here?From content to content to contempt.Not starting over. Starting late, like.The rest? Still to be written.For sale: wisdom. Price: above pearls.

    For sale: baby shoes, never worn.

    Tell Me a Story Podcast is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.



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    3 min
  • Memories - A Song of Love
    Aug 10 2026

    Memories is a song that tells a story.

    Memories lyrics

    MemoriesThe smell of her hairThe sight of her smileThe feel of her thighsThe taste of her lipsThe sound of her sighs

    Bangin’ the drum slowlyBetween the sheets actionBoink boink boinkBoo thang thatClappin’ cheeksFoolin’ aroundFuggin lovinGettin’ busyGettin’ luckyHanky pankyDancin’ the light fandangoDoin’ the hokey-pokeyHome run derbyHookin’ up on the slyHorizontal tangoHubba hubbaIn sync all the wayJumpin’ bonesKissipoo actionKnockin’ bootsGet to know her, know herC’mon, baby, light my fireMating calls again and againPaint it black, paint it blackRinging the ding-a-lingsSex sells, sells, sellsTickling the ivories

    MemoriesThe smell of her hairThe sight of her smileThe feel of her thighsThe taste of her lipsThe sound of her sighs

    MemoriesThe smell of her hairThe sight of her smileThe feel of her thighsThe taste of her lipsThe sound of her sighs

    Tell Me a Story Podcast is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.



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    3 min
  • The Origin of All Songs - Country Gospel Version
    Jul 9 2026

    Enjoy this song adapted from Walt Whitman’s great poem Song of Myself from his book, Leaves of Grass.

    The Origin of All Songs Lyrics

    I celebrate myself, and sing myself,And what I assume you shall assume,For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.

    I loaf and invite my soul,I lean and loaf at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.

    My tongue, every atom of my blood, formed from this soil, this air,Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same,I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin,Hoping to cease not till death.

    Creeds and schools in abeyance,Retiring back a while sufficed at what they are, but never forgotten,I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard,Nature without check with original energy.

    Have you reckoned a thousand acres much? have you reckoned the earth much?Have you practiced so long to learn to read?Have you felt so proud to get at the meaning of poems?

    Stop this day and night with me and you shall possess the origin of all poems,You shall possess the good of the earth and sun, (there are millions of suns left,)

    You shall no longer take things at second or third hand, nor look through the eyes of the dead, nor feed on the spectres in books,You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me,You shall listen to all sides and filter them from your self.

    Stop this day and night with meand you shall possess the origin of all songs,You shall possess the good of the earth and sun.

    Stop this day and night with meand you shall possess the origin of all songs,You shall possess the good of the earth and sun.

    Tell Me a Story Podcast is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.



    This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tellmeastory.substack.com/subscribe
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    4 min
  • Fresh Air Is Suffocating, A Country Ballad
    Apr 20 2026

    Enjoy this country ballad inspired by one line in The Marshalls television series from earlier this evening.

    Fresh Air Is Suffocating lyrics

    The morning breaks like a pane of jagged glassAcross the green green lawns where shadows passI open the window just to feel the stingOf every polite and empty little thingThe garden is a riot of organized bloomWhile I’m pacing circles in a shattered room

    They say the sky is an open invitationBut it feels like a heavy hand of obligationThe sweetness of the pine is a bitter pillThe world moves forward while I stand stillThere is weight in the purity of the lightThat pushes down hard and keeps my throat tight

    Fresh air is suffocating for a soul like mineI’m drowning in the glare of the sunshineGive me the grit, the soot of a broken streetWhere the truth and the asphalt always meetI can’t find my breath where the air is clearSilence is the only sound I fear

    The neighbors are waving from far awayBuilding a stage for another hollow dayI’d rather be lost in a tunnel of smokeThan laughing along at a well-rehearsed jokeThe oxygen is thin when the heart is in doubtI’m looking for a way to let the sparkle out

    Fresh air is suffocating for a soul like mineI’m drowning in the glare of the sunshineGive me the grit, the soot of a broken streetWhere the truth and the asphalt always meetI can’t find my breath where the air is clearSilence is the only sound I fear

    Tell Me a Story Podcast is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.



    This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tellmeastory.substack.com/subscribe
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    3 min
  • What Is the Grass Country Ballad
    Apr 17 2026

    This country ballad, What Is the Grass?, is excerpted from Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman.

    What Is the Grass? lyrics

    A child said What is the grass? fetching it to me with full hands;How could I answer the child? I do not know what it is any more than he.

    I guess it must be the flag of my disposition, out of hopeful green stuff woven.

    Or I guess it is the handkerchief of the Lord,A scented gift and remembrancer designedly dropped,Bearing the owner’s name someway in the corners, that we may see and remark, and say Whose?

    Or I guess the grass is itself a child, the produced babe of the vegetation.

    Or I guess it is a uniform hieroglyphic,And it means, Sprouting alike in broad zones and narrow zones,Growing among black folks as among white,Kanuck, Tuckahoe, Congressman, Cuff, I give them the same, I receive them the same.

    And now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves.

    Tenderly will I use you curling grass,It may be you transpire from the breasts of young men,It may be if I had known them I would have loved them,It may be you are from old people, or from offspring taken soon out of their mothers’ laps,And here you are the mothers’ laps.

    This grass is very dark to be from the white heads of old mothers,Darker than the colorless beards of old men,Dark to come from under the faint red roofs of mouths.

    O I perceive after all so many uttering tongues,And I perceive they do not come from the roofs of mouths for nothing.

    I wish I could translate the hints about the dead young men and women,And the hints about old men and mothers, and the offspring taken soon out of their laps.

    What do you think has become of the young and old men?And what do you think has become of the women and children?

    They are alive and well somewhere,The smallest sprout shows there is really no death,And if ever there was it led forward life, and does not wait at the end to arrest it,And ceas’d the moment life appear’d.

    All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses,And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.

    All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses,And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.

    Tell Me a Story Podcast is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.



    This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tellmeastory.substack.com/subscribe
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    4 min
  • Hey Diddle Diddle Rhyming Stories
    Mar 16 2026

    Enjoy a fun happy children’s song featuring rhyming stories.

    Hey Diddle Diddle Lyrics

    Hey diddle diddle,The cat and the fiddle,The cow jumped over the moon;The little dog laughedTo see such craft,And the dish ran away with the spoon.

    Diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John,Went to bed with his trousers on,One shoe off, and one shoe on,Diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John.

    Diddlty, diddlty, dumpty,The cat ran up the plum tree,Give her a plum,And down she’ll come,Diddlty, diddlty, dumpty.

    Hey diddle diddle,The cat and the fiddle,The cow jumped over the moon;The little dog laughedTo see such craft,And the dish ran away with the spoon.

    Tell Me a Story Podcast is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.



    This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tellmeastory.substack.com/subscribe
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    3 min