The Story – Brandi Carlile

Brandi Carlile’s bandmate Phil Hanseroth wrote this song, and it became the title track of her 2007 album. I enjoy hearing it whenever it comes on my music player. It has lots of different guitar textures and, at times, reaches a cool heavier rock sound. You can tell the twin Hanseroth brothers had played in hard rock bands before joining Carlile.

The Story is a journey song with a healthy dose of love thrown in. It begins in a fairly gentle way before gradually building in intensity with each verse. It’s supposed to peak at 2:52 as Carlile virtually yells All of these lines across my face, and that scream-singing feels way overdone. It’s disappointing because the song carries so much passion and authenticity up until that moment, and that delivery definitely takes me out of it.

Besides that, I like Carlile’s rough and weathered voice here. It can sound strong and forceful one moment, then warm and tender the next. Carlile has cited Melissa Etheridge as a major influence, and you can hear that in her sound. Brandi Carlile’s music is generally categorized as Americana and folk rock. If you would like to read more about the song, I point you to this article: Inside the Song: “The Story” by Brandi Carlile.

The song was featured in Grey’s Anatomy in 2007 and was included in the 2011 musical episode Song Beneath the Song. The track was later covered by LeAnn Rimes and Dolly Parton. I really like Dolly’s beautifully tender version and I quickly added it to my collection. It gives Carlile’s original some serious run for its money. Do check out the background story at the end of this post on how Carlile reached out to Parton. Fun read.

The Story was recorded live to tape, with all the performers playing and singing at the same time rather than following the usual practice of recording parts separately and combining them later. It was produced by T Bone Burnett.

The song made only a modest impact on the charts, reaching No. 75 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and No. 44 in Australia. However, it did reach No. 1 in Portugal.

---

Background (Wikipedia):

When Carlile began planning to record a cover of her 2007 album, The Story, she said that her idol, Parton, was the only person she had in mind to record the title track. When Carlile wrote Parton asking her to record the track, she suggested Parton could drop the key to make it easier to sing. She later recalled the letter, saying it was “about the stupidest thing I think I’ve ever put down in writing.” Parton enthusically accepted the offer to record the song and in her hand-written response she told Carlile, “Honey, do me a favor. Don’t drop the key. I think I can handle it.” Upon hearing the completed recording, Carlile realized she had been one-upped, saying, “Every gratuitous and show-offy note that I hit in that song, Dolly hits it initially and then takes it higher. She just completely takes me to school.“

[Verse 1]
All of these lines across my face
Tell you the story of who I am
So many stories of where I’ve been
And how I got to where I am

[Chorus]
But these stories don’t mean anything
When you’ve got no one to tell them to, it’s true
I was made for you

[Verse 2]
I climbed across the mountaintops
Swam all across the ocean blue
I crossed all the lines and I broke all the rules
But baby, I broke them all for you

[Chorus]
Oh, because even when I was flat broke
You made me feel like a million bucks, you do
I was made for you

[Verse 3]
You see the smile that’s on my mouth
It’s hiding the words that don’t come out
And all of our friends who think that I’m blessed
They don’t know my head is a mess

[Chorus]
No, they don’t know who I really am
And they don’t know what I’ve been through like you do
And I was made for you

[Breakdown]
All of these lines across my face
Tell you the story of who I am
So many stories of where I’ve been
And how I got to where I am

[Chorus]
Oh, but these stories don’t mean anything
When you’ve got no one to tell them to, it’s true
I was made for you

[Outro]
Oh yeah, well, it’s true
That I was made for you

References:
1. The Story (Brandi Carlile song) – Wikipedia
2. Inside the song: “The Story” by Brandi Carlile – Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers