Songs sung in the voice of an unreliable narrator

Lots of Elvis Costello, too.

but the narrator of "short people," for example, is completely reliable. he may not accurately represent the feelings of the songwriter, and he may be the result of sarcasm, but within the world of the song, that narrator is consistent and reliable and completely telling his own truth. what isn't reliable about that?

ooh, really? It only recently occurred to me that I maybe shouldn't take those lyrics at face value. But what's going on then? Is he just getting the silent treatment?

There was actually a thread about this (lyrics discussion toward the end):
The Smiths - "Girlfriend In A Coma"

but the narrator of "short people," for example, is completely reliable. he may not accurately represent the feelings of the songwriter, and he may be the result of sarcasm, but within the world of the song, that narrator is consistent and reliable and completely telling his own truth. what isn't reliable about that?

I think "Sail Away" was the Newman song you were looking for....

Probably any Black Sabbath song counts -- can you rely on a narrator who thinks that sweet leaf "introduced me to my mind"?

...'specially when you take into consideration the memory-impairment side effects?

Some say even his internet posts are written in the voice of an unreliable narrator, which begs the question 'Just as there's a 'moronic-ironic' mode of speech which consists of putting invisible quote marks around everything you say just so you never have to commit yourself to meaning any one clear thing, might there be a 'moronic-unreliable narrator' mode which consists in never meaning a thing you say or sing?' And 'Does using an unreliable narrator mean never having to say you're sorry?'

A tentative answer to those question might be, 'Well, those moronic-ironic people, are they finally less or more vulnerable because of all the invisible air quote marks? And the moronic-unreliables, are they finally more protected or more exposed because of the postures they allow their narrators to strike? And I'd say that the increased protection fiction gives you -- saying 'This is a character saying this, one you shouldn't trust' -- is offset and balanced by the increased exposure to risk that mask-wearing brings, because it emboldens you and tempts you to experiment, to find 'other yous', even taboo yous.

In the end, what I find so useful about unreliable narration, especially satire voiced by an unreliable narrator, is that it allows things to be discussed in a fuzzy, fizzy, non-judgemental space. Things are often at their most interesting when you don't know what you think about a subject, take more than one position on it, and dramatize it with more than one voice. 'What if I take the judgement out of this ultra-judgemental form, satire? What's left when I split myself into a lot of little characters and turn all satire's aggression, usually focused strongly by the ego on something outside it, against these new, dramatised micro-fragments of myself, my fantasies, my heroes, my enemies?' The result is a sort of 'fuzzy puppetry'.

But don't trust me, I'm just the narrator.

O Superman

I nominate half of the TMBG catalogue

Rilo Kiley - Does He Love You?

faith no more - RV

Gnarls Barkley - Crazy

Drive-By Truckers probably have dozens.

Used To Be a Cop

"Possum Kingdom" - seems pretty clear we're supposed to infer that all the proclamations of harmlessness, so help me Jesus, are not to be trusted. Not really "narrated" insofar as it's a second-person address but it feels close to the idea.

Richard Marx, “Hazard”. Promoted and marketed as such.

"Deacon Blues."

Bruce Springsteen - Atlantic City

Does a self-deluding narrator count? If so, "Bright Future in Sales."

Basically all of Jim O’Rourke’s more song-oriented material?

Oh yeah duh I don't know why I didn't think of that before. Yeah, everything.

Although some of the songs have obvious characters/stories, a lot of them sound like they're from the perspective of an all-seeing crank or something (Memory Lame, Insignificance, Ghost Ship in a Storm, Movie on the Way Down, Therefore I Am, Life Goes Off...)

lotsa paranoid and hopeful mountain goats songs

spastic OTM!

kornrulez, I've been thinking about that song lately. My wife suggested that the protagonist wants her dressed up so that they can have one last nice time. My reading is that he wants her dressed up so that she can be used as eye candy or sexual bait in a con or other potentially violent mob-flavored situation.

JOR really spells out his lyrical M.O. on “All Downhill from Here”—

“Don't believe a word I say
Not that you would anyway
I may be insincere
But it's all downhill from here

If I seem a bit remote
You'll feel better if you say I'm a misanthrope
Or whatever floats your boat
As for me, I'd rather sink my own

Even though I'm here, you should feel all alone
Maybe the point of this you've just outgrown
There are names for me that are better known
Just draw a line and I'll add my own”

Surprised "Somebody I Used to Know" didn't come up

I've always assumed that the protagonist of Peter Gabriel's "Big Time" is a fantasist:

My parties have all the big names
And I greet them with the widest smile
Tell them how my life is one big adventure
And always they're amazed
When I show them round my house, to my bed
I had it made like a mountain range
With a snow white pillow for my big fat head

xp which one? Elliott Smith or Gotye?

Gotye was the one I meant.