The Power Of Story: The Gardener (The Tallest Man On Earth)

Storytelling is a powerful tool to connect. This is known in the corporate world and also very visible in songwriting. On this blog, I’m breaking down songs for you to demonstrate what you can learn from them when it comes to storytelling.

‘The Gardener’ by Tallest Man On Earth is a lovely song that demonstrates the use of metaphors. In fact, the whole song is one big metaphor.

Summarized, this story could be just this sentence:

‘A man lies about everything to be, and to remain, loved by his lover.’

Instead, the song narrates about a gardener that murders everyone that might know details about him that he doesn’t want his love to know. By burying them in his garden, the garden flourishes.

The power lies in the metaphor of the garden, that stands for a blooming lie-based life, and the details of this metaphor. When listening to ‘The Gardner’, we see lush green and all kinds of flowers; we can visualize this and become part of it.

Then within this big metaphors, there lie small ones: ‘there ain’t no cowboy in my hat, there ain’t no puppy in your leash, it’s not my flag up in the pole’.
All these things are images we can picture, that stand for the lies that are the foundation of the singer’s story.

There’s a good amount of repetition in the song as well; in fact, the structure is repetition based. The first three verses follow the same recipe: someone dangerous is discovered (every first line starts with ‘I sense…’), taken care of because he’s a threat (‘I know the… is going tell you…’), and the gardener is safe again (‘so now…’ ) — as long as it lasts. This creates a sense of recognition during the song for us listeners to hold on to.

The last verse is bittersweet;

‘I won’t be lying when I tell you
that I’m a gardener I’m a man
in your eyes babe’

Because of the previous three verses and the repetition, we know that another lie will come up, another intruder will be killed — and the last lines show that the gardener actually longs to be loved for who he is, but that’s not likely anymore. The build-up during the song creates an element of fulfilled expectation, but also there’s a new contradicting twist: ‘I won’t be lying’. It’s a nice twist to end the story with.

So what can we get from this very poetic, storytelling song?

• Metaphors; they wrap up your story in beautiful wrapping paper, speak to the listener’s own imagination and therefore make them part of the story. This helps them to remember the story.
• Repetition; there’s a sense of expectation that builds up during the song. We know what is coming, but because every verse has metaphors so colorful, it does not get boring at all — in fact, the recognition empowers the message.
• A small contradiction and twist at the end that in fact doesn’t argue with the message, but underlines it (‘I’m lying all the time, but in this small case I’m actually not lying’ — the not lying is so unusual that it only shines a new light on the fact that the rest of the time, the narrator is a big liar.)

Here’s ‘The Gardener’ by The Tallest Man On Earth, including its lyrics, in it’s entirety.

I sense a runner in the garden
Although my judgements known to fail
Once built a steamboat in a meadow
Cos I’d forgotten how to sail
I know the runner’s going to tell you
There ain’t no cowboy in my hat
So now he’s buried by the daisies
So I could stay the tallest man in your eyes, babe

I sense a spy up in the chimney
From all the evidence I’ve burned
I guess he’ll read it in the smoke now
And soon to ashes I’ll return
I know the spy is going to tell you
It’s not my flag up in the pole
So now he’s buried by the lilies
So I could stay forever more in your eyes, babe

I sense a leak inside my phone now
From all the lies I have told
I know he has your private number
And soon he’ll make that vicious call
I know the leak is going to tell you
There ain’t no puppy in your leash
So now he’ll fertilize the roses
So I could stay the king you see
In your eyes, babe

So now we’re dancing through the garden
And what a garden I have made
And now that death will grow my jasmine
I find it soothing I’m afraid
Now there is no need for suspicion
There ain’t no frog kissing your hand
I won’t be lying when I tell you
That I’m a gardener I’m a man
In your eyes, babe