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In this post I’m going to dive into a story told in 158 words. Clearly this is taking things to the extreme but it does work and each of these words does a lot of heavy lifting.
These are the lyrics of a song released by the Australian band Cold Chisel in 1978 entitled: Goodbye (Astrid, Goodbye)
The lyrics in full are:
Open up the door Astrid, cause I’m comin’ down the stairs
And I ain’t gonna listen to no more pissin’ around
I’ve had seven long years of give a little, take a little
Stack a little money away
And you better believe I’m gonna take this love to town
Turn on the tears Astrid, and don’t forget to let the neighbours see
What a low down deal you got when you married me
You can drown your days in valium and brandy
Talkin’ to the cat and the dog
And you can shove your cheap french vogue society
Goodbye, goodbye . . .
I won’t be comin’ back for long
Open up the door Astrid, and don’t try to stand in my way
I’m heading for a long long night to a better day
And don’t bother offering to drive me to the station
You’d only drive me round the bend
We’re comin’ to the end, there’s nothin’ left to say
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Butch Walker / Mitchell Allan Scherr / Mitchell Scherr
Goodbye (Astrid Goodbye) lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group
Youtube Video: Here
So we have a breakdown of a relationship story. We know the wife’s name, Astrid but not the protagonist’s. An old story and we may think, one not really worth the telling. But let’s dive a little deeper.
The story opens boldly on Line 1:
Open up the door Astrid, cause I’m comin’ down the stairs
This raises questions. Why is the protagonist coming down the stairs and why does the door have to be opened for them? This triggers intrigue in the listener. We have an opening with many possible closings.
Line 2
And I ain’t gonna listen to no more pissin’ around
Resolves some of those questions. There has been some sort of disagreement. The protagonist is dismissing the gravity of that disagreement by referring to it as “pissin’ around”. We are getting somewhere. Still the extent of the disagreement has yet to be revealed. It could be about the colour of paint on a wall, it could be political, we don’t know and this is the point. When crafting your narratives you do not have to be too explicit in your intro. Enough story to pique the interest of your listeners is all that’s needed.
Lines 3 and 4 let us in the gravity of the situation.
I’ve had seven long years of give a little, take a little
Stack a little money away
We are seeing a possible fracture of a long term relationship. We may even be reminded of the Marylin Monroe film, The Seven Year Itch. Given Goodbye (Astrid, Goodbye) was released in 1978, the 1955 classic film would still be in the cultural zeitgeist. The protagonist reveals he’s played the game, the culturally expected game, give, take, save. And this has been a slog for him because they were seven long years.
Line 5 provided the final piece of information we need as listeners:
And you better believe I’m gonna take this love to town
The relationship is over. The protagonist is back on the single scene, if that’s still a thing nowadays. It was in 1978.
Those first lines have told us both the end of one story, the relationship that’s ending and the beginning of the protagonist’s journey to a new world. Is this a “Hero’s Journey”, possibly a “Journey and Return”, a “Confronting the Monster” or a “Quest” story? These are interesting questions. Is the protagonist overcoming an obstacle that held them back for seven years? Are they returning to whom they were, altered by the relationship? Are they confronting the cultural pressures of society’s “Monster” and letting go of what is no longer serving either party? This might not seem like much of “Monster” when viewed from 2025 but remember no fault divorce had only become the law in 1975. Cultural inertia is a powerful thing. Equally we could see this as the opening of a Quest story as the protagonist breaks free of confining circumstances to seek their fate.
The next five lines bring clarity and depth to our understanding of the relationship:
Lines 6 and 7:
Turn on the tears Astrid, and don’t forget to let the neighbours see
What a low down deal you got when you married me
These lines refer to that cultural interia. The wronged partner, the one left behind. It’s important for the neighbours to see the suffering because without that interaction, it might just seem to be an amicable separation. This is not one of those. As an aside, a solicitor told me in twenty odd years of practice, he’d only seen one of these amicable separations, so they are rare.
Lines 8 and 9 takes us deeper into the breakup and loss of concern of each other:
You can drown your days in valium and brandy
Talkin’ to the cat and the dog
This is a pointed cruelty, the sort of thing that, unfortunately is not uncommon at the end of a long term relationship. The protagonist no longer cares if Astrid checks out chemically or crawls into a bottle. She still has the pets to “put up” with her “nonsense”.
Line 10 gives a hint of so much more:
And you can shove your cheap french vogue society
This suggests the protagonist has tried to follow Astrid’s attempt at some form of social integration with middle class culture, maybe even social climbing with the cheap french vogue society reference.
So far we have been invited to a relationship breakdown, seen some of the possible tensions and been shown a glimpse of cruelty to ensure the protagonist is burning their bridges on the way out.
Lines 11 to 15 confirm the end of the relationship and the parting of the ways.
Lines 11 and 12 show the protagonist knows there’s inner work to be done.
Open up the door Astrid, and don’t try to stand in my way
I’m heading for a long long night to a better day
The long long night and better day references point to this. It may even point to a period of the Long Dark Night of the Soul where our protagonist undergoes the healing and lesson assimilation required after a relationship collapse.
It also returns us to the beginning of the story with “Open up the door Astrid”. A useful storytelling technique to tie the end to the beginning. We have travelled a distance with the protagonist and are being brought back to the initial opening questions we may have had but now with some of those answers.
Lines 13 and 14 confirm the ending:
And don’t bother offering to drive me to the station
You’d only drive me round the bend
There is sadness in these lines, a seven year relationship doesn’t start with a partner who’d drive you round the bend. It further signifies the losses involved in this stage of the relationship breakdown.
Line 15 confirms:
We’re comin’ to the end, there’s nothin’ left to say
And with that the story comes to a conclusion.
Takeaways for Storytellers
- A story’s worth is not determined by its length
- A 200 word summary, similar to Goodbye (Astrid, Goodbye) would make a great starting point for a longer narrative
- Deciding on the storytelling arc at the commencement of a narrative may need reassessment as the process advances. Stories can take on a life of their own
- As with the discussed text, only one person needs to be named, I would argue this is useful for maintaining privacy at times
- There are stories begging to told all around us, if only we listen
Next week I’ll be looking at the options for field recording when a story presents itself and you just have to grab what you can where you are. I’ll delve into the kit I carry in my backpack and the thought processes leading up to their inclusion.
If you or your service are ready to start your podcast. Drop me an email here. That email is in the show notes. And we can begin the process of bringing your stories to life and give the unheard a voice!