What are your top two story songs?

Cafe Society
1

Number one my list should be everyones.

(1) Alices Restaurant of course. By Arlo Guthrie. He has updated the song.

(2) Taxi by Harry Chapin

What are yours?

2

El Paso by Marty Robbins.

Have to think about the second one.

3

1952 Vincent Black Lightning by Richard Thompson.

I’ll have to think about the second one, too.

4

I’ll go with the first two I thought of:

A Trick of the Tail - Genesis
Red Barchetta - Rush

5

I’ll echo you on “Alice’s Restaurant”, but I have to pick a different Harry Chapin song for the second: “WOLD”.

6

One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer - George Thoroughgood
The Devil Went Down To Georgia - Charlie Daniels Band

7

Sam Stone by John Prine

8

Cygnus X-1 and Cygnus X-1, Book II: Hemispheres* by Rush

9

Great song

  • There’s a hole in daddy’s arm where all the money goes,
    Jesus Christ died for nothin’ I suppose.
    Little pitchers have big ears,
    Don’t stop to count the years,
    Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios.*

Number 3 on my list.

10

Good responses so far!
I’ll second Biffy’s Vincent Black Lightning and throw in Johnny Cash’s Sam Hall (which I saw Richard Thompson perform in concert a few years back).

11

I’ll second 1952 Vincent Black Lightning and throw you in any number of Dylan tunes, but right now it’s Tangled Up In Blue.

12

I hope y’all won’t bop me upside the head if I suggest “The Night That the Lights Went Out in Georgia,” especially as sung by Reba McEntire. It’s corny in the extreme, but corn can be mighty tasty.

13

“The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” - Gordon Lightfoot
“A Day in the Life” - The Beatles

14

Scenes from an Italian Restaurant (Billy Joel), and a second I can’t think of at the moment.

15

Ah, that’d be my second.

16

Country Death Song – Violent Femmes
Buenas Tardes Amigo – Ween

17

Ditto.

My second one is Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts by Bob Dylan.

Honorable Mention: Johnny Cash’s A Boy Named Sue.

18

“The Butcher and Fast Eddie” by Rose Tattoo. The greatest story song bar none!

For my number two pick? Hmm…I guess I’ll go with “The Curse Of Millhaven” by Nick Cave.

19

Harold of the Rocks–Primus

Does Jeremy by Pearl Jam count as a story song?

20

*Della and the Dealer * - Hoyt Axton

*A Day in the Life * - Beatles