# Best story-song **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 25, 2000, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-story-song/26842 "2000-07-25T23:35:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-story-song/26842/61 "2000-07-27T12:37:29Z")
Two by Kenny Rogers: Lucille and The Gambler (which entered pop culture with the TV movies and the phrase “you got to know when to hold 'em.” Also the song “Meadowlark” by Stephen Schwartz from the failed musical “The Baker’s Wife.” A great song that few people outside of musical theatre have heard. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-story-song/26842/62 "2000-07-27T15:29:52Z")
_Your Father and I_ by The Beautiful South _July 13th, 1985_ and _When the Beatles Hit America_ by John Wesley Harding ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-story-song/26842/63 "2000-07-27T16:25:20Z")
Rundogrun, name of that song is Space Oddity. How about the Clash’s Jimmy Jazz? Bauhaus has a song about a guy who gets dosed on acid called Departure. That Velvet Underground song is a good one. Wall of Voodoo’s Lost Weekend is a nice narrative ala Virginia Woolfe. There is a Sonic Youth song about a car crash whose title I can’t remember. ---
**Author:** ![G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c67d28/32.png) [@G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.B.H.Hornswoggler)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-story-song/26842/64 "2000-07-27T17:05:53Z")
Tom Waits: _Big Joe and Phantom 309_ Stan Ridgway: _Camoflage_ Tom Waits: _Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis_ The Kinks: _Waterloo Sunset_ Tom Waits: _Frank’s Wild Years_ (the song) Elvis Costello: _A Town Called Big Nothing (Really Big Nothing)_ Tom Waits: _Frank’s Wild Years_ (the album) Bruce Springsteen: _The River_ Tom Waits: _Swordfishtrombones_ Oingo Boingo: _Only a Lad_ Tom Waits: _The Black Rider_ (the album) Warren Zevon: _Lawyers, Guns & Money_ Tom Waits: _Murder in the Red Barn_ Violent Femmes: _Country Death Song_ Tom Waits: _Eyeball Kid_ The Clash: _Something About England_ Tom Waits: _Martha_ As you might be able to tell, I think Tom Waits has some top-notch story-songs. ---
**Author:** ![TomH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90db22/32.png) [@TomH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TomH)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-story-song/26842/65 "2000-07-27T17:29:00Z")
_Waltzing Matilda_ is a song by A B “Banjo” Patterson about a swagman who is drowned in a billabong while attempting to escape from a squatter (mounted on a thoroughbred) and three troopers who are trying to apprehend him for the theft of a jumbuck, which he had concealed in his tucker bag while waiting for his billy to boil under the shade of a coolibah tree. The song on the Pogues album, _Rum, Sodomy and the Lash_, about the Australian soldier who loses his legs at Gallipoli, is called _And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda_ and was, as somebody else has pointed out, written by Eric Bogle, a Scottish-Australian folk singer and quondam accountant. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-story-song/26842/66 "2000-07-27T17:47:20Z")
Meeting Across the River (Springsteen) Jungleland (Springsteen) Paradise by the Dashboard Lights (Meatloaf) ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-story-song/26842/67 "2000-07-27T18:03:31Z")
Well, the 70’s were just chock full of “story songs,” both good and bad. Some which haven’t been mentioned yet (for better or worse): [ul][li]Tallahatchee Bridge[/li][li]Chevy Van[/li][li]Hotel California (The Eagles)[/li][li]The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia (Vickie Lawrence)[/li][li]Angie Babie (Helen Reddy)[/li][li]Wildwood Flower (Jim Stafford)[/li][li]Black Bayou (Jim Stafford)[/li][li]Killing of Georgie (Rod Stewart)[/li][li]Fire on the Mountain (Marshall Tucker Band)[/li][li]Lyin’ Eyes (The Eagles)[/li][li]Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves (Cher)[/li][li]Main Street (Bob Seeger)[/li][li]Night Moves (Bob Seeger)[/li][li]Copacabana (Barry Manilow) (Not an endorsement: I’m just listing 'em.)[/li][li]Patches[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-story-song/26842/68 "2000-07-27T18:11:29Z")
Also: [ul][li]Me and Bobbie McGee[/li][li]Kentucky Rain (Elvis)[/li][li]In the Ghetto (Elvis)[/li]Mr. Bojangles[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![DarkHeart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@DarkHeart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarkHeart)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-story-song/26842/69 "2000-07-27T18:27:29Z")
Queensryche: Crossroads Silent lucidity Scorpions: Holiday all I can think of ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-story-song/26842/70 "2000-07-27T18:48:06Z")
**Odieman** You keep beating me to the draw, still- your taste is good. Smackwater Jack - Carole King Down in the subway at midnight - Jam Dreadlock Holiday - 10cc Side one of the Jailbreak album -Thin Lizzy Mama told me not to come -Three dog night Whiter shade of pale - Procul Harem( a bit allegorical but a story nonetheless) **Nellie the elephant** **Puff the magic dragon** 😃 Baker Street - Jerry Rafferty Tom’s diner -Suzanne Vega The days of Pearly Spencer -Marc Almond(yes I know it was done by someone else but I can’t remember) Scratched my head enough for now and I’ve just finished a download so I’ll leave it for a while. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-story-song/26842/71 "2000-07-27T19:15:52Z")
Blimey just remembered Schoolday - Chuck Berry No particular place to go-Chuck Berry Battle of New Orleans -cannot remember who Walk tall, walk straight and look the world right in the eye -Can’t remember that either Snapshot -Peter Gabriel Living for the city -Stevie Wonder(mainly the outro) ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-story-song/26842/72 "2000-07-27T19:22:35Z")
Snoopy versus the Red Baron -Royal Guardsmen ---
**Author:** ![Althea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eada6e/32.png) [@Althea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Althea)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-story-song/26842/73 "2000-07-27T19:42:48Z")
“Me and My Uncle” by the Grateful Dead “The Babysitter’s Here” by Dar Williams ---
**Author:** ![jesuslynch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e99b99/32.png) [@jesuslynch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jesuslynch)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-story-song/26842/74 "2000-07-27T19:49:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by casdave \* > \*\* > Battle of New Orleans -cannot remember who > \*\* That would be Jimmy Driftwood ---
**Author:** ![jcatcher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dbc845/32.png) [@jcatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jcatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-story-song/26842/75 "2000-07-27T19:55:32Z")
“A Dying Cub Fans Last Request” - Steve Goodman BTW, he also wrote “City of New Orleans” that was sung by Arlo Guthrie. Another good story song. ---
**Author:** ![jesuslynch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e99b99/32.png) [@jesuslynch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jesuslynch)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-story-song/26842/76 "2000-07-27T20:08:12Z")
Steve Goodman did a cover but it was written by [Jimmy Driftwood](http://billslater.com/driftwood.htm). “We fired our guns and the British kept a coming There wasn’t nigh as many as there was a while ago. We fired once more and they began to runnning Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico!” Chorus from “The Battle of New Orleans” by Jimmy Driftwood, voted during the 1980s one of the 10 most popular American songs of all time. ---
**Author:** ![Gravity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gravity/32/14322_2.png) [@Gravity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gravity)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-story-song/26842/77 "2000-07-27T20:12:53Z")
Ziggy Stardust - David Bowie Defender - Manowar Astronomy - Blue Oyster Cult Not that I expect many people to have heard Defender. 🙂 K. ---
**Author:** ![Odieman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a87d85/32.png) [@Odieman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odieman)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-story-song/26842/78 "2000-07-27T20:25:37Z")
The Battle of New Orleans “We fired our guns and the british” etc. was written By Jimmy Driftwood. It was made popular by Johnny Horton (who also did North To Alaska). City of New Orleans “Riding on the train we call the City of New Orleans…Good Morning America, how are ya” was written by Steve Goodman and made popular by Arlo Guthrie. Just Clarifying: Keith ---
**Author:** ![jcatcher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dbc845/32.png) [@jcatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jcatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-story-song/26842/79 "2000-07-27T20:31:58Z")
Jeezus, jesus, it’s a different song. This one’s about the train. “Good morning, America, how are you…” Now back to your regularly scheduled program. ---
**Author:** ![jesuslynch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e99b99/32.png) [@jesuslynch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jesuslynch)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-story-song/26842/80 "2000-07-27T20:49:18Z")
I humbly stand corrected. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-story-song/26842.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-story-song/26842.md?page=5)