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.
Your Father and I by The Beautiful South
July 13th, 1985 and When the Beatles Hit America by John Wesley Harding
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.
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.
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.
Meeting Across the River (Springsteen)
Jungleland (Springsteen)
Paradise by the Dashboard Lights (Meatloaf)
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]
Also:
[ul][li]Me and Bobbie McGee[/li][li]Kentucky Rain (Elvis)[/li][li]In the Ghetto (Elvis)[/li]Mr. Bojangles[/ul]
Queensryche:
Crossroads
Silent lucidity
Scorpions:
Holiday
all I can think of
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.
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)
Snoopy versus the Red Baron -Royal Guardsmen
“Me and My Uncle” by the Grateful Dead
“The Babysitter’s Here” by Dar Williams
That would be Jimmy Driftwood
“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.
Steve Goodman did a cover but it was written by Jimmy Driftwood.
“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.
Ziggy Stardust - David Bowie
Defender - Manowar
Astronomy - Blue Oyster Cult
Not that I expect many people to have heard Defender. 
K.
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
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.
I humbly stand corrected.