At that, I’m not sure it’s possible to get more explicit than Ramble On: “years ago, in days of old, when magic filled the air, 'twas in the darkest depths of Mordor, I met a girl so fair. But Gollum and the evil one crept up…”
Neko Case has said in interviews that a few of the songs on her album Fox Confessor Brings the Flood were inspired by fairy tales (wiki cite). I’d say the title track Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, Dirty Knife, and Maybe Sparrow most closely fit what the OP’s after.
My Brightest Diamond has a boatload of songs reminiscent of fairy tales, a good example being From the Top of the World, which was inspired by George Macdonald’s “At the Back of the North Wind.”
Once Upon A Time (aka “The Tale of Princess Trampolina”)*
Risqué, but safe for work unless your boss is a prude.
*From Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?.
Also
Beyond The Fields We Know by a couple of ex Steeleye Span people doing a concept album based on The King Of Elfland’s Daughter (the whole album is fairy-tale-y)
Cruxshadows - Eurydice
Pretty self explanatory it is a song about Orpheus and Eurydice which is kind of a fairytale.
Six Ribbons, Jon English
Cuéntame un cuento, by Celtas Cortos (“tell me a tale”); this is the bilingual version they recorded with Willy DeVille.
I still want to know whether one of Willy’s relatives was the model for Disney’s Captain Hook…
Mecano’s Ana y Miguel is more legend-like, it’s a tweak on a zillion legends about the Lady Sea as a jealous lover and about women turned into salt or rocks waiting for their sailors to come back from her embrace (in their story, the sea is male and kills Miguel due to jealousy over Ana; the usual story is the Lady Sea taking the sailors for herself, unwilling to share them with their wives).
Oh, yeah, I forgot: The Decemberists’ entire Crane Wife album. Old Japanese fairy tale.
“Legend of a Girl Child Linda” by Donovan
Also, a lot of his album For Little Ones, which was Album 2 of A Gift From A Flower To A Garden… especially “Enchanted Gypsy” and “Lay of the Last Tinker”. (You’ll note that these are based on old folk songs, which is where you’ll find a lot of fairytale-ish imagery. Example: “The Silkie of Sule Skerry” or “Cruel Sister”.)
Into White - Cat Stevens
The Queen and the Soldier - Suzanne Vega
Always - The Story (this one’s awesome)
And the classic…
Guinnevere - Crosby, Stills, and Nash
[QUOTE=The Other Waldo Pepper]
At that, I’m not sure it’s possible to get more explicit than Ramble On: “years ago, in days of old, when magic filled the air, 'twas in the darkest depths of Mordor, I met a girl so fair. But Gollum and the evil one crept up…”
[/QUOTE]
“The queen of light took her bow, and then she turned to go…” The Battle of Evermore - Led Zeppelin
Ocean Gypsy is beautiful.