# Great story songs. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 26, 2014, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-story-songs/708187 "2014-12-26T03:20:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2015, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-story-songs/708187/81 "2015-01-29T18:15:11Z")
Might need to start grouping the Dylan story songs by album. I’ll just do _Blood on the Tracks_ and _Desire_ for now. I’m gonna repeat some that have already been mentioned: _Blood on the Tracks_: Tangled Up in Blue Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts Simple Twist of Fate _Desire_: Hurricane Isis Joey Romance in Durango Black Diamond Bay ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2015, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-story-songs/708187/82 "2015-01-29T18:15:35Z")
Lots of the ones I would nominate have already been mentioned, but here’s a few more… “[Buffalo Skinners](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDuqB3h0aEo)” “[Cowboy Movie](http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=cowboy+movie+david+crosby+youtube&FORM=VIRE1#view=detail&mid=00B9AFB3B135F5240FD100B9AFB3B135F5240FD1)” “[Polly on the Shore](http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=polly+on+the+shore+youtube&FORM=VIRE1#view=detail&mid=6B2669F3EDDCDD8619866B2669F3EDDCDD861986)” “[Christmas in the Trenches](http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=christmas+in+the+trenches+john+mccutcheon+youtube&FORM=VIRE13#view=detail&mid=0BC2F018F1F0B19A324E0BC2F018F1F0B19A324E)” “[Roads to Moscow](http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=roads+to+moscow+youtube&FORM=VIRE1#view=detail&mid=CD79F5474494BD1C9E1ACD79F5474494BD1C9E1A)” ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2015, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-story-songs/708187/83 "2015-01-29T19:05:11Z")
Dark Lady by Cher Wolf Creek Pass by C. W. McCall ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2015, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-story-songs/708187/84 "2015-01-29T23:26:06Z")
Pink Floyd - When the Tigers Broke Free Leonard Cohen - The Stranger Song Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - John Finn’s Wife Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - The Kindness of Strangers ---
**Author:** ![YawningDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/848f3c/32.png) [@YawningDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YawningDog)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2015, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-story-songs/708187/85 "2015-01-29T23:46:08Z")
Almost any murder ballad is a great story song. Someone mentioned Leonard Nimoy – I like his version of “Ruby.” I’ve always thought thought of that song as a murder ballad. “Pink Houses” by John Mellencamp “Delia’s Gone” by Johnny Cash “L.A.County” by Lyle Lovett Here’s a unique take on [Pretty Polly](http://youtu.be/VUXHTT3NEMQ?list=PL2A5DF67D14A95ADE)… “Do you like wildflowers?” ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2015, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-story-songs/708187/86 "2015-01-30T00:02:08Z")
A few of these examples are not what I’d call “story songs” but rather “vignette songs.” (“Pink Houses” is an example, though I don’t want to pick on just that one in particular.) To me, a story song has to tell a story, it has to have a plot: something has to happen in the course of the song. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2015, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-story-songs/708187/87 "2015-01-30T02:31:32Z")
See: Dylan Chapin Kinks Grateful Dead Springsteen And too many C&W to shake a stick at… ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2015, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-story-songs/708187/88 "2015-01-30T15:01:14Z")
Pluto Shervington’s [Ram Goat Liver](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2FKTSEW_9M). Probably the only UK hit about stealing and eating a goat then shitting yourself in the street as a consequence… ---
**Author:** ![alted315](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/cc9497/32.png) [@alted315](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alted315)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2015, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-story-songs/708187/89 "2015-01-30T15:11:08Z")
O’Malley’s bar by Nick Cave ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2015, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-story-songs/708187/90 "2015-01-30T15:11:15Z")
How about Velvet Underground’s The Gift. I suppose you could technically argue it’s not a song because John Cale is talking rather than singing, but then again it’s by a band with words set to music so… ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2015, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-story-songs/708187/91 "2015-01-31T14:27:52Z")
> [@RobDog](#): > > How about Velvet Underground’s The Gift. > > I suppose you could technically argue it’s not a song because John Cale is talking rather than singing, but then again it’s by a band with words set to music so… I’m buying into that. Poor old Waldo… ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2015, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-story-songs/708187/92 "2015-01-31T16:39:42Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > I’m sure this has been done but I just listened to [Joe Ely, _The Road Goes on Forever_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Pgog03z8YI) again and thought I’d throw it out there. > > What ya got? > [@zoog](#): > > As noted by **Tangent** upthread, that’s originally a Robert Earl Keen song. If you like that one, he’s got a bunch of other great story songs. > > [Gringo Honeymoon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWANCXep4SY) > > [Feelin’ Good Again](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAJVH7RfwkM) > > [Shades of Gray](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RArZGbD9k-M) Indeed, he’s probably the modern master of the form. My favorite story song of his is [The Armadillo Jackal](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBzQMAZyDzI). It’s actually pretty short for a story song, but he sets up an atmosphere and feel that makes me able to picture everything vividly. That it’s a life/death struggle expressed in modern economics makes it just about perfect. ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2015, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-story-songs/708187/93 "2015-01-31T17:18:49Z")
Many songs by the British group Squeeze have narrative depth but the stand out example is the early hit single “Up the junction”. Has no choruses. Basically a sung monologue of working class London, kitchen sink melodrama documenting boy meets girl, boy and girl start a family, it all goes wrong. The song title only appears at the end of the song as the singer rues the unlikeliness of getting his family back: \*\*\*And now it’s my assumption I’m really up the junction * * * TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2015, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-story-songs/708187/94 "2015-01-31T17:51:44Z")
Paul Simon (solo and in Simon and Garfunkel) usually has loads of narrative and biographical elements in his songs. Try “_The Boxer_”, “_Homeward Bound_”, the infamous “Go \*\*\*\* yourself” to Garfunkel of “_Frank Lloyd Wright_”, “_The Last Living Boy In New York_” and so on and so on. But I think the best example for the OP is “_ **America** _” which is not only eschews a repeated chorus but doesn’t even bother with rhymes either. And still sounds great and I like it. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2015, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-story-songs/708187/95 "2015-01-31T19:24:28Z")
I’m just flicking through my iTunes here and in truth most singers attempt to put some sort of narrative into at least some of their songs. **Hole In The River by Crowded House** - Because it was inspired by, and describes, the real life suicide of the song writer’s aunt. Tries to be celebratory rather than maudlin. Crowded House also have **Mean To Me** inspired by an obsessed American fan flying to New Zealand to meet the band. **Cloudbusting by Kate Bush** - Not a clear narrative but inspired by a real person (psychologist and philosopher Wilhelm Reich) and because it has the first line “_I still dream of Orgonon_” and Orgonon is a word I had never heard used in a song before or since. **Family Snapshot by Peter Gabriel** - Gets into the mind of Lee Harvey Oswald as he prepares to assassinate JFK. More of a narrative to the song than, for example, Gabriel’s Biko which is based on the real murder (in a South African jail by the authorities) of Steve Biko. **Man On The Moon by REM** - The song about American comedian Andy Kaufman and as a narrative isn’t particularly clear. But nor was Kaufman. It went on to help inspire a biographical film and - this is only my opinion - I reckon the song tells you more about Kaufman than the film. **Bodies by Sex Pistols** - Inspired by a mentally ill female fan of the infamous punk rock band and her rapes and abortions. Noteworthy - in the context of being a narrative song - by it’s extremely visceral nature. Musically, lyrically and every way you can imagine violent, aggressive and spewing out loathing. Very much NSFW if you choose to look it up. Unlike much of the extreme, thrash and hardcore music it inspired, the lyrics are pretty easy to make out. But there are so many songs and artists I could have mentioned. Elvis Costello does narrative and social commentary in his songs so well. Elton John in the early days. Dire Straights. Tracey Chapman. (British Band) Stereophonics. A few Rush songs. (British Band) Pulp base a lot of their stuff on real events and people - I really should have included **Common People** or **Disco 2000**. **Disco 2000** was the singer (Jarvis Cocker) reminiscing about a real girl he platonically knew as a child before he was famous and wondering, in song form, whether he should try to meet her again at a Millennium Party - the song written in 1995. Rather sadly to anyone who knows and enjoys the song, in real life, his muse (who married, had kids, became a dedicated nurse) died of cancer in 2014. The Tubeway Army (Gary Numan) album Replicas is fantastically evocative of a specific kind of Science Fiction - Philip K Dick for example - and I simply love listening and falling into that world but I must admit no single song has much of a specific narrative to it. But the mood it creates. **Are Friends Electric** is a stunning piece as are **Down in the Park** , **You Are In My Vision** , **Me, I Disconnect From You** … Tying into the OP, Gary Numan apparently created themes and ideas for a novel before abandoning that and converting the lyrics to songs. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2015, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-story-songs/708187/96 "2015-01-31T19:27:52Z")
> [@TCMF-2L](#): > > … **Family Snapshot by Peter Gabriel** - Gets into the mind of Lee Harvey Oswald as he prepares to assassinate JFK… Not JFK, I think, but a President or some other VIP. The lyrics include the line, “And the governor’s car is not far behind…” Gov. Connally was riding in the same limo as President Kennedy. ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2015, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-story-songs/708187/97 "2015-01-31T19:32:54Z")
Uh oh! Well it certainly has a narrative! According to Wikipedia: _ **The song was inspired by An Assassin’s Diary, published in 1973 and written by Arthur Bremer, who attempted to assassinate George Wallace, a politician who supported racial segregation.** _ However Gabriel has admitted in interview he threw in a portion of the JFK assassination as well. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![Merejane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@Merejane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merejane)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2015, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-story-songs/708187/98 "2015-01-31T19:39:15Z")
[The Frozen Man](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFvGq-52I8I), by James Taylor. Haunting and beautiful. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2015, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-story-songs/708187/99 "2015-01-31T19:49:48Z")
“[Big Bad John](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_qX5bPbPUo)” - Jimmy Dean ---
**Author:** ![Philliam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/philliam/32/3011_2.png) [@Philliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philliam)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2015, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-story-songs/708187/100 "2015-02-02T19:44:09Z")
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