Recently, while putzing around on youtube, I came across Gordon Lightfoot’s Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald , which I haven’t heard in forever.
Listening to it reminds me of an old Irish song or something… you know what I mean? It tells a story, it brings feeling, it makes brings tears to my eyes…
I’m looking for more ballads like this. Something that tells a story (it doesn’t really matter if it’s real, but it’s better I think).
Anyone have any good suggestions?
(after looking)
Please don’t include this… well, I don’t know that words can describe it, but it’s bad, it’s worse than bad! I almost threw up bad…
Lenord Nimoy singing the Ballad of Bilbo Baggins
The Highwayman should do it for you.
…and please find the lovely, urgent, haunting Phil Ochs version, not the dull Loreena McKennit one.
What about another beautiful Gordon Lightfoot song - If You Could Read My Mind? I’ve always been partial to Brandy and Wildfire.
I’d suggest a song that I first heard of through the Dope: Cold Missouri Waters by Cry, Cry, Cry. Of course, part of it is that I loved the book that inspired the song.
Depending on your tastes, you might want to review your Jimmy Buffett - a lot of his songs are ballads. Off the top of my head: The Captain and the Kid, Margaritaville, Fins, The Great Filling Station Hold Up, Jolly Mon Song, and Sending the Old Man Home all qualify.
Also, many Scots/Irish folk songs are ballads.
And, I don’t think you should forget Harry Chapin for some really lovely, heartbreaking ballads. Sniper, The Rock, A Better Place to Be, Taxi, Sequel, Dance Band on the Titanic…
Some other of my favorite ballads: Crusader by Chris de Burgh. (Great song. Awful history.)
Port of Call by Battlefield Band
Two by Johnny Horton: The Battle of New Orleans (though that’s really just an adaptation of a folk ballad); and Sink the Bismark!
Space Oddity by David Bowie
Rah, Rah Rasputin by Boiled in Lead (Great song. Gooood history.)
The Miller’s Will is a fun, traditional ballad.
A less traditional ballad that I, personally, love is It’s a Long Way from Amphioxus. (AIUI the song is now bad science, but I don’t care!) Alas the only recording I know of it is the Folkways recording on the album, “Sam Hinton Sings the Songs of Men.” Whether that’s in print or available as a CD is beyond my knowledge…
Is this the same one Bony M covered? I love that song! My parents had the 8 Track when I was a kid. It is good history!!!
Please clarify: when you say “true ballads”, you could mean songs that are written in the traditional ballad form, such as Lord Randall, or perhaps Froggy Went a-Courtin’, or you could mean ballads that tell stories of events that actuallyoccurred, such as The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
Which sense of the term “true ballads” are you intending, here?
It does seem to be the same song, and given the dates involved - I suspect Boiled in Lead is doing a cover, too. Bony M may well be the original.
I just found out that Folkways in releasing most (if not all) of their catalog on CD, now. This album is available, here. Dammit more places to spend money I don’t have. 
They are. It was written by their producer. Who is also the lead singer on the albums, but not live, apparently.
Also, their name has an e in it - Boney M.
Thanks for some great suggestions!
The Highwayman was great, basically the exact type of song I’m looking for. The version I cam across was with Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, and Weylon Jennings .
Crusader was good too.
I’m pretty familiar with most of Buffet’s stuff, as it’s pretty much a standard at some karoke bars I go to.
I didn’t even think of Chapin, and I really should have known that one.
The Scot and Irish songs is kinda what got me on this track. I was checking out a video of The Dubliners
singing Whiskey in the Jar and that got me thinking. I knew the dope would have the answer!
kaylasdad99, I’ve got to confess that I don’t really know the “true” traditional ballad, but I think you got the idea of what I was looking for. Looking at Wikipedia, I can see what you’re getting at for traditional, but that’s not what I’m really looking for, or specifically, I should say.
Just wanted to be sure that we don’t have to confine ourselves to the factual…
Here’s the Scottish ballad of “Sir Patrick Spens”, oh yes, a ballad. Tells a story involving misery, danger and death and it is very long. 
http://sites.scran.ac.uk/scottish_poetry_library/browse_popularpoems_sirpatrickspens.html
How about the English song “Matty Groves”? Tells a story, involves sex, danger and, oh yes, violent death.
http://www.lyricsdownload.com/fairport-convention-matty-groves-lyrics.html
The Ballad of John and Yoko – The Beatles
I think Peter Jackson should watch that if he decides to do The Hobbit. It really captures the spirit of Tolkien’s spirit, I think. Especially the chicks wearing Spock ears.
I would recommend finding more 1970s “soft rock”. The likes of James Taylor, Cat Stevens, John Denver, Jimmy Buffet, etc.
How about Hey Joe ? Now there’s a story.
Or this David Bowie - Ballad of the adventurers Lyrics
(It’s says david bowie but it’s brecht)
You’ll probably find plenty of examples of what your looking for in the thread Songs that tell a good story?, particularly since its OP gives “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” as an example.
Country music is full of ballads. For some with a “rockin’” edge, try Steve Earle. He had an album in the mid-90s called “Train a Comin’” that has a couple great ones, especially the song “Ben McCullough.”
Sir Rhosis
All off the top of my head or a brief perusal of my mp3 library:
Another rich source for ballads is that sub-genre of folk music called ‘filk.’ Basically, it’s folk music with an SF/Fantasy theme. Though - the definition can get kind of fuzzy. Traditional ballads often get adopted wholesale, there’s at least one filk singer who has been putting much of Kipling’s poetry to music.
Alas, it’s often hard to find.
Some of the lyrics for songs I’ve liked that I could find are linked here:
Dawson’s Christian, by Duane Elms
Flowers for Algernon, by Kathy Mar
Operation Desert Storm, by Tom Smith (It’s not what you think it’s about.)
Threes, by Mercedes Lackey and Leslie Fish
Captain Jack and the Mermaid, by Meg Davis