# Songs that tell a good story? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 24, 2007, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-tell-a-good-story/401390 "2007-04-24T00:56:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TommyTutone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@TommyTutone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TommyTutone)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-tell-a-good-story/401390/21 "2007-04-24T14:37:34Z")
Barry Manilow - Copacabana Kinks - Come Dancing ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-tell-a-good-story/401390/22 "2007-04-24T14:40:57Z")
My favorite story song is Iron Man. duh dun duh dun dun da da da da da da duh dun dun ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-tell-a-good-story/401390/23 "2007-04-24T14:54:00Z")
“Take the Money and Run” - Steve Miller Band ---
**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-tell-a-good-story/401390/24 "2007-04-24T14:56:52Z")
[QUOTE=TommyTutone] Barry Manilow - Copacabana Kinks - Come Dancing [/QUOTE] You brought the Kinks into this, without mentioning _Lola_? ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-tell-a-good-story/401390/25 "2007-04-24T15:51:31Z")
Bob Dylan, Hurricane ---
**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:** [April 24, 2007, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-tell-a-good-story/401390/26 "2007-04-24T16:03:27Z")
[QUOTE=fessie] You brought the Kinks into this, without mentioning _Lola_? [/QUOTE] Maybe he thought one song about Lola was enough? 🙂 I thought of Copacabana too, but I was afraid to mention it. 🙂 “Lola” _was_ on **RealityChuck** ’s list earlier, > [@](#): > > Ray Davies of the Kinks also often tells a story a list to which many more Kinks songs could be added. But they may or may not be what the OP is looking for. Mostly, Ray’s songs don’t give us linear narratives (first this happened, then this happened…); rather, he’s terrific at creating characters and telling about those characters and the situations they’re in. (And Ray did call his one-man show and the CD that came from it “The Storyteller.”) ---
**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-tell-a-good-story/401390/27 "2007-04-24T16:06:56Z")
Ah, shoot, my bad. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-tell-a-good-story/401390/28 "2007-04-24T16:49:33Z")
Bang Bang- done by many, done best by Nancy Sinatra. What on the surface appear to be really simple lyrics are actually pretty deep and vivid. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-tell-a-good-story/401390/29 "2007-04-24T17:29:17Z")
Well, if we’re going to mention The Gambler, then how about Coward of the County? ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-tell-a-good-story/401390/30 "2007-04-24T18:06:06Z")
_Whiskey In A Jar_ - Thin Lizzy _Scenes From An Italian Restaurant_ - Billy Joel ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-tell-a-good-story/401390/31 "2007-04-24T22:16:04Z")
Stan Rogers has a bunch of good folkie ones (too many to list probably) Barrett’s Privateers The Maid on the Shore Athens Queen White Squall … and Woodbridge Dog Disaster for laughs ---
**Author:** ![unwashed\_brain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a9adbd/32.png) [@unwashed\_brain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unwashed_brain)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-tell-a-good-story/401390/32 "2007-04-24T22:20:04Z")
_Lost Keys (Blame Hofmann) & Rosetta Stoned_ by **Tool** ---
**Author:** ![lovelybean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@lovelybean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lovelybean)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-tell-a-good-story/401390/33 "2007-04-24T22:42:35Z")
[QUOTE=cochrane] Charlie Daniels had a few good ones: Uneasy Rider The Devil Went Down to Georgia [/QUOTE] On the same note ( 😃 ), Tenacious D’s “Tribute” ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-tell-a-good-story/401390/34 "2007-04-24T22:49:19Z")
Devil Went Down to Georgia - Charlie Daniels Band Coward of the County - Kenny Rogers ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-tell-a-good-story/401390/35 "2007-04-24T22:49:55Z")
The Downeaster ‘Alexa’ Billy Joel Bad Wisdom Suzanne Vega No More I Love You’s Annie Lennox How Beautiful You Are The Cure What about Iron Maiden’s Sameul Taylor Coleridge tribute, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner? Does it count? ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-tell-a-good-story/401390/36 "2007-04-24T23:07:49Z")
Examples of **bad** story songs: Run Joey Run Blind Man in the Bleachers ---
**Author:** ![ErinPuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-tell-a-good-story/401390/37 "2007-04-24T23:08:50Z")
“Albuquerque” and “The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota” by “Weird Al” Yankovic. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-tell-a-good-story/401390/38 "2007-04-24T23:13:18Z")
Mark Knopfler, _A Prairie Wedding_ – he captures the narrator’s emotions beautifully. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-tell-a-good-story/401390/39 "2007-04-24T23:32:14Z")
_Guess Who I Saw Today_, Nancy Wilson _Hello Big Man_, Carly Simon (re: parents/refers to father’s co. Simon&Schuster) ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-tell-a-good-story/401390/40 "2007-04-25T07:22:14Z")
I think every song Gordon Lightfoot ever wrote tells a story. _The Canadian Railroad Triogy_, _Sundown_, _If You Could Read my Mind_, _Rainyday People_ _Cold Blue Steel_, _Blue_, _Cactus Tree_, _Peoples’ Parties_ by Joni Mitchell _At Seventeen_ by Janis Ian _Night Moves_, _Turn the Page_ by Bob Seger [_Cinderella_](http://www.stlyrics.com/songs/f/firefall7756/cinderella276325.html) by Firefall _Legend in Your Own Time_, _You’re so Vain_ by Carly Simon _Hotel California_, _Take it Easy_ by The Eagles. _Horse with No Name_, _Desperado_ by America [_Rock Show_](http://www.seeklyrics.com/lyrics/Paul-Mccartney/Rock-Show.html), [_Magneto & Titanium Man_](http://www.lyricsdepot.com/paul-mccartney/magneto-and-titanium-man.html) by Wings _Maggie Mae_ by Rod Stewart [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-tell-a-good-story/401390.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-tell-a-good-story/401390.md?page=3)