# Songs with different/odd stories **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 13, 2020, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-different-odd-stories/853729 "2020-05-13T17:03:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Mr.Bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mr.Bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Bill)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2020, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-different-odd-stories/853729/61 "2020-05-17T01:00:50Z")
Just about every song written by Stan Rogers. **White Squall** - about a seaman haunted by his inability to prevent a shipmate from being washed overboard. **Song of the Candle** - about a night spent trying unsuccessfully trying to write a song. **The Mary Ellen Carter** - unemployed seamen salvaging a sunken ship. **Second Effort** - an Olympic athlete torn up because he didn’t win 1st place. **Barrett’s Privateers** - the last survivor of a privateer in the war of 1812. And many, many others. Slaid Cleaves has a great one - **Breakfast in Hell** - a true story about a lumberman killed on the job. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mr.Bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Bill)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2020, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-different-odd-stories/853729/62 "2020-05-17T01:02:31Z")
Couldn’t edit this, but Captain Torres is about sailors facing _ **death** _ at sea, not sea at sea… ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2020, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-different-odd-stories/853729/63 "2020-05-17T07:30:49Z")
How 'bout Dixie Chicks, \*Goodbye Earl. \* Turned out Earl was a missing person that nobody missed at all. I fucking love that line. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2020, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-different-odd-stories/853729/64 "2020-05-17T08:11:11Z")
> [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](#): > > Marie Provost by Nick Lowe. True story, and all you need to know is the first line of the refrain: “She was the winner that became a doggie’s dinner.” Well, there’s dispute about the doggy dinner. Some sources (according to her Wikipedia article) think that the dog nipped at in an attempt to wake her up, instead of actually eating her. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2020, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-different-odd-stories/853729/65 "2020-05-18T00:04:01Z")
Wasn’t much of a music fan as a kid (because I was raised on, well, drivel). Until I found a Kingston Trio album… almost nothing but great stories! Charlie who can’t get off the MTA, and why they’re writing from the Tijuana Jail. And a lot of other characters like Tom Dooley, and historical stories: The Sinking of the Reuben James (Woody Guthrie wrote that), and Roddy McCorley marching to his death. They even started [The Unfortunate Miss Bailey](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lik7nL4sSTg) with historical background (and explaining the drink involved): “In seventeen forty-two, it was customary in the township of Halifax, for a gentleman to partake occasionally of Rr_rrratafia,_ which was…” ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2020, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-different-odd-stories/853729/66 "2020-05-18T00:33:29Z")
Bobbie Gentry - [Ode to Billie Joe.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJZ_ViDADOE) THREAD OVER! Seriously…what the _fuck_? And how am I the first person to mention this? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-different-odd-stories/853729.md?page=3)