Dan Fogelberg - Leader of the Band
Well, just ‘cause no one’s mentioned it yet, I’ll nominate XTC’s No Thugs in our House and the Beatles’ Rocky Racoon.
Gotta admit, however, that if was to choose any two it would more likely be Alice’s Restaurant and Thorogood’s One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer.
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Wet Dream by Kip Adotta (lyrics)
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Greggary Peccary by Frank Zappa
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“The Gift” – The Velvet Underground. The song tells an offbeat, convoluted, and very romantic tale with an extremely nasty ending. A young man mails himself in a big box to his girlfriend, who rather impetuously decides to open the crate with… a butcher’s knife, plunged violently.
“Escape (The Pina Colada Song)” – Rupert Holmes. I don’t understand why so many people claim to loathe this song! It’s clever, cute, packed with unexpected details, and was recently partly emulated by a real-life Jordanian couple who independently posed as single and looking for love on the Internet, struck up a torrid email relationship, and discovered the truth when they agreed to meet.
“Babooshka” – Kate Bush. A horror cousin to Holmes’ “Escape”; a neglected wife goes incognito to seduce her feckless husband.
“I Bought Myself a Liarbird” – XTC. Inspired by a former manager who stole their money.
“No Thugs In Our House” – XTC. Teenage Graham has joined the National Front, but the cops can’t convince the 'rents, and the boy’s father, a judge, keeps him out of jail. The vinyl single came with artwork of a theatrical proscenium and finger-puppet characters you could cut out and animate in front of the “stage”.
“Amplifier” – The dB’s. Tells the sad tale of a musician who killed himself after his girlfriend left him (and stole all his stuff); supposedly inspired by a real tragedy.
“Found a Job” – Talking Heads. A family, bored with ordinary TV, is invigorated when they undertake to produce their own show.
“Tommy the Cat” – Primus. In a way, this may be the best story-telling song in my list, because it’s the story of a cat telling his own story of, uh, getting laid. The singer’s introduction of the cat as a character is a framing device for the story within the story.
I love Hurricane by Bob Dylan.
Lucky Man and Pirates by ELP.
Nanook Suite and Titties and Beer by Frank Zappa.
The Battle of Evermore by Led Zeppelin.
Isis by Bob Dylan
Pirates by Emerson, Lake & Palmer
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Not a single tune, but an entire album: Harry Nilsson-The Point, and Tommy by The Who.
“The Wreck Of The Edmond Fitzgerald” - I saw Gordon Lightfoot live in Vancouver in '76 and he played that song. It was the first time I’d heard it and I think it may have been before it was actually released.
“Canadian Railroad Trilogy” also Gordon Lightfoot. Truly an epic.
“The Night the Lights Went Out In Georgia” Vicky Lawrence. I loved it when it first came out.
“Ode To Billy Joe” Bobby Gentry. Ah, the enduring mystery. What DID they throw off that bridge?!
“The Wind That Shakes The Corn” Irish Rovers. A sad, shivery tale of old Ireland.
“Thunder Road” Robert Mitchum. Moonshine and cars. Never a good combination…
And finally, my obligatory Alice Cooper offering, “Crazy Little Child”. Very unexpected, sort of a cross between “Bonnie and Clyde” and “The Night Chicago Died” A tale of the bad old days and a small time hood’s last run in with the “Sherriff’s bullets”
“A Pirate Looks at Forty” by Jimmy Buffett.
“Witch of the Westmoreland” by Stan Rogers - Archie Fisher’s version is more detailed and complete, as well as being the original, but Stan’s is just plain better.
Those are the top two. I like a lot of folk music, much of which is story-songs, but I’ll refrain from mentioning them all. Gotta mention this one, though:
“The Ghost of the Molly Maguires” by Hair of the Dog. GREAT song, and it inspired me to do a lot of research into the history.
Others I like a lot:
“Fast Car” by Tracey Chapman
“Rocky Raccoon” by the Beatles - can’t help it, it just cracks me up.
“I Sang Dixie” by Dwight Yoakam.
“God Knows I’m Good” by David Bowie.
On a more serious note I’d like to nominate “Crazy Man Michael” by Fairport Convention.
Some great ones already mentioned.
Off the top of my head, the two that came to my mind …
*Harper Valley PTA * by Jeannie C. Riley
and
*Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl) * by Lookinglass
Oh man, there’s so many greats ones. Why two, Reeder?
Alice’s Restaurant, as mentioned, is great. What about The Motorcycle Song - The Significance of the Pickle? Maybe not as catchy as A’sR but just as funny and infinitely more absurd :D.
I always loved Billy the Mountain and thought it was funny. Also probably the longest [relatively] popular song I’ve ever heard.
My close Norweigan friend once told me the story behind In the Hall of the Mountain King and I’ve liked it at least a hundred times better since then. Does that count, even though it has no words?
Sublime’s Date Rape was a great story with a mixed punchline/moral. Shockingly, I heard a lot of drunken, testosterone-high guys at the time say things like, “You know, if you think about it, he’s right. Date-rape isn’t so bad” :eek::eek::eek: Listen to the song! He’s condeming it!
Biggie had some really great “story” songs. In fact, most of his songs seemed to tell a story.
A guy named J-Live did a pretty cool story-song a few years called One for the Griot - A “griot” is an African storyteller.
Pink Floyd’s The Wall is kind of one big story, though I’ve heard it so much that I can scarcely force myself to listen to it anymore, so I’m not sure if it belongs on a list of my “Favorites” or not.
I could go on with these all night.
I’ll see your Billy the Mountain and raise you a Magdalena.
I second this one. But then I thought of Whiskey Man, then Silas Tingy, then Happy Jack, and then I just admitted that The Who pretty much only wrote story songs.
My favorite story song of all time? Zappa’s Brown Moses has to be it. Can’t get enough of that song. I think Billy the Mountain is one of the few that actually fits the OP properly, though. But that’s not his most popular story song by a long shot. Even more well-known than Nanook Rubs It is the ever classic Joe’s Garage.
Yes - Arlo released a new version of the whole album, having redone all the songs. In Alice, he includes updated material, including the songs possible connection to the Watergate scandal.
I actually prefer the original version, but the new one will definitely give you a laugh.
53 posts and NO mention of “The Gambler”? The song that put the expression “You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em” into the language? The. Best. Story. Song. Ever.
I also like “Brandy” by Looking Glass.
There’s always “Timothy” by the Bouys.
THE best song about cannibalism EVER!
This is my first Nomination…Only heard the Pogues version, mesel’
Kirsty McColl (now sadly gone)
My second would be
Don’t Stand So Close to Me The Police
Weird coincidence.
Yesterday I saw the thread about “The Dot and The Line” and it got me thinking about a movie I saw as I kid and I couldn’t remember the title, only the song “Me and My Arrow”. So I googled the song and got my answer, Harry Nilsson’s The Point. Then I checked Amazon for the DVD and put it on my wishlist. Then I check this thread today and see it (the album) was mentioned, another SDMB Weird Coinkidink.
How could I have not picked this song! I went with Harold of the Rocks, but Tommy the Cat is far superior, especially considering that Tom Waits provides the “voice” of Tommy.