There was something in the air that night,
The stars were bright,
FERNANDO!
It had, like, the Mexican War in it, and everything.
That would be Wildwood Weed by Jim Stafford (the first song ever learned on the guitar by aha, according to an old thread of mine). He (Stafford, not aha) also did Swamp Witch, which was excellent.
For those mentioning Devil Went Down to Georgia, I’d humbly suggest Uneasy Rider by the same band. Too funny.
I’m siding with mnemosyne on this one, though: ELP’s Pirates is simply the best, hands down. One of the most majestic songs ever written.
And can it be (or maybe I just missed it) that no one’s mentioned Kenny Rogers’ Reuben James? God, that song made me cry when I was a kid!!
Dear Lord have mercy, less than 24 hours and I know both who sung Ringo and Irving.
Like I have the neurons to spare to hold that.
You guys are the voices in my head, and I want you out by Friday.
Regards,
Shodan
Tangent…my apolgies to you and Robert Earl Keen both. :smack: What was I thinkiing. I’ve not heard the Keen version so I will take your word on that and go out and find it and listen. Still, all and all a good song.
Yes! Johnny Cash! Harry Chapin!!! Awesome storytellers!
I’m really norinew’s daughter but i’m taking over for a moment.
I dont think anyone has mentioned Coward Of The County, Long Arm Of The Law, OR The Greatest all by Kenny Rogers. those are my personal favorites but that might just be because I’m only 15.
Sorry if this sounds like a hijack, but I remember a story song from the early 1960s where a guy finds this box washed up on the beach and everywhere he takes it, people say "Get out of here with that %(%&* and don't come back no more." He even gets it from Saint Peter when he tries to take that box into heaven. I have no idea what was in the box, in the place of the *%(%& there was merely a foot stamping sound.
Anyway, does anyone remember that song? If so, what was the title and who sang it? The voice reminded me to Tennessee Ernie Ford but I can’t swear to it.
Phil Harris.
Also, Frank Gallup was mentioned earlier. One of his earlier jobs was the host of an early 1950s TZ-ish anthology program called “Lights Out.”
The program would open with an image of Gallups seemingly disembodied face looking bug-eyed at the camera, intoning “Hellooooooooo.”
Then, he would start the narration, while the camera drew back.
At a certain point you saw a candle off to the right (from the viewer’s POV) of the disembodied head.
After the introduction for the nights episode, the disembodied head of Gallup would snap to right, looking at the candle, and say “Liiiiiights Oooooouuuuuttt.”
They actuall had some pretty decent shows.
Oh, and the name of the Phil Harris song was “The Thing.” No relation to Ben Grimm.
I saw someone perform it on the “Gong Show” one time–a guy with a huge shirtless belly. Every time the “bump-a-bump” sound came, he “bump-a-bumped” the belly up and down.
Thank you, Mjollnir. That has bothered me for the longest time.
Re-Nominations[ol]
[li]mnemosyne & Dijon Warlock’s “Pirates” by ELP from Works V1[/li][li]Slartibartfastt’s “Alice’s Restaurant” by Arlo Guthrie from Alice’s Restaurant[/li][li]Homer J’s ‘Date Rape’ by Sublime from 40 Ozs. To Freedom[/li][li]Sam Stone’s Lawyers, Guns, and Money by Warren Zevon from Excitable Boy[/li][li]norinew & Algernon’s “Paradise By The Dashboard Light” by Meat Loaf from Bat Out Of Hell[/li][li]El Elvis Rojo & Derleth’s A Boy Named Sue by Johnny Cash from Live At San Quentin[/li][li]betenoir’s “Detachable Penis” by King Missile from Happy Hour Borrow the Screen Name from Brian Ferry?[/li][li]DaToad’s Trouble Every Day by The Mothers of Invention from Freak Out Not so much a story, but the lyrics still hold up in today’s political climate[/ol][/li]I’d Like to Nominate[ol]
[li]Bob Dylan for Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream from Bringing it All Back Home. It’s wacky, drug induced, but a great story none-the less[/li][li]Poe for Hey Pretty from Haunted. An erotic road trip [/li][li]Hank Williams Jr for A Country Boy Can Survive from America (Way I See It). A great story from a part of the US I know little about [/li][li]The Pretenders for My City Was Gone from Learning to Crawl. I can’t believe this was omitted in 3 pages of posts [/li][li]Mark-Almond Band for The City (Grass And Concrete/Taxi To Brooklyn/ Speak Easy It’s A Whiskey Scene)[/li] from Mark-Almond Band. A turntable hit I never got a chance to hear on radio
[li]War for Spill The Wine from Eric Burdon Declares War. Another missed one…didn’t it go Top 10?[/li][li]Amos Milburn, John Lee Hooker or George Thorogood for One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer. Pick any version you like…I’m partial to JLH’s jazzy funk version from Free Beer & Chicken[/li][li]Chuck Berry for Reelin’ And Rockin’ from The London Sessions. Raunch performed live in front of a bunch of Brits…better than the American Hot Wax version[/li][li]Arthur Brown for Fanfare / Fire Poem / Fire from The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. Townsend produced insanity[/li][li]Roger Daltrey for Under A Raging Moon from Under A raging Moon. A Great Tribute to Kieth with something like a 1/2 dozen drummers[/li][li]CDB for Uneasy Rider. Sure he rips of the Man In Black, but I still think it’s better than Devil Went Down to GA[/ol][/li]
Number 3
Was Not Was for I Feel Better Than James Brown
Number 2
Long John Baldry for Conditional Discharge / Don’t Try To Lay No Boogie Woogie On The King Of Rock And Roll
Number 1
Mike Agranoff for The Ballad of the Sandman
(All above are small snips)
(will the thread die b4 anyone comes up with the Eagle HC?)
whisky in the jar,
“as i was going over the cork and kerry mountains,
i met with captn farrell and his money he was counting”
also “brick” by ben fold’s five.
possibly about abortion/miscarriage/illness or death. not too sure, never analysed it properly.
“it was a teenage wedding and the old folks wished them well” springs to mind also.
I’ll second Uneasy Rider. When it came out, a bunch of us kids memorized the lyrics, and we laughed our asses off whenever it came on even though we had no idea who George McGovern was.
And, for my personal favorite story song:
:o Wolfcreek pass way up on the great divide, truckin’ on dowwwwn the other side
A Fool in the Rain - Led Zepplin
Mr. Jones - Counting Crows
3 A.M. - Matchbox 20
Be My Girl - Sally - The Police
Pamela Brown…sung by Leo Kottke, written by Tom T. Hall! (Double Whammy!)
"I’m the guy who didn’t marry pretty Pamela Brown
Educated, well-intentioned good girl in our town
I wonder where I’d be today if she had loved me too
Probably be driving kids to school
I guess I owe it all to Pamela Brown
All of my good times, all my roamin’ around
One of these days I might be in your town
And I guess I owe it all to Pamela Brown"
(I tried to link the entire lyric, but it didn’t work…good song, though, worth looking up)
Like Desperados Waiting For A Train…The Highwaymen
“To me, he’s one of the heroes of this country
So, why’s he all dressed up like them old men…”
Desperados Waiting For A Train
Many of the rest of my favorites have already been mentioned, and I am sure many more will come to me as soon as I hit submit. I LOVE story songs!
GREAT thread idea, BTW!
I Left My Wallet In El Segundo
I gave my serious votes earlier, but the song Timothy by the Buoys deserves at least one vote. How can a song about cannibalism be left out?
I can’t seem to find the lyrics online, but if you have Real Audio you can listen to the song here.
Scenes From an Italian Restaraunt
Jack and Diane
Ironically, My Music Match Jukebox was on shuffle today at work and it reminded me of a couple more:
Tom Waits: Emotional Weather Report & Eggs and Sausage from Nighthawks At the Diner
Dada: Here Today, Gone Tomorrow from Puzzle
Soul Coughing: Screenwriter’s Blues from Ruby Vroom