So, Legends weekly show is ‘In the Groove’ this Sunday, then it’s ’30 years of Pink Floyd’ the Wall, and then, another show for which I’m going to want your input – in fact a 2 parter: "The Top 20 Storytelling Songs".
You know, songs that tell a story that has a distinct beginning, middle and end – Maggie May by Rod Stewart is a prime example.
Give me your favourites!
And please send your friends here too, to submit there favourite story telling songs.
Cheers,
Now, a road story from Bob Seger (I’m about to call Rosalie, the Rosalie Bob sang about at the break of the 70′s, and later Thin Lizzy covered, to get that story in detail, which I’ll be sure to share)
Jeff.
Send to a friend
Filed Under:
Legends of Classic Rock
add a comment
48 Comments
-
3 great story songs come to mind. Powderfinger (Neil Young), Tweeter and the Monkeyman (Travelling Wilburys, awesomely covered by the Headstones), and From Small Things (an obscure little tune by Bruce Springsteen).
-
Jack Straw – Grateful Dead.
-
Hi Jeff,
I would say 1 of my fav. vocalists Paul Rogers singing “Seagull” or “Shooting Star”
cheers -
I really like Harry Chapin – Taxi and Don McLean – American Pie but my favorite storytelling song is Long John Baldry – Don’t Try To Lay No Boogie Woogie On The King of Rock and Roll.
-
I love “A Horse With No Name” by America; Woodstock by Joni Mitchell-but-pick-your-performer; and The Beatles have a number to choose from…Maxwell’s Silver Hammer, Rocky Raccoon, and Norwegian Wood come to mind.
-
I love story songs.
“Pancho and Lefty” – Townes Van Zandt
“A Boy Named Sue” – Johnny Cash
“Alice’s Restaurant” – Arlo Guthrie
“Devil Went Down to Georgia” – Charlie Daniels Band
“The Gambler” – Kenny Rogers
“El Paso” – Marty RobbinsTons more in country and folk music.
Rock:
“Come Dancing” – The Kinks
“Tangled Up in Blue” – Bob Dylan (tons more by Dylan too)
“Pinball Wizard” – The Who
“Space Oddity” – David Bowie
“Paradise by the Dashboard Light” – MeatloafPop:
“Billie Jean” – Michael Jackson
“Copacabana” – Barry Manilow. LOL!
“Papa Don’t Preach” – Madonna -
“Green Green Grass of Home” originally by Claude “Curly” Putman Jr., and later covered by many others…my favorite…Johnny Cash…
“Ode To Billy Joe” by Bobbie Gentry….
“Memory Hotel” by the Rolling Stones…
“Early Morning Rain” originally by Gordon Lightfoot, however the Elvis version is my favorite…
-
yeah, Maggie May was the 1st song I thought of!
How about:
Paradise by the Dashboard Light- Meatloaf
Bohemian Rhapsody- Queen
Comfortably Numb or Wish you were Here- Pink Floyd
Someone Saved my Life Tonight- Elton JohnA little bit of variety there, eh?!
-
Tangled Up In Blue (even if it ends a little vaguely)
Ballad of Hollis Brown
My Hometown by Bruce Springsteen -
Bob Dylan – the hurricane
-
I would have to say pretty much anything from Bruce or how about Billy Joel’s Piano Man and also Scenes From An Italian Restaurant!
-
Gotta agree with Andrew that Tweeter… is definitely one of the best ‘story’ songs. What about “the Night they drove old Dixie down?” Probably the most famous song about the American Civil War, not bad for a bunch of Canucks. (Well, 80% Canucks).
-
Spanish Train…Chris De Burgh
-
Frank’s Wild Years, Tom Waits. “Well, Frank settled down in the valley and he hung his wild years on a nail he drove through his wife’s forehead.” Nice lead line!
-
A few more off the top of my head:
‘Night Moves’, ’7 Spanish Angels’, ‘Pancho & Lefty’, ‘Cat’s In The Cradle’, ‘Lyin’ Eyes’, ‘Eleanor Rigby’, ‘Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald’, ‘Lola’. Lots of Bruce, Johnny Cash, etc. -
It’s a little new, so I’m not sure if that’s what you’re looking for exactly; but if you’re up for a listen anyways, “Carolina Drama” by the Raconteurs is one of the best songs that tells a story that I’ve heard in a long time.
As for something older; definately have to go with either “The Hurricane”, or “Powderfinger”
-
Pink Floyd: Time, Not only does it tell the story of how fast time passes; it is also a ‘timeless’ song and is just as relevant today as it was when it was written 30 odd years ago. Brilliant!
-
One of them has gotta be “Shine on You Crazy Diamond Parts I – IX”.
-
Pink Floyd: Shine On You Crazy Diamond. Very instrumental, but a story nonetheless.
-
Off the top of my head, Jeff, I’d go with the following: ‘Supper’s Ready’ by Genesis, “Jungleland” by Springsteen & “Sniper” by Harry Chapin.
-
Bruce-The River- Live=along with Vietnam draft story. Actually almost all Bruce tunes!
-
-Bye Bye American Pie
-Needle and the Damage Done
-Take a Walk on the Wild Side
-Down on the Bayou -
Supertramp: School is probably my favourite. Deep Purple’s Smoke On The Water is a classic of course. So is Roy Orbison’s Pretty Woman. Another favourite of mine is CCR’s Down on the Corner. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da is one of my favourite Beatles songs. Also Fletcher Memorial Home & When the Tigers Broke Free are the best songs on Pink Floyd’s the Final Cut (also Young Lust from the Wall is great). So many more, I’ll just do song titles: Band on the Run, Crocodile Rock, Glory Days, Solsbury Hill, Jack & Diane, Voodoo Chile, I Shot the Sheriff, Take The Money and Run. And of course one of the best story songs, American Pie.
-
My fav is “Dynamo Hum”. I think that was a true story….sounds good to me. Ok how about “House of the rising sun”….do I detect a theme here???
-
OK, here’s your most eclectic list and while not all classic rock, they are all epic tales;
Anything by Townes Van Zant.
Johnny Be Good by Chuck Berry
Run to The Hills by Iron Maiden
Mr. President by Pink
Far Too Canadian by Spirit of the West
Rooster by Alice in Chains
and the Number 1…
Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, Lightfoot! -
Ziggy Stardust – Bowie
One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer – Thorogood -
Better place to by Harry Chapin
-
Tons of Beatles, like Get Back, Eleanor Rigby, or Ballad of John and Yoko. The Stones Sympathy for the Devil is good too, and Bad Company Shooting Star. Its gonna be rockin’!
-
This is a two part story, Lesley Gore – It’s My Party and Judy’s Turn To Cry.
-
Along with Lisa, Chris De Burg’s Spanish Train (and Patricia the stripper) is good but I would also have to say ‘Cats in the Craddle’ – Harry Chapin.
-
how about the end by the doors and
thick as a brick by jethro tull -
I think The Killing of Sister Georgie is one incredble story, from Rod Stewart along with Lou Reed’s Take a Walk on the Wild Side
-
The Ghost of Tom Joad, especially if you can track down the live version with Bruce and Tom Morello.
-
Story-telling! Ah, that’s the stuff many “songs” in the past decade or two really lack.
I’m partial to Beatles songs, so my favourite story-tellers are “She’s Leaving Home”, “A Day In The Life”, “Norwegian Wood”, “Eleanor Rigby”, “Lovely Rita”, “If I Fell”, “Maxwell Silver Hammer”, “Something”, “Penny Lane”, “Honey Pie”, “This Boy”, “Ticket To Ride”, “Drive My Car”, “Cry Baby Cry”, “Dr. Robert”, “Fool On The Hill”, “L.S. w/Diamonds”, and maybe another dozen or two.
-
The Ballad of Jed Clampett
Joey – Dylan -
Bob Dylan- Positivly Fourth Street
Billie Joel – Captain Jack
-
Jeff,
Another great example of a “story song” from Rod would be “Every Picture Tells a Story”. -
The Band- The Night they Drove ol’Dixie Down
-
Oasis by Amanda Palmer.
-
Maggie May by Rod Stewart is my all-time favorite!
-
Not exactly rock and roll but i have to go with Harry Chapin’s A BETTER PLACE TO BE
-
I have to say Bob SEGER Is my favorite storyteller when it comes to music
-
Dylan’s the master of fragmented surreal tales like Stuck Inside of Mobile. More linear and already mentioned is Tweeter and the Monkey Man. His buddies in the Band are no slouches either. Long Black Veil.
-
Rush baby: Xanadu, 2112. And of course any song from Uriah Heep “Wizard” album.
-
What a great song! Where is Bob Seger today?
-
‘Night Moves’ by Bob Seger, ‘Tangled Up in Blue’ by Bob Dylan, and ‘Shooting Star’ by Bad Company.
There are probably more in my head, but I can’t retrieve them…
-
Sure Reads & Sounds like a Great story song ~
“The Ballad of Curtis Lowe”, by Lynyrd Skynyd.
Is it? If not…“Castles Made of Sand”, by Jimi Hendrix & of course “Smoke on the Water” by Deep Purple.
-
The Queen and the Soldier ~ Joni Mitchell
Concrete Angel ~ Martina McBride
Leave a Comment
Disclaimer: Comments submitted to this sites posts are moderated and will be posted to the website once they are deemed to be suitable.
Subscribe
Show Schedule
The Legends of Classic Rock can be heard at these times on these stations:
On Air Schedule:
-
VANCOUVER
Rock101
Mo-Fr 10:20a/2:40p/8:40p
Sa/Su 10:20a/2:40p
Su 7:00p Mo 11:00pRED DEER
Zed FM
Mo-Fr 3:40p
Su 8:00a & 8:00pEDMONTON
K97
Sunday from 8pm to 9pmLLOYDMINSTER
The Goat
Mo-Fr 3:20p
Sa 12:00p Su 8:00pCALGARY
Q107
Mo-Fr 10:20a/6:20p
Su 9:00pMIDLAND
The Dock
Su 8pm to 9pmTORONTO
Q107
Mo-Fr 10:30a/ 1:30p/ 8:30p
Sa 9:00a
Su 9:00pKINGSTON
FM 96
Mo-Fr 10:40a/4:40p/7:40p
Su 9:00p We 9:00p
Archive – Su 8:00aOTTAWA
Chez 106
Mo-Fr 4:20a/9:20a/4:35p/ 9:20p
Su 7:00pCORNWALL
Rock 101.9
Sat 9am-10am
Su 5pm-6pmHAMILTON
Y108PETERBOROUGH
The Wolf
Sun 9-10_______________________________________________________
Show Schedule:
Weekend of Aug 21/22, 2010
Encore Airing Legends 284:
Northern Songs – The Beginners Guide to The Beatles Song Publishing EmpireWeekend of Aug 28/29, 2010
Legends 314
20 Years Gone – Stevie Ray Vaughan Remembered (d. Aug 27, 1990)
ExploreMusic
-
@matkin trust us, its just a coincidence.
-
U2 in Moscow - There’s a reason why U2 hadn’t played Russia before last night. Logistically, getting a tour t http://ow.ly/18J7BN
-
Adam Has Issues – Episode 15 - For the last time, Adam K. will be playing the role of Alan Cross. http://ow.ly/18J7BO
-
First Impression of Another New U2 Song - It's only when you travel to other countries to see U2 perform do you begi... http://ow.ly/18IZIv
-
ExploreMusic Streams The New Land Of Talk Record In Its Entirety: Check out “Cloak And Cipher,” the brand new albu... http://bit.ly/bgGB6T
-
The Post War: “Piece by Piece”: This is the Indie Track of the Day Giveaway. It’s just like it sounds—every day we... http://bit.ly/bOWO3b
-
First Impression of Another New U2 Song: It’s only when you travel to other countries to see U2 perform do you beg... http://bit.ly/d2qPuP
-
ExploreMusic Streams The New Land Of Talk Record In Its Entirety http://ow.ly/18INyt
-
The Post War: “Piece by Piece” - Vancouver-based band The Post War began working on their debut release in October 2... http://ow.ly/18INys
-
We're waiting to get Alan's thoughts on the new U2 song. He's in Moscow. For now, check it out yourself here: http://youtu.be/q9C-z-dljsY