Songs that tell Great Stories
 

I'm trying to prepare a list of songs that tell great narratives. I'm trying to come up with short story ideas.

I only have three so far:
Casimir Pulaski Day - Sufjan Stevens
Bobby Jean - Bruce Springsteen
A Postcard to Nina - Jens Lekman

Tell me what your most beloved, story driven songs are... please : )

The first person to mention In the Aeroplane over the Sea is getting bum-fucked with an oar.

Marillion-Grendel

In the Aeroplane over the Sea

Blueberry Yum Yum by Ludacris

If thats not a great story what is?

About 40 songs by The Decemberists

I love the album to death but it is true: There are recurring motifs, but no clear narrative here.

As for the songs right now - great! Keep them coming!

Highway Patrolman-Bruce Springsteen

The Trees by Rush and 2112 by Rush. The first one of normal length, 2112 is technically a 20 minute album that's all one story.

Do you know that The Trees is a song about the philosophical views of Ayn Rand?

Deep Purple - Smoke on the Water
John Melancamp - Jack and Diane

The Mercy Seat - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds


Just love it... Not just explaining a series of events, but tries to represent the inner chaos of a soon to be electrocuted man...

Lily, Rosemary, & The Jack Of Hearts- Bob Dylan

1952 Vincent Black Lightning- Richard Thompson

The Venus Of The Soup Kitchen- Prefab Sprout

The Line- Bruce Springsteen (and as kthedrummer said, Highway Patrolman)

Tecumseh Valley- Townes Van Zandt

David Bowie - Bewlay Brothers (for the simple reason that it makes no bloody sense)
Nick Cave - The Curse Of Millhaven
Herbie Hanc.ock & Leonard Cohen - The Jungle Line
Bruce Springsteen - Atlantic City
Tom Waits - Big Joe and Phantom 309
Spinal Tap - Stonehenge (:D)

The Trees is easily my favorite Rush song, great choice.

I like the 80's period of Rush- Moving Pictures, Grace Under Pressure etc and speaking of that 'Red Barchetta' is a good story.

Great song! Good call.

Oh man, I love that song.

Tom Waits - Frank's Wild Years

'Never could stand that dog...'

ey... ****ing copycat :(

Another great one is "Country Death Song" by Violent Femmes. Creepy as hell.

tom waits - song
silver jews - song

Billy Joel is a great storyteller songs like "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant" "Ballad of Bily the Kid" and "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out On Broadway)" are all brilliant stories. Dylan is a great storyteller as well obviously.

Most Fairport Convention songs are brilliant stories, and not to forget Concept Albums that have a coherent plot. Like Mountain Ash Band with "The Hermit"

Hmn, songs that tell good stories eh...I guess a few come to mind pretty quick:

Queensryche - Operation: Mindcrime (whole album)
Jon Anderson - Olias of Sunhillow (whole album)
The Flower Kings - A Vampire's View
Primus - Tommy the Cat
Iron Maiden - The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg

?

The Gift - The Velvet Underground

most songs by Bob Dylan are great ballads my favorite is the Hurricane

I know that 2112 is based off of a book by Ayn Rand, but The Trees was just a song written about a cartoon where trees are like people, Neil Peart just wrote lyrics for it.

Cursive - Driftwood: A Fairy Tale.

Self explanatory.

Lost Keys (Blame Hoffman) and Rosetta Stoned are two back-to-back songs by Tool that tell the story of a man who sees a spaceship land and meets aliens and they tell him that he's 'the one' but he forgets to bring his pen so doesn't get to write all the alien stuff down so nobody believes him.

I know that Peart has been quoted as saying ""No. It was just a flash. I was working on an entirely different thing when I saw a cartoon picture of these trees carrying on like fools. I thought, "What if trees acted like people?" So I saw it as a cartoon really, and wrote it that way. I think that's the image that it conjures up to a listener or a reader. A very simple statement." Neil Peart, in the April/May 1980 Modern Drummer magazine so yes you are correct but there is also plenty on the WWW that discusses the philosophy behind the lyrics.

Put "The Trees Rush Ayn Rand" into google and it makes for interesting links if you are interested.

I can certainly dig the Randian underpinnings of a lot of Rush songs (The Trees, Anthem, 2112) being a libertarian myself, though I do remember thinking The Trees was a very strange song the first time I heard it. The last section of lyrics clarifies what the whole allegory is about, but for most of the song I was like "wtf...".

As to the question the OP posed, I'd have to answer "Tribute" by Tenacious D. Funny and awesome story.

is that a song?

I don't know if this has been mentioned, but Bob Dylan's Hurricane or The Adventures of Greggary Peccary Lol.

Off Swordfishtrombones, yeh.

So many! Most good songs should tell a story.
However one of my all-time favourites is "Stories of a hero" by Frank Marino, about a young guy who goes off to the war and gets killed. Very powerful stuff.

Incident On 57th Street by Bruce Springsteen

^Good call. WEISS is full of great story-songs. Sandy (4th Of July, Asbury Park) sticks out.

[B]Librarian[B]-My Morning Jacket is another good one.

Do stories get ANY BETTER than that of that "nocturnal, gregarious wild swine"?? I THINK NOT!!

Thank you guys for your contributions. I've got a few ideas jotted down : )