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Storytellers

djberg96 on 2004-11-16T17:16:35

I find that I tend to really songs that tell some sort of story, usually from a first person point of view. For example, Kate Bush's Experiment IV tells the story of the construction of a sound based weapon that goes awry. One of my favorite Genesis tunes is Home by the Sea, the story of a thief who breaks into a house, only to discover too late that it's haunted and that he will now be a permanent member. Genesis tends to have many 'storyteller' style songs. From the Rolling Stones we get Sympathy for the Devil.

Are there any good ones out there I'm missing?

my favorites

rjbs on 2004-11-16T18:51:20

These aren't first-person, but they rule: "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carol" by Bob Dylan, and "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" by Warren Zevon.

the boss

lachoy on 2004-11-16T19:15:13

Most of Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska would qualify, as would lots of his other work.

Story songs

runrig on 2004-11-16T19:53:03

I was listening to the radio last Saturday when Stan Ridgway was on talking about how listening to some songs is like watching a movie. They played El Paso by Marty Robbins, and stuff from Luke the Drifter (aka Hank Williams' darker side). Some of my favorites are Fairport Convention's many versions of Matty Groves, Johnny Come Lately by Steve Earle, and 1952 Vincent Black Lightning by Richard Thompson.

Re:Story songs

runrig on 2004-11-16T22:20:08

Now that I think of it, Copperhead Road is probably more storyish than Johnny Come Lately...but they're both good :-)

Big Joe and the Phantom 309

dug on 2004-11-16T20:45:43

by Tom Waits, from _Nighthawks at the Diner_ is probably my favorite story that fits the bill.

-- Douglas Hutner

Well..

Beatnik on 2004-11-16T21:30:06

there's always The Eagles' Hotel California

Re:Well..

runrig on 2004-11-16T21:58:08

there's always The Eagles' Hotel California

Auugggghhhh, nooooo!!!! Let me out! Let me out!

Re:Well..

djberg96 on 2004-11-16T23:01:08

You can check out any time you like runrig, but you can never leave. >:)

Re:Well..

barbie on 2004-11-17T00:21:48

Many of the songs written by Don Henley have very political themes. Boys of Summer is about the lost ideals of the 60s, the 'Deadhead stick on a cadillac' line is a reference to the city slick, who still believes he's a rebel. I wouldn't necessarily say they were story songs though. Even Hotel California is written about a time in the 60s/70s when it was easy to get sucked into the drugs and fame of the LA scene.

Re:Well..

lachoy on 2004-11-17T15:19:55

Nitpick: that's "deadhead stickER on a cadillac" -- those dancing bears or the red, white and blue skull with a lightning bolt used to be on all sorts of cars in the US. Does anyplace else in the world consume as many car stickers as we do?

Typo

barbie on 2004-11-18T18:25:06

Ooops! Sometimes I think faster than I can type.

In the UK we tend to have car stickers that are stuck on windows. Mostly flags, places where people have been or groan-worthy ones that say things like 'Programmers do it with software'.

Just a few to keep you going...

barbie on 2004-11-17T00:46:37

  • Subterranea by IQ (or The Wake)
  • Every song on Marillion's first three albums, plus their epic Grendel.
  • Then Came The Last Days Of May by Blue Öyster Cult
  • Operation:Mindcrime by Queensrÿche
  • A Campfire Song by 10,000 Maniacs (in fact the complete album, In My Tribe)
  • Karn Evil 9 by Emerson Lake & Palmer (okay thats stretching it a bit ;))
  • The Wall by Pink Floyd (someone had to mention it!)
  • ... And of course American Pie by Don McLean :)

Re:Just a few to keep you going...

djberg96 on 2004-11-17T02:01:29

Then Came The Last Days Of May by Blue Öyster Cult

I have Imaginos, which is meant to be a sort of novel, I think. Pretty good.

In this holiday season

runrig on 2004-11-17T01:12:03

You (and by you, I mean us yanks) can't forget the traditional Thanksgiving song, Alice's Restaurant :-)

Though it's really more of a story than a song, that is, a story with background music, kind of like (and now for something completely different) The Gift

more stories

WebDragon on 2004-11-17T15:22:49

You mentioned McLean's "American Pie", but left out "Alice's Restaurant" by Arlo Guthrie. :D

I might also make mention of :

Spocks Beard's album _Snow_ is in and of itself an entire story.
Ayreon's _Universal Migrator_ albums (there's two)
Charlie Daniels Band "Devil went down to Georgia"
Styx _Paradise Theater_
Jethro Tull _Too Old to Rock'n'Roll, Too Young to Die_ album is another classic.
The Flower Kings _Unfold the Future_ while not necessarily telling a story in a single song, does a good job of conveying a story over the course of the album, due to how 'connected' several of the songs are with each other. (similar melody, different lyrics)

Stan Rogers

jmm on 2004-11-18T16:13:25

For storytelling songs, I've always liked Stan Rogers. http://stevebriggs.superb.net/stanrogers/main.html

He died in a plane crash in the early 80's, but his music is still popular - go into any pub in the Maritimes and start singing "Barrett's Privateers" and you'll instantly get drowned out by better voices. (That plane crash was the "spark" that got airlines to put smoke detectors in the washrooms to follow up on the "no smoking" regulations that had just started to come in for many flights.) I've always felt somewhat guilty, because he was flying to Toronto to a pub appearance that my wife (well, she was my girl friend then) and I were going to go to that night.