Story Songs

[panamagold]

In light of this from 'pic of the day' and to keep it topical.............

Itsallaguess wrote:
A ship and it's Captain -
https://i.redd.it/hzjjl284gmj11.jpg
Cheers,
Itsallaguess

...........here's three for 'the captain'.

I'm Your Captain/Closer To Home - Grand Funk Railroad. Continually played by grunts on their way home from Vietnam.

Ride Captain Ride - Blues Image. Inspired by N Korea capture of USS Pueblo in 1968.

Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy - Elton John.

[CommissarJones]

"Hello Muddah Hello Faddah," Allan Sherman (1963)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jjiWS__Mp0

[BrummieDave]

Manic Street Preachers - Kevin Carter

Good one, saw them do that live a fortnight ago.

If you two haven't yet seen the film "The Bang Bang Club", you probably should as you're likely to appreciate it.

[bionichamster]

Where the wild roses grow - Nick Cave

Convoy- CWMcCall ( pretty sure country music is full of story songs)
Another CB trucker country song is the stomach churningly sentimental Teddy Bear by Red Sevine (had to google his name but can’t forget the naff song)

There’s loads o Kenny Rogers songs, some already mentioned also Ruby don’t take your love to town and Coward of theCounty

Take the money and run- Steve Miller Band ( it must be a story cos he says so in the first line!)

The Devil came down to Georgia- Charlie Daniels Band
Life in the fast lane- The Eagles (another allegorical story from them)

Hazard- Richard Marx ( better remembered as “I swear I left her by the river”)

Gimme three steps- Lynyrd Skynyrd ( sheesh, those gun totin southerners eh?)

Johnny B Goode - Chuck Berry

Paradise by the dashboard light- Meatloaf

She’s leaving home- The Beatles

Eleanor Rigby- The Beatles

All the young girls love Alice- Elton John

There’s Forever Autumn and other songs from Jeff Wayne’s war of the Worlds but Richard Burton is quite literally telling a story so maybe they shouldn’t count?

Bh

[tjh290633]

Nobody has mentioned Tom Lehrer yet. "I held your hand in mine, dear, the night I cut it off", for example, or "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park". Many more, of course.

TJH

[melonfool]

The story of a marriage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCIdOixU2uI

and the story of a young couple and a tree:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKAeeGnAYBo

Both favourites of Terry Wogan.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3Y4HufJ1oE


Mel

[redsturgeon]

Let's bring it up to date with

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-lI_tgQMMk

I wasn't expecting that!

John

[flopski2]

"Billy don't be a hero" - paperlace .... was almost my first purchased single but I plumped for the Wombles instead. I suppose that also tells a story of simple litter clearing characters, both underground and over-ground, wombling free.

[redsturgeon]

We've already had The Boxer, but what about "America" from S & G?

Can anyone tell me what is odd about this song?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa3xOakbGTo

I make no apologies for linking to a video of a beautiful cover by First Aid Kit sung in front of the great man himself...who gives it a standing ovation.

John

[gvonge]

Dare I say it, but folk and country music are full of these.

A few from Richard Thompson:
1952 Vincent Black Lightning
From Galway To Graceland
Beeswing
Guns Are The Tongues

Johnny Cash -I Hung My Head

Woody Guthrie:
Pretty Boy Floyd
Tom Joad

Ralph McTell:
Bentley & Craig
The Setting
Peppers and Tomatoes
Easter Lilies

By too many artists to mention.
Ommie Wise
Stagolee

[PinkDalek]

We've already had The Boxer, but what about "America" from S & G?

Can anyone tell me what is odd about this song?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa3xOakbGTo

Why would you go to New Jersey to look for America or is he Homeward Bound?

I don't know, do I, but can you give a clue, unless your point is about Kathy, who wasn't with him on the Greyhound, only in his memory. I remember the lines well, my first girlfriend being a Cathy.

[redsturgeon]

We've already had The Boxer, but what about "America" from S & G?

Can anyone tell me what is odd about this song?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa3xOakbGTo

Why would you go to New Jersey to look for America or is he Homeward Bound?

I don't know, do I, but can you give a clue, unless your point is about Kathy, who wasn't with him on the Greyhound, only in his memory. I remember the lines well, my first girlfriend being a Cathy.

Think structure.

John

[PinkDalek]

Dare I say it, but folk and country music are full of these.

A few from Richard Thompson: ...

Tam Lin - Fairport Convention (including Richard Thompson and the beautifully haunting voice of Sandy Denny)

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=ta ... ORM=VRDGAR


Hotel California and House of the Rising Sun are another two that may fit the bill and has anyone mentioned Ernie, My Old Man's a Dustman and others of that ilk?

[PinkDalek]

Think structure.

That's easy to say but I don't do cryptic crosswords nor music*** in that way.

*** I've now read about beats etc at Wiki. None the wiser.

Well done Terry. I didn't read the entire thread.

[tjh290633]

I mentioned Ernie, the fastest milkman in the West early in the thread.

TJH

[redsturgeon]

Think structure.

That's easy to say but I don't do cryptic crosswords nor music*** in that way.

*** I've now read about beats etc at Wiki. None the wiser.

Well done Terry. I didn't read the entire thread.

ABCD EFGH etc.

or

If you like crossword puzzles then this song would be out of place on Paul's third album.

John

[PinkDalek]

ABCD EFGH etc.

or

If you like crossword puzzles then this song would be out of place on Paul's third album.

John

So it doesn't rhyme or has the wrong number of whatsits (never was good at compulsory poetry and all that lark)?

It's never worried me to date and enjoyed listening to it again but I learn something new most days (and then forget again).

[redsturgeon]

ABCD EFGH etc.

or

If you like crossword puzzles then this song would be out of place on Paul's third album.

John

So it doesn't rhyme or has the wrong number of whatsits (never was good at compulsory poetry and all that lark)?

It's never worried me to date and enjoyed listening to it again but I learn something new most days (and then forget again).

Not one rhyme in the whole damn song but none the worse for that!

John

[PinkDalek]

The last two lines match perfectly but I’m told that’s not a rhyme.

[mike]

And with a hat-tip to R4 this morning, interviewing Stephanie, daughter of Michael Flanders of Flanders & Swann fame,

The gas man cometh https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyeMFSzPgGc