Songs that tell Great Stories

The Road Goes on Forever - Joe Ely

Truckin' - Grateful Dead

Tangled up in Blue - Bob Dylan

I could probably come up with more...but I'll leave it here for now....
 
I like the 80's period of Rush- Moving Pictures, Grace Under Pressure etc and speaking of that 'Red Barchetta' is a good story.
 
Shane & Dixie- Richard Thompson


Oh Shane and Dixie, they were two-bit crooks
They wanted to be famous like you read in books
Shane had the brain and Dixie had the looks for glory
As a bankrobber Shane really was no use
He'd end up likely at the end of the noose
Which was fine by Shane if the papers could use the story

Fame and love, fame and love, fame and love will never die
Fame and love, fame and love, fame and love will never die
Never die, never die

Well Shane says to Dixie "We're getting nowhere
I've a fine idea if you love me, swear
We'll be household names if we only dare, forever.
Here's two bullets in my old carbine
One is yours and the other is mine
They'll find us there at the scene of the crime together"

Fame and love, fame and love, fame and love will never die
Fame and love, fame and love, la la la la la will never die
Never die

Well she screams, she swears, she tears her hair
Saying "Shane, this time you've lost your mind"

Shane took aim with the sixteen bore
Dixie lay dying down there on the floor
Shane was shaken but his purpose was more inspired
Shane says "Lord, what have I done
But this victory is only halfway won"
He put the barrel underneath his tongue and fired

Well fame and love, fame and love, fame and love will never die
Fame and love, fame and love, fame and love will never die
Never die

They found the bodies when the neighbours complained
Shane was all over the walls like paint
Dixie looked bad but her heart beat faint but surely
Well they saved her life, they were just in time
She turned her back on a life of crime
And she married the man who came to type out her story

The News of the Screws most generously gave
The money helped to pay for Shane's new grave
It looked so fine till the vandals sprayed it over
And time took its toll and the weeRAB grew high
It hid Shane's grave from the curious eye
Or maybe that's why we forget those lines he told us

He just said
Fame and love, fame and love, fame and love will never die
Fame and love, fame and love, fame and love will never die
Fame and love, fame and love, fame and love will never die
Never die, never die
Never die, never die



(If you've heard this track, you know just how much funnier the music makes it)
 
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!
 
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.
 
Definitely! I defy anyone to listen to that song and not feel their heart break.


Another story I'm fond of is Tweeter & The Monkey Man, by the Traveling Wilburys. It's very strange, but once you accept its bizarre logic, you'll want to loop it again and again...
 
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