[Van Hagar]

Ok, let’s try to get the music talk kicked back up. What four songs are on your Mt. Rushmore of story songs? Charlie Daniels was a master of this, so for me it’s;
  
1. Devil Went Down to Georgia-Charlie Daniels Band
2. Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald-Gordon Lightfoot
3. Curtis Lowe-Lynyrd Skynyrd
4. Ode to Billie Joe-Bobbie Gentry 

  What say you?

[Old School Hound]

Good thread, VH.  I was thinking about this posting this very topic a couple of weeks ago.   I'll add my input later.  "The Wreck of the EF" would definitely be on my list.

[jetpilot]

Great thread Van, there are too many to list but I'm going to try to break it down by time period.

Oldest (for me)

[jetpilot]

Honorable mention oldest

[jetpilot]

This is such a good thread it should be broken down into 70s, 80s, 90s. and 2000 and after.

[jetpilot]

Two from the 80s that come to mind...

[Van Hagar]

You know, JP, you're right, we do need to break it down. When I first posted I was just winging it, then when I sat down and thought about it, there are literally hundreds of contenders. And I can't believe I forgot Cats in the Cradle, which might very well be the best story song of all time.
A couple more I'll throw in, I mentioned Charlie Daniels, two more great story songs from him were 'Uneasy Rider' and "The Legend of Wooly Swamp". And there are a million in the country genre, one of the all-time best is 'El Paso' by Marty Robbins.

[Old School Hound]

Van, I am going to need more than one Mount Rushmore for this one. I think I will put five or six on my first Mt Rushmore but the teacher in me wants to let you an Jet determine my choices from the information I describe. I love giving quizzes(I just don't like the grading). lol This one is not on my first Mt Rushmore but it is a great classic rock song, nevertheless. I will follow with my six or so favorites.

This 1977 rock song lasts more than 8 minutes, but it's utterly entertaining. The song demonstrates how one moment of weakness can sentence two vulnerable people to be linked together forever.
A teenage couple is parked by the lake when their makeout session gets overheated and takes a very adult turn. Before consummating their lust, the young woman demands:

Do you love me?
Will you love me forever?
Do you need me?
Will you never leave me?
Will you make me so happy for the rest of my life?
Will you take me away, and will you make me your wife?

Rather than answer her, the aroused young man prefers to sleep on it. But that's not good enough because she needs an answer NOW. They eventually give in to their passions, as he promises on his mother's grave to love her until the end of time.
The song then cuts to years later, as they are unhappily married:

So now I'm praying for the end of time
To hurry up and arrive
'Cause if I gotta spend another minute with you
I don't think that I can really survive.
I'll never break my promise or forget my vow
But God only knows what I can do right now.
I'm praying for the end of time
It's all I can do (ooh, ooh)
I'm praying for the end of time
So I can end my time with you

[Van Hagar]

Oh, the big boy of rock himself, Meat Loaf, with Paradise by the Dashboard Light. You know, I’ll still whip out the Bat Out of Hell cd every few months and listen to it all the way through. Meat (with his producer Jim Steadman) was a true original.
A friend of mine at work is adamant that Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad is the greatest ballad in rock history. We will debate that on a future thread.

[Hoot Gibson]

Great thread. Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald is probably my favorite. Johnny Case had a long list of ballads, with Folsom Prison Blues and A Boy Named Sue probably being my favorites.

[Old School Hound]

Great thread. Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald is probably my favorite. Johnny Case had a long list of ballads, with Folsom Prison Blues and A Boy Named Sue probably being my favorites.

Yes, I'm jealous of VH. I thought about posting this thread a couple weeks ago and got busy arguing with you about politics and forgot about posting it. I'm blaming you, Hoot.  lol  

The Wreck of the EF  is one of the greatest story songs ever. Gordon Lightfoot is amazing.   The ones that I am going to put on my first Mount Rushmore are the ones that are special to me from the ages of about 10 to 12.

[Hoot Gibson]

Great thread. Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald is probably my favorite. Johnny Case had a long list of ballads, with Folsom Prison Blues and A Boy Named Sue probably being my favorites.

Yes, I'm jealous of VH. I thought about posting this thread a couple weeks ago and got busy arguing with you about politics and forgot about posting it. I'm blaming you, Hoot.  lol  

The Wreck of the EF  is one of the greatest story songs ever. Gordon Lightfoot is amazing.   The ones that I am going to put on my first Mount Rushmore are the ones that are special to me from the ages of about 10 to 12.

I agree with you about Wreck of the EF. Another of my favorite sad story songs is The Fields of Athenry, performed by the Dubliners and other Irish groups. Tom Dooley by the Kingston Trio is another classic.

[Old School Hound]

Here's some of my favorites. I'll let you guys name the songs.


** This song tells the story of a young boy who grows up to be a rock star but succumbs to rock and roll excess and dies of  a drug overdose.  It was a warning about the pitfalls of being in the rock world and about the casualties of the music business; people like Hendrix and Joplin, as well as others who didn't make it.


** This song was inspired by the death of Beach Boy Carl Wilson's Irish Setter. The song tells the emotional story of a family trying to cope with the death of a beloved family member(pet). On a deeper level, the song is about family and loss.


** As a young soldier heads off to war, his sweetheart tells him not to be a hero , that she'd rather him stay alive. He dies doing exactly what she told him not to do.


** The son of a police officer recalls a shootout between Chicago police and gangsters tied to Al Capone.


** A young man who is left at the alter contemplates jumping off a tower and ending it all , questions the existence of God, and recalls the death of his father and mother. This song always made me cry as a child and still makes me sad to this day. 


** A paralyzed veteran who loves his wife begs her not to go out looking for a date.


** A man's younger sister kills his adulterous wife and wife's lover. Her brother takes the fall and is punished for her crimes. 


** When a widowed woman is criticized by a local school board for wearing her skirts too short, she points out their hypocrisy.

[Old School Hound]

Oh, the big boy of rock himself, Meat Loaf, with Paradise by the Dashboard Light. You know, I’ll still whip out the Bat Out of Hell cd every few months and listen to it all the way through. Meat (with his producer Jim Steadman) was a true original.
  A friend of mine at work is adamant that Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad is the greatest ballad in rock history. We will debate that on a future thread.

Jim Steinman has a style that is so distinctive and recognizable.  In addition to his work with Meat on tunes like PBTDL , 2 Out of 3, and I'd Do Anything 4 Love,   Steinman wrote and produced "Total Eclipse of the Heart " for Bonnie Tyler and "Making Love(Out of Nothing at All) " for Air Supply. Give a listen to all of those songs again and see if you recognize Jim Steinman's unmistakable imprint on all of them. I can identify a Steinman tune all day, every day.

[Van Hagar]

Me too, I just can’t get his name right!! Thanks there, OSH. I’ll leave some of your songs for other folks, but I will say the third one down is Billy, Don’t be a Hero by Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods. I remember seeing them do it on my favorite early teen years tv show, American Bandstand.

[Westside]

[Westside]

Bad Company Shooting Star


Johnny was a schoolboy when he heard his first Beatles song
Love me do, I think it was
And from then it didn't take him long

Got himself a guitar
Used to play every night
Now he's in a rock n' roll outfit
And everything's alright, don't you know?

Johnny told his mama
"Hey, mama, I'm goin' away
Gonna hit the big time
Gonna be a big star someday"

Mama came to the door
With a teardrop in her eye
Johnny said, "Don't cry, mama"
Smiled and wave goodbye, don't you know? Yeah

Don't you know that you are a shooting star
Don't you know? Don't you know?
Don't you know that you are a shooting star?
And all the world will love you just as long
As long as you are

Johnny made a record
Went straight up to number one
Suddenly everyone loved
To hear him sing the song

Watchin' the world go by
Surprisin' it goes so fast
Johnny looked around him and said
Well, I made the big-time at last

Don't you know?
Don't you know?

Don't you know that you are a shooting star?
Don't you know? Whoa yeah
Don't you know that you are a shooting star?
And all the world will love you just as long
As long as you are a shooting star

Don't you know that you are a shooting star?
Don't you know?
Don't you know that you are a shooting star?
And all the world will love you just as long
As long as you are

Johnny died one night, died in his bed
Bottle of whisky, sleeping tablets by his head
Johnny's life passed him by like a warm summer day
If you listen to the wind you can still hear him play

Don't you know that you are a shooting star?
Don't you know? Don't you know
Don't you know that you are a shooting star
Don't you know?

Don't you know that you are a shooting star
Don't you know?
...

[Westside]

[Van Hagar]

Westy, Shooting Star was a great pick, can’t believe it didn’t jump right into my head. My all- time favorite Bad Company song.
Let me throw out a couple more. ‘Copperhead Road’ by Steve Earle and ‘The Ghost of Tom Joan’ by Springsteen, maybe my favorite song by the Boss.

[Westside]

Westy, Shooting Star was a great pick, can’t believe it didn’t jump right into my head. My all- time favorite Bad Company song.
  Let me throw out a couple more. ‘Copperhead Road’ by Steve Earle and ‘The Ghost of Tom Joan’ by Springsteen, maybe my favorite song by the Boss.

I love Copperhead Road.

[Van Hagar]

I hate autocorrect. The Springsteen song, of course, should say “The Ghost of Tom Joad,” not “‘Tom Joan”. Sheesh.
Couple more country classics. “Coal Miner’s Daughter” by our very own Miss Loretta, and “Ol’ Red” by Blake Shelton,

[jetpilot]

^^^And Luckenbach Texas with Waylon, Willie and the boys.

[Van Hagar]

And ‘Fancy’ by Reba, and ‘Traveling Soldier’ by the Dixie Chicks, and, well we could go on and on with country songs.

[Old School Hound]

Here's some of my favorites. I'll let you guys name the songs.


** This song tells the story of a young boy who grows up to be a rock star but succumbs to rock and roll excess and dies of  a drug overdose.  It was a warning about the pitfalls of being in the rock world and about the casualties of the music business; people like Hendrix and Joplin, as well as others who didn't make it.    Shooting Star (Bad Company)


** This song was inspired by the death of Beach Boy Carl Wilson's Irish Setter. The song tells the emotional story of a family trying to cope with the death of a beloved family member(pet). On a deeper level, the song is about family and loss.  Shannon(Henry Gross)


** As a young soldier heads off to war, his sweetheart tells him not to be a hero , that she'd rather him stay alive. He dies doing exactly what she told him not to do.  Billy Don't Be a Hero (Bo Donaldson & the Heywoods)


** The son of a police officer recalls a shootout between Chicago police and gangsters tied to Al Capone. 
The Night Chicago Died(Paper Lace)


** A young man who is left at the alter contemplates jumping off a tower and ending it all , questions the existence of God, and recalls the death of his father and mother. This song always made me cry as a child and still makes me sad to this day. 
Alone Again, Naturally(Gilbert O'Sullivan)

** A paralyzed veteran who loves his wife begs her not to go out looking for a date.
Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town(Kenny Rogers & The First Edition)


** A man's younger sister kills his adulterous wife and wife's lover. Her brother takes the fall and is punished for her crimes. 
The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia(Vicki Lawrence)

** When a widowed woman is criticized by a local school board for wearing her skirts too short, she points out their hypocrisy.
Harper Valley, PTA (Jeannie C. Riley)

[Van Hagar]

The one I didn’t know from your clues was Shannon by Henry Gross. I’m familiar with the song, but had no idea what it was based on. And you know The Night Chicago Died has always been killed by the critics, but I always enjoyed it, thought it was well-written and told an interesting story.

[Old School Hound]

Well, he went down to dinner in his Sunday best
Excitable boy, they all said
And he rubbed the pot roast all over his chest
Excitable boy, they all said
He took in the four a.m. show at the Clark
Excitable boy, they all said
And he bit the usherette's leg in the dark
Excitable boy, they all said
Well, he's just an excitable boy

He took little Suzie to the Junior Prom
Excitable boy, they all said
And he raped her and killed her, then he took her home
Excitable boy, they all said
Well, he's just an excitable boy

After ten long years they let him out of the home
Excitable boy, they all said
And he dug up her grave and built a cage with her bones
Excitable boy, they all said
Well, he's just an excitable boy



(Happy Valentine's Day, everyone      )

[jetpilot]

Here's some of my favorites. I'll let you guys name the songs.


** This song tells the story of a young boy who grows up to be a rock star but succumbs to rock and roll excess and dies of  a drug overdose.  It was a warning about the pitfalls of being in the rock world and about the casualties of the music business; people like Hendrix and Joplin, as well as others who didn't make it.    Shooting Star (Bad Company)


** This song was inspired by the death of Beach Boy Carl Wilson's Irish Setter. The song tells the emotional story of a family trying to cope with the death of a beloved family member(pet). On a deeper level, the song is about family and loss.  Shannon(Henry Gross)


** As a young soldier heads off to war, his sweetheart tells him not to be a hero , that she'd rather him stay alive. He dies doing exactly what she told him not to do.  Billy Don't Be a Hero (Bo Donaldson & the Heywoods)


** The son of a police officer recalls a shootout between Chicago police and gangsters tied to Al Capone. 
The Night Chicago Died(Paper Lace)


** A young man who is left at the alter contemplates jumping off a tower and ending it all , questions the existence of God, and recalls the death of his father and mother. This song always made me cry as a child and still makes me sad to this day. 
Alone Again, Naturally(Gilbert O'Sullivan)

** A paralyzed veteran who loves his wife begs her not to go out looking for a date.
Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town(Kenny Rogers & The First Edition)


** A man's younger sister kills his adulterous wife and wife's lover. Her brother takes the fall and is punished for her crimes. 
The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia(Vicki Lawrence)

** When a widowed woman is criticized by a local school board for wearing her skirts too short, she points out their hypocrisy.
Harper Valley, PTA (Jeannie C. Riley)

Alone Again, Naturally brings teams to my eyes as well. Here's another one that tears my heart out...




Cross wrote the song to mourn the death of Denison University college student Laura Carter, who was killed in Columbus, Ohio when she was struck by a stray bullet during gunfire in a gang war.[2]
Carter, a lacrosse player from Wayne, Pennsylvania, was sitting in the back seat of her father's car. Her family was visiting for homecoming, and had just watched Laura and her friends compete in a lacrosse match.[3]
Cross had met Carter through her college roommate Paige McNinch, whom Cross was dating at the time. McNinch was pictured on the inner sleeve of the "Another Page" album, sitting on a stool. Cross wrote the song as a way of offering comfort to McNinch, and honoring Carter's memory.[4]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0UXsl_5fdA

[Old School Hound]

I went home with the waitress
The way I always do
How was I to know
She was with the Russians too
I was gambling in Havana
I took a little risk
Send lawyers guns and money
Dad get me out of this (ha)
I'm the innocent bystander
Somehow I got stuck
Between a rock and a hard place
And I'm down on my luck
Yes I'm down on my luck
Well I'm down on my luck
And I'm hiding in Honduras
I'm a desperate man
Send lawyers guns and money
The sh!t has hit the fan

[Westside]

Cats In The Cradle

My child arrived just the other day
He came to the world in the usual way
But there were planes to catch, and bills to pay
He learned to walk while I was away
And he was talking 'fore I knew it, and as he grew
He'd say, "I'm gonna be like you, dad, you know I'm gonna be like you"

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man in the moon
When you coming home dad, I don't know when
But we'll get together then
You know we'll have a good time then

My son turned ten just the other day
He said "Thanks for the ball dad, come on let's play, can you teach me to throw?"
I said "Not today, I got a lot to do", he said "That's okay"
And he, he walked away but his smile never dimmed and said
"I'm gonna be like him, yeah, you know I'm gonna be like him"

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man in the moon
When you coming home, dad, I don't know when
But we'll get together then
You know we'll have a good time then

Well he came from college just the other day
So much like a man, I just had to say
"Son I'm proud of you, can you sit for a while?"
He shook his head, and he said with a smile
"What I'd really like dad, is to borrow the car keys"
"See you later, can I have them please?"

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man in the moon
When you coming home, son, I don't know when
But we'll get together then, dad
You know we'll have a good time then

I've long since retired, my son's moved away
I called him up just the other day
I said, "I'd like to see you if you don't mind"
He said, "I'd love to, dad, if I could find the time"
"You see, my new job's a hassle and the kid's got the flu"
"But it's sure nice talking to you, dad
It's been sure nice talking to you"
And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me
He'd grown up just like me
My boy was just like me

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man in the moon
When you coming home, son, I don't know when
But we'll get together then, dad
We're gonna have a good time then

[Westside]