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Greatest Song with a Story . . .


Nirvana2k4

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The Ballad of Jed Clampett-Paul Henning

Opening Theme:

Come and listen to a story about a man named Jed

A poor mountaineer, barely kept his family fed,

Then one day he was shootin at some food,

And up through the ground came a bubblin crude.

Oil that is, black gold, Texas tea.

Well the first thing you know ol Jed's a millionaire,

Kinfolk said "Jed move away from there"

Said "Californy is the place you ought to be"

So they loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly.

Hills, that is. Swimmin pools, movie stars.

Closing Theme:

Well now its time to say goodbye to Jed and all his kin.

And they would like to thank you folks fer kindly droppin in.

You're all invited back a gain to this locality

To have a heapin helpin of their hospitality

Hillybilly that is. Set a spell, Take your shoes off.

Y'all come back now, y'hear?.

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Roads To Moscow

Words and Music by Al Stewart

They crossed over the border the hour before dawn

Moving in lines through the day

Most of our planes were destroyed on the ground where they lay

Waiting for orders we held in the wood

Word from the front never came

By evening the sound of the gunfire was miles away

How softly we moved through the shadows slipped away through the trees

Crossing their lines and the mists and the fields on our hands and our knees

And now that I ever was able to see

The fire in the air glowing red, silhouetting the smoke on the breeze

All summer they drove us back through the Ukraine

Smolensk and Vyazma soon fell

By autumn we stood with our backs to the town of Orel

Closer and closer to Moscow they come

Riding the wind like a bear

General Guderian stands at the crest of the hill

Winter brought wither the rains, oceans of mud filled the roads

Gluing the tracks of their tanks to the ground while the sky filled with snow

And now that I ever was able to see

The fire in the air glowing red, silhouetting the snow on the breeze

In the footsteps of Napoleon the shadow figures stagger through the winter

Falling back before the gates of Moscow standing in the wings like an avenger

And far away behind their lines the partisans are stirring in the forest

Coming unexpectedly upon their outposts, growing like a promise

You'll never know you'll never know which way to turn which way to look you'll never see us

As we're stealing through the blackness of the night you'll never know you'll never hear us

And the evening sings in a voice of amber, the dawn is surely coming

The morning road leads to Stalingrad and the sky is softly humming

Two broken tigers on fire in the night

Flicker their souls to the wind

We wait in the lines for the final approach to begin

It's been almost four years that I've carried a gun

At home it will almost be spring

The flames of the tigers are lighting the road to Berlin

How quickly we move through the ruins that bow to the ground

The old men and children they send out to face us they can't slow us down

And now that I ever was able to see

The eyes of the city are opening, now it's the end of the dream

I'm coming home, I'm coming home now

You can taste it in the wind, the war is over

And I listen to the clicking of the train wheels as we roll across the border

And now they ask me of the time that I was caught behind their lines and taken prisoner

They only held me for a day, a lucky break I say

They turn and listen closer

I'll never know I'll never know why I was taken from the line and all the others

To board a special train and journey deep into the heart of holy Russia

And it's cold and damp in the transit camp

And the air is still and sullen

And the pale sun of October whispers the snow will soon be coming

And I wonder when I'll be home again

And the morning answers never

And the evening sighs and the steely Russian skies go on for ever

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Thanks Edna......here's another good one that comes to mind.

The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald

by Gordon Lightfoot

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down

Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee

The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead

When the skies of November turn gloomy.

With a load of iron ore - 26,000 tons more

Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty

That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed

When the gales of November came early

The ship was the pride of the American side

Coming back from some mill in Wisconson

As the big freighters go it was bigger than most

With a crew and the Captain well seasoned.

Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms

When they left fully loaded for Cleveland

And later that night when the ships bell rang

Could it be the North Wind they'd been feeling.

The wind in the wires made a tattletale sound

And a wave broke over the railing

And every man knew, as the Captain did, too,

T'was the witch of November come stealing.

The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait

When the gales of November came slashing

When afternoon came it was freezing rain

In the face of a hurricane West Wind

When supper time came the old cook came on deck

Saying fellows it's too rough to feed ya

At 7PM a main hatchway caved in

He said fellas it's been good to know ya.

The Captain wired in he had water coming in

And the good ship and crew was in peril

And later that night when his lights went out of sight

Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Does anyone know where the love of God goes

When the words turn the minutes to hours

The searchers all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay

If they'd fifteen more miles behind her.

They might have split up or they might have capsized

They may have broke deep and took water

And all that remains is the faces and the names

Of the wives and the sons and the daughters.

Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings

In the ruins of her ice water mansion

Old Michigan steams like a young man's dreams,

The islands and bays are for sportsmen.

And farther below Lake Ontario

Takes in what Lake Erie can send her

And the iron boats go as the mariners all know

With the gales of November remembered.

In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed

In the Maritime Sailors' Cathedral

The church bell chimed, 'til it rang 29 times

For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down

Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee

Superior, they say, never gives up her dead

When the gales of November come early.

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Great Story Song...

Fancy - Reba Mcentire

I remember it all very well lookin' back

It was the summer I turned eighteen

We lived in a one room, rundown shack

On the outskirts of New Orleans

We didn't have money for food or rent

To say the least we were hard pressed

Then Mama spent every last penny we had

To buy me a dancin' dress

Mama washed and combed and curled my hair

And she painted my eyes and lips

then I stepped into a satin dancin' dress that had a split from the side clean

up to my hip

It was red velvet trimmin' and it fit me good

Standin' back from the lookin' glass

There stood a woman where a half grown kid had stood

She said here's your one chance Fancy don't let me down

Here's your one chance Fancy don't let me down

Mama dabbed a little bit of perfume on my neck

And she kissed my cheek

Then I saw the tears wellin' up in her troubled eyes

as she started to speak

She looked at our pitiful shack

And then she looked at me and took a ragged breath

She said your Pa's run'd off and I'm real sick

And the baby's gonna starve to death

She handed me a heart shaped locket that said

"To thine own self be true"

And I shivered as I watched a roach crawl across

The tow of my high heel shoe

It sounded like somebody else that was talkin'

Askin' Mama what do I do

She said just be nice to the gentlemen Fancy

And they'll be nice to you

She said here's your chance Fancy don't let me down

Here's your one chance Fancy don't let me down

Lord forgive me for what I do, but if you want out

Well it's up to you

Now don't let me down your Mama's gonna move you uptown.

Well, that was the last time I saw my Ma

The night I left that rickety shack

The welfare people came and took the baby

Mama died and I ain't been back

But the wheels of fate had started to turn

And for me there was no way out

And it wasn't long 'til I knew exactly

What my Mama'd been talkin' about

I knew what I had to do and I made myself this solemn vow

That I's gonna be a lady someday

Though I didn't know when or how

I couldn't see spending the rest of my life

With my head hung down in shame you know

I might have been born just plain white trash

But Fancy was my name

Here's your one chance Fancy don't let me down

Here's your one chance Fancy don't let me down

It wasn't long after a benevolent man

Took me in off the street

And one week later I was pourin' his tea

In a five room hotel suite

I charmed a king, a congressman

And an occasional aristocrat

Then I got me a Georgia mansion

In an elegant New York townhouse flat

And I ain't done bad

Now in this world there's a lot of self-righteous hippocrits

That would call me bad

And criticize Mama for turning me out

No matter how little we had

But though I ain't had to worry 'bout nothin'

For nigh on fifteen years

I can still hear the desperation in my poor

Mama's voice ringin' in my ears

She said, here's your one chance Fancy don't let me down

Here's your one chance Fancy don't let me down

Lord, forgive me for what I do

But if you want out well it's up to you

Now don't let me down

Your Mama's gonna move you uptown

Oh, and I guess she did

-------------------------------------------------

See its O.K. to be a prostitute ::

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Also...

Reba Mcentire -

He was on his home from candletop

Been two weeks gone and he thought he'd stop

At web's and have him a drink before he went home to her

Andy Wo-Lo said hello

He said " Hi, what's doin'"

Wo said " Sit down I got some bad news, it's gonna hurt"

He said "I'm your best friend and you know that's right

But your young bride aint't home tonight

Since you been gone she's been seeing that Amos boy Seth"

Now he got mad and he saw red

Andy said "boy don't lose your head

Cause to tell you the truth I've been with her myself"

Chorus:

That's the night that the lights went out in Georgia

That's the night that they hung an innocent man

Well don't trust your soul to no back woods southern lawyer

Cause the judge in the town's got bloodstains on his hands

Well, Andy got scared and left the bar

Walking on home cause he didn't live far you see

Andy didn't have many friends, and he just lost him one

Brother thought his wife must've left town

So he went home and finally found the only thing

Daddy had left him and that was a gun

He went off to Andy's house

Slipping through the back woods quiet as a mouse

Came upon some tracks too small for Andy to make

He looked through the screen at the back porch door

And he saw Andy lyin on the floor

In a puddle of blood and he started to shake

The Georgia patrol was making their rounds

So he fired a shot just to flag 'em down

A big bellied sheriff grabbed his gun and said

"Why'd you do it"

The judge said guilty in a make believe trial

Slapped the sheriff on the back with a smile and said

"Supper waiting at home and I got to get to it"

Chorus:

That's the night that the lights went out in Georgia

That's the night that they hung an innocent man

Well don't trust your soul to no back woods southern lawyer

Cause the judge in the town's got blood stains on his hands

Well they hung my brother before I could say

The tracks he saw while on his way

To Andy's house and back that night were mine

And his cheatin wife had never left town

And that's one body that'll never be found

You see little sister don't miss when she aims her gun

Chorus:

That's the night that the lights went out in Georgia

That's the night that they hung an innocent man

Don't trust your soul with no back woods southern lawyer

Cause the judge in the town's got blood stains on his hands

That's the night that the lights went out in Georgia

That's the night that they hung an innocent man

Don't trust your soul with no back woods southern lawyer

Cause the judge in the town's got blood stains on his hands

---------------------------------------------------------

Reba did it! Beat that O.J. :bow:

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Skynyrd has some good ones.

"Gimme Three Steps"

"Ballad Of Curtis Loew"

"Workin' For MCA"

"What's Your Name"

"Eleanor Rigby" has a story line to it.

There was that song from Ben Folds Five from a few years that I don't remember the name of, that has a good story line.

"The Wall" has songs with bits and pieces of stories. "Goodbye Blue Sky" is quite a powerful story statement.

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"Piano Man " -- Billy Joel

"Someone Saved My Life Tonight "/ "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" --Elton John

"Only Women Bleed" -- Alice Cooper

"Sylvia's Mother" -- Dr. Hook

"House of The Rising Sun" -- The Animals

"LA Woman" -- The Doors

"She's Leaving Home" -- The Beatles

:guitar: :coolio:

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This is a great song. :headphones:

Copperline-James Taylor

Even the old folks never knew why they call it like they do.

I was wondering since the age of two, down on Copperline.

Copper head, copper beech, copper kettles sitting side by each.

Copper coil, cup o'Georgia peach, down on Copperline.

Half a mile down to Morgan Creek, leaning heavy on the end of the week.

Hercules and a hog-nosed snake, down on Copperline we were down on Copperline.

One Summer night on the Copperline, slip away past supper time.

Wood smoke and new moonshine, down on Copperline.

One time I saw my daddy dance, watched him moving like a man in a trance.

He bought it back from the war in France, down onto Copperline.

Branch water and tomato wine, creosote and turpentine,

sour mash and new moon shine, down on Copperline, down on Copperline.

First kiss ever I took, like a page from a romance book,

the sky opened and the earth shook, down on Copperline, down on Copperline.

Took a fall from a windy height, I only knew how to hold on tight

and pray for love enough to last all night, down on Copperline.

Day breaks and the boys wakes up and the dog barks and the birds sings

and the sap rises and the angels sigh, yeah.

I tried to go back, as if I could, all spec house and plywood.

Tore up and tore up good down on Copperline.

It doesn't come as a surprise to me, it doesn't touch my memory

and I'm lifting up and rising free down on over Copperline.

Half a mile down to Morgan Creek, I'm only living for the end of the week.

Hercules and a hog-nosed snake, down on Copperline, yeah, take me down on Copperline.

Oh, down on Copperline, take me down on Copperline.

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I've always enjoyed Dolly Parton's 'Coat of Many Colors'. Kind of cheesy, but a good story, nonetheless.

Aww...I haven't thought about that song for a looooong time. That really is a great story.

"As she sewed, she told a story,from the bible, she had read,About a coat of many colors, Joseph wore, and then she said: "Perhaps this coat will bring you good luck and happiness." And I just couldn't wait to wear it and momma blessed it with a kiss "

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