Songs That Tell Stories

Remember Edgar Lee Masters? He did Spoon River Anthology where people spoke from their graves.

http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=KzYoCM1eA5U&feature=related

I recall Spoon River Anthology, letty. That's a good video.

Classic tear jerker

I don't wanna play house; I know it can't be fun
I've watched mommy and daddy
And if that's the way it's done
I don't wanna play house; It makes my mommy cry
'Cause when she played house
My daddy said good-bye.

Skip a rope -

From the dew-soaked hedge creeps a crawly caterpillar,
When the dawn begins to crack.
It's all part of my autumn almanac.
Breeze blows leaves over, mostly coloured yellow,
So I sweep them in my sack.
Yes, yes, yes, it's my autumn almanac.

Friday evenings, people get together,
Hiding from the weather.
Tea and toasted, buttered currant buns
Can't compensate for lack of sun,
Because the summer's all gone.

La-la-la-la...
Oh, my poor rheumatic back
Yes, yes, yes, it's my autumn almanac.
La-la-la-la...
Oh, my autumn almanac
Yes, yes, yes, it's my autumn almanac.

I like my football on a Saturday,
Roast beef on Sundays, all right.
I go to Blackpool for my holidays,
Sit in the open sunlight.

This is my street, and I'm never gonna leave it,
And I'm always gonna stay here
If I live to be ninety-nine,
'Cause all the people I meet
Seem to come from my street
And I can't get away,
Because it's calling me, (come on home)
Hear it calling me, (come on home)

La-la-la-la...
Oh, my autumn Armagnac
Yes, yes, yes, it's my autumn almanac.
La-la-la-la...
Oh, my autumn almanac
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

Bop-bop-bopm-bop-bop, whoa!
Bop-bop-bopm-bop-bop, whoa!
(etc.)

Ever since I was a child,
I loved to wander wild
Through the bright city lights,
And find myself a life I could call my own.
It was always my ambition
To see Piccadilly,
Ramble and roam around Soho
And Pimlico and Savile Row,
And walk down the Abbey Road.
So I saved all my money
And packed up my clothes,
And I said good-bye to my friends
And my folks back home.
And I left for a life of my own.
I left for a life on the road.

I'm a real hungry tyke,
And I know what I like.
And I know where I'm goin':
To those bright city lights.
Oh yeah, oh yeah,
This time I'm gonna get there.
I'm bound for a life on the road.
Give me life on the road.
I said life on the road.

When I arrived in Euston,
I was little more than a child.
And I didn't know then
That the dives and the dens
Would be so vulgar and wicked and wild.
Mama always told me
The city ladies were bawdy and bold.
And so I searched night and day
To catch a kissable lady,
But all that I caught was a cold,
'Cause those stuck-up city ladies
Didn't notice me walk by.
Now I've got holes in my shoes
'Cause I've been walkin' the streets all night.
And I'm livin' the life that I chose.
Livin' my life on the road.
I said life on the road.
I want life on the road.
Life on the road.

I was standing with the punks in Praed Street,
When a muscle man came my way.
He said, "Hey, are you gay?
Can you come out and play?"
And like a fool, I went and said, "O.K."
Ever since I was knee high,
I thought the city was paved with gold.
But I've seen so many losers
And down and out boozers
Who were tired of bein' bought and sold.
City women are a tease,
But I'd really love to please.
Now I've got blood shot eyes
'Cause I've been walkin' the streets all night.
And it sure knocks you out on the road.
And I'm livin' my life on the road.
I said life on the road.
Life on the road.
I want life on the road.

One of these days,
I wanna go home,
Visit my friends,
And see all the places that I used to know,
And say good-bye to a world that's too real;
Good-bye to a world that's forgotten how to feel.
And it's slowly usin' me,
And there's no security.
Sometimes I hate the road,
But it's the only life I know.
But I'm livin' the life that I chose,
So I'll live out my life on the road.

Give me life on the road.
I said life on the road.
(repeat)

another take on the road by the kinks
can't find a full length video only an edited one, might upload my own, until then here's the lyrics

The Road

Sitting alone on my hotel
Looking in the mirror wondering, "well,
After all this time you never thought you'd still be out on the road?"
Like a gypsy I was born to roam
Like a wanderer with no fixed abode
I think about the friends I've left behind on the road

Well, the road's been rocky along the way
It's been a long, hard haul on the motorway
But if it gets too smooth it's time to call it a day

(On the road)
The bed and breakfasts and the greasy spoons
(The road)
The loser bars and the noisy rooms
(The road)
The casualties who did too many lines
(The road)
Wasted talent on women and wine

I think of all the friends I've left behind
Whenever it's time to get back out on the road

Started playing blues in a coffee bar
I took a trip down Charing Cross Road
With my imitation Gretsch guitar
And my head full of songs and my eyes full of stars
I saw a band called the Rolling Stones
I thought, "that's it, I'll get a band,
I'm leaving home, I'm out on the road."

The motorways all over this land
(The road)
Far away places like Wigan and Birmingham
(The road)
Didn't have no name, didn't have any fans
(The road)
Didn't have no money so we slept in the van

All those early gigs we ever played
Sometimes we were lucky if we even got paid
On the road
Pete played on the bass guitar
Liked to get around, mixing with all the stars
But Mrs. Avory's child was all fingers and thumbs
But solid as a rock, setting time on the drums
While Dave the Rave hit the rock 'n' roll riffs
Yours truly strummed away with a slightly limp wrist
On the road

There are days when I can't get used to it
there are days when I can't get away
Another day, another freeway to face
That's the road

Well, life is a road, it's a motorway
And the road gets rocky along the way
But if it gets too smooth it's time to call it a day

(On the road)
Jimi Hendrix, The Who, the Led Zeppelin and Free
They took the road so it's alright by me
Some are survivors, some are debris
If you play in a band that's the road that you take
Living in it, eating in it, sleeping in it
You wake up in the morning, what do you see?
The road

Life is a road, it's a motorway
Lost a lot of good friends along the way
All the families and homes that I've left behind
To the wives and the lovers and friends who had their time
I say, "you take your road and I'll take mine."
(You take your road and I'll take mine)
You take your road and I'll take mine
(You take your road and I'll take mine)

Life is a road, it's a motorway
And the road gets rocky along the way
But if it gets too smooth it's time to call it a day

(On the road)
Observed all the various phases from
Flower power, heavy metal and acid rock
And still all the critics keep saying
"Are they still around? When they gonna stop?"
It's just the dedicated followers of fashion who like putting down
All the well respected men who came dancing and are still on the road

Sometime I get suicidal
Now everyone is a rival
Different cars, different bars and hotels
Corporations, big business and egos
When it all gets too bad I think back
When we were all each other had
When we started out on the road

And there's gas in my tank and I've still got a way to go
Another hotel, it's time to check out soon
As I look around the room
I think of all the friends I've left behind
On the road

Thanks for posting the lyrics djjd. Makes it easier to appreciate the ones I have never heard.

This link only confirms that the late Steve Goodman wrote a song called Spoon river, inspired by Edgar Lee Masters.

Claude King...mmmmh mmmh good

Great story of a man I didn't know, edgar. It was sad, Texas.

Here's another song that tells a story. The Wright Brothers actually did their first flight from Kill Devil Hills, however

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmoOBx876TI&NR=1

Yep. It seems we almost take the Wright boys for granted these days. But it's one of the world's great stories of all time.

I'm sure I read that Scientific American disputed their claims of powered flight for some time, and that one newspaper was still saying it was a fraud in 1907.

I still maintain it's a hoax. Otherwise we would have developed a technology that would take men to the moon by now.

Agreed. Still waiting for my jetpack.