Songs That Tell Stories

Pretty Boy Floyd

If you'll gather round me children
A story I will tell
Bout Pretty Boy Floyd the outlaw
Oklahoma knew him well
It was in Oklahoma city
It was on a Christmas day
His wife children beside him
As into town he drove
There a deputy sherrif approached him
In a manner rather rude
Vulgar words of anger
And his wife she overheard
Pretty Boy grabbed a log chain
The deputy grabbed his gun
In the fight that followed
That deputy was made to run
Then he took to the trees and timber
To live a life of shame
Every crime in Oklahoma
Was added to his name
It was in the town of Shawnee
It was on a Christmas day
There came a car load of groceries
With a note to say
Well you say that I'm an outlaw
You say that I'm a thief
Here's a Christmas dinner
For the families on relief.
Others tell about a stranger
Who came to beg a meal
Underneath his napkin
Left a thousand dollar bill
And as through this life I've traveled
I've seen lots of funny men
Some will rob you with a six gun
Some with a fountain pen
And as through your life you travel
As through this life you roam
You will never see an outlaw
Drive a family from their home.

Joan was quizzical, studied pataphysical
Science in her home
Late nights all alone with a test tube
Jo-oh-oh-oan
Maxwell Addison, majoring in medicine
Calls her on the phone
"Can i take you out to the pictures
Jo-oh-oh-oan?"
But as she's getting ready to go
A knock comes on the door . . .

Bang, Bang, Maxwell's silver hammer came down
Upon her head
Bang, Bang, Maxwell's silver hammer
Made sure that she was dead

Back in school again, Maxwell plays the fool again
Teacher gets annoyed
Wishing to avoid an umpleasant
Sce-ee-ee-ene
She tells Max to stay, when the class is gone away
So he waits behind
Writing fifty times "I must no be
So-oh-oh-oh . . ."
But when she turns her back on the boy
He creeps up from behind . . .

Bang, Bang, Maxwell's silver hammer came down
Upon her head
Bang, Bang, Maxwell's silver hammer
Made sure that she was dead

PC [police constable] 31, says: "We've got a dirty one."
Maxwell stands alone
Painting testimonial pictures
OH-oh-oh-oh
Rose and Valery, screaming from the gallery
Say he must go free
The judge does not agree and he tells them
So-oh-oh-oh
But as the words are leaving his lips
A noise comes from behind . . .

Bang, Bang, Maxwell's silver hammer came down
Upon his head
Bang, Bang, Maxwell's silver hammer
Made sure that he was dead . . .

Oh-oh-oh-oh . . .[/color]

TELLING STORIES - Tracy Chapman


There is fiction in the space between
The lines on your page of memories
Write it down but it doesn't mean
You're not just telling stories
There is fiction in the space between
You and me

There is fiction in the space between
You and reality
You will do and say anything
To make your everyday life
Seem less mundane
There is fiction in the space between
You and me

There's a science fiction in the space between
You and me
A fabrication of a grand scheme
Where I am the scary monster
I eat the city and as I leave the scene
In my spaceship I am laughing
In your remembrance of your bad dream
There's no one but you standing

Leave the pity and the blame
For the ones who do not speak
You write the words to get respect and compassion
And for posterity
You write the words and make believe
There is truth in the space between

And one more:

Big Rock Candy Mountain - Harry McLintock

One evening as the sun went down
And the jungle fires were burning,
Down the track came a hobo hiking,
And he said, "Boys, I'm not turning
I'm headed for a land that's far away
Besides the crystal fountains
So come with me, we'll go and see
The Big Rock Candy Mountains

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains,
There's a land that's fair and bright,
Where the handouts grow on bushes
And you sleep out every night.
Where the boxcars all are empty
And the sun shines every day
And the birds and the bees
And the cigarette trees
The lemonade springs
Where the bluebird sings
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains.

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains
All the cops have wooden legs
And the bulldogs all have rubber teeth
And the hens lay soft-boiled eggs
The farmers' trees are full of fruit
And the barns are full of hay
Oh I'm bound to go
Where there ain't no snow
Where the rain don't fall
The winds don't blow
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains.

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains
You never change your socks
And the little streams of alcohol
Come trickling down the rocks
The brakemen have to tip their hats
And the railway bulls are blind
There's a lake of stew
And of whiskey too
You can paddle all around it
In a big canoe
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains,
The jails are made of tin.
And you can walk right out again,
As soon as you are in.
There ain't no short-handled shovels,
No axes, saws nor picks,
I'm bound to stay
Where you sleep all day,
Where they hung the jerk
That invented work
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains.

Spanish Leather

Oh I'm sailin away my own true love
I'm sailin away in the mornin
Is there somethin I can send you from across the sea
From the place that I'll be landin

Oh there's nothing you can send me my own true love
There's nothin I'm wishin to be ownin
Just carry yourself back to me unspoiled
From across that lonesome ocean

Oh but i just though you might want somethin fine
Made of silver or of golden
Either from the mountains of Madrid
Or from the coast of Barcelona

Oh but if I had the stars from the darkest night
Or the diamonds from the deepest ocean
I'd forsake them all for your sweet kiss
For that's all that I'm wishin to be ownin

Ah but I might be gone a long old time
And it's only that I'm askin
Is there somethin I can send you to remember me by
To make your time more easy passin

Oh how can how can you ask me again
If it only brings me sorrow
The same thing I would want from you today
I would want again tomorrow

I got a letter on a lonesome day
It was from her ship a sailin
Sayin I don't know when I'll be comin back again
It depends on how I'm a feelin

Well if you my love must think that a way
I'm sure your mind is roamin
I'm sure your thoughts are not with me
What with the country to where you're goin

So take heed take heed of the western wind
Take heed of the stormy weather
And yes there's something you can send back to me
Spanish boots of Spanish leather

It was Love, Love Alone

It was love, love alone
Caused King Edward to leave his throne
It was love love love love love alone
Caused King Edward to leave his throne

On the tenth of December we heard the talk
He gave the throne to the Duke of York

King Edward was noble King Edward was great
It was love that caused him to abdicate

He said he was sorry that his Mommy would grieve
He cannot help it he would have to leave

You can take his power you can take his goat
Leave him with his yachting boat

You can take his money you can take his store
But give him that lady from Baltimore

I don't know what Mrs Simpson got in her bone
That caused the king to leave his throne

On the tenth of December Nineteen Thirty-Six
The Duke of Windsor went to get his kicks

It was love love love love - etc. -

Tears in Heaven - Clapton

Would you know my name if I saw you in Heaven
Would it be the same if I saw you in Heaven
I must be strong and carry on
Cause I know I don't belong here in Heaven

Would you hold my hand if I saw you in Heaven
Would you help me stand if I saw you in Heaven
I'll find my way through night and day
Cause I know I just can't stay here in Heaven

Time can bring you down time can bend your knees
Time can break your heart have you begging begging please

Beyond the door there's peace I'm sure
And I know there'll be no more tears in Heaven

(repeats first verse)

Miller's Cave

Way down in the state of Georgia
Through the swamps and Everglades
There's a hole in Tiger mountain
God help the man who gets lost in Miller's Cave
I had a girl in Waycross, Georgia
But she had unfaithful ways
Made me feel I was unwanted
Like the bats and the bears in Miller's Cave
I caught her out one Sunday morning
With a man they call Big Dave
Meanest man in the state of Georgia
Rather fight a mountain lion in Miller's Cave
I said you'll pay both you and Davey
They laughed at me and then I shot them
Took their cheating scheming bones to Miller's Cave
That woman made me feel unwanted
But I showed her I was brave
Most wanted man in the state of Georgia
But they'll never find me cause I'm lost in Miller's Cave

I sometimes wonder at the senseless violence in some old western songs, but, on reflection, they are not so unusual. Lots of English and other nations' ballads are filled with the same stuff.

Don't Take Your Guns to Town - by Johnny Cash
and The Ballad of Billy Joe - written by Charlie Rich, sung by Jerry Lee Lewis

A young cowboy named Billy Joe grew restless on the farm
A boy filled with wanderlust who really meant no harm
He changed his clothes and shined his boots and combed his dark hair down
And his mother cried as he walked away Don't take your guns to town

Don't take your guns to town son
Leave your guns at home Bill
Don't take you guns to town

He laughed and kissed his Mom and said Your Billy Joe's a man
I can shoot as quick and straight as anybody can
But I wouldn't shoot without a cause I'd gun nobody down
But she cried again as he rode away Don't take your guns to town

Well he drank his first strong liquor then to calm his shaking hand
And tried to tell himself at last he'd become a man
A dusty cowpoke at his side began to laugh him down
And he heard again his mother's words Don't take your guns to town

Filled with rage then Billy Joe reached for his gun to draw
But the stranger drew his gun and fired before he even saw
As Billy Joe fell to the floor and the crowd all gathered round
And wondered at his final words Don't take your guns to town



I'm the man they're gonna hang for killing Billy Joe
But there's a whole lot more to the story than they know
Listen to my side of it I think that you will see
The reason I killed the boy He made a fool of me

There was a girl named Mary Ann and Mary was all the world to me
We planned to get married and set the date the wedding was to be
But I walked up to her house one night and there on the front porch they sat
And I swore they'd never get away with that

Billy Joe took Mary Ann to the dance hall one night
They didn't know I was back there in the shadows out of sight
He checked in his hat and he smiled as he gave her hand a pat
And I swore that he'd never get away with that

I swore that he'd never get away with breaking my heart
I knew that there was just one way to keep them apart
Everybody says his mother begged him not to take his guns to town
He should have listened to her because she knew I was gonna shoot him down

Now I'll be hung tomorrow just because I had to kill that little rat
But I swore that he'd never get away with that
And Billy Joe
Didn't get away with that......

Edgar -- I love Spanish Leather... thanks for posting it!

Both Sides Now

Rows and flows of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere
I've looked at clouds that way

But now they only block the sun
They rain and they snow on everyone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way

I've looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
It's cloud illusions I recall
I really don't know clouds at all

Moons and Junes and Ferris wheels
The dizzy dancing way that you feel
As every fairy tale comes real
I've looked at love that way

But now it's just another show
And you leave 'em laughing when you go
And if you care, don't let them know
Don't give yourself away

I've looked at love from both sides now
From give and take, and still somehow
It's love's illusions I recall
I really don't know love
Really don't know love at all

Tears and fears and feeling proud
To say "I love you" right out loud
Dreams and schemes and circus crowds
I've looked at life that way

Oh but now old friends they're acting strange
And they shake their heads
And they tell me that I've changed
Well something's lost but something's gained
In living every day

I've looked at life from both sides now
From win and lose and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life at all
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life
I really don't know life at all

edgarblythe, Clapton's Tears In Heaven is one of my most favorite favorites.

And I have both sides now by Judy Collins. I love any and everything she does.

She is so good I love all her music too.

I am SO with Phoenix on the classic: The Gambler
I do love Tracey Chapman - Telling Stories
and Bob Dylan doing Rosemary and the Jack of hearts
AND I HAD NO IDEA that Shel Silverstein wrote A Man Named Sue!!!
Mine are (1)Bob Dylan doing Forever Young
May God bless and keep you always
may your wishes all come true
may you always do for others
and let others do for you
May you build a ladder to the stars
and climb on every rung
and may you stay...
forever young

Forever young, forever young
may you stay forever young

May you grow up to be righteous
may you grow up to be true
may you always know the truth
and see the light surrounding you
May you always be courageous
stand upright and be strong
and may you stay...
forever young
REPEAT CHORUS
May your hands always be busy
may your feet always be swift
may you have a strong foundation
when the winds of changes shift
May your heart always be joyful
may your song always be sung
and may you stay
forever young
REPEAT CHORUS

And a genuine heartbreaker by Dylan also: If You See Her, Say Hello

If you see her, say hello - she might be in Tangier
She left here last early spring is living there I hear
Say for me that I'm alright - though things get kind of slow
She might think that I've forgotten her - though tell her it isn't so
We had a falling out - like lovers often will
and to think of how she left that night - it still brings me a chill
And though our separation it pierced me to the heart
she still lives inside of me - we've never been apart
If you get close to her kiss her once for me
I always have respected her - for doing what she did in gettin free
Oh, whatever makes her happy - I won't stand in the way
Though the bitter taste still lingers on -
from that night I tried to make her stay
I see a lot of people - as I make the rounds
and I hear her name here and there - as I go from town to town
And I've never gotten used to it -I've just learned to turn it off
either I'm too sensitive - or else I'm gettin soft
Sundown, yellow moon, I replay the past
I know every scene by heart - they all went by so fast
If she's passing back this way - I'm not that hard to find
Tell her she can look me up if she's got the time

music and lyrics
ooops, I forgot to mention
Sarah McLachlan doing: I Will Love You

Til my body is dust
Til my soul is no more
I will love you, love you :wink:
Til the sun starts to cry
and the moon turns to rust
I will love you, love you :wink:

there is more, but alas I am too tired to type, it is 1AM, for God's sake what in the heck am I doing up again, is this going to be another insomniac ward evening or what???

Jim Dean of Indiana

It was on an Indiana farm in the middle of the country
Growin in the fields of grain Jim Dean of Indiana

His mother died when he was a boy his father was a stranger
Marcus Winslow took him in nobody seemed to want him
The hired man sang up a storm sometimes he'd beat him
Cause he'd never do the chores he was lost in dreaming

He never seemed to find a play with the flatlands and the farmers
So he had to leave one day he said to be and actor
Once he come back to the farm with starlets from the stages
They locked themselves inside his room the people turned their faces

A neighbor ran from the movie house chickens they were scattered
He swore he saw upon the screen Jim Dean of Indiana
He played a boy without a home torn with no tomorrow
Reaching out to touch someone a stranger in the shadow

The Winslows left for the movie town they drove across the country
They hoped that he would stay around and they hoped he would be friendly
He talked to them for half an hour but he was busy racing
He left for the Grapevine Road they left for Indiana

Then Marcus heard on the radio that a movie star was dying
He turned the tuner way down low so Ortense could go on sleeping
It was not until they reached the farm where the hired man was waiting
The wind rushed silent through the grain it was just as they told him

They buried him just down the road a mile from the farm house
That is where I placed a flower for Jim Dean of Indiana

Nobody tells a story like Johnny Cash.

A young cowboy named Billy Joe
Grew restless on the farm
A boy filled with wanderlust
Who really meant no harm
He changed his clothes and shined his boots
And combed his dark hair down
And his mother cried as he walked out;

Refrain:
"Don't take your guns to town, son
Leave your guns at home, Bill
Don't take your guns to town."

He sang a song as on he rode,
His guns hung at his hips
He rode into a cattle town,
A smile upon his lips
He stopped and walked into a bar and laid his money down
But his mother's words echoed again;

Refrain:
"Don't take your guns to town, son
Leave your guns at home, Bill
Don't take your guns to town."

He drank his first strong liquor then to calm his shaking hand
And tried to tell himself at last he had become a man
A dusty cowpoke at his side began to laugh him down
And he heard again his mother's words;

Refrain:
"Don't take your guns to town, son
Leave your guns at home, Bill
Don't take your guns to town."

Bill was raged and Billy Joe reached for his gun to draw
But the stranger drew his gun and fired before he even saw
As Billy Joe fell to the floor the crowd all gathered 'round
And wondered at his final words;

Refrain:
"Don't take your guns to town, son
Leave your guns at home, Bill
Don't take your guns to town."

and

There once was a musical troupe
A pickin' singin' folk group
They sang the mountain ballads
And the folk songs of our land

They were long on musical ability
Folks thought they would go far
But political incompatibility led to their downfall

Well, the one on the right was on the left
And the one in the middle was on the right
And the one on the left was in the middle
And the guy in the rear was a Methodist

This musical aggregation toured the entire nation
Singing the traditional ballads
And the folk songs of our land
They performed with great virtuosity
And soon they were the rage
But political animosity prevailed upon the stage

Well, the one on the right was on the left
And the one in the middle was on the right
And the one on the left was in the middle
And the guy in the rear burned his driver's license

Well the curtain had ascended
A hush fell on the crowd
As thousands there were gathered to hear The folk songs of our land
But they took their politics seriously
And that night at the concert hall
As the audience watched deliriously
They had a free-for-all

Well, the one on the right was on the bottom
And the one in the middle was on the top
And the one on the left got a broken arm
And the guy in the rear, said, "Oh dear"

Now this should be a lesson if you plan to start a folk group
Don't go mixin' politics with the folk songs of our land
Just work on harmony and diction
Play your banjo well
And if you have political convictions keep them to yourself

Now, the one on the left works in a bank
And the one in the middle drives a truck
The one on the right's an all-night deejay
And the guy in the rear got drafted

This is really getting good y'all