Storytellers (no, not VH1)

[Mr. Shadow]

 

[Mr. Shadow]

Dylan's parody on Ode to Billie Joe.

 

[Soot and Stars]

The best modern day storyteller in my opinion! I have to make a thread for this guy but there is so much to cover!

Ben Folds-The Luckiest


I don't get many things right the first time
In fact, I am told that a lot
Now I know all the wrong turns, the stumbles and falls
Brought me here

And where was I before the day
That I first saw your lovely face?
Now I see it everyday
And I know

That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

What if I'd been born fifty years before you
In a house on a street where you lived?
Maybe I'd be outside as you passed on your bike
Would I know?

And in a white sea of eyes
I see one pair that I recognize
And I know

That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

I love you more than I have ever found a way to say to you

Next door there's an old man who lived to his nineties
And one day passed away in his sleep
And his wife; she stayed for a couple of days
And passed away

I'm sorry, I know that's a strange way to tell you that I know we belong
That I know

That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

 

[METALPRIEST]

Warrant ~ Uncle Tom's Cabin

Yup, heavy rock and rollers are good at it too

Just for the record let's get the story straight
Me and Uncle Tom were fishing it was getting pretty late
Out on a cypress limb above the wishin' well
Where they say it got no bottom, say it take you down to hell!

Over in the bushes and off to the right
Come two men talkin' in the pale moon light
Sheriff John Brady and Deputy Hedge
haulin' two limp bodies down to the water's edge

I know a secret down at Uncle Tom's Cabin, oh yeah
I know a secret that I just can't tell

They didn't see me and Tom in the trees
Neither one believing what the other could see
Tossed in the bodies, let 'em sink on down
To the bottom of the well where they'd never be found

I know a secret down at Uncle Tom's Cabin, oh yeah
I know a secret that I just can't tell
I know a secret down at Uncle Tom's Cabin
I know a secret that I just can't tell
I know a secret down at Uncle Tom's Cabin
Know who put the bodies in the wishing well!

Soon as they were gone me and Tom got down
Prayin' real hard that we wouldn't make a sound
Running through the woods back to Uncle Tom's shack
Where the full moon shines through the roof tile cracks

Oh my God, Tom, who are we gonna tell?
The Sheriff he belongs in a prison cell
Keep your mouth shut that's what we're gonna do
Unless you wanna wind up in the "Wishin' Well" too?

I know a secret down at Uncle Tom's Cabin
I know a secret that I just can't tell
I know a secret down at Uncle Tom's Cabin, oh yeah!
I know a secret that I just can't tell
I know a secret down at Uncle Tom's Cabin
Know who put the bodies
Know who put the bodies ... in the wishing well!

 

[TheFeldster]

This is one about one of Australia's greatest ever sportsman, Sir Donald Bradman, so it probably won't make much sense unless you understand cricket (I reckon Sal would like this one):

Paul Kelly - Bradman

Sydney, 1926, this is the story of a man
Just a kid in from the sticks, just a kid with a plan
St George took a gamble, played him in first grade
Pretty soon that young man showed them how to flash the blade
And at the age of nineteen he was playing for the State
From Adelaide to Brisbane the runs did not abate
He hit 'em hard, he hit 'em straight

He was more than just a batsman
He was something like a tide
He was more than just one man
He could take on any side
They always came for Bradman 'cause fortune used to hide in the palm of his hand

A team came out from England
Wally Hammond wore his felt hat like a chief
All through the summer of '28, '29 they gave the greencaps no relief
Some reputations came to grief
They say the darkest hour is right before the dawn
And in the hour of greatest slaughter the great avenger is being born
But who then could have seen the shape of things to come
In Bradman's first test he went for eighteen and for one
They dropped him like a gun
Now big Maurice Tate was the trickiest of them all
And a man with a wisecracking habit
But there's one crack that won't stop ringing in his ears
"Hey Whitey, that's my rabbit"
Bradman never forgot it

He was more than just a batsman
He was something like a tide
He was more than just one man
He could take on any side
They always came for Bradman 'cause fortune used to hide in the palm of his hand

England 1930 and the seed burst into flower
All of Jackson's grace failed him, it was Bradman was the power
He murdered them in Yorkshire,he danced for them in Kent
He laughed at them in Leicestershire, Leeds was an event
Three hundred runs he took and rewrote all the books
That really knocked those gents
The critics could not comprehend hsi nonchalant phenomenon
"Why this man is a machine," they said. "Even his friends say he isn't human"
Even friends have to cut something

He was more than just a batsman
He was something like a tide
He was more than just one man
He could take on any side
They always came for Bradman 'cause fortune used to hide in the palm of his hand

Summer 1932 and Captain Douglas had a plan
When Larwood bowled to Bradman it was more than man to man
And staid Adelaide nearly boiled over as rage ruled over sense
When Oldfield hit the ground they nearly jumped the fence
Now Bill Woodill was as fine a man as ever went to wicket
And the bruises on his body that day showed that he could stick it
But to this day he's still quoted and only he could wear it
"There's two teams out there today and only one of them's playing cricket."

He was longer than a memory, bigger than a town
He feet they used to sparkle and he always kept them on the ground
Fathers took their sons who never lost the sound of the roar of the grandstand

Now shadows they grow longer and there's so mush more yet to be told
But we're not getting any younger, so let the part tell the whole
Now the players all wear colours, the circus is in town
I can no longer go down there, down to that sacred ground

He was more than just a batsman
He was something like a tide
He was more than just one man
He could take on any side
They always came for Bradman 'cause fortune used to hide in the palm of his hand

 

[Soot and Stars]

More Ben Folds! Fun song and a bonus for the one Guster fan on here if he sees it!

Ben Folds ft. Guster-Not The Same


You took a trip and climbed a tree
At Robert Sledge's party
And there you stayed 'till morning came
And you were not the same after that

You gave your life to Jesus Christ
And after all your friends went home
You came down, you looked around
And you were not the same after that

(Ahhh ahhh)
You were not the same after that
(Ahhh ahhh)
You were not the same after that

You see 'em drop like flies from the bright sunny skies
They come knocking at your door with this look in their eyes
You've got one good trick and you're hanging on you're hanging on...
To it

You took the word and made it heard
And eased the people's pain and for that
You were idolised, immortalised
And you were not the same after that

Walking tall, you'd bought it all
And you were not the same after that
Till someone died on the waterslide
And you were not the same after that

You see 'em drop like flies from the bright sunny skies
They come knocking at your door with this look in their eyes
You've got one good trick and you're hanging on you're hanging on to it

(ooh ooh ooh ooh)
(YOU WERE NOT THE SAME!)
(ooh ooh ooh ooh)

You see 'em drop like flies from the bright sunny skies
They come knocking at your door with this look in their eyes
You've got one good trick and you're hanging on
you're hanging on:

You're hanging on:
You're hanging on:

 

[METALPRIEST]

^^^ Good song!! I love the audience participation in that!!

Here's a good one and my favorite rendition of this song!!

Marc Almond W/ Jools Holland ~ Say Hello Wave Goodbye

Standing at the door of the Pink Flamingo, crying in the rain
Here was a kind of so-so love
And I'm going to make sure it doesn't happen again
You and I, it had to be, the standing joke of the year
You were a run-around, a lost and found
And not for me, I feel

Take your hands off me, hey
I don't belong to you, you see
Take a look in my face, for the last time
I never knew you, you never knew me
Say hello goodbye
Say hello and wave goodbye

We tried to make it work, you in a cocktail skirt
And me in a suit, but it just wasn't me
You're used to wearing less, and now your life's a mess
So insecure, you see
Well I put up with all the scenes, and this is one scene that's going to be played my way

Take your hands off me, hey
I don't belong to you, you see
Take a look in my face, for the last time
I never knew you, you never knew me
Say hello goodbye
Say hello and wave goodbye
Say hello and wave goodbye

Under the deep red light, I can see the make-up, sliding down
Well hey little girl you will always make up
So take off that unbecoming frown
As for me well, I'll find someone who's not going cheap, in the sales
A nice little housewife, who'll give me the steady life
And not keep going off the rails

Take your hands off me, hey
I don't belong to you, you see
Take a look in my face, for the last time
I never knew you, you never knew me
Say hello goodbye
Say hello and wave goodbye

Say hello and wave goodbye
Say hello and wave goodbye
Wave goodbye
Say hello and wave goodbye
Say hello, wave goodbye
Goodbye, say goodbye, say goodbye

We were born before the way, who are we to understand
We were born before the way, say goodbye
Through the rain, hail, sleet and snow, say goodbye
Get on the train and say goodbye, say goodbye, say goodbye, say goodbye
In the wind and the rain my darling, say goodbye
In the wind and the rain my darling.

 

[Flower]

Love Potion Number Nine

The Clovers

I took my troubles down to Madame Rue
You know that gypsy with the gold-capped tooth
She's got a pad down on Thirty-Fourth and Vine
Sellin' little bottles of Love Potion Number Nine

I told her that I was a flop with chics
I've been this way since 1956
She looked at my palm and she made a magic sign
She said "What you need is Love Potion Number Nine"

She bent down and turned around and gave me a wink
She said "I'm gonna make it up right here in the sink"
It smelled like turpentine, it looked like Indian ink
I held my nose, I closed my eyes, I took a drink

I didn't know if it was day or night
I started kissin' everything in sight
But when I kissed a cop down on Thirty-Fourth and Vine
He broke my little bottle of Love Potion Number Nine

I held my nose, I closed my eyes, I took a drink

I didn't know if it was day or night
I started kissin' everything in sight
But when I kissed a cop down on Thirty-Fourth and Vine
He broke my little bottle of Love Potion Number Nine
Love Potion Number Nine
Love Potion Number Nine
Love Potion Number Nine

 

[Foxhound]

Tweeter and the Monkey Man - Traveling Wilburys

Tweeter and the Monkey Man were hard up for cash
They stayed up all night selling cocaine and hash
To an undercover cop who had a sister named Jan
For reasons unexplained she loved the Monkey Man

Tweeter was a boy scout before she went to Vietnam
And found out the hard way nobody gives a damn
They knew that they found freedom just across the Jersey Line
So they hopped into a stolen car took Highway 99

And the walls came down all the way to hell
Never saw them when they're standing
Never saw them when they fell

The undercover cop never liked the Monkey Man
Even back in childhood he wanted to see him in the can
Jan got married at fourteen to a racketeer named Bill
She made secret calls to the Monkey Man from a mansion on the hill

It was out on thunder road - Tweeter at the wheel
They crashed into paradise - they could hear them tires squeal
The undercover cop pulled up and said "Everyone of you's a liar
If you don't surrender now it's gonna go down to the wire

And the walls came down all the way to hell
Never saw them when they're standing
Never saw them when they fell

An ambulance rolled up - a state trooper close behind
Tweeter took his gun away and messed up his mind
The undercover cop was left tied up to a tree
Near the souvenir stand by the old abandoned factory

Next day the undercover cop was hot in pursuit
He was taking the whole thing personal
He didn't care about the loot
Jan had told him many times it was you to me who taught
In Jersey anything's legal as long as you don't get caught

And the walls came down all the way to hell
Never saw them when they're standing
Never saw them when they fell

Someplace by Rahway prison they ran out of gas
The undercover cop had cornered them said "Boy, you didn't think that this could last"
Jan jumped out of bed said "There's someplace I gotta go"
She took a gun out of the drawer and said "It's best if you don't know"

The undercover cop was found face down in a field
The monkey man was on the river bridge using Tweeter as a shield
Jan said to the Monkey Man "I'm not fooled by Tweeter's curl
I knew him long before he ever became a Jersey girl"

And the walls came down all the way to hell
Never saw them when they're standing
Never saw them when they fell

Now the town of Jersey City is quieting down again
I'm sitting in a gambling club called the Lion's Den
The TV set been blown up, every bit of it is gone
Ever since the nightly news show that the Monkey Man was on

I guess I'll go to Florida and get myself some sun
There ain't no more opportunity here, everything's been done
Sometime I think of Tweeter, sometime I think of Jan
Sometime I don't think about nothing but the Monkey Man

And the walls came down all the way to hell
Never saw them when they're standing
Never saw them when they fell

 

[TheFeldster]

^^ You stole the one I was going to post next, Fox

Now I'll have to turn the brain back on for the Friday Afternoon to think of another one to post.