Do you know any songs...

with a story?

The only one I can think of is American pie by Don Mclean., and I don't even think that has a story.

I need something for my job (ESL teacher) that is clear and easy to understand and not longer than 5ish minutes. It must have a story in the song.

TIA!

Re: Do you know any songs...

jack and diane-mellencamp
scenes from an italian restaurant-billy joel
same auld lang syne-dan fogelberg (my personal holiday fave)

The song that Pearl Jam remade, oh where oh where can my baby be, the lord took her away from me...
LAST KISS!!!!

Message edited 10/17/2007 6:31:36 PM.

Re: Do you know any songs...

Boy named Sue by Johnny Cash

devil went down to Georgia

In the Ghetto by Elvis (has another name)

Re: Do you know any songs...

Christmas Wrapping by the waitresses

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Re: Do you know any songs...

Paul Revere by the Beastie Boys

Re: Do you know any songs...

Pina Coloada song, but that may not be appropraite for students....

I LOVE Same Old Lang Syne. I literally hear it everytime I get in my car the entire Christmas season

Re: Do you know any songs...

Posted by mrswask

Paul Revere by the Beastie Boys

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Cat's in the Cradle

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Come Dancing - The Kinks

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The Ballad of Billy The Kidd - Billy Joel

Many songs by Harry Chapin. He actually has a collection album called "Greatest Stories Live." One song, which is not on that album, but is a great song for educators is:

Flowers are Red
by Harry Chapin

The little boy went first day of school
He got some crayons and started to draw
He put colors all over the paper
For colors was what he saw
And the teacher said.. What you doin' young man
I'm paintin' flowers he said
She said... It's not the time for art young man
And anyway flowers are green and red
There's a time for everything young man
And a way it should be done
You've got to show concern for everyone else
For you're not the only one

And she said...
Flowers are red young man
Green leaves are green
There's no need to see flowers any other way
Than they way they always have been seen

But the little boy said...
There are so many colors in the rainbow
So many colors in the morning sun
So many colors in the flower and I see every one

Well the teacher said.. You're sassy
There's ways that things should be
And you'll paint flowers the way they are
So repeat after me.....

And she said...
Flowers are red young man
Green leaves are green
There's no need to see flowers any other way
Than they way they always have been seen

But the little boy said...
There are so many colors in the rainbow
So many colors in the morning sun
So many colors in the flower and I see every one

The teacher put him in a corner
She said.. It's for your own good..
And you won't come out 'til you get it right
And are responding like you should
Well finally he got lonely
Frightened thoughts filled his head
And he went up to the teacher
And this is what he said.. and he said

Flowers are red, green leaves are green
There's no need to see flowers any other way
Than the way they always have been seen

Time went by like it always does
And they moved to another town
And the little boy went to another school
And this is what he found
The teacher there was smilin'
She said...Painting should be fun
And there are so many colors in a flower
So let's use every one

But that little boy painted flowers
In neat rows of green and red
And when the teacher asked him why
This is what he said.. and he said

Flowers are red, green leaves are green
There's no need to see flowers any other way
Than the way they always have been seen.

Re: Do you know any songs...

Another of my favorite Harry Chapin songs:

Mr. Tanner
by Harry Chapin

Mister Tanner was a cleaner from a town in the Midwest.
And of all the cleaning shops around he'd made his the best.
But he also was a baritone who sang while hanging clothes.
He practiced scales while pressing tails and sang at local shows.
His friends and neighbors praised the voice that poured out from his throat.
They said that he should use his gift instead of cleaning coats.


But music was his life, it was not his livelihood,
and it made him feel so happy and it made him feel so good.
And he sang from his heart and he sang from his soul.
He did not know how well he sang; It just made him whole.


His friends kept working on him to try music out full time.
A big debut and rave reviews, a great career to climb.
Finally they got to him, he would take the fling.
A concert agent in New York agreed to have him sing.
And there were plane tickets, phone calls, money spent to rent the hall.
It took most of his savings but he gladly used them all.


But music was his life, it was not his livelihood,
and it made him feel so happy and it made him feel so good.
And he sang from his heart and he sang from his soul.
He did not know how well he sang; It just made him whole.


The evening came, he took the stage, his face set in a smile.
And in the half filled hall the critics sat watching on the aisle.
But the concert was a blur to him, spatters of applause.
He did not know how well he sang, he only heard the flaws.
But the critics were concise, it only took four lines.
But no one could accuse them of being over kind.


(spoken) Mr. Martin Tanner, Baritone, of Dayton, Ohio made his
Town Hall debut last night. He came well prepared, but unfortunately
his presentation was not up to contemporary professional standards.
His voice lacks the range of tonal color necessary to make it
consistently interesting.
(sung) Full time consideration of another endeavor might be in order.


He came home to Dayton and was questioned by his friends.
Then he smiled and just said nothing and he never sang again,
excepting very late at night when the shop was dark and closed.
He sang softly to himself as he sorted through the clothes.
Music was his life, it was not his livelihood,
and it made him feel so happy and it made him feel so good.
And he sang from his heart and he sang from his soul.
He did not know how well he sang; It just made him whole.

Re: Do you know any songs...

All of Kenny Chesney's songs have a story ( a few examples):
The Good Stuff
The Woman With You
Anything but Mine
I Go Back
The Road and the Radio
There Goes My Life

Faith Hill & Tim McGraw-Like We Never Loved at All

Garth Brooks - If Tommorrow Never Comes (depressing)

Most country songs tell a story.

Message edited 10/17/2007 9:35:07 PM.

Re: Do you know any songs...

That Christmas Shoes song, but it's SUCH a downer

Re: Do you know any songs...

Thank you everyone!

They are college age students from Korea, Brazil, France and Switzerland. I think the Pearl Jam song will be good for that age group. I have to look at the lyrics, but the second choice would be Billy Joel.

Keep em coming!

Re: Do you know any songs...

We didn't start the Fire, By Billy Joel!!!

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Message edited 9/10/2011 4:19:18 PM.

Re: Do you know any songs...

Auld Lang Syne by Dan Fogelberg:

Met my old lover in the grocery store
The snow was falling christmas eve
I stole behind her in the frozen foods
And I touched her on the sleeve

She didnt recognize the face at first
But then her eyes flew open wide
She went to hug me and she spilled her purse
And we laughed until we cried.

We took her groceries to the checkout stand
The food was totalled up and bagged
We stood there lost in our embarrassment
As the conversation dragged.

We went to have ourselves a drink or two
But couldnt find an open bar
We bought a six-pack at the liquor store
And we drank it in her car.

We drank a toast to innocence
We drank a toast to now
And tried to reach beyond the emptiness
But neither one knew how.

She said shed married her an architect
Who kept her warm and safe and dry
She would have liked to say she loved the man
But she didnt like to lie.

I said the years had been a friend to her
And that her eyes were still as blue
But in those eyes I wasnt sure if I saw
Doubt or gratitude.

She said she saw me in the record stores
And that I must be doing well
I said the audience was heavenly
But the traveling was hell.

We drank a toast to innocence
We drank a toast to now
And tried to reach beyond the emptiness
But neither one knew how.

We drank a toast to innocence
We drank a toast to time
Reliving in our eloquence
Another auld lang syne...

The beer was empty and our tongues were tired
And running out of things to say
She gave a kiss to me as I got out
And I watched her drive away.

Just for a moment I was back at school
And felt that old familiar pain
And as I turned to make my way back home
The snow turned into rain --

Re: Do you know any songs...

How about some Metal

Iron Maiden Flight of Icarus

Sorry, that's the first one that came into my head

Re: Do you know any songs...

Lovesong - The Cure
White Wedding - Billy Idol
Don't Stand so close to me - The police
Isn't she lovely- Stevie Wonder
Letters from War -Mark Schultz


ETA: Lyrics to Letters from War by Mark Schultz (may be a good one to use):

She walked to the mailbox
On that bright summers day
Found a letter from her son
In a war far away

He spoke of the weather
And good friends that he'd made
Said I'd been thinking 'bout dad
And the life that he had
Thats why I'm here today
And that the end he said
You are what I'm fighting for
It was the first of the letters from war

She started writing
You're good and you're brave
What a father that you'll be someday
make it home
make it safe

She wrote every night as she prayed

Late in December
A day she'll not forget
Oh her tears stained the paper
With every word that she read

It said "I was up on a hill
I was out there alone
When the shots all rang out
And bombs were exploding
And thats when I saw him
He came back for me
And though he was captured
A man set me free
And that man was your son
He asked me to write to you
I told him i would, oh I swore"
It was the last of the letters from war

And she prayed he was living
Kept on believing
And wrote every night just to say

You are good
And you're brave
what a father that you'll be someday
Make it home
Make it safe
Still she kept writing each day

Then two years later
Autumn leaves all around
A car pulled in the driveway
And she fell to the ground
And out stepped a captain
Where her boy used to stand

He said "mom I'm following orders
From all of your letters
And I've come home again",
He ran into hold her
And dropped all his bags on the floor
Holding all of her letters from war

Bring him home
Bring him home
Bring him home

Message edited 10/17/2007 11:06:56 PM.

Re: Do you know any songs...

Re: Do you know any songs...

Sugarhill Gang - Rappers Delight

my favorite part of the song:

have you ever went over a friends house to eat
and the food just aint no good
i mean the macaroni's soggy the peas are mushed
and the chicken tastes like wood
so you try to play it off like you think you can
by sayin that youre full
and then your friend says momma he's just being polite
he aint finished uh uh that's bull
so your heart starts pumpin and you think of a lie
and you say that you already ate
and your friend says man there's plenty of food
so you pile some more on your plate
while the stinky foods steamin your mind starts to dreamin
of the moment that it's time to leave
and then you look at your plate and your chickens slowly rottin
into something that looks like cheese
oh so you say that's it i got to leave this place
i dont care what these people think
im just sittin here makin myself nauseous
with this ugly food that stinks
so you bust out the door while its still closed
still sick from the food you ate
and then you run to the store for quick relief
from a bottle of kaopectate
and then you call your friend two weeks later
to see how he has been
and he says i understand about the food
baby bubbah but we're still friends
with a hip hop the hippie to the hippie
the hip hip a hop a you dont stop the rockin
to the bang bang boogie
say up jump the boogie to the rhythm of the boogie the beat


Now THATS a story!

Re: Do you know any songs...

Re: Do you know any songs...

Message edited 10/18/2007 8:18:13 AM.

Re: Do you know any songs...

Thanks everyone, I decided on something completely different. I did think about all the ones given, but some had some language in it that I didn't really feel comfortable teaching (example- sleep with) and others had the words a bit mumbled.

But I did decide on something that a co-worker suggested and it was in a textbook...


Don't laugh.....






"I Will Survive"

The class is mostly females, it is a pretty famous song and it has lots of grammar that I have been teaching (past perfect, would and used to). Plus, since they have been doing stories all week, they will be making a story with a partner about how they (people in the song) fell in love and broke up.

Thank you all for your help, I just want you to know that I did listen to all the songs suggested!

Message edited 10/18/2007 8:29:15 AM.