I’d suggest the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Your thoughts

Just about any song by Tom T. Hall. "The Year That Clayton DeLaney Died", "Sneaky Snake", "I Like Beer", "A Week In A Country Jail", "Watermelon Wine", "Harper Valley P.T.A".

Hoyt Axton's "The Pusher" and "Boney Fingers".

Danny Dill and Marijohn Wilkin's "Long, Black Veil"

Marty Robbins's "El Paso"

Just about any Hank Williams song. "Your Cheating Heart", "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry"

Yes, definitely Elton John's 'Your Song' comes to mind.

Then there's Jim Webb's:
- By the time I get to Phoenix
- Wichita Lineman
- Galveston

Perhaps The Beatles 'Penny Lane'?

And countless others.
A great topic.

Possibly the best story song you've never heard.

The late Guthrie Thomas "Melissa"
A Pharmacist by trade but performed and recorded with Willie Nelson and Ringo Starr

Open D tuning on a 12 String Guitar from a live recording in 1984

Great imagery

"And one last trip to Buffalo, was all the D*** thing had to make"

Guthrie Thomas "Melissa"

Roger Whittaker -"The last farewell."

Most of Woody Guthrie's library.

...Deb

Steve Goodman's "City Of New Orleans" as sung by Arlo Guthrie or Willie Nelson; two excellent songwriters and artists that appreciate story songs.

John Lennon's "For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite"

Good reminder about Arlo, Jim.
Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant" certainly is a legendary satirical song, based (loosely) on a real event.

The boy who sank santa maria by me! Google will find it!.

And it's all BIAB!

"The Gambler" sung by Kenny Rogers is another classic.

Believe it or not.... there was a time when I was playing solo acoustic guitar in clubs. One of the bands I was in had just crashed and burned and I had a number of bookings remaining and no band to play them with. I called the club manager.... this was on a military base for US Marines and the bookings were spread across a number of different clubs in the system. He wanted to cancel them and give another band the gigs. I persuaded him to let me try a single gig and if it went well, I would continue to finish the booked gigs and book more. He agreed. I got a really great report so I did that thing for many months.
It was something to see these hard charging Marines come in, drink beer and set there listening to acoustic guitar and often singing along. Well, to be honest, I wasn't just setting there playing and singing.... I was partying with them and we all had a HUGE time. The club managers loved it since it wasn't as loud as the other bands. One of the songs I played when I wanted to have fun was Alice's Restaurant. That part about the blood and guts in your teeth yelling I wanna kill really got them going. Hey you want me to play that verse again??? Oh yeah....

Charlie, it's great that you mention little known Guthrie Thomas. I first heard him back in the 70's. "Lies and Alibis" is a great album with Ringo joining him on a few cuts. It has one of my favorite songs "I'll Be Lucky". He was was also a really good instrumental guitarist as well.

I always enjoyed listening to him.

He also did home recording tutorials for early versions of Presonus Studio One. That's how I first came across him. I recall he worked with both Ringo Starr and Willie Nelson too.

This song has a limited story, but is such a lovely song I was minded to add it here:
-- Yamore -- -- Salif Keita

-- Lyrics --