Looking for a specific style of song

I'm looking for a rock song that has a good tune, and an interesting story in its lyrics, that's more than just "I love you" or something. A song like The Night Chicago Died by Paper Lace, or Piano Man by Billy Joel, or The River by Bruce Springsteen. I'd also prefer it if the song was on YouTube. Any suggestions?

You have a whole genre of progressive rock to explore.

Originally Posted by Timothy Leary

You wave a whole genre of progressive rock to explore.

This
But why just songs? Why not albums?

Ah yes, 'The River', one of my all time favourites. I would recommend:

'Bad Company' by Bad Company

You wave a whole genre of progressive rock to explore.

I know one band whose specialty is this kind of song...





has mutiple songs like that per album. Songs based on poems, events, books, stories, or many that seems like they are. Pretty much what this band is all about lyrically imo.


this is a good recent one too from them. This song was awesome to see live.

Iron Maiden, excellent suggestion.

Well, assuming you don't mind heavy metal, try King Diamond, if horror and ghost stories suit your fancy. All but two of his albums (Fatal Portrait and The Spider's Lullaby) are complete stories, with each song being a chapter.

http://dailymotion.com/video/xcxny4

http://dailymotion.com/video/xcxnwz

Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. The Iron Maiden songs were a lot better than I expected, considering that I usually shun metal (mostly because of my general dislike of the death metal variant). At the Court of the Crimson King and Bad Company weren't songs that I'd particularly like, though. Both didn't really stand out too much to me, though the chorus is now stuck in my head for each.

Though, I am looking for a song where the lyrics kind of "haunt" you. I bet the lyrics of the Iron Maiden songs would, but the guitar goes over the lyrics, and it's hard to hear them at all.

Well, when you say "haunt", do you mean like the lyrics are eerie and creep you out, or just stick with you?

Originally Posted by Necromancer

Well, when you say "haunt", do you mean like the lyrics are eerie and creep you out, or just stick with you?

Mostly the second one. Though, I do want the lyrics to creep me out a little bit, in the sense that they are a bit surprising. Like in The River, when Bruce says "Then I got Mary pregnant" at the beginning of the second verse, or when Billy Joel says that Davy will probably be in the Navy for live in Piano Man.

Try this album

Your probably looking for more along the lines of Pop Ballads.

I recommend these guys from my native state.

Originally Posted by Ixor_Drakar

I recommend these guys from my native state.

That song was right up my alley of what I was looking for. They're not going to go on my top 20 right away, but I'll look into them, see if they have any more good songs (and I bet they do).

They are a great band that has a mix of many styles. Mostly classic country and folk with an old rock feel.
Here is their most popular song to date.

Try GTR. It was a supergroup formed by Steve Howe and Steve Hackett. The lyrics are memorable and stick with you because it's so true.

Both seem good to me.

I'm not sure if they fit into what your looking for but I would definately look into Kings of Leon, give "Only By the Night" a miss 'cause it's hogwash, but some of their earlier stuff pretty creative lyrically and the melodies are usually very good. The meaning can be difficult to summarise and sometimes it's quite diffiuclt to tell what exactly is being said, but thats the fun of lyrics! My favourite song from them is Red Morning Light.

Bruce is exactly what you're looking for. I will say no more, just listen!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: