songs that are lists of people's names and little stories about what they did

Neil Young has talks with Marlin Brando about the good things for hire in Hollywood in the Astrodome with Pocahontas, which is pretty good stoner imagery.

i know this freak named bertha, the town cum slurper
fucked her in the ass till she screamed bloody murder
and if you see bertha, tell her im gonna hurt her
cuse she gave me some shit that my doctor never heard of

i met this chick named nessa, who favors uncle fester
i beat the bitch bloody cause she stole from my dresser
bruises, knots, and multi-lacerations
i almost killed the bitch my lawyer got me probation

check it, i know this dip named chiniqua, she lives in masapequa
got a body boomin like a jbl speaker
i tried to get her, my nephew had hit her
so instead i bagged her sister

i know this honey named brenda, she lives down south
took her in the alley put my nuts in her mouth
and when she got finished i bent that ass over
pulled up her skirt and proceeded to stroke her

now theres christine, the freak of my dreams
who gets real freaky with a can of whip cream
took her to the crib, i had to do it quick
and when i got finished she was jockin cool dick

i know this dip named tasha, she work at red lobster
she wanted to get nice so i bought her some vodka
gave her a joint, went to huds point
then I drove her wild like aj floyd

i know a freak named lucy, her lips were mad juicy
she got sent away because she ate a baby's coochie
she was a real hottie, she acted kinda snotty
she worked at the mall but she stole a dead body

theres this honey named angie with a fat ass crack
killing me softly, like roberta flack
but when i saw her sister it really didn't matter
so i had to step off cause the booty was FATTER

Salt n Pepa - Expression

guys plz help me make a good mixtape of this!

also, sort of:

B-52's - "52 Girls"
Le Tigre - "Hot Topic"

does lou reed's halloween parade count?

The Church "Welcome" (lots of names, but not much about what they did)

The Waterboys - And a Bang on the Ear.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYy8FOAVMsU

The Kiss Offs - The Horrible, Shocking Truth

lil kim - how many licks

i've been a lot of places, seen a lot of faces
aw hell, i even fucked with different races
a white dude, his name was john
he had a queen bee rules tattoo on his arm
he asked if i'd be his date for the prom
and he'd buy me a horse, a porsche and a farm
dan, my nigga from down south
used to like me to spank him and cum in his mouth
and tony, he was italian
he didn't give a fuck, that's what i liked about him
he ate my pussy from dark til the morning
then he called his girl up and told her we was boning
a puerto rican papi, he used to be a deacon
but now he be sucking me off on the weekend
and this black dude, i called him king kong
he had a BIG-ASS DICK and a HURRICANE TONGUE

Boo Radleys - "Charles Bukowski Is Dead"

blur - tracy jacks, ernold same, colin zeal etc etc etc

A House - "Endless Art". A list of people's names and birth/death dates: http://www.mrpayne.com/2005/08/19/endless-art/

Friends of Mine - The Zombies (not a story for everybody, but big list of names)

Spanish Stroll by Mink Deville spends a verse each on Mr. Jim, Brother Johnny, Sister Sue and Rosita... The song's kind of a big Walk On The Wild Side ripoff really, at least lyrically.

I really like lyricists who routinely name the characters in their songs - Lou Reed, Chuck Berry, and Marc Bolan all did it a lot. I'm also a sucker for really specific geographical references in songs, like street names and stuff.

Who's writing like that today? Are there any lyricists whose lyrics are like little short stories.

Divine Comedy - Absent Friends

Denim - The Osmonds

How about "Chelsea Girls"?

billy joel, "piano man"

ll cool j - big ole butt

robert palmer, "johnny mary" (if'n you can call two names a list)

insert "and" in above title

young mc, bust a move
run dmc, you be illin
crash test dummies, mmmmmmmmmmm

Cat Power - Names

Jim Carroll-People Who Died

Neil Young - Lookout Joe

T. Rex - Telegram Sam
Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees

fake plastic trees feels like a bit of a stretch

Crash Test Dummies, "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm."

(Actually, I guess that song doesn't give names. They're "this kid," "this girl," and "this boy.")

Blinded by the light

The Beatles, "Get Back"

Men Without Hats - "Pop Goes The World"

fake plastic trees feels like a bit of a stretch

― Brio

Yes, you're probably right. For some reason when reading the question Telegram Sam was the first song to pop in my head and almost immediatly I thought about FPT. It does contain anonymous characters and little stories about them (the woman, her plant, the polystyrene man, the singer erm... Thom)

Yeah, I can see doing that. I was going to post Waterloo Sunset because I remembered as being full of stories and characters, but it's really just Terry and Julie and a guy looking out a window.

The Alarm - Spirit of '76

Theme song to Maude

The Flaming Lips - She Don't Use Jelly
Max Tundra - Will Get Fooled Again
Beastie Boys - Hey Ladies

curse you Shasta, beat me to it

Lou Reed - "Take A Walk On The Wild Side"
Third Bass - "The Gas Face"

Elvis Costello - Battered Old Bird

Flight of the Conchords, 'Carol Brown'. Which has been in my head all morning.

Honorable Mention: The Ramones - "Judy Is A Punk"

50 Cent, "How to Rob an Industry Nigga"

weird nobody said

the velvet underground - Run Run Run

outkast- da art of storytellin (part 1) iirc?

not really. 2 ppl does not make a list imo

not really. 2 ppl does not make a list imo

― tza nicholas ii (The Reverend), Wednesday, January 27, 2010 12:40 PM (4 hours ago)

80% of this thread to thread... :-\

Johnny doesn't do much, really, other than sing and play golden old songs like "I gotta woman", "Be-Bop-a-Lula" and various other songs about stuff like knives and sweet lovin' women.

He does have the action and the motion though, and no doubt he can play, even though he plays in a tunnel.

TLC - Waterfalls. No names, but.

Cab Calloway - Everybody Eats When They Come To My House

ayo can we draw a line that if the song dedicates a whole verse to each person, it's not at all what this thread is trying to suss out?

anyway..

Notorious B.I.G., "Dreams"

ayo can we draw a line that if the song dedicates a whole verse to each person, it's not at all what this thread is trying to suss out?

Maybe - but "Walk On The Wild Side" is one of the examples in the initial post, and that's one perverse character per verse...

But I think a list = more than 2 people is a fair rule... and unnamed characters not counting here.

Life is a rock, but the raio rolled me?

Although that's a list but not much about 'what they did'

Btw. I am not sure if the Johnny who plays "Be-bop-a-lula" and "I Gotta Woman" is the same Johnny who used to live deep down in Lousiana close to New Orleans. But if he is, he must have been a rather middle aged man by 1986. I guess that explains why he was playing largely oldies goldies though.

Yuko and Hiro spend most of the time working, like most Japanese, I suppose. Even though they are married, and still deeply in love, they hardly ever see each other at all.

This little piggy went to market
This little piggy stayed home
This little piggy had roast beef
This little piggy had none
And this little piggy went "wee wee wee wee wee!" all the way home.

(It shows up in the Rutles' "Piggy in the Middle")

Ted Leo- Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone

lou reed owns this thread

"A Simple Desultory Philippic (or How I Was Robert McNamara'd into Submission)"- Simon and Garfunkel, sort of.

Gil Scott Heron "Is That Jazz"

Stevie Wonder "Black Man"

Gang Starr, "Jazz Thang"

the last poets - bird's word

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf_cLN0q36I

Apologetix, "People" (Christain parody of "Pepper" by the Butthole Surfers, 1997 -- I just heard this on the radio):

James was caught by Herod, Herod captured Peter
They were sharin' Herod's outbreak of attacks upon believers
James would have to face the sword and Peter would escape it
They were not afraid of dyin'; they both knew that they could take it
Thomas preached in Babylon and India they claim
Then the local folks impaled him with a lance while he was prayin'
They were all about to die but they weren't thinking much about it
And their story didn't have a chance but none of 'em were doubtin'
Why oh why would someone die if it was just a hoax?
Why then take the awful risk to tell us Jesus rose?
Simple men from Galilee would not have spoken lies
To get enrolled in history books as martyrs for Jesus Christ
Simon died along with Jude from arrows, spears or crosses
Someone gave Bartholomew a skin-removal process
Some of them were stoned alive like James the son of Alphaeus
And their stories are the evidence that none of them were doubters
Why oh why would someone die if it was just a hoax?
Why then take the awful risk to tell us Jesus rose?
Simple men like you and me would not have spoken lies
To get well known in all the books as martyrs for Jesus Christ
A lot of guys were crucified for calling Him Messiah
Philip died and Andrew did and possibly Matthias
Peter's was a most unpleasant death for being Christian
They would turn him upside down and then go through with crucifixion
Paul he was beheaded probl'y Matthew did the same
Well, they threw off of the temple top the other guy named James
They were all about to die but they weren't thinking much about it
That's a gorey bunch of evidence that none of them were doubters
Why oh why would someone die if it was just a hoax?
Why then take the awful risk to tell us Jesus rose?
Simple men from Galilee would not have spoken lies
To get enrolled in history books as martyrs for Jesus Christ

Suede - Young Men, Lonely Girls

"Harper Valley PTA"

Magnetic Fields - The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side

lou reed owns this thread

Yuh.

Velvet Underground, Oh Sweet Nuthin'
Lou Reed, Wild Child
Lou Reed, Home of the Brave

... to name but 3

Peter Gabriel - Games Without Frontiers

Capt. Beefheart, I'm Gonna Booglarize You, Babay

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKYMpRSvg2Y

featuring:
J. Joe, wearin' Jeans, got himself a pocket full of Jellybeans
J. Jane, Jumpin' down the lane, Jokin' and a Jivin', well it's Just like Jane
J. Jim, he's tall and slim, he's got a Jar of Jam, let's Join with him
J. Joan, Jawin' on the phone, hear a Jingle, hear a Jangle, well it's Just for Joan

also maybe the funkiest of all Sesame Street performances, if you don't count Stevie Wonder.

"Housemartins" I Can't Put My Finger On It"

wait - didn't mean to put hm in quotes - whoops

The Beatles - "Penny Lane"
The Bonzo Dog Band - "Rhinocratic Oaths"
Monty Python - "Decomposing Composers"

How about songs that introduce the band members and tell you what they like?
The Floaters - "Float On"
The B-52's - "Song for a Future Generation" (which I'm sure was inspired by "Float On")

Monty Python - Philosopher's Drinking Song (Immanuel Kant was a real pissant...)

Tim Curry 's Roxy Music rip-off I Do The Rock:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUsQj_ha0zU

Sister Ray!