10 Greatest Ever Story Songs

The primary job of any song is that it sounds good. The tune has got to have the right melodic structure and rhythm to get the audience grooving and coming back to it time and time again. However, when it comes to lyrics, songwriters have a unique opportunity at their feet.

There are millions of songs that are written about partying all night long, but that kind of writing can only take you so far. Lyricists start experimenting over time and decide to craft more thoughtful lyrics into their compositions. These lyrics tend to tell a unique story as it takes the listener on a journey through the music. In those instances, the music takes a back seat and provides the audible vehicle as the listener goes from scene to scene.

Spanning across genres from hip hop to rock to metal, the music world has never run short of exceptional wordsmiths who forego trite lyricism for more introspective anecdotes. Across all of the entries found here, we get a look into the lives of these people who live in between your headphones.

After the great success of Tom Petty's solo record Full Moon Fever, he decided to use producer Jeff Lynne on his next studio album with the Heartbreakers. Each song had a certain amount of gravitas added to it with a cinematic-like atmosphere. The title track, "Into the Great Wide Open," is a perfect example of this movie-like scope.

Petty details the story of a boy named Eddie who goes through all the trials and tribulations of becoming a rock star. After getting his first tattoo and moving to Hollywood, he becomes an overnight sensation as he sees his record go up the charts. Once Eddie has tasted fame, he slowly starts to dwindle as he deals with problems with his record company before being left out to dry by his contemporaries.

What holds the song together is the chorus as the Heartbreakers sing about Eddie's journey in the unknown as "a rebel without a clue." The story is an great warning for fame-hungry who have stars in their eyes. As such, the song remains a wistful look at the romanticism of celebrity while also being a condemnation of its pitfalls.