I'm looking for some songs that tell stories about people, things, or how things work.
Please, no rap about how "dat girl is the gun to muh holster, sheeby runnin' threw muh mine doll day"..in other words, no rap about the club life or party life. And don't read this and say "It'll be funny if I leave a link to a YouTube song about partying because he told me not to LOL"..and especially don't ACT on that thought.

Oh, and if you want reputation for a helpful answer, you'll have to also answer this question: ...how do you give rep? Is it rating a reply with a thumbs up, or is it done some different way? I've looked for a bit, but can't seem to find anything.

Edit:
Some examples I already know about would be Lay Me Down by Dirty Heads, White Flag Warriors by Flobots, ETC.

Off the top of my head;

The Hurricane - Bob Dylan
Tweeter And The Monkey Man - The Travelling Wilburys
Ironman - Black Sabbath

You give rep by rating posts.

What kind of stories are you after?

'Samarithan'
Candlemass

[color="#0000EE"]'One Road to Asa Bay'
Bathory
(any 90's era Bathory really ... the entirety of Hammerheart can be listened to as one big viking saga)

'Dark Avenger'
Manowar

A cross-section of my iPod that fits this incredibly broad description:

Stan by Eminem. sublime song, the best work he has done.

You Don't Mess Around with Jim by Jim Croce

Ballad of Booth (from Assassins by Stephen Sondheim)


Seriously dude..."Songs that tell stories"..."preferably about people or things" It would be harder to name the reverse.

The master of this was probably Harry Chapin.

Cats in the Cradle
Taxi
A Better Place to Be
Mr. Tanner
and many many others...

Then the other master of this was Jimmy Buffett
Bama Breeze
Come Monday

Rupert Homes Escape

Weird Al has a lot of funny ones like Albuquerque or Saga Begins

I could literally list hundreds of songs since this is the kind of music I listen to

I can't give a specific song but loads of the Iron Maiden songs are stories.

Just had a quick glance through some songs:
The Nomad
Flight of Icarus (About the story of Daedalus/Icarus)

They have lots of songs named things like:
The nomad (above)
The clansman
The trooper
The Clairvoyant
For the greater good of god (Think its about jesus, at least the end says soemthing about he died for us)
etc

they may be of use to you.

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

maybe this
or maybe this

but I don't know much about music or its meaning....

Heaven and Hell by Black Sabbath. Long, epic, story song. But most of the story is cut out in the standard version. You need to listen to the long 15:00 version Dio used to sing live.

I can't give a specific song but loads of the Iron Maiden songs are stories.

Just had a quick glance through some songs:
The Nomad
Flight of Icarus (About the story of Daedalus/Icarus)

They have lots of songs named things like:
The nomad (above)
The clansman
The trooper
The Clairvoyant
For the greater good of god (Think its about jesus, at least the end says soemthing about he died for us)
etc

they may be of use to you.

more maiden:
hallowed be thy name
lord of the flies
dance of death
Seventh son of a seventh son (concept album)
man on the edge (based on movie Falling Down)
the fugitive
rime of the ancient mariner

other bands that do good stories:
iced earth
rhapsody of fire
kamelot (Elizabeth part 1 -3, amazing)
nightwish

stick with metal and you'll never be far from an epic tale.

edit: oh, and Blind Guardian! Cant beleive I forgot them!