Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: Mark Clark Date: 22 Mar 02 - 10:26 AM Kim and Jim each mentioned “The Orange Blossom Special” which is surely a tedious tune for the musicians but for some reason is always a huge crowd-pleaser. Fiddler Al Murphy refers to OBS as “The Orange Colored Possum.” I don't think he intended any reference to Cleigh. Often people—drunks especially—will request “Bonnie and Clyde” (Foggy Mountain Breakdown) or “Deliverance” (Dueling Banjos). It's always a treat to have those requested. I remember Bill Monroe used to ask for requests then just stand there listening to audience members shout out old tune names until he heard one he actually wanted to play. I think it was the Pinnacle Boys (Bud Brewster, Randall Collins, et al.) who used to side-step requests by saying “We don't do that particular number but here's one that has a lot of the same notes.” My question for you all is this: Do you give it your very best and perform the tiresome or unloved request to please your audience or do you refuse (politely or otherwise) on grounds of principle? Is it more important to give your (paying?) audience what they want or to educate them by playing selections you think they should hear? - Mark
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Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: GUEST,MC Fat Date: 22 Mar 02 - 10:46 AM Bloody absolutely hate 'The Fields of Athenry' but have to remember it every Paddy's Day, however I sang Danny Boy last weekend and actually enjoyed singing it !!! |
Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: Dave Bryant Date: 22 Mar 02 - 11:30 AM This year at our St Pat's night gig, Linda and I were beset with requests for "Sloop John B" - somehow I never thought of that as Irish ! Still if the request is possible and does not result in Pain, Physical Damage, acute embarassment etc - AND YOU'RE GETTING PAID - then what the hell..... |
Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: guinnesschik Date: 22 Mar 02 - 11:44 AM Ya' know, I've been playing to the drunken, uneducated, unwashed masses every St. Pat's Day for seven years. I always have the best time ever, and I don't care if I get asked to play the Unicorn, Danny Boy, or Whiskey In The Jar. I look at it like this: I'm up there playing. I know I'm a good musician and good singer, but for one weekend a year, people who don't even care about Irish music come out, and for some reason fell the need to make a connection. I play what they want to hear, and SOMETIMES, if they're not too drunk, and they remember us and see our names again, they come back really wanting to listen to what we do. Thus our fan base grows, insuring us continued gigs at certain venues. We owe 'em this, so we can keep doing it throught the year. |
Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: InOBU Date: 22 Mar 02 - 11:47 AM Hi Micky 191, we don't really hate our jobs, and I do try not to be sarcastic with the audience, as long as they are polite... but after all, do you call the cook out to the floor of the restaurant and tell him how to cook, or get insistant if hamburger isn't on the menue at a vegitarian restaurant? Fact is some of us are on stage because we have something to say, and if the audience don't get it, fine, but that does not mean we should be playing just what they want to hear, that ain't art! As to a fiver in the jar at Durty Nellies, if he didn't thank you, let me, on behalf of all of us hard working stiffs. You are the kind which keep us afloat and I really want you to know we appreciate you... COME TO NEW YORK!!! (I always get real and Mudcat names mixed up... did I send you a CD?) If not, for being such a good sport, PM me, and I will send ya a free Sorcha Dorcha CD, in the name of the fella who ignored your request. Cheers, Larry |
Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: GUEST,Declan Date: 22 Mar 02 - 01:12 PM As I mentioned earlier on annother thread the one I hate is "sing something we all know". - there's no such song. |
Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: Jim Krause Date: 22 Mar 02 - 01:40 PM InOBU, I have heard, but have seen no documentation that Londonderry Air to which Danny Boy was written sometime around the turn of the 20th century, is actually current to the 1790s. I like the melody, Londonderry Air, but the Danny Boy lyric......well, a couple of shots of Jack Daniels (which I hate) would certainly be enough to wash the taste out of my mouth. P.S. By the way, do any of you Irish/Celtic style musicians do any material from Thomas Moore (1779-1852)? He's one of my favorites. That's the closest I get to doing real Irish material. And it seems almost everybody has forgotten him. |
Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: MMario Date: 22 Mar 02 - 01:55 PM Larry - having spent more years then I care to think about cooking in restaraunts - yes, the customers will tell in detail how to cook; and yes, they will complain about burgers not being available in a vegetarian restauraunt, and yes, they will complain their steak is "raw" because it's still pink in the middle (when they ordered it medium rare)- etc, etc, etc.
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Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: PeteBoom Date: 22 Mar 02 - 02:08 PM Wait a minute! What's wrong with Danny Boy? Just "arrange" it yer own way and have fun watching the funny looks ya get! MY band does it BLUEGRASS style - mando lead, banjo, accordian and guitar supporting, with a bodhran fer good measure (its IRISH after all!) ;) Pete |
Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: Mooh Date: 22 Mar 02 - 02:31 PM Once, during a bar gig, while playing bass for a Neil Young tribute band (keep yer f*^%ing comments to yerself, ya hear?) the band was inundated by requests from a table of knuckleheads. Only one song, not by NY...Stairway to Heaven. Sure we knew it, but we didn't have anyone with a Robert Plant voice, weren't inclined to do non-NY tunes, and as a rule weren't predisposed to prostituting ourselves to moronic drunken requests made loudly even after being politely turned aside. The bar management were disinclined to do anything about the behavior of their patrons, and in fact we knew they thought that was the band's job. During a break our singer, the "Neil Young" of the act, and a usually very diplomatic sort, approached the table and discretely informed the dissatisfied listeners that they were pissing off the bass player who'd been pretty well behaved since returning from prison. At the time I saw their uneasy glances my way but didn't know what it was about and wasn't told until days later. I guess I looked surly and unapproachable enough to make it believable. Anyway, the tactic worked, but could have been a disaster if it had backfired. I play in a celtic band which used to take a zillion requests but now only does concert styled performances where the issue never comes up. Very few of the request nightmares would exist if it wasn't for alcohol, but then neither would the pubs exist. Great trade, huh? Peace, Mooh. |
Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: JedMarum Date: 22 Mar 02 - 03:01 PM A little old lady sat up front of a recent "St Patrick's Day" show we did, and looked sour faced for most of the first set. Eventually she spoke up, "We're not all Irish ya know, you don't have to play just Irish music. I'm Jewish, don't you know any Jewish music?" Karen cleverly told the crowd we were going to sing a song written by Shel Silverstein, then launched into "The Unicorn." Our little old Jewish lady seemed content! |
Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: Spartacus Date: 22 Mar 02 - 03:20 PM I can't beleive no one has mentioned the original pain in the ass pirate himself...Jimmy Buffet. I get more requests for this crap than anything else. I could play an entire set of traditional folk tunes, but as soon as some idiot with a bad "parrot head" t-shirt and a pair of flip-flops on sees an acoustic guitar, he wants to hear "margaritaville". Worse yet, when they consider themselves musically literate and dip into thier extensive archive of non-cliche folk songs and request "A pirate looks at forty". The last annoying thing is the guy who wanders up to the stage and wants to have a conversation with you - mid-song!! A friend of mine was playing a gig a while back where a really drunken woman kept shouting "Jimmy Buffet". He dealt with it for about an hour until he'd had enough. He leaned over toward her and almost yelled into the microphone, "Lady, Jimmy's dead" -Spartacus |
Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: Jeri Date: 22 Mar 02 - 07:19 PM Well, he's really laid back, but I've never heard him described as "dead" before! |
Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: Ian Darby Date: 22 Mar 02 - 08:28 PM A couple of songs in to our first set the bass player usually says; "Anybody got any requests. We don't actually play 'em. We just like to know what you'd rather be listening to." Read your audience and give them what they want early on, get their attention and they'll usually let you get away with murder as the evening progresses. Personally I'd rather play the requests, have a good gig, get a return booking and end the night with everyone telling us how much they enjoyed it. I always remember Neil Innes introducing one of his songs, "I've suffered for my music. Now its your turn.
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Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: leprechaun Date: 23 Mar 02 - 06:41 PM OK but I want to find out where guinnesschik is playing next St. Patrick's Day. Everybody be careful. I heard St. Patrick's Day is going to be on a Friday the thirteenth next year. |
Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: Clinton Hammond Date: 23 Mar 02 - 06:46 PM I think you'd better check yer calendar, Leprechaun... ;-) |
Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: GUEST,Ducksy Date: 24 Mar 02 - 10:19 AM livenitupabit |
Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: Celtic Soul Date: 24 Mar 02 - 02:33 PM We do requests occasionally...usually our audience is very polite, and they ask at reasonable moments. However, at one gig, we were not only requested to sing something by "Bruce Hornsby" (whilst dressed in golden age of Piracy garb, playing all acoustic/historic instruments), but we were asked while *right in the middle* of a song. Now that was the most annoying request ever. Fortunately, it is not the norm. But, I *am* completely tired of "Drunken Sailor" (We call it "DFS"...you may correctly infer what the "F" is for), "Roll the Chariots", "Wild Mt. Thyme" and "The Boatman". All nice songs, all songs I thoroughly enjoyed once upon a time...all done to death to the point of nausea. Sometimes the fans don't let you completely give a song up, and so, we bite our tongues, and play them anyway. Canna complain too much though...I still get to do what I love best, and people pay me to do it. Doing old standards even when you're sick of them is a small price to pay. |
Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: Maryrrf Date: 24 Mar 02 - 03:11 PM Darn right - this is in response to Celtic Soul's last comment. Just about any job can get boring and repetitious, music is no exception. But we have to remember that although we may be sick of some songs the audience isn't, and we get to have the fun of doing the songs we enjoy, as well! Oh well - Off to a gig where I hope everybody's all "Danny Boy'd" out from St. Patrick's Day! |
Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: CarolC Date: 24 Mar 02 - 03:14 PM I'm starting to get really tired of Spaw asking me to play "Lady of Spain" all of the time. Sheesh. I never ran across anyone as devoted to a piece of music as Spaw it to that one. |
Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: CarolC Date: 24 Mar 02 - 03:44 PM (P.S. thread creep: Irish seargent and Kim C, I live less than five miles from Antietam. What's happening there in September?) |
Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: Angie Date: 25 Mar 02 - 07:17 AM I am very surprised and saddened by the attitude displayed in some of the responses here.Music is to be shared,loved and rejoiced in....not to be used as an excuse to feel superior,judgemental or in any way above those who are listening to it.Just because people ask for (perhaps)over-played songs does not mean that they have no appreciation of music and are to be pitied or patronised. Instead, if you find yourself in the privileged position where you are gifted with a musical talent, share it selflessly, without predjudice and in good humour. |
Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: Hamish Date: 25 Mar 02 - 07:32 AM On Friday night, after I'd finished and was packing up, I was asked "Why didn't you play....?". As it turned out that was the best part of the evening, 'cos I just busked some stuff acoustic with no pa, and we had a great old time |
Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: Irish sergeant Date: 25 Mar 02 - 04:13 PM Carol C; The 140th anniversary of the battle of Antietam! Huge reencatment they're expecting 22,000 reenactors. Let me clarify, I actually like the song Marching through Georgia. And the aspect mentioned about peole requesting it so they can learn the lyrics hadn't occurred to me! Thanks. I'll keep that in mind.. kindest regards Neil |
Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: GUEST Date: 25 Mar 02 - 11:55 PM Any that you don't know. |
Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: leprechaun Date: 26 Mar 02 - 02:17 AM I also heard Halloween, Cinco de Mayo and Independence Day are all going to be on Friday the Thirteenth. What an unlucky year! |
Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: CarolC Date: 26 Mar 02 - 04:59 PM Thanks Irish sergeant. I imagine we'll be seeing a lot of the tourist overflow here (Shepherdstown) when that happens. |
Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: poor lonesome boy Date: 26 Mar 02 - 06:00 PM this is a great thread... and I just haveta get my two cents in. there's a little neighbourhood bar that features rocking blues bands most night of the week, but on Tuesdays features a single performer with an acoustic guitar and a bland repetoire of old top 40 adult contemporary stuff. it's the one night you can go in and talk while yer drinking. A couple of weeks ago, some local bandito must have got his days of the week mixed up and wouldn't leave this poor, bland acoustic guitarist alone, shouting "OZZY!! OZZY!!" over and over. You could see the guy sweating under the lights. He didn't have a chance. The bouncer was sitting with us and didn't do much about it. He just thought it was funny. One more thing: why do acoustic guitars around a campfire automatically mean you must sing American Pie? One more thing: The Unicorn, in defence of the non-Irish music lovers, is the one song they can identify with when out on the town on St. Patrick's Day. |
Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: Midchuck Date: 26 Mar 02 - 06:50 PM If it weren't for "The Unicorn," Shel Silverstein would not have written any bad songs. And that would have made him inhuman. So it's just as well. Peter. |
Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: gnu Date: 26 Mar 02 - 07:07 PM Shel riding off into the sunset on that unicorn... not it the saddle, though. |
Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: GUEST,ollaimh Date: 26 Mar 02 - 10:16 PM it's me i'm just too lazy to sign in. i was busking with my harp and some punk kids asked for a punk tune, i banged am f, amd g cords and shouted" "god save the queen, and the fescist regime" over and over . they thought it was so funny they threw me a fiver. i hate stairway to heaven but i have wirked out a harp version(badly) to get drunks to go away, and they usually throw money for the effort/ my all time most hated is molly malone. it's a famine song for christ sakes, |
Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: mandomad Date: 27 Mar 02 - 01:52 PM Q Can you play Duelling Banjos? A Well you see this isn't a banjo, it's a mandolin. Q Why can't you play it on that then? A Cos it's a duet. Q Oh right........Do you know Pedro The Fisherman?
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Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: GUEST,Heely Date: 27 Mar 02 - 02:27 PM One more about "Danny Boy". I thought I would never get the crowd to quit requesting it this past St. Pat's. They didn't seem to understand that bagpipes just can't play the tune. It just doesn't work. So I just played "Scotland the Brave" and "Amazing Grace" instead. They think those are traditional St. Patrick's Day tunes. Luv those Americans. |
Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: Irish sergeant Date: 27 Mar 02 - 03:46 PM That comes from every Saint Patrick's Day parade having a pipe band in the parade. Some of us actually know better. Poor Lonesome Boy, you just aren't hanging out at the right campfires. Who ever made the comment about Thomas Moore (Sp?) I am working on learning "Believe me if all Those Endearing Young Charms." Which I thing is one of his lovliest pieces and was also popular in America prior to and during the Civil War. By the way, can't remember the band but some one did a rap version of Gordon Lightfoot's "Sundown" I fully expected Canada to declare war over that insult. What the Hell was Gord thinking when he let the rights out for that?! Kindest regards, Neil |
Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: GUEST,Guest Date: 28 Mar 02 - 08:44 AM After about 6 years hearing request for 'Danny Boy', and politly answering that we din't know the song, we learned it. No one has asked for it since.... |
Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: IanC Date: 28 Mar 02 - 09:34 AM Well, I have to admit I was getting a bit fed up till somebody pointed out that the Unicorn Song people were talking about was by Shel Silverstein (the one Val Doonican used to sing, which is why people think of it as Irish, I suppose). The solution might be to sing the one by Bill Caddick when people ask for The Unicorn Song.
;-) |
Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: GUEST,Les B. Date: 28 Mar 02 - 10:05 AM So does anyone do a rap version of "Danny Boy" ? |
Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: Pseudolus Date: 28 Mar 02 - 10:12 AM I wouldn't have started another thread for this but considering that the Unicorn seems to be one of the "favorite" annoying songs here goes.... I have a "Far Side" calendar by Gary Larsen....today's cartoon is very funny....There are groups (two each) of animals all gathered around Noah and in front of Noah are two hooves facing up, and the caption reads, "Well, so much for the Unicorns....but from now on, all carnivores will be confined to "C" deck...." Frank |
Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: Genie Date: 28 Mar 02 - 02:53 PM Clinton, I'm with you. I particularly hate it when someone who wants to hear, say, "Early Morning Rain," instead asks me to "play a Gordon Lightfoot song;" then I comply by playing, say, "Cotton Jenny," and then they say, "Oh, no, that's not the one I wanted!" Drunks in bars are not a lot different from seniors in nursing homes who have short attention spans and some short-term memory impairment. Both groups will often: I, too, am annoyed [or at least puzzled] when I'm doing a theme and someone asks for something completely out of step with it. E.g., during a Christmas program someone requests "Danny Boy" or during a St. Patrick's program someone requests "some country/western"]. Or when the program [or the venue itself] calls for something other than contemporary hits and some of the [usually] younger set keep asking for whatever has been in the charts in the last two or three years. I don't mind so much being asked, but some folks are so narrow that if you don't know [or won't insert into the program] whatever song they come up with, they won't even listen to what you do play/sing. Strictly as an aside, folks, the fact that Shel Silverstein was Jewish is not as relevant re "The Unicorn" as the fact that he was a Jewish American and, as far as I know, not an Irish-Jewish American. There are Irish Jews [James Joyce wrote about one in "Ulysses, e.g.], Irish-Canadian Jews [ask Paddy Graber], and Irish-American Jews [I'm told that George M. Cohan was one]. If an Irish Jew writes music is it any less "Irish" than music written by a Christian Jew? [For purposes of this thread, let's just call this a rhetorical question.] Rick F., Genie |
Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: Lonesome EJ Date: 28 Mar 02 - 03:37 PM At a Jefferson Airplane concert years ago, the crowd shouted for White Rabbit on every break, until Grace Slick finally sang (to the tune of White Rabbit)
"Have you ever had peanut butter and jelly They didn't do it. |
Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: GUEST Date: 28 Mar 02 - 03:50 PM I agree with Genie. I played in some nursing homes recently and in one an old lady requested "When Irish Eyes are Smiling" every 10 minutes or so. I did play it several times for her! I wasn't annoyed - I truly think she forgot she'd already heard it. Although I pretty much always stifle any annoyance while playing and try to be gracious, I do find it incomprehensible that people don't realize what kind of a venue they're in when they request a song, as in the examples cited above. Or that they just won't figure "Oh well, I'm in an Irish pub, might as well enjoy something different" instead of making faces and getting upset because you don't know a song from the current charts. |
Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: Genie Date: 28 Mar 02 - 04:24 PM Yeah, Guest, in a nursing home you can often honor the same request repeatedly and no one will care. But in a residence for higher-functioning seniors, there is often one person who has begun 'slipping' who will repeatedly request the same song. The rest of the folks DON'T want to hear it over and over. But you can usually appease the requester by saying "Well, we already did that one. How about [some other favorite] instead?" Usually they'll let you move on. Don M., What's really frustrating is when I have carefully constructed a set with just the right mix of songs in just the right sequence, and then sabotage all my work by blurting out requests, uninvited. E.g., one song leads naturally into patter that merges into the next song, or a series of songs builds to an emotional or musical crescendo--and the requests throw the rhythm of the whole program off. In a normal adult concert setting, this is seldom a problem, [so that's usually where I do this type of program] but it often is a problem in bars or with children or folks in nursing or assisted living facilities. I almost never refuse a request because I'm tired of a song. I've done enough theater to know that part of your art is keeping the same thing fresh night after night. It's especially hard with comedy, but that's the job. It's kinda like sex. Some people care more about their own favorite moves and positions, regardless of what their partner likes. Others [who probably have better sex lives] get off on pleasing their partners as well as themselves. If you find a position [song] that turn you both on, it's fantastic! The one kind of song I usually refuse to sing [solo], though, is one that just isn't suited to my voice or gender. Some songs just don't sound right to me when sung by a [straight] woman. ["Lay, Lady, Lay" comes to mind.] Others need a belting-type voice [e.g., Janis Joplin's "Take Another Little Piece Of My Heart" or some sea chanteys]. Or someone requests a band song, though I'm solo; can you imagine one woman with an acoustic guitar making "Black Water" sound at all palatable? [Using the sex analogy, I feel that on some songs, even if I comply with the request, neither my 'partner' nor I will be satisfied with the outcome.] leprechaun, the requests to stop singing could be lucrative, if folks would fold 'em up inside $20 bills! Mark C., Harnish, does "some stuff acoustic with no pa" mean "bastard acoustic stuff?" |
Subject: RE: BS: Most annoying song requests From: GUEST,maryrrf (by the way that was me above) Date: 28 Mar 02 - 04:33 PM A good analogy, Genie. I, too, would only not do songs that were totally unsuitable. I was once requested to do the one by Julio Iglesias and Willie Nelson - "To all the girls I've loved before". As a straight woman it just felt too ridiculous. Although I have no problem doing tradtional ballads from a man's point of view - such as "The Newry Highwayman" - well there's a slew of them out there. Ditto for songs that take an entire band do do well! |
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