Good Songs You're Sick Of

Subject: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 13 Dec 03 - 12:47 PM

Speaking of Kumbaya (which I'm not really sick of, exactly,) what good songs are you sick to death of. (Not stupid ones like Jingle Bell Rock.)

For starters, how about Come Together, by the Youngbloods? When I bought the album and heard it, I thought it was a great, great song.
It ended up being one of the most ubiquitous songs of the 60's, and I reached a point where I felt like screaming and running out of the room when I heard it. It's still a good song. I just don't want to hear it again in this century.

For folk songs, I could easily do without Water Boy "Huhhh!" with phony work grunts for another century, too.

What are your un-favorite good songs? Good ones, now... no cheating..

Jerry

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: Midchuck
Date: 13 Dec 03 - 12:52 PM

Will the G** D*** F***ing Circle Be Un-F***ing-Broken!

One of these days I'm going to just start screaming a continuous stream of obscenities when somebody starts to sing it, and be hauled off, kicking and screaming.

Our trio used to to "Waltzing With Bears," a lot, and it always got a good reception. I sang lead. One day I said, "No more. Never. No way. You two sing it if you want!" They didn't.

Peter

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: GUEST,Ghost of Bobby Helms
Date: 13 Dec 03 - 12:53 PM

What the hell's wrong with Jingle Bell Rock?

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 13 Dec 03 - 12:53 PM

Waltzing With Bears... as sticky cute as It's A Small World, After All..

Jerry

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 13 Dec 03 - 12:57 PM

Isn't Waltzing With Bears meant to be a would-be cheerful take on Alzheimer's?

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 13 Dec 03 - 01:00 PM

Whiskey In The Jar

Barrettes Privateers

just off the top of my head...

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: vindelis
Date: 13 Dec 03 - 01:05 PM

Abeline. I know the person concerned, hasn't sung it for at least a year, BUT....(and all I did was shout at him). Well, it was a new venue for the session, after all and we have to start afresh with something new. It has to be said that if it wasn't for the person concerned we wouldn't have a session anyway. Thanks Mr Q.

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 13 Dec 03 - 01:05 PM

I always find in threads like this songs turning up that I've not heard in a long time, or indeed that I've never heard.

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Dec 03 - 01:24 PM

That's because you're not American, McGrath.

Most threads like this are started by Americans who assume that everyone else (who matters) is American too.

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: Don Firth
Date: 13 Dec 03 - 01:29 PM

Maybe this is a regional thing, but. . . .

Stephen Foster's Hard Times. It's a great song, but jeez, people, give it a rest!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: GUEST,warbling will
Date: 13 Dec 03 - 01:29 PM

Crazy and TEN BLOODY GUITARS

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: GUEST,pdq
Date: 13 Dec 03 - 01:54 PM

"The Little Drummer Boy", even if Bing Crosby and David Bowie did a duet with it on TV.

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 13 Dec 03 - 02:30 PM

Im so flattered! This thread is just getting started and we've already got a mildly offensive post from a Guest! This site DOES serve a purpose.. :-)


Jerry

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 13 Dec 03 - 02:32 PM

Jingle Bell Rock doesn't rock. It would be akin to doing the Teletubbie Rap.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 13 Dec 03 - 02:45 PM

There is loads and loads of songs that people tell me are good but I can't stand. Mainly Opera, Jazz and Soul but I don't know if those count. If we are looking just for folk songs I think I would have to list the Manchester rambler. That is probably a regional thing though.

And what's wrong with the Teletubbie rap...?

Write it! I dare you;-)

Cheers

DtG

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 13 Dec 03 - 02:54 PM

The syndrome usually is the result of a good song being "done to death" by all and sundry, often a difficult song with a complex accompaniment being attempted by somebody who does not have the skill as either a player or a vocalist to be able to carry the song. After a song has got the reputation, certain people will never give a chance to anyone who does it well.
Unfortunately they are good songs, so members of the public who do not attend folk events on a regular basis will request them.
Sad but true.
Quack!
GtD.

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: Cluin
Date: 13 Dec 03 - 02:54 PM

"And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" and "No Man's Land" I could stand with never hearing (much less singing) again.

And I've got to second Clinton Hammond's vote for "Barrett's Privateers". Guess I've just had to sing that one too many times for the drunks at the end of the night.

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: the lemonade lady
Date: 13 Dec 03 - 03:10 PM

I'd like to know who this 'Guest' is... Wild Rover, (actually I like that one done to the tune of Streets of London)All around my hat, She moves thru the fair, Streets of London, I agree with No Man's Land and Hard Times too.

sal

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 13 Dec 03 - 03:14 PM

Any song that the person singing is fed up with singing, and just does mechanically, even when they are good singers, and good songs.

Conversely, I can't think of any good songs that I don't enjoy when they are sung by someone who knows how to sing it and what it is about, and means what they are singing.

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: Midchuck
Date: 13 Dec 03 - 03:20 PM

That's because you're not American, McGrath.

Most threads like this are started by Americans who assume that everyone else (who matters) is American too.

Well, of course we do! Our culture is derived from the British more than any other single culture.....(tee, hee!)

Peter.

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: GUEST,Nancy King at work
Date: 13 Dec 03 - 03:32 PM

"Little Drummer Boy," IMHO, doesn't fit into Jerry's criteria of a "good song." Pa-rum-pum-pum-pum...

But I AM sick of it.

Just my two cents' worth.

Nancy

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 13 Dec 03 - 03:34 PM

"What culture would that be?"   I thought I'd put that in before somebody who meant it did.

But I suspect that the generalisation might not be wholly true, more especially when it comes to folk music of one sort or another.

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: Amos
Date: 13 Dec 03 - 03:45 PM

"Il Est Ne, le Divin Enfant" and about every other mysticamagical BS cult chant that hypnotizes the shopping crowds this time of year. Drummer Boy, First Noel, and Hark the Herald Tribune. Weary to death of 'em!


A

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: jimmyt
Date: 13 Dec 03 - 04:09 PM

my group performed an entire evening of old standard "commercial" folk songs with a singalong hootenany concept, passing out words xeroxed in a very large typeset for the 40 plus eyes. The audience absolutely loved it, but my group hated playing and singing those songs as they had gotten irreversably sick of them before 1966 came to a close.

We did 500 Miles, Today, This Land is your land,Where have all the flowers gone, etc. I had a fun time as #1 I was not playing folk music during the 60s although I knew the songs, they were new for me to perform, and #2 being an entertainer, I was delighted to see all the people enjoy themselves

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: tar_heel
Date: 13 Dec 03 - 04:18 PM

a terrible song to start with,but you cant get through christmas without hearing,"grandma got run over by a reindeer"...ggggeeeeeeeeezzzzzzz! give it a rest,FOREVER...PLEASE!!!
but we have a guy in our group who can really play the autoharp and....you guessed it!please do not request "wildwood flower," to him...he will tell you where to stick it in a hurry...lol can't say as i blame him either and,he will at least tell the audience that he's not going to play it for that day's/night's performance....bless you,tim!!!

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: Mudlark
Date: 13 Dec 03 - 05:35 PM

I agree with Lil D. Boy, and gave up on all xmas carols long ago...used to love to sing them, back before they were spewed out of every supermarket loudspeaker from Nov. on.

I once taught a beginning (very beginning) guitar class, back in the 60's when Ian & Sylvia were popular. Having used 4 Strong Winds as a sample learning song, I'm afraid I've never been able to sing it since, but agree with McGrath...a good song (and I still think it's a good song) sung by someone who does it well is a pleasure to hear.

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: Joybell
Date: 13 Dec 03 - 05:41 PM

Irish songs! The request for anything Irish! Especially because the songs they want are mostly NOT Irish. If I sing them a genuine Irish song it's never what they want anyway. Grump grump.

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: Joybell
Date: 13 Dec 03 - 05:47 PM

And then there's ideas that worked once and were great but get repeated - like everybody hold hands and sing, or turn around and hug the person next to you. It just doesn't go down as well in a concert venue as it does at the coal face so to speak, where you need to do such things to keep up your courage or show solidarity. I prefer to choose my hugee.

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: DonMeixner
Date: 13 Dec 03 - 05:49 PM

I am personally tired of singing "When New York Was Irish", "I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen", and "Fareweell to the RRhonda". But I'm not tired of hearing those songs. The are each of them a very good song.

If I never hear "The Old Man" or "The Voyage" again it will be fine with me. They are fine sentiments attached to a very poorly written sickly sweet songs.

Don Meixner

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 13 Dec 03 - 07:05 PM

Apart from stuff like The Wild Rover, it largely depends on the quality of the singer. There are songs, like 'Kilkelly', of which there is only one version I can stand.
Of course, if you've only ever heard one version, that can work against a song, too. It didn't take me long to get fed up with 'Waltzing With Bears', sung by Ann Mayo Muir - but then it's got such a remorselessly sweet tune I can't really imagine liking any other version!

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: Blowzabella
Date: 13 Dec 03 - 07:09 PM

American Pie - I always have to leave the room, whether it's sung or heard on a juke box. Heard it a hundred times too often already.

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 13 Dec 03 - 07:39 PM

Roddy McCorley - I'm not that sure that it's a good song, though lots of Irish pub regulars seem to think so, but I'm sick of it either way.

Any novelty song that I've heard more than five times, especially the one about the girl who can't find a husband because all the guys in town are her father's sons. I hate it so much that I've never even bothered to find out what its title is. Novelty songs are basically musical jokes. How many times can you hear a joke and still have it be funny?

Man of Constant Sorrow - A great song but dreadfully overexposed courtesy of "Oh! Brother...". I personally know three people that wouldn't have been caught dead singing a bluegrass song a few years ago that have it in their repertoires now. And their versions really stink. Before anybody is allowed to learn that song they should be required by law to sing a dozen other bluegrass songs just to prove that they're not surf musicians that think it's cool to know one bluegrass/oldtime song.

Bruce

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: GUEST,Chris Murray
Date: 13 Dec 03 - 07:52 PM

The Fields of Athenry. Yuk!!!!!! Mawkish.

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Dec 03 - 07:54 PM

Any Christmas song!

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: Robin2
Date: 13 Dec 03 - 09:44 PM

Bruce,

You beat me to it! Man Of Constant Sorrow also has my vote. I get tired of hearing Ralph Stanley reminding people HE has done the song for 30 years. Best version of it I've heard--- three 10 year old boys in Montecello KY, who did it dead up in long beards and coveralls!

Not technicaly vocals, but ANYTHING by Kenny G.

Robin2

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 13 Dec 03 - 09:59 PM

Well, some people do seem to suffer from Neophilia. They like dashing on to the next new thing - "been there, done that, got the T-shirt".

Good songs take a lot of singing before they really get inside you properly. What I like is when I hear a song I've known for years sung in a way and in a setting that makes me see something in it I never saw before.

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: Beer
Date: 13 Dec 03 - 10:22 PM

Green Green Grass of Home
Your Cheating Heart
Mansion on the Hill
Lay Lady Lay
Most bands are stuck in a time warp. Especially country bands. What they play this year they will play the next, and next and the next. They are good songs but God how many times do you have to hear "Lucille". If your not in a band you can always get up and go somewhere, but when someone sends you a request! Hay, your being paid or your there for the customers. You better sing it with feelings. I have always loved "The Working Man" by Rita McNeil, but unfortunately I have to list it as a song I'm just fed up with singing.

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: Mickey191
Date: 14 Dec 03 - 01:26 AM

Joybell, Please tell me a few "Irish" songs people request that are not really Irish. Also a few you know are Irish which are not appreciated as being
genuine.

I absolutely loathe The Old Man & Athenry. There is another abominable piece about the wedding of Joseph Plunkett in Kilmainham jail just before he was executed. I'll be damned if I can get it together, I'll try a search. The digitrad is great. The klinker is "Grace." Don't know if it is sung anymore--but it sure gets air time. Kevin Barry is another.

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 14 Dec 03 - 04:43 AM

1. bloody dreary songs like ' Kilkelly Ireland,' 'There Were Roses '
2. done to death category, Fields Of Athenry, The Lock keeper, this used to be a good song but the last time I went to Whitby Folk Week
it was murdered at least twenty times every day.
eric

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 14 Dec 03 - 07:06 AM

Congratulations for having the courage to point out that There were Roses is bloody dreary. I second that.

At the recent Fred Jordan memorial day I got totally sick of To Be A Farmer's Boy. But I never like it anyway.

I cringe at Morris tunes murdered by those who've lost sight of the fact that they're for dancing. The Princess Royal in particular. (I don't, btw, include the rendition by a certain well-known duo. You could dance to that, so long as you were fit enough to keep up).

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 14 Dec 03 - 12:06 PM

It's humorous reading this thread. The difference between what is over-sung in America and England couldn't be more extreme. 90% of the songs Brits are sick to death of, I've never even heard, and I imagine it works the other way. Maybe what we need is a cultural exchange... Amuricans only sing Brit songs, which would sound fresh and new, and we'll give you Wabash Cannonball, Crawdad Hole, Tom Dooley, Michael Row The Boat Ashore and 500 Miles. What a deal!

Of course, you'd have to tell us who these people are you've sung yourself to death about.. :-)

Back in the 60's, I avoided singing songs that I thought were sung to death, only to realize later that nobody was singing them... like The Cuckoo, Little Sadie and (yes) Man Of Constant Sorrow, as recorded by Emry Arthur (who still does the definitive version to my ears.) Maybe if we just sang songs we were sick of, people would be amazed at the strange, new repertoire we had suddenly learned..

Jerry

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: ard mhacha
Date: 14 Dec 03 - 12:51 PM

When young folkies are enjoying a song you thought was good many years ago, and hearing it again makes you cringe, think about yourself being old nasty and cynical, and you are.. Ard Mhacha.

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 14 Dec 03 - 01:52 PM

As Geoff the Duck has pointed out, it depends whether it's being sung or murdered....

The Prickly Bush (although Spiers and Boden seem to have made quite a good job of it).

The witches (Isis, Astarte, Demeter) although I heard it sung pretty well by Roy Bailey last weekend.

We used to get Tom Dooley and Michael Row the Boat ashore a lot in the UK too, in the days of the Kingston Trio.

The Anchor Middle Bar session in Sidmouth has a sign saying "NFD" which means no effing dirges. But what you can sing without being fined depends on whether it has a chorus, and the attitude with which it is sung.

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 14 Dec 03 - 02:28 PM

No dirges? Basically I tend to dislike happy songs...

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 14 Dec 03 - 03:36 PM

Mickey191 - Dirty old town is constantly refered to as an Irish song but was written by Ewan MacColl, a Salford man with aspirations of being Scottish!

Probably another good example of a song being done to death. Again particularly round these parts! (Salford). Mind you it's begining to sound like I think that all MacColl songs are in the same boat. I don't. Honest!

Cheers

DtG

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 14 Dec 03 - 03:38 PM

I just saw a commercial for a restuarant over here, Red Lobster, and the music playing behind the dialogue is... yep... Get Together, by the Youngbloods. I don't think that's what they had in mind when they recorded it.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: Joybell
Date: 14 Dec 03 - 05:45 PM

Mickey, I hardly know where to start but a short list of songs that aren't Irish, but are requested as such are:
Three Score and Ten
Rose of Allandale
The Grey Funnel Line
Aragon Mill
Danny Boy (most requested song of all)Of course the tune may be Irish.
How Can I Keep from Singing
Freeborn Man (and many of Ewan McColl's other songs)
Willie McBride
Will Ye go Lassie Go
The Water is Wide
Hard Times Come Again no More
The Great Silkie of Shule Skerrie
Amazing Grace
Also anything, absolutely anything, that Mary Black has recorded.

As for genuine Irish songs I actually said that if I sing one
it's not what the requester wants - because they really want one of the above. If I talk people into an unfamiliar song they don't dispute my claims of it's origins if I say it's Irish, because they believe that most songs are Irish anyway!
Some songs that I sing that are Irish or of Irish origin, as far as I can find out are:
Shule Agra/Buttermilk Hill (in America)
Blackwater Side (may be English but tune sounds Irish)
Dublin City, Tell me Ma, and several others from the Clancys that they said were Irish.
As I don't understand or speak Irish Gaelic (although I have some Irish roots) I don't sing any songs in Irish.
How are you Mickey? Nice to meet again.

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 14 Dec 03 - 05:55 PM

Ah, yes, talking of Ewan MacColl...that reminds me of that well-known and much requested Irish song Shores of Erin which the rascal rewrote as Shoals of Herring and tried to pass off as his own.

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 14 Dec 03 - 06:01 PM

Songs that immigrated to Ireland? Well, of course, there's The Wild Rover, all the way from Norfolk in England.

Subject: RE: Good Songs You're Sick Of
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 14 Dec 03 - 06:03 PM

As did Arthur McBride, though Greig claims this as a NE Scottish song...