Hi,
I keep a songbook of all the old Irish dance hall favorites in my gig bag. If someone larger than myself insists on one of those old songs, we can at least sneak a peek at the lyrics, etc.
Sounds like that bloody rotten unicorn is taking the cake in this thread.
I enjoy taking requests. In a couple of magic moments, I've've taken a request or two that totally turned the audience from passive listening to active, foot-stomping, sing-along joy, which put them "on our side" for the rest of the night and made it easier to slip in the Christy Moore and Mary Black stuff. One time, we offered a patron a tradeoff for playing "Black Velvet Band". We said we'd play it, but only if you'll listen to a Richard Thompson song after that. The patron did, had tons of questions for us about this Thompson guy and we shared a pint between a set.
The worst was a gig playing Irish songs on a schooner cruise vessel. There was a British passenger who totally dismissed our set out of hand, loudly, and ordered us to only play American songs, which was our true heritage. Then he asked for Elton John and the Beatles, over and over.
For me, it's not the song requested that raises my ire, it's the odd failing of common courtesy.
Rich