One song performers

Subject: One song performers
From: Paul Burke
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 03:47 AM

In the Folk Club Manners thread, people quite rightly maintained that you have to show respect for the performer of the moment. But I'm sure we've all been in the singaround, and it's Kevin's turn, and you KNOW that Kevin is going to sing one of three songs, because he's been singing the same three sings for the last 5 years, and you know he's going to leave out the pivotal verse 4 because the record he learned it off did that, and you know it's on;y 3 minutes out of your life, but 3 minutes a week adds up to... (counts on fingers)... several lifetimes when you combine everyone present for the last 5 years...

And after Kevin it's Siobhan...

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: Banjiman
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 03:54 AM

.....it's why I've never given smoking!

Though I do notice others (even non-smokers) heading for the door when I get my banjo out.........

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: Silas
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 04:07 AM

There is a ay round this one - I have used it and it works!

You go up to Kevin and say "I heard a song lat night that would just suit your singing style/playing style to a T, have you heard ******?
I'll get you a copy" Thus combining both flattery and increasing his range.

It works most times and everyone ends up happy!

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: Jack Campin
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 05:17 AM

At one singaround I used to go to, one of the regulars was far gone with dementia. He had a repertoire of two songs. The format of the club meant that usually you got one spot in each half. He would sometimes start the same song in the second half that he'd done in the first - his wife would put him right.

He had a strong voice and could sing both songs like he meant it. Nice old bloke and I'd rather have listened to him doing that than have him sit at home alone watching telly.

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: Paul Burke
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 05:28 AM

That's true Jack. We used to have an old fellow that came in an Irish session in Manchester. They told me he'd been a fine fiddler before his stroke, but all he played after (sweating profusely, at one bowing per quaver, and only quavers) was Red River Valley. No one looked down on Jimmy Reid, though.

It's the ones in "full" possession of their faculties that bother me.

I've tried the "here's a good song" approach too.

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 05:31 AM

What's worse is when Kevin's 3 songs are all chorus songs - and he gabbles through the verses to get to the choruses as quickly as possible. And then the horrible 'folk club dirrrrgggges' begin - with all the bearded and tankarded bellowers and 'harmonisers' dragging out the f*cking things for as long as possible. I can often be heard praying (sotto voce) "kill me someone - I can't stand this any longer!!"

And, in my experience, Kevin doesn't miss out verses - oh no, that would be too kind - Kevin has found lots of EXTRA verses, just to prolong the torture ...

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 07:12 AM

Don't say it while I'm there Shimrod, I am sometimes very literal minded - and I like choruses and harmonies.

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: GUEST,Suffolk Miracle
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 07:29 AM

Many years ago I used to attend a session in an Irish Club. Early on an Irishman called to the MC 'I'll do one!' The MC studiously ignored him. The following week the same thing happened. I spoke to one of the regulars and asked, 'Is he really that bad a singer?' He said, 'He's not very good, but the real problem is he only knows one song.' I thought that to exclude him for that was still a little harsh. Then one week the MC finally let him sing. Very, very slowly with many pauses as he tried to remember all three verses, he proceded to sing ... Amhrán na bhFiann! So of course we all had to stand up for the entire performance, and worse still, the bar being in the same room, the bar staff had to stop serving as well. From then on, I supported the MC.

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: nutty
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 08:17 AM

I can cope with the Kevin's and their 'one song' as long they can keep to the tune.

It's the singers who constantly change key that I have a problem with. Particularly when their song of choice is a long and boring ballad.

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: GUEST,Suffolk Miracle
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 08:27 AM

But Hazel, the reason we Kevins sing long ballads is BECAUSE there are enough verses for us to find the right key before we get to the end!

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: jacqui.c
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 08:50 AM

The first folk club I belonged to had a few members whose repertoire was restricted to about half a dozen items gleaned from recordings. We did have one guy who had a vast repertoire of songs and sang them well, but a lot of the rest was the same old, same old every week. It was only when I started getting to clubs further afield that I realised what a rich vein of material there was out there.

It's great to hear old favourites sung occasionally, but it does get rather boring when the same songs, sung in the same style, get trotted out week after week after week.

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: Bill D
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 10:33 AM

The first folk club I was ever in had one of those guys...he sang the American cowboy song "Strawberry Roan". It is not a short song, and I never liked it THAT much, but I almost learned it just from hearing him do it over & over & over &......

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: kendall
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 11:04 AM

I have a simple way of dealing with this sort of thing. Don't go there.

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: Midchuck
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 11:09 AM

The first folk club I was ever in had one of those guys...he sang the American cowboy song "Strawberry Roan". It is not a short song, and I never liked it THAT much, but I almost learned it just from hearing him do it over & over & over &......

Take a few months off and learn "The Castration of...." Do that once, and it should cure him.

Peter

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: stallion
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 12:37 PM

Tricky one, the same songs get sung at our session because the vast majority of the people who turn up want to sing and are not there to listen to us, takes them a while to learn sometimes, so they ask for the same songs, the ones they know. My pet hate are singer/songwriters who sing a 15 minute dirge about their spouse leaving them, save me!, give me a hearty chorus song I can join in with anyday!

Peter

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: frogprince
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 02:36 PM

"Rich, powerful broadcasting networks play the same themes day after day, week after week, and that doesn't bother anybody.

Radio stations broadcast the same songs, usually at the same time, day after day, and that doesn't bother anybody"

That doesn't bother anybody? It bothers the living sh*t out of me!
For years I was stuck with it on the radio at work, day in and day out, with no say as to what station played. At least now I don't have it inflicted on me constantly, but I'm aware that by far the most of the people doing really fine stuff out there will never get a chance to be heard on mainstream media, while the repetition, 75% drivel or higher, drones on and on forever.

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: kendall
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 02:46 PM

People tune in to a radio station because they WANT to hear the crap!
We go to Folk Clubs because we want to hear something DIFFERENT!

Sandy Paton had a great line about singer/songwriters, "Teenage philosophers wailing out their diary entries."

I don't applaud anything that I don't like. To encourage them to me is hypocrisy.

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 04:12 PM

What's with this blatent outbreak of Kevinism?

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: PoppaGator
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 05:50 PM

I sure hope that no one was implicating any particular Kevin ~ ??

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: Ref
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 09:18 PM

Let's see. You want to hear "something different" but you espouse a snotty attitude about singer songwriters. Perhaps you should stay home and learn to spell (applaud, hypocrisy), instead.

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: Bill D
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 09:43 PM

There are 10s of thousands of 'different' old traditional folkish songs....it is not necessary to sift thru more 10s of thousands of modern offerings in order to hear songs or version you haven't heard before ot haven't heard in years.

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: GUEST,Neovo
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 03:37 AM

In my experience all the songs written and performed by the "Teenage philosophers wailing out their diary entries" (good description), or teenage angst songs "I wrote while I was doing my A Levels", sound exactly the same but the one blessing is that you can very rarely hear the words because they're sung in an adenoidal mid-Atlantic drone with no diction whatsoever.

Now where did I leave my soapbox?

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: GUEST,Kevin
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 04:10 AM

You lent it to me

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: Proogle
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 04:18 AM

hahaha he is called Kevin!
lol! im so childish :P

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: Acorn4
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 04:25 AM

It's even worse if the one song is Fields of Athenry (which it invariably is!)

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: Acorn4
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 04:38 AM

... and one song performers always say the song is "a request"!

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: kendall
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 09:02 AM

What I posted about singer/songwriters is pretty clear to me, Ref.
I never said, nor did I imply that all singer/songwriters are zeros.
I have recorded a number of Utah Phillips songs, some Dave Mallett songs, and if I had the voice I would sing Gordon Bok songs in public.
Over the years I have learned that I have limitations, but it seems that too many singer/songwriters never learn that and all they manage to do is irritate people.

What's wrong with my spelling anyway?

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: kendall
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 09:18 AM

Neovo, beautiful

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: Ref
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 01:41 PM

Kendall:

Some of it is a bit...incorrect. Sorry, I mistook you for a Trad Folk Nazi. I'm not much for the whining of upper middle class teenagers, either, but too many people here tar any LIVING songwriter with the same brush.

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: Hawker
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 02:05 PM

Well, lets see.........
1) I am married to a Kevin, have been for 20 years, he often manages to sing a song i have not heard him sing before, that he has known for years his repertoire is VAST!
2) When I first started, I had a VERY small repertoire of songs that I could sing without crib sheets, as the folk world is often stuffy about crib sheets, I was stuck with those few till I had the capacity to learn more and the confidence to do so.
3) I have had a mini stroke and have trouble remembering words, but find a crib sheet is a good safety blanket.
4) I am also a songwriter, I like to sing a varied repertoire but often get asked for peoples favourites and end up singing the same old song again to oblige - I personally would often prefer to sing something else.
5) I run a folk club where we encourage participation, we actively encourage novice singers and musicians to try songs and tunes and allow them to have a safety blanket if they need one. Our club nights are varied, fun and very friendly, the chair does sometimes feel a little hard, but the knowledge that a person wants to have a go is priceless, and I have seen novices grow from positively not nice to listen to, to really great performers.

Tolerance is a marvellous thing, so if a fellow folkie wants to sing the same old song every week, be glad they wanted to share it with you. Talk to them and be encouraging to them, offer to lend them a song book, spend some time with them singing with them. I have a group of musicians who meet at my home every tuesday morning, to learn to play tunes in a 'session' type environment, none of us are brilliant musicians and we all have something to learn from each other.

Stop moaning and do something actively to help you and them. Life is a short journey, lets make it a smooth and happy one!
Cheers, Lucy

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: Ref
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 03:08 PM

Good on yer, Lucy! That's the spirit we need more of.

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: Rowan
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 07:47 PM

I can't recall being around anyone whose name is Kevin while they were singing but "The Kevins" was the name of Melbourne's first all-female rock group and, at the time, a more fearsome bunch of radical feminists would have been hard to find; one was a colleague of mine.

But they certainly had many more than one song to sing and they sang them with emphasis.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: kendall
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 08:15 PM

I guess I wasn't clear enough either. My oldest best friend in the world is Gordon Bok. Utah Phillips has been a dear friend for , he says, 25 years, I'm acquainted with Tom Paxton, Dave Mallett is an old friend, and I admire everyone of them as singer/songwriters and as human beings.
It's the immature kids who try to sound worse than Dylan I can't hack.

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: Suegorgeous
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 08:28 PM

Must say, I too am mystified as to what is wrong with Kendall's spelling. I'm pretty hot on bad spelling myself, but couldn't find a single error. Do enlighten us, Ref!

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: Ref
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 09:24 PM

As originally posted, the words "applaud" and "hypocrisy" were spelled incorrectly. Nice editing.

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: Acorn4
Date: 23 Oct 08 - 08:36 AM

But of course, there is a big difference between a SPELING error and a TYPPING error!

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 23 Oct 08 - 01:58 PM

A slash and burn approach to singing isn't a good idea either.

By which I mean the opposite extreme to the one song performer, the one who makes a point of never singing the same song twice. With the consequence that they never sing a song they have worked out how to sing. To sing a song properly most people need to have sung it a few times, so that it has bedded in, so to speak.

One song performers who do their party piece on occasion, and shut up the rest of the time, have always been a valued part of traditional singing.

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 23 Oct 08 - 02:22 PM

In the Colonies, back in the 1950's and early '60's, when pop records were all 45 rpm models, we had the phenomenon known as the "one hit wonder." Unfortunately, some of those folks kept showing up performing "medlies of their hit" for years afterward.

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: Acorn4
Date: 23 Oct 08 - 02:39 PM

I suppose another disadvantge of being a "one-songer" is somebody might do yours before your turn comes round.

Subject: RE: One song performers
From: Genie
Date: 23 Oct 08 - 03:50 PM

It doesn't particularly bother me that the same person does (or requests), say, "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" every week.   I get a little tired of hearing (or group singing) the same songs week after week after week, regardless of whose turn it is when the song comes up.

kendall, you said: "It's the immature kids who try to sound worse than Dylan I can't hack."

Can't imagine WHY. ; D

(Of course, that's a tall order to begin with.)