Songs you liked that others on the forum don't

Subject: Songs you liked that others on the forum
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 18 Apr 11 - 10:44 PM

I know I will probably be hated and shunned forever for this, but I always liked "Scarlet Ribbons" even though it was listed as one of the songs that a significant number of Mudcatters seem to think of as distasteful. I don't know what attracts me to it, maybe it's the melody- but I always saw the ribbons as an anonymous gift. Maybe the father doesn't know where the ribbons came from because his wife or whoever didn't want anyone to know she was getting the daughter a surprise. And maybe no-one knew because the girl knew her father mightn't be able to find them. Does anyone else have songs that are "guilty pleasures' that they like even though others on the forum don't?

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 18 Apr 11 - 10:45 PM

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 18 Apr 11 - 10:49 PM

Sorry. Fixed the thread title.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Joe_F
Date: 19 Apr 11 - 08:21 PM

I would be interested in links to the places where you found out about "songs that a significant number of Mudcatters seem to think of as distasteful". I can't remember having happened on such threads, tho I can recall one or two about bad _lines_. I am sure that, once I find out about them, I'll be able to find some about which I have deviant opinions.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 19 Apr 11 - 08:37 PM

The "Worst songs ever" thread and the "Songs that offend you" thread are two examples.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 19 Apr 11 - 08:42 PM

Sorry, that should be "Worst song you ever heard" thread. Here you are, Joe_F: http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=37505.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 19 Apr 11 - 08:45 PM

I think there is already a thread on this.
(But OK, any rap title).

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 19 Apr 11 - 09:08 PM

We did once run a theme night at a local folk club, the theme being "Sing a song you hate/dislike". We had all sorts, deeply loved by some participants, who could not understand at all why the singer disliked them.
My choice (and forgive me if you think it's a wonderful song, and I know that it has a certain significance for many people) was "Tie a Yellow Ribbon round the old oak tree". Well outside my usual repertoire to sing, but I just find that bumpy bumpy rhythm, and trite little tune, for what after all was such a serious subject, makes a mockery of it all.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Max Johnson
Date: 20 Apr 11 - 01:41 PM

'Sing a Song you hate/dislike'

What a great idea!

I thought 'Tie A Yellow Ribbon' was a line-dancing thing. And a political dog-whistle, of course. Not a great song IMO, but rock-solidly typical of a genre that would include 'Queen Of The Silver Dollar', which I think is a great song.

I've always liked 'Scarlet Ribbons', but would certainly never tell anyone.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: ClaireBear
Date: 20 Apr 11 - 03:10 PM

OK, I'll come pleasn. I actually like "Kumbayah." But please don't tell anyone. And don't even ASK about "Michael Row the Boat Ashore"!

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: ClaireBear
Date: 20 Apr 11 - 03:11 PM

ummm, clean. Though I'm pleasn too, I'm sure.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: GUEST,sandynewlap
Date: 20 Apr 11 - 04:15 PM

ClaireBear, I was reading this thread and wondering if I dare admit - I still LOVE singing "Kumbayah", esp around the campfire!

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 20 Apr 11 - 04:49 PM

Can't quarrel with that last one by GUEST,jucktaramma...

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Joe_F
Date: 20 Apr 11 - 05:58 PM

Morwen: Thank you. Sure enough, I actually like "Chicken on a Raft".

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Bert
Date: 20 Apr 11 - 06:30 PM

Well I like Scarlet Ribbons.

I also like Blue Christmas but will admit that Elvis didn't sing it very well.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Spleen Cringe
Date: 20 Apr 11 - 06:53 PM

Are we talking guilty pleasures? If so: my shame... and this. Sorry.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 20 Apr 11 - 06:54 PM

Wow, two people who actually like "Scarlet Ribbons."

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Genie
Date: 20 Apr 11 - 08:34 PM

I really like "Home On The Range," even though it's one of those songs that (to paraphrase Yogi Berra) "nobody sings anymore because it's done too often."   I think the tune is lovely, especially with the high harmony that I'm used to.

I have to admit that I also like "Danny Boy," even though (yeah, I know) the lyrics were written by a Brit and it too "is done so often that no one wants to sing it."

I'd say a lot of the songs I like, while liked by many others, are on somebody else's "Worst Songs Ever" list. LOL

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Richard from Liverpool
Date: 20 Apr 11 - 10:10 PM

I don't know Scarlet Ribbons that well, but my mother says that when she was in Cork in the 1950s, the girls on the street sang Scarlet Ribbons in such a way that she took it for a traditional song.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 20 Apr 11 - 10:17 PM

Really, Richard from Liverpool? That's interesting.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Richard from Liverpool
Date: 20 Apr 11 - 10:22 PM

Well, she does say a lot of things! (Many of them interesting) But the reason I remember this is because I was asking her about songs she recalled hearing when she was in her youth, and this was one she specifically mentioned from the time when she was in Cork. I then looked it up on wikipedia, and told her that it was written in the 1940s (she said something like, "well I know that now!")

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: JedMarum
Date: 20 Apr 11 - 10:24 PM

What's wrong with Scarlet Ribbons? I think it's a lovely song.

Danny Boy too ... it's a beautiful melody with a loving sentimental lyric. Some consider it faux Irish, but it is a lovely song none-the-less.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 20 Apr 11 - 10:25 PM

To me it always sounded like an old-fashioned Victorian parlour song, like "I Dreamt I Dwelt In Marble Halls"(which I know came from a musical/operetta), but it just had a 19th-century sound to it. It does fit the 1940s too.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 20 Apr 11 - 10:29 PM

I think that the "problem" with Scarlet Ribbons is that it is seen as a "cheesy" song with a story that could never happen in real life. I can see the cheesy side of it and that's why it's a guilty pleasure.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: catspaw49
Date: 20 Apr 11 - 11:09 PM

I thought Scarlett Ribbons was about some ribbons. I don't recall it mentioning cheese at all but maybe I missed that part. What kind of cheese? I could see how certain cheeses would mat up her hair or others that might smell real bad.............

Spaw

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 20 Apr 11 - 11:13 PM

Well, I am one of the few Mudcatters that don't find Jim Morrison of the Doors a pretentious poser, so I'll go with Spanish Caravan

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 20 Apr 11 - 11:24 PM

Spaw, ha ha ha ha! I meant "cheesy" as in seen as sentimental and trite. It has nothing to do with "cheese":).

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: catspaw49
Date: 20 Apr 11 - 11:26 PM

What a shame..........Sometimes a good cheese with the right wine can be a lift tot the spirits if not the hair..................


Spaw

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Max Johnson
Date: 21 Apr 11 - 06:30 AM

For many years now, I've disliked 'Summertime'.

I can see why people revere it and I get why it 's a classic, but I've just heard it too many times. And sung badly too many times.

For me, it's the blues equivalent of 'The Wild Rover'.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: GUEST,Spleen Cringe
Date: 21 Apr 11 - 08:09 AM

Here's a Scarlet Ribbons you could fall in love with. I saw the Men They Couldn't Hang in a tiny venue when they'd just released their first single (a version of Green Fields of France) and they had the place in the palms of their hands. The lights were up at the end of the night, the bar had closed, the staff were wanting to go home and the whole audience was still on their feet baying for more. Ah! Them was the days...

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 21 Apr 11 - 10:31 AM

I much prefer the words of "In Derry Vale" - to same tune (Londonderry Air - careful how you say that!) as Danny Boy: discussed a while back on another thread.

LONDONDERRY AIR (IN DERRY VALE)
W.G.Rothery

In Derry Vale, beside the singing river,
So oft I strayed, ah, many years ago,
And culled at morn the golden daffodillies
That came with Spring to set the world aglow.

Oh, Derry Vale, my thoughts are ever turning
To your broad stream and fairy-circled lea,
For your green isles my exiled heart is turning,
So far awa-a-ay acro-oss the-e sea.

In Derry Vale, amid the Foyle's dark waters,
The salmon leap above the surging weir,
The seabirds call – I still can hear them calling
In night's long dreams of tho-o-ose so dear.

Oh, tarrying years, fly faster, ever faster,
I long to see the vale belov'd so well,
I long to know that I am not forgotten,
And there at ho-o-ome in pe-eace to-o dwell.

Yes, and I'm another one who likes Scarlet Ribbons!

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 21 Apr 11 - 07:27 PM

Max J, we differ on this. I like "Summertime", probably because of the fact that the first version I heard was a duet by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, who complement each other well. Their voices overlap at the end of the song... very memorable.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 21 Apr 11 - 07:32 PM

Here's one version of Scarlet Ribbons, done by the Dutch group "The Cats". Trying to make a blue clicky. I can't believe how much this song has been covered!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVfgrGrVxGs

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 21 Apr 11 - 07:52 PM

Anyone else have a "guilty pleasure" they would like to share?

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 22 Apr 11 - 12:37 AM

Could a moderator please get rid of that guest post?

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Genie
Date: 22 Apr 11 - 05:42 AM

Max J, it's ironic that you think of "Summertime" as " the blues equivalent of 'The Wild Rover'."
"Summertime" is an operatic aria, sung originally as a slow lullaby by a soprano, with nothing "bluesy" about it. ; )
"Summertime" from "Porgy & Bess"
It's been done in about every style or 'genre" there is (except maybe hard rock).

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Max Johnson
Date: 22 Apr 11 - 06:48 AM

Arrrgh! Nooooo!

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Hesk
Date: 22 Apr 11 - 03:41 PM

"Summertime" seems one of those songs that is regarded as fair game by many singers, regardless of experience. Personally, I think it is very difficult to sing well, and I am, normally, wishing I was somewhere else when it is being sung.
"Chicken on a Raft", however, is a great participation song, one that can really take off with a bunch of enthusiastic chorus singers. It is probably, or was probably, sung too often in the UK, and its very popularity has made it unwelcome in some quarters, sadly.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: GUEST,glueman
Date: 22 Apr 11 - 03:58 PM

There are no songs so schmaltzy that I cannot shed a tear over them.
Macarthur Park, Me and You and a Dog Named Boo, Summer the First Time are all fair game to my sentimental cortex.
Only school choir novelty songs of the Saint Winifreds variety leave my heart stony and tear ducts arid.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: GUEST,glueman
Date: 22 Apr 11 - 04:09 PM

Sugar, Sugar by The Archies.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 22 Apr 11 - 05:36 PM

We did once run a theme night at a local folk club, the theme being "Sing a song you hate/dislike".

I believe you should never sing a song you dislike.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 22 Apr 11 - 08:50 PM

It (Summertime) has been done in about every style or 'genre" there is (except maybe hard rock).

That depends on whether you consider Big Brother & the Holding Company's version to be blues or rock. Since Janis Joplin was nominally a blues singer, you could consider it blues. But since Big Brother was a psychedelic rock band, you could call it rock. Or you could believe, as I do, that Janis's music transcended such categorizations and that applying labels to it is pointless.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Max Johnson
Date: 23 Apr 11 - 05:11 AM

McGrath of Harlow.
I believe you should never sing a song you dislike.

Sometimes you have to though, don't you? For example (and I can't actually think of any others), if you're a member of a group or a choir.

It can be frustrating, but there's not much you can do if you're in the minority.

I'd draw the line at 'Summertime', obviously.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Haruo
Date: 23 Apr 11 - 05:39 AM

Surely the second "turning" in the Rothery text should be "yearning"?

Haruo

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 Apr 11 - 03:23 AM

I like to sing "Old Black Joe" and I've sung it all my life, but some people think it's racist.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: GUEST,Alan Whittle
Date: 24 Apr 11 - 09:36 AM

No i only like real folksongs, sung by hairy men who eat turnips and live next to the soil. I think that's what drew me to bruce murdoch's work.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 25 Apr 11 - 02:47 AM

Okay, does anyone have a particular rendition of a song that they normally like, but they don't like that rendition?

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Haruo
Date: 25 Apr 11 - 01:18 PM

I was raised on Peter Paul & Mary versions of Dylan songs, and it took me a long long time to get to where I could appreciate Bob Dylan's own renditions. And there are a few songs from that era that I first learned in Esperanto ("Blovas en la vent'" - "Blowing in the Wind" and "Kun la helpo de Di'" - "With God on Our Side" come to mind, also "Pan kaj rozoj" - "Bread and Roses" perhaps a bit later) and had trouble getting completely comfortable with the English texts, though eventually I succeeded.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 25 Apr 11 - 01:24 PM

Old Black Joe a very lovely song in its way, indeed; tho perhaps a bit patronising, Joe, rather than outright racist ~~ very much a white man's view {Foster, isn't it? or Work?} of the old faithful black fellow? Still, a rewarding tune to hum.

~M~

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 25 Apr 11 - 02:42 PM

There are plenty of songs that I like generally but have been totally murdered (IMHO, of course!) by others. I have heard all of the following given the heavy rock treatment, to their intense detriment:
Caledonia (Dougie Maclean's composition - originally in 3/4, given 'Four on the floor"))
Follow the Heron - speeded and funked up (yes that was an n but only if I'm being polite -and also translated into 4/4!)
"Yellow on the Broom" - (foot-pedal bass drum! -oh how clever, she can play the fiddle AND pound the bass drum at the same time!)
And as for all those guitar-driven words-chopped    - about-   so they- are totally-illogical -and have never -even been thought-    about-    what they-    mean funky versions of Burns songs - give me strength!

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: GUEST,Ralphie
Date: 25 Apr 11 - 02:54 PM

At Henry....total tosh!

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 25 Apr 11 - 03:10 PM

Who's Henry?

McGrath of Harlow: "I believe you should never sing a song you dislike": It was actually quite cathartic! Did it just the once and feel I've got it out of my system! Done with a certain amount of hamming it up, eye-rolling and other body language!

Haruo: thanks, you're right, it should be "yearning": I typed it up from a very old songbook: mind not properly on the job obviously. Will post correct version later.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Little Hawk
Date: 25 Apr 11 - 05:05 PM

"McArthur Park". Love it. ;-) "Muskrat Love" is pretty neat too. Not to mention "Afternoon Delight", a delightful little number.

I make no apologies for liking any of the above, but I should probably mention in passing that Spaw blows dead rats.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Genie
Date: 25 Apr 11 - 11:27 PM

Well, we all knew that about Spaw, Hawk. (Or at least we knew you would say that.)

But if you like a song, why apologize?

I enjoy singing a number of songs that are considered racist, e.g., "Short'nin' Bread" or "Mañana," or sexist (painting the woman as victim).   I don't necessarily view the songs that way, but I don't like to have to apologize or explain them when I sing them.

---
MorwenEdhelwen [[" does anyone have a particular rendition of a song that they normally like, but they don't like that rendition?"]]
I really don't like Eva Cassidy's arrangement of "Over The Rainbow," even though her voice and styling are marvelous. It's just that, to me, she changed the melody so much that it's unrecognizable, so I don't like it to be called "Over The Rainbow." (I feel that way about a lot of Mariah Carey versions of songs too.)   And Brudda Iz's muddled medley of "Over The Rainbow" and "Wonderful World" really should not be called "Over The Rainbow" either. It, too, is infectious. But he mangles the lyrics to OTR and sings them as a medley with parts of WW, so it irks and saddens me to have young people think that this actually is "Over The Rainbow."

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 26 Apr 11 - 01:27 AM

Do you know anyone who seriously believes that something like that is "Over the Rainbow".

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: GUEST,glueman
Date: 26 Apr 11 - 03:03 AM

Old Black Joe was a favourite of mine, but the music teacher insist we murder it with Dis n' Dat type pronunciation. Even as a kid I'd cringe.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Genie
Date: 26 Apr 11 - 04:47 AM

Morwen, yes, I think a lot of the kids who aren't very familiar with "Over The Rainbow" in its original tune & lyrics really do think Iz's 'version' or Eva Casidy's twisting of the melody is the real song. They may have seen The Wizard of Oz once or twice, but that probably doesn't make up for hearing the seriously distorted 'arrangements' of the song over and over again on radio or TV or on YouTube.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Colin Randall
Date: 26 Apr 11 - 04:52 AM

I like Jimmy Naill's song of the Tyne, Big River, which some of my friends in the North loathe (there is a tribal, football reason for that hatred but I still think it's a decent song).

I also, and this is deeply embarrassing to admit, quite like some of Abba, Living Next Door to Alice (if I've been forced on to the dance floor) and lots of cheesy French pop standards (usually filed under variétés françaises in record shops here in France) including Sous Les Sunlight Des Tropiques and Les Lacs du Connemara.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 26 Apr 11 - 04:57 AM

Wow, I've never seen the Wizard of Oz, (yeah I know) but even I still know what "over the Rainbow" sounds like. I honestly can't believe there are people who are taht clueless.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
Date: 26 Apr 11 - 05:25 AM

Can't get passed the Lollipop Guild I'm afraid; I've had a morbid fear of Munchkins since childhood (no problem with Umpaloompas lowever, though having watched the Depp remake I might have to revise that). The most moving rendering of Over the Rainbow I ever heard was delivered by Judy Garland still in tramp get up after a rollicking rendering of Couple of Swells. My Gay friends were in tears, so I didn't dare mention the Weigh a Pie joke...

I think this thread would have been best inverted: what songs you hate that others on the forum love. For example, I hate The Band Played Waltzing Matilda and have done since first hearing June Tabor sing in a tiny folk club in Northumberland circa 1976. It's an instinctive thing with me - I don't get how the genuine emotion of traditional songs (such as The Plains of Waterloo - wich she also sang that night) can sit alongside the mawkish right-on proslytising that the rest of the Folk Scene can't get enough of. I feel the same way about The King of Rome and countless others; give me nightmarish spectre of The Lollipop Guild any day - and the horrors of The Lullaby League if it comes to that...

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Rob Naylor
Date: 26 Apr 11 - 05:43 AM

Morwen: Okay, does anyone have a particular rendition of a song that they normally like, but they don't like that rendition?

I love Richard Thompson's "Beeswing" but I absolutely LOATHE Paolo Nutini's version of it. It grates on so many levels with me that I just can't stand to hear it.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Max Johnson
Date: 26 Apr 11 - 06:25 AM

...with Dis n' Dat type pronunciation

But it works very well with 'Dem Bones' because it's so percussive.

ABBA! What's not to like? And it's always been fashionable to hate them, which makes liking them even more fun.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Colin Randall
Date: 26 Apr 11 - 08:28 AM

Rob Naylor asks:

Okay, does anyone have a particular rendition of a song that they normally like, but they don't like that rendition?


I must admit that while I love Joan Baez and drove a long way to see her recently (in France), I disliked her version of Eric Bogle's World War I song, The Band Played Waltzing Matilda, which seemed to shorten, and I hope this was not for easy listening reasons, a song that needs every verse.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Rob Naylor
Date: 26 Apr 11 - 09:10 AM

Wasn't me asking, colin Randal, but Morwen. I was back-quoting in my own reply as her original question was so far up-thread.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Colin Randall
Date: 26 Apr 11 - 11:15 AM

Rob :

... as is absolutely clear if I go back to your message.

And apologies to Morwen, too.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: GUEST,Wee Jock
Date: 26 Apr 11 - 11:19 AM

I think that The Fields of Athenry is a song that i could do without hearing for the next hundred years, as it is song that has been done do death. I first heard it on a Dubliners video, nearly 30 years ago, i thought it was ok then, but not now. Does anybody else share my views?

Wee Jock

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Little Hawk
Date: 27 Apr 11 - 01:14 AM

The one that affects me that way is "Streets of London".

I've also gotten a bit tired of hearing "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda", simply because I've heard it done way too many times by way too many people.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Hesk
Date: 27 Apr 11 - 03:34 AM

Hi Wee Jock,

Lots of people share your views. I know of at least one well known singer who walks out of a room as soon as she hears it announced.
Personally, I think the amount a song is hated is related to how good it is. The better the song the more pronounced the view.
There is a whole raft of folk tunes and songs that were often published in the forties and fifties that were regarded as folk, for instance "Dashing away with the Smoothing Iron", "Widdicombe Fair", "Dye Ken John Peel", and dozens of others, that all had strong, memorable tunes, and were easily remembered. For that reason they all disappeared from the average singers repertoire, and a second wave of more obscure tunes were "discovered", these in turn made way for, perhaps, the less successful songs that had been collected.
Fashion seems to be at the root of this. There is always a current song that is done to death in singarounds at Folk Festivals. The song of the moment will then largely disappear, except when some poor soul starts to sing it to general disapproval! "Streets of London" is one of these from way, way back.
The trick is to know when they have been forgotten, and are due for revival. Come back "The Last of the Great Whales"!!

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Genie
Date: 27 Apr 11 - 03:47 AM

Morgan, I'm guessing you're not 16 (or close to it) - right?

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: GUEST,Wee Jock
Date: 27 Apr 11 - 03:50 AM

Hi Hesk

Last of the Great Whales, a great song written by Andy Barnes, which is a song i never tire of, provided it is done well. We include this in our bands set (Border Crossing Duo)

Regards

Wee Jock

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Genie
Date: 27 Apr 11 - 03:50 AM

Suibhne Astray, may I humbly suggest that "Songs I hate that others seem to love" deserves to be a separate thread, worthwhile in its own right?

I'll happily contribute to that thread!

Genie

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: GUEST,Unsigned
Date: 27 Apr 11 - 04:17 AM

"Queen of Hearts" by The Unthanks.

It seems to have unpleased the unhinged last night on the Jools Holland programme. Unsurprisingly, I like it.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
Date: 27 Apr 11 - 04:18 AM

Maybe so, but expressing such feelings, whilst fun in itself, is rarely contructive. Maybe for this reason it's easier to say what people DO like than what they DON'T, though with respec of the Folk Scene I often get the feeling there's a collective mindset waiting to be told what to like, and that it has very little to do with Traditional Folk Song and Ballad, but something else entirely in the face of which I feel a bit lost to be honest.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Phil Edwards
Date: 27 Apr 11 - 07:03 AM

Partly it's a matter of time - I used to quite like hearing Fields of Athenry or A Mon Like Thee, because at that stage I'd only heard those songs two or three times.

I'm with Suibhne regarding the sentimentality and preachiness of a lot of the post-revival repertoire. (We probably draw the line in different places, but that's another discussion.) To me, the difference between (say)

Send for the minister to come and pray for me
Send for the doctor although it's too late

and

But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared
Then turned all their faces away

is like the difference between night and day - or between a plain statement of raw horror and a sophisticated attempt to elicit a sophisticated response.

Anyway, songs I've liked that other people don't... Depends on context. In popular music, my taste is impeccable, although I have got a definite weakness for comic songs - from music hall through Spike Jones, Morecambe & Wise and the Bonzos to Neil Innes and Eric Idle (and indeed Hugh Laurie). (I know they're not actually funny second time round. That's not the point.) In singarounds, it's the long ones for me: some of my peak folk experiences have involved renderings of Tam Lin, Young Hunting, Lord Bateman et al.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 27 Apr 11 - 07:13 AM

Genie, I'm a 17-year old Chinese Australian girl.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 27 Apr 11 - 07:18 AM

And, Genie, there are people my age or a year younger that are that clueless? There are no words...

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: GUEST,Alan Whittle
Date: 27 Apr 11 - 09:01 AM

Old Black Joe - theres a lot to be said for songs with an autobiographical slant.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: GUEST,glueman
Date: 27 Apr 11 - 10:23 AM

Good to see Dashing Away With a Smoothing Iron get a mention. It was given a rousing rendition in our car only yesterday.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Rob Naylor
Date: 27 Apr 11 - 11:28 AM

Hesk: Fashion seems to be at the root of this. There is always a current song that is done to death in singarounds at Folk Festivals. The song of the moment will then largely disappear, except when some poor soul starts to sing it to general disapproval! "Streets of London" is one of these from way, way back.

I've recently learned "Streets of London" since, having started attending singarounds/sessions in late 2009 I'd never heard it done even once in all that time. Did it at an open mic last week and got several "great...haven't heard that for ages" comments, so maybe I've hit it right for a "revival"?? :-)

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 27 Apr 11 - 01:22 PM

I also, and this is deeply embarrassing to admit, quite like...

We should never be embarrassed by admitting to liking what we like.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Bert
Date: 27 Apr 11 - 01:36 PM

...I know they're not actually funny second time round....

So why do people keep requesting them?

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Kit Griffiths
Date: 27 Apr 11 - 02:31 PM

Hesk: Fashion seems to be at the root of this. There is always a current song that is done to death in singarounds at Folk Festivals. The song of the moment will then largely disappear, except when some poor soul starts to sing it to general disapproval! "Streets of London" is one of these from way, way back.

I know that feeling! I wrote this in 1975 -tunes should be self-evident!

MacNamara's Lament.

Oh my name is MacNamara, and I played the clubs at night,
Till people heard which songs I'd choose, then I'd end up in a fight.
I've been kicked out of each and every folk club in the land,
And now when I try to sing, they tell me "MacNamara's banned".
(La da da da di da di da da.)

Well my mother always taught me that the old songs were the best,
That an audience that could sing along would leave the club impressed.
It never seems quite to work out that way, though I always make the point
That I learned my songs at my mother's knee –or some other low-down joint.
(La da da da di da di da da.)

I've sung the Wild Rover for many a year,
While plastered on whisky, or sodden with beer.
But my audiences think it's a terrible song,
That it's clichéd and hackneyed and boring and long,
And it's no, nay, never: no nay never no more
Will I play the "Wild Rover" their side of the door.

Now as I was a-singing about Kilgarry Mountain
I looked into the audience, their money they were counting.
I'd polished off the second verse, and started on the third one,
I waited for a shout for "more" –but alas, I never heard one:
"Not much time to be drinking left
-We've heard this song before,
We've heard this song before,
And there's whisky at the bar."

These were the only songs I'd learned, and they only numbered two,
I thought that maybe it was time to come up with something new.
I learned a contemporary American song I thought no-one had heard,
But then the audience prompted me when I forgot the words.

-It's a ballad every audience is humming, round and round, round and round.
And that everyone who knows three chords is strumming into the ground, into the ground.
When a floor singer stands, a guitar in his hands
And plays it, you'll generally find
All the other singers there run their fingers through their hair
-You know that was the first song on their minds.

So will every singer who hears this song please make a solemn vow
That if you usually sing these three, you'll stop it as of now.
Your repertoires all will still be large, you won't miss them a lot,
But pity poor MacNamara: they're the only ones I've got.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: Hesk
Date: 28 Apr 11 - 02:59 AM

Kit,

Well done! Perhaps after 36 years yours is due for a revival.

Howard.

Subject: RE: Songs you liked that others on the forum don't
From: GUEST,Ref
Date: 28 Apr 11 - 07:12 PM

Some people really seem to have it in for "Cold Missouri Waters."