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!