Singing Songs You Don't Agree With

Subject: RE: Singing Songs You Don't Agree With
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 25 Oct 11 - 05:33 AM

Seriously tho, Al & others. There are questions of both copyright & of courtesy [I know you said the hell with politeness, Al; but you went on to suggest you were only thinking of treatment of your own songs] to which insufficient regard is being paid here with respect to singing altered versions of living writers' songs without reference to them.

~Michael~

Subject: RE: Singing Songs You Don't Agree With
From: DrugCrazed
Date: 25 Oct 11 - 08:07 AM

Most of my repertoire is trad stuff, so I'm perfectly safe - though I did forget to ask Jon Boden if he minded me singing Robin Hood.

Subject: RE: Singing Songs You Don't Agree With
From: GUEST,Gerry Óg Music
Date: 25 Oct 11 - 11:20 AM

I've had a good laugh at some of the responses to this thread, lol.
Never mind singing songs you don't agree with yourself, you should try singing songs that the audience dont agree with, I do it all the time lol.
I'm an Irish folk and rebel singer and now that the war is, ahem,,, over, some people dont agree that it should be.
I look at their faces at the start of a song and it doesn't look good, but by the end of the song they're singing away with the rest, lol.

Subject: RE: Singing Songs You Don't Agree With
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 25 Oct 11 - 11:25 AM

AS with gospel songs, you have to agree with the song, but not necessarily with the message.

Subject: RE: Singing Songs You Don't Agree With
From: Genie
Date: 25 Oct 11 - 06:51 PM

Some songs, such as "Pretty Boy Floyd" or "Greenland Fisheries" or "Folsom Prison Blues" or "Banks Of the Ohio," I can sing and be pretty confident that no one will think the song represents my own experience, beliefs, or views.
Others, such as "Okie From Muskogee," I sing pretty much snarkily or sarcastically (as do most of the people who sing along with me).

But there are other songs that reflect views that are antithetical to mine and which I think singing them might be taken as an endorsement, so I don't sing them. (This includes pretty much anything written by Hank Williams Junior.)

Subject: RE: Singing Songs You Don't Agree With
From: Musket
Date: 26 Oct 11 - 07:10 AM

It's interesting. I think Roy Bailey has a good voice, can play the guitar well and can present himself on stage in a professional manner.

That said, I have not seen him play since the '80s (Grapes on Trippet Lane in Sheffield I seem to recall,) as I increasingly found his political views to be distant from my own and the clarity with which he can deliver a message leaves you nowhere to go other than sit disagreeing with him.

Compare that to Dick Gaughan who has similar views and also ensures his song deliver his message. His voice blends with the music though and comes over as less of a lecture, and in any event you can be entranced with his guitar work and let the words wash over you. Hence I make a point of seeing him in concert when he is nearby.

I suppose on a related topic, when I was a miner, I was frequently asked if I knew any mining songs. My stock answer, though in retrospect not a nice answer really, was that I leave songs about how hard it is down the pit to social workers and college lecturers, as they seem more fascinated by the subject.

Subject: RE: Singing Songs You Don't Agree With
From: Santa
Date: 26 Oct 11 - 09:49 AM

Point taken Ian, but it's just as well for us non-miners that Tommy Armstrong, Jack Elliot and Johnny Handle felt differently.

I don't go to Roy Palmer concerts because of his overt politics, but I don't think that's all there is to Roy. He's a fine performer and very knowledgable about the genre. It must be a matter of style, for I do enjoy Coope, Boyes and Simpson whereas I wouldn't care to slip a razor down the difference in political opinions between them and Roy. On reflection, this seems like the same point Ian is making, but about Dick Gaughan.

Subject: RE: Singing Songs You Don't Agree With
From: DrugCrazed
Date: 26 Oct 11 - 12:14 PM

See, I didn't think I was slapped in the face with left wing politics. There were some songs that had an obvious left wing introduction, but not much.

What I found fascinating was that Roy doesn't see himself as any more political than any other folkie.

Subject: RE: Singing Songs You Don't Agree With
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 26 Oct 11 - 01:09 PM

Santa ~ I think you meant Roy Bailey above, not Roy Palmer?

Subject: RE: Singing Songs You Don't Agree With
From: GUEST,Tinker from Chicago
Date: 26 Oct 11 - 05:20 PM

Heck, I won't sing a song I disagree with even when it's a song I wrote! (Opinions change as one gets older.) To me it'd be like campaigning for a candidate you hate.

Subject: RE: Singing Songs You Don't Agree With
From: Greg B
Date: 26 Oct 11 - 08:14 PM

As a shantyman, I sing songs that objectify women, glorify the slaughter of whales, and raise violence to an art form. All of which I "disagree" with.

I really don't feel the need to over-think everything.

But if you do... don't sing 'em. You'd probably be crap at it anyways.

Subject: RE: Singing Songs You Don't Agree With
From: BTNG
Date: 26 Oct 11 - 08:18 PM

Would that be the Roy Palmer who edited The Oxford Book of Disco Sea Shanties, with an introduction by Jon Boden?

Subject: RE: Singing Songs You Don't Agree With
From: Santa
Date: 27 Oct 11 - 02:57 PM

MtheGM: apologies to all, yes. Slip of the memory and lack of proofreading.