Most lucrative songs for busking?

Subject: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: Marion
Date: 14 May 03 - 02:41 PM

Hi gang. I've always stuck to busking with my fiddle, for a number of reasons, but I'm thinking it's time to try singing with my guitar and see if it pays as well.

I'm looking for suggestions as to what songs - or what kinds of songs - would be most lucrative. And don't censor your answers in the name of musical taste; assume I'll sing anything for money.

(I do in fact have my limits, but they're probably not identical to yours.)

Thanks, Marion

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: Ed.
Date: 14 May 03 - 02:49 PM

I've not busked for many years, but I think the best rule is 'songs that people know and like and make them feel happy'

ie: well known Beatles, Elton John etc.

Of course it depends on which part of the world you are in.

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: Phil Cooper
Date: 14 May 03 - 03:53 PM

My singing partner, Margaret Nelson, used to busk in Chicago and found that "The Water is Wide" was always a good money-making song for her. She also did better busking by herself than when I went with.

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: Bill D
Date: 14 May 03 - 04:10 PM

"Over the Hills to the Poorhouse"
"A Dollar's Not a Dollar, Anymore"
"Banks of Marble"
...etc...*sly grin*

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: GUEST,Les B.
Date: 14 May 03 - 04:13 PM

Well, according to a recent TV show starring the woman who used to be on the "Seinfeld" show, (Julia ???) - John Denver songs go over big in the subway. They had a fairly well-done, tongue-in-cheek, sequence about jazz versus pop country.

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: breezy
Date: 14 May 03 - 04:14 PM

so you took the hintPhil?
Marion, you obviously dont care what you sing 'as long as its for money' then you have no scruples.
follow ed's advice.
mercenary, musical prostitute.
cant be that good on the fiddle if you're thinking of going guitar.
the fiddle is a better instrument than a guitar, unless you're a crap fiddler.
you can sing with a fiddle too
if you have no standard then any popular, recognisable number should work.
as for me, well i've got an uncompromising attitude and i perform what i want 'them 'to hear and i dont lower myself to the standard of dross,but then i'm into it for more than dosh.
thats how i meet like minded individuals.
good luck,and keep off of my patch


ps let me know what songs work best for you please
where will you be?

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 14 May 03 - 04:27 PM

"Put another nickel in / in the nickelodeon.."

Just kidding. It's been years since I plied the trade myself, so any observations I could make might at this late date might well be outdated. Actually, I remember trying songs specifically about money, asking for money, etc., and was *not* successful. However, I observed another player who did very well as "The Human Jukebox," dressing himself in an elaborate cardboard box decorated like a big shiny Wurlitzer. Maybe I didn't go far enough.

I did most of my streetsinging in two cities (New Orleans in winter, San Franciso in summer), and got entirely different reponses to a given tune in each venue. Whatever my biggest money-maker might have been in one town, wasn't necessarily the same in the other.

I did try to build up a varied-enough repertoire so that I could repond to any request -- not necessarily with the same tune they named, but something of the same genre, from the same or similar artist. This may be the only real money-making tip I can offer.

For example, I was never a big country-music enthusiast, but made sure to have one or two Hank Williams tunes, two Jimmie Rodgers blue yodels, and Jim Reeves' "He'll Have To Go" (a personal favorite). Also, representative tunes by the Beatles, the Stones, Otis Redding, etc. As an acoustic player, my tunes by rock artists tended to be either ballads or traditional blues that were covered by the band in question.

Anyone making a request is already listening and paying attention, so anything you can do to comply will usually be rewarded, even if it's not exactly what they specified.

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: Cluin
Date: 14 May 03 - 04:37 PM

Depends on your crowd. Old folks like oldies or old country songs a lot. Youngsters want contemporary stuff (Learn some Smashmouth or Uncle Kracker). Yuppies like James Taylor, John Denver, Me & Bobbie McGee, etc. stuff like that.

Everybody likes "Jambalaya" though.

But mainly, if you like playing it, folks will like hearing it, so please yourself. (Don't get too dreary though...)

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: Little Robyn
Date: 14 May 03 - 06:04 PM

I used to busk with my small pipes and would play all sorts of tunes, songs, fast, slow, mainly traditional. I was ignored most of the time.
But if I played Amazing Grace (NOT a pipe tune!) I got a great response.
Yes, if people know the song, they'll stop and listen, if they don't, often they don't even hear you!
Good luck.

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: alanabit
Date: 15 May 03 - 02:07 AM

You should know what the younger folks like, because you are one of them. It is not exactly new, but Oasis's "Wonderwall" seems to be a very important song for many twenty somethings. I know it's not a great song, but it is not actually horrible and it can earn you money. "Weather With You" and "Losing My Religion" can also bring in a few bob.
For the older folks, Dylan does not make much money - unless it's "Blowing in the Wind". "Ballad of a Thin Man" or "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" may be more interesting, but they mainly draw looks of blank incomprehension. "We Shall Overcome", "Blowing in the Wind", "Streets of London", "Leaving on a Jet Plane", "Take Me Home Country Roads", "Annie's Song", "Tom Dooley" are all frequently requested. If you do Beatles songs choose the most cliched - ie "Yesterday" and "Let It Be". Try and imagine what the auntie who works part time at the baker's shop would call folk songs. I should add that I do not do this suff at all - but it is one road to go down to make money. I should also advise you to take your fiddle anyway. If your voice gets tired - don't drag it through the mud. You sing well Marion - and it would be a shame to damage the equipment.
Good luck - I hope you make a fortune. Alan.

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: greg stephens
Date: 15 May 03 - 07:23 AM

Well I can make a precise judgement on this. I'll leave aside those rare moments when someone slips a fiver or a tenner in, they are statistical flukes. The most money in coins I've ever made busking during a single song was when we were playing "Hesitating Blues", in Lancaster England. We were three strong, one guitar and two fiddles, so I cant shed any light on the advantages of guitar versus fiddles. I would like to think it was my brilliant guitar playing and singing, but the fiddlers might have a different opinion.

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: greg stephens
Date: 15 May 03 - 07:24 AM

PS Unfortunately, on other occasions I have sung Hesitating Blues and got nothing at all, but there you go.

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: GUEST,M'Grath of Altcar
Date: 15 May 03 - 08:20 AM

House of the Rising Sun is a good bet.
Romanza ( Romance ) That easy guitar solo thing in Eminor.
Police songs seem to make good money.
A lucrative tactic is to take a dog (or a baby!) But this may be little too ruthless.
Place hat on dog to increase money further!!

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: *daylia*
Date: 15 May 03 - 08:47 AM

Well a couple years ago, some poor crooner got kicked off the streets of Barrie because he slaughtered Neil Young's "The Needle and the Damage Done" about 15 times a day. So you might want to avoid that one.

The local newspaper editor commented that the way he sang it, it should have been re-titled "The Song and the Damage Done".   I never heard the guy, but you must be in pretty sad shape if you get blacklisted for singing Neil Young out of tune!?!

Personally, it's "All Along the Watchtower" that makes me just wanna hit something ....   ;)

Now, I like to hear buskers do Gordon Lightfoot classics! "Minstrel of the Dawn", "Bitter Green", "Triangle", "Old Dan's Records" ... yes! (Hope I got the names right!)

But there's a song I remember from childhood -- "Last Kiss"? -- that every beginning guitarist is doing now. Starts out "We were out on a date in my daddy's car ..." --- and has the same d*** 4 chords OVER and OVER and OVER --- and if I hear it one more time I think I'm gonna chuck my cookies!

Thanks for the chance to vent!

daylia

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: GUEST,Mr Red
Date: 15 May 03 - 09:46 AM

I always remember a folkie busker (morris dancer etc also) in NZ. He was an engineer so he had it parameterised pretty well. He chose an underpass/walkway from Wellington Station to the busses - people walking briskly and he only busked on Fri morning commuter time. Last workday people feeling uplifted so he did a lot of jaunty mmorris tunes and would time it to the rhythm of their feet. The wide corridor was echoy so he played at the station end and played to the echo.
Purely as a consumer I notice that:
Sad music needs more work to engage the listener. It helps to smile more than not.
Other than that you have to play what they know or, like Dave, play what their body knows.

I do remember seeing a busker who put a slotted box on the dog and the dog was pretty good a reading peoples intentions, sidling over and looking up dolefully - I think the dog was really the act.

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 15 May 03 - 12:12 PM

Greg -- Three instruments will out-earn a soloist every time, but then you have to split the take three ways. Was it really more lucrative when you were part of a trio than when working alone?

A group is simply more visible and more audible than one person and much better able to attract attention. In some environments, groups do *much* better than soloists; I think it depends not only upon the surrounding noise level, but also upon what local folks, and tourists visiting that locale, are expecting.

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: Marion
Date: 15 May 03 - 02:08 PM

Thanks everyone.

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: Matt_R
Date: 15 May 03 - 03:13 PM

Some of the ones I go with (strapping on kevlar):

She's Electric - Oasis
Powderfinger - Neil Young
She Will Find Me - Dougie Maclean
Nothing Else Matters - Metallica (acoustically, of course)
Here Comes The Sun - The Beatles
Jeepster - T.Rex
Pancho & Lefty - Townes Van Zandt
Journey Of The Moon - Donovan
Hot Burrito #1 - Flying Burrito Brothers

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: GUEST,JB
Date: 15 May 03 - 05:06 PM

My experience was that buskers who *ask* for money did the best. I was always more of a background music busker, but I observed that folks who would sing a song or two, gather a bit of a crowd, and then actually pass the hat got more dough. Helps to have a gimmic or some patter, though. I remember a bluegrass band that played at the Hyde Street cablecar turnaround in SF (ever run into them, PoppaGator?) in the 70's; they'd rip through a couple of numbers for the crowd waiting for the next car, then pass the hat, with this set up: "If you liked what you heard, then give. If you didn't like what you heard, don't give. But in either case, DON'T TAKE!!" Worked well for them.

The real key to busking success is the same as in real estate: location, location, location.

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: greg stephens
Date: 15 May 03 - 06:59 PM

I also know the name of the most lucrative town in England from a busking point of view, sussed over many visits on diffferent days of the week. I'm sure any potential buskers would like to know which one it is,so I'll tell you. It is

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: Vinland
Date: 15 May 03 - 08:26 PM

Bring the fiddle along and play simple beautiful pieces. I'm with Alanabit,save your voice and sing only when you know you have a listening audience.

I've busked a lot of places around the world and found that simple beautiful melodies seem to work well - pieces like Greensleeves, Fanny Power, Amazing Grace,Summertime and Spanish Romance - but only if they're played well. Variety is nice however - try mixing instrumentals and songs, and different styles. Above all, don't bore yourself .. have fun.

Play and sing what you love - and (hopefully) the money will follow...

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 15 May 03 - 11:51 PM

JB: Ahh, the cable car turnaround, I remember it well. I worked that area in the *early* 70s. My best two spots were across the street from the turnaround, at the foot of the steps up to Ghiradelli Square, and a couple of blocks away in the entryway in front of the Pier One (enclosed on three sides). These somewhat more intimate spots were better for a solo guy like myself than the big open waterfront area by the turntable.

My badly abused memory may be playing tricks on me, but I think I remember those guys and their schitck, timing their big finale and collection-plate routine with the arrival of the cable car.

I approached the whole enterprise as a physical training discipline. Rather than save my voice (and my fingers), I drove 'em hard, concentrated on how to produce the greatest force with the least effort, and *made* myself get better.

I don't remember ever straining my voice back then, although I've done so in more recent years, when I haven't been exercising it on a daily basis. I probably did more damage to my fingers than my pipes; I have badly arthritic knuckles, worse on the left hand than the right. My voice, on the other hand, is as good as ever (for whatever that's worth).

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: paddywack
Date: 16 May 03 - 05:47 PM

Everybody loves a bit of the Irish.If that doesn't get your toes tapping then I'm afraid to say that you must have died and didn't notice.

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: paddywack
Date: 16 May 03 - 06:14 PM

P.S:It is not always the song that is the important factor.It is where you sing them.Stand next to any Mac Donald's,involve the children,and mum and dad will always make a generous contribution.

A busker is not a singer or a musician,they are ENTERTAINERS.

If you want to be a singer/musician you can sit in any folk venue around the world and do your thing for nothing more than the sheer pleasure of knowing that someone is actually listening to you.

You always make a lot more money on the streets if you include the public into your act rather than class them as an audience.

To be able to do this you need to have the confidence in yourself,so don't go out there until you have a spontanious answer for everything that is sent your way.

(Here endeth the first lesson on how to become a millionaire without having to come face to face with Chris Tarrant.)

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: Peter T.
Date: 16 May 03 - 07:05 PM

I was told by a Toronto busker a year or two ago whom I engaged in conversation that you need one Spanish song, because of all the Latin Americans in Toronto -- Guantanamera. He said that the Latin Americans had practically no money, but they always left him something and smiled. This in spite of the fact (as he put it) that they were sick to death of Guantanamera. It stuck in my mind.

yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: InOBU
Date: 17 May 03 - 10:20 AM

Bit of advice about saving your voice... if you are lucky enough to find a place to busk that has a lot of walkby without being very open, you save the voice. I have a wee bridge in Central park, in New York, which has a natural reverb. Great for the Uilleann Pipes... but, in descrbing my ballads to folks buying my CD, I would sing some of my songs, unaccompanied, and funny enough, found that was a lucritive as the pipes, folks would stop, but if one is out in the open without an amp, your voice either gets lost quick or you have to push, not great to do all day.
Das baxtale, shaya,
(good fortune daughter)\Larry

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: GUEST,reggie miles
Date: 17 May 03 - 11:28 AM

Paddywack, well said in your last post.

The passersby are difficult to stop and so it does take a certain flair either in your performance style, ability on your given instrument, personal charisma, overall appearance, mostly on your act or as you put it, your reaction to the many responses of those who do stop.

I had an opportunity to work with a young woman who oozed such a sexual aura that it was near impossible for any guy to resist and even other women were attracted by it. The way she dressed, wore her hair and make-up but most of all the way she played and sang with unusual traditional blues/jazz/jugband songs. I was a feast for the eyes and the ears.

I still have dreams. I'm gonna go hose myself down with the garden hose now.

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 17 May 03 - 04:04 PM

Reggie's right in observing that personal charisma/persona is the key, along with song selection.

In my own long-ago experience, I did much better in San Francisco (my summertime base of operations), where I more-or-less fit the tourists' expectations of seeing jen-you-wine hippies. This was 1971/72, when the "real" hippies had all fled the city; as a johnny-come-lately longhair from Back East, I served to fill the bill. I never fared quite as well during the cooler half of those years in New Orleans -- nor did any of the other solo performers I knew -- where folks were more predisposed to seek out and enjoy musical *groups.* There were trad-jazz combos out on the street, who matched those expectations almost exactly, but jug bands and bluegrass groups did well too.

As far as song selection is concerned, you need to have a varied repertoire at your fingertips, including some contemporary stuff. That may not be true in all cases, especially if you play an "exotic" instrument associateed with a particular tradition, e.g., bagppipes, mountain dulcimer (or hammered for that matter), even banjo. But if you're doing plain vanilla guitar-and-vocals, you'd better have a full set of tricks up your sleeve.

If you can catch the eye and engage the attention of *anyone* and induce them to stop and listen, it will often have a "snowball effect." That is, other passersby who notice any kind of byplay, flirtation, whatever, may be intrigued enough to hang around to see what happens next. If you can ad-lib between numbers to heighten interest, so much the better. Better yet, if you can perform a song during which you can lift an eyebrow or mime a doubletake at a particular line of the lyric, go for it!

My brother just put me hip to a website with lyrics and tablature for many tunes in which he and I share an interest. He has much more experience as a professional musician than I do -- 12 or 15 years as a drummer with nary a day job -- but is only recently born again as a guitar player. I get a kick out of seeing his enthusiasm at learning a new instrument. Anyway, here's the link:

www.rukind.com

This is where he learned his first fingerpicking piece, the Beatles' "Blackbird." He reports that the site provides plenty of "classic-rock" era favoritres, including lots of Beatles, even more Bob Dylan, some Stones, etc., plus "everything ever recorded by anyone ever associated with the Grateful Dead." (Those in the know may have already recognized "Are You Kind" as a G.D. reference.) For those of you not interested in the Dead, I should point out that some of the members had extensive previous experience in folk music and bluegrass, and the "rukind" database includes plenty of traditional folk, blues, jug band, bluegrass, country, rockabilly, etc. There's probably a good deal of overlap with the DT here at Mudcat, but DT doesn't provide tablature (??) -- at least not for very many tunes.

The songs available there would not include any very-recent stuff (some of which you should have ready to perform), but does include a good selection of material familiar to us "baby-boomers," still a very large demographic category with disposable income. Well, disposable change, anyway.

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: Peg
Date: 18 May 03 - 11:41 AM

got a LOT of requiests for Danny BOy when I sang in a harp and singer duo. The most money we made though was from a guy who wanted us to sing all the Gaelic or Irish songs we knew; we kept them coming and he kept throwing bills in

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 18 May 03 - 12:54 PM

Peg, Lucky for you you knew multiple songs in the old language, but much luckier still to have encountered a passerby with such a rare enthusiasm, plus the bankroll to indulge himself and you two as well!

I don't imagine anything similar ever happened again, did it? Whereas on the other hand, we can be sure that the Danny Boy requests came in over and over and over again...

No one every went broke underestimating the taste of the public.

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: GUEST
Date: 18 May 03 - 01:26 PM

Robin Laing's - 'She Wears Black Clothes'

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 18 May 03 - 01:47 PM

Well, I never "oozed sexuality", but I DO like to talk to people, and one incredibly valuable lesson I learned (long after I should have) was to NEVER wear sunglasses.

My experience was that the song was much less important than the "vibe" you put out.

Anecdote:

One day I reached into the pocket of a rather over the top fringed jacket that I used to own. I found a piece of paper that said "PLEASE phone....with a number. I thought "I wonder what or when this was from" and called the number. A guy answered and seemed quite surprised and as much in the dark as I was. I explained it was Rick the musician calling, and I had no idea why I had his number. He then enthusiastically asked if I "had long blonde hair and busked at Bloor and Yonge"? I realized the mistake. I had leant my coat to my "long blonde haired busker" friend Mark. Hmmmmmmmmm, I said, "I think YOU think you're talking to someone twenty years younger and fifty pounds lighter"! His dejection was palpable!

Cheers

Rick

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: leprechaun
Date: 18 May 03 - 04:27 PM

Wasn't it Judy Collins or somebody like her who had a song about a street musician "playin' real good for free?"

Try to avoid that one.

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: Marion
Date: 18 May 03 - 10:49 PM

Alanabit, that's just what I was thinking - that if I alternated between stressing my hands on the fiddle and stressing my voice on the guitar, I could busk more.

Peter, my singing busker friends tell me that it's Gracias a la Vida that gets all the Latin Americans on their side.

Rick, did you at least pass the guy's number on to Mark?

PoppaGator, you mention a snowball effect. I find often that it's the little kids who want to dance or come closer to my fiddling. They make their parents stop and give them coins to give me - then other adults stop to watch the kids dancing and give a tip too. Also, that's a good point about offering a relevant subsitute if you don't know a request - I try to do that too. But what have you got against Danny Boy? (And Daylia, what have you got against 4 chords being repeated over and over?)


I'll ask a busking etiquette question here:

The other day I headed for an excellent busking spot and found someone else there already, who told me that he intended to stay for another 90 minutes or so. So I offered him $20 to go away immediately, which he declined.

It seemed like a win-win offer to me; I would definitely make a lot more than that in 90 minutes, and I was pretty sure he would make less (and even if he did expect to make more, he certainly wasn't expecting to make in in 1 minute). Still, it felt slightly unsavoury to try to pay someone off for a spot - what do you think of the etiquette of such an offer?

Marion

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: greg stephens
Date: 19 May 03 - 05:59 AM

Marion, if you had made that offer to me I would certainly have taken the money.Perhaps the guy was some kind of nutter who enjoyed busking as a hobby, which is I suppose feasible. Or he might have been desperate to practise some new material for a gig that night. Or maybe, due to the fact that we are all innately suspicious, he thought some obscure scam at his expense was involved, which he couldnt figure out.
Rick Fielding: you couldnt be more right about the sunglasses.It took me and Kate a while to figure that one out, longer than it should have. A genuinely golden rule for buskers. It can be modified if you have an atrocious hangover, or if your act involves a highly theatrical rockabilly spoof.

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: *daylia*
Date: 19 May 03 - 08:47 AM

Marion, the chords themselves are pretty standard - G, Em, C, D - and the same pattern is repeated for the chorus and all the verses, without variation. That's why beginning guitarists like to learn the song - it's relatively easy, and good practice for changing chords. It's one of the first songs I ever learned back in the 70's, and I've helped more than a couple neighbour kids with it in recent years, at their request.   

But when it's been heard/played a few million times (it seems), it starts wearing a bit thin. For me, for one lifetime anyway.

LH and I heard Kevin Kelly perform at the Corner Coffeehouse in Newmarket on Friday night, and I think he has the solution to "harmonic boredom"! He took John Denver's old standard "Leaving on a Jet Plane" and fitted it with a new rhythm and all manner of interesting jazz chords. Quite the cool makeover! (No offense to John Denver intended).

Good luck with the busking!

daylia

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 19 May 03 - 08:59 AM

Latin songs? How about Ricky Martin's "La Vida Loca"?

Oh........oops!!! put "ha ha" at end of first statement. Don't want anyone thinking I was serious (or inhaling tetra-pacs)

Boy does that 'sunglasses thing' make sense. I can't believe how long it took me to click into it. Your 'take' literally doubles instantly.

Marion...I learned long ago to politely say "not today thanks" (and accept the compliment)...Mark would have passed out on the pavement! He didn't turn down all the joints stuffed into his pockets and case though.

********************************************

My experience with busking was a tad odd. I'd take students who were starting to sound like musicians out to the streets for an hour or so and try to get them acclimatized. The best practice I know is the repetition and hard singing and playing on the street or in the subway. My heros WERE Rev. Davis and Doc Watson after all. Two guys who knew a LOT about busking.

Rick

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: Teribus
Date: 19 May 03 - 09:49 AM

Songs and tunes, I remember a Sunday in May, because of the "foot and mouth" scare, the St Patrick's Day parade was delayed and held in May. We were headed for the Sunday session at O'Donaghues. We walked up Grafton Street as we'd been told it was a great place to hear street music. All pretty disappointing until at the top end near Stephens Green we saw three people playing, whistle/Flute, guitar and a button melodian. The box for the button melodian was open for those passing to drop money into. They were good and we had to wait for the rest of our gang to join up.

Two guys went over and put some money in the box, up until now nobody was paying much attention and there did not appear to be much in the box. Next thing, these guys start to sing accompanied by the three buskers. First song "Fields of Athenry" a crowd starts to gather, money starts dropping into the box. The buskers themselves ask the guys to do another, "Peggy Gordon", the crowd continues to build, even more money goes into the box. The crowd ask for another, "Town I love so well", by the middle of the song the street is packed solid and the box now looks like it would not have been out of place in Captain Kidd's cabin.

Don't know what happened after that as the guys wandered off and so did we - but I did get it all down on film, the last shot I had to take with the camera held at full stretch above my head pointed in the general direction - the one thing that was illustrated that day was that tunes are OK, but it is songs and their lyrics that grab hold of people.

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: GUEST,James.
Date: 19 May 03 - 02:59 PM

The difference is of course that the Irish know, and love their folk songs, both The Fields of Athenry, and The Town I Love So Well, were chart toppers in Ireland, not quite the same in England or America I think.

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: GUEST
Date: 19 May 03 - 06:16 PM

Songs? You sweet innocent. Busking in the 21st century involves getting a maximum of two notes out of an instrument while a child thrusts a paper cup at passers by. Most the take will go to your friendly Albanian protection racket.

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: greg stephens
Date: 19 May 03 - 06:36 PM

It is, thank God, possible to make a tidy living on the streets without peddling your body or singing the Streets of Athenry.

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: Cluin
Date: 19 May 03 - 11:32 PM

"Oh when the sun beats down and burns the tar upon the roof..."

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: alanabit
Date: 20 May 03 - 05:53 AM

Guest - you are on the wrong thread. What you are talking about is begging. We were having a nice chat about busking - a precarious, but worthy profession.

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: treewind
Date: 20 May 03 - 08:37 AM

A good few years ago I did some busking playing tunes in London, sometimes by myself and sometimes with other musicians. It didn't seem to make much difference what we played with one notable exception - the Kesh Jig was such a conspicuous earner we renamed it the "Cash Jig"

Anahata

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 20 May 03 - 08:37 AM

Marion: My apologies to Danny Boy and all his supporters, friends & family. I don't really have anything against that lovely song, nor its even older and lovlier air. I do know that performers can get sick and tired of repeatedly playing such widely popular numbers, and also that some of the most Hiberniocentric among us *do* have objections to this popular tune for not being truly Irish. Also that the Catholic Church in the US -- or, at least, the bishops of severals prominent dioceses -- has prohibited its performance at Irish-American church funerals.

Peg: I'm sure you two put forth a *wonderful* on harp and vocals, anyway, and would be glad to have heard it.

Back to you, Marion: It never occurred to me to buy off another streetsinger occupying one of my favorite spaces. Of course, it's been many years since I was a full-time busker -- perhaps those were more innocent days(?) I don't believe that I would have accepted your twenty bucks (even in 1972 dollars!) to walk away, even though I might not have collected as much in an hour and a half. (Well, perhaps I might have suggested trying a higher bid!)

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: GUEST,Egal
Date: 20 May 03 - 10:10 AM

I was busking in Padstow when a slightly over-refreshed fellow came out of a pub, and made a bee line for me, i thought for a moment i was about to get a row or thumping - he then proceeded to push a £20 note into my shirt pocket remarking "i love that tune" and headed back to he pub. other notable payments for that tune were a fiver and two Mars bars.

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 20 May 03 - 01:45 PM

Egal -- Please answer the question in the title of the thread, and Name That Tune.

Any selection worth a twenty AND a fiver AND a couple of candy bars should certainly be identified!

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: GUEST,Egal
Date: 21 May 03 - 12:10 PM

Duelling banjo's.

Yes - really.

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 21 May 03 - 12:44 PM

Thanks for answering. I believe it.

Even though songs with vocals generally trump instrumental tunes, with "Dueling Banjos" you have the advantage of (1) a very familiar and popular tune that (2) allows as much theatrical showing-off as you can muster, plus -- usually, although apparently not in your case -- (3) the extra volume and visibility of a duo or group rather than performing solo.

In fact, "DB" undoubtedly *is* one the most lucrative songs for busking. Generally available only to banjo players, unfortunately, although really skilled players might do a nice job with another instrument, or two other instruments. Harp and pennywhistle? Tuba and clarinet? Kazoo and washtub bass?

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: GUEST,Egal
Date: 22 May 03 - 05:05 AM

Nah Poppagator, It's cos i look like the banjo player in Deliverance!!

:0)

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 22 May 03 - 12:42 PM

Now, *that's* scary!

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: Marion
Date: 22 May 03 - 05:45 PM

That's interesting, PoppaGator - do you know why exactly Danny Boy is prohibited at the funerals? Or is it just that all secular songs are prohibited?

I remember hearing Danny Boy for the first time at a funeral, and I remember being blown away by it. And I'm not sick of it yet!

Marion

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 22 May 03 - 06:26 PM

Marion,

It's been a year or maybe even two or more since I first heard about this controversy, so I don't have a link or other reference at my fingertips. When I first heard something about this, I did a Google search on ["Danny Boy" +"Catholic" +"funeral"] and found more articles than I could read. Now that time has gone by, there are probably fewer stories still posted anywhere.

I believe the idea was to eliminate anything "too" secular, but "Danny Boy" was definitely singled out. I'm pretty sure that no other song was mentioned. Seems like Irish-American Catholics were singled out, too -- surprisingly, since so very many of the priests and bishops are themselves of the same ancestry. Perhaps they're quicker to be tough on their own than upon the Italians, Poles, etc.

Various commentators expressed disagreement with the Church, but others agreed and went even further: "Danny Boy" is not only secular, but, worse yet, British (or Scottish) and therefore Protestant. I don't know -- the reference in the lyrics to "say an 'Ave' there for me" sounds pretty Catholic to me; Protestants don't ordinarily pray the Hail Mary in English, let alone in Latin.

The melody, if I'm not mistaken, is traditionally known as the "Londonderry Air" -- not the "Derry Air" -- which makes it a bit suspect to some, I suppose. I like to think of it as the "London Derriere." ;^)

TH

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: sed
Date: 23 May 03 - 08:30 AM

A seemingly-obtuse guy was walking by wearing a big white stetson hat so I sang 'Home on The Range' and he turned around and gave me dollar. We've been friends ever since!

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: Ely
Date: 23 May 03 - 09:31 PM

Don't leave too much cash in your case. We've heard people comment that they were going to give us money but we had too much already so they'd spend it on someone else.

Beyond that (keep in mind, my last band was an old-time string band composed of four people who couldn't sing)--we got lots of requests for awful stuff like "Rocky Top" and "Mountain Dew", so on the rare occasions we DID sing, it was mostly country-gospel of some sort. Occasionally we'd do Hank Williams ("Mind Your Own Business", "I Saw the Light"), "Rivers of Texas", "Hard Times", "Columbus Stockade Blues", and I once earned us $10 by being cajoled into "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky-Tonk Angels".

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: mousethief
Date: 24 May 03 - 03:16 AM

A friend of mine who busked in the subways in Chicago said that old gospel songs and hymns brought him the best monetary payback.

Alex

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: Cluin
Date: 28 May 03 - 12:31 AM

The most lucrative song I've found was a quick round of "Gimme all your money, muthafucka, I got a gun in my belt behind this dumbass warp-neck gee-tar".

But there were other problems arising from performing that one so I dropped it from my repertoire (after earning enough with it to by a new straight-neck axe, of course).

Good luck in finding your "magic bullet".

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: GUEST,Trev
Date: 17 Nov 07 - 04:00 PM

I find that with the old 60's and 70's covers that I've worn them a bit thin over the years so I prefer to play heavy rock covers and it seems to sound quite unique,highway to hell ace of spades the unforgiven sweet child o mine. Today I was quite surprised that 3 youngsters no older than 12 or 13 came up to me and requested paranoid.

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Nov 07 - 07:13 AM

Shapley women with virtually everythiing exposed gather a fine crowd in the spring and summer. Go beyond the social mores of the area and agree to cover up if the constabulry complain

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: Lowden Jameswright
Date: 18 Nov 07 - 07:27 AM

Here's my top ten:
Runaway
Hey Baby
Pretty Woman
Bye Bye Love
She was just Seventeen
Johnny B Goode
Peggy Sue
Brown Eyed Girl
High Heel Sneekers
It's All Over Now

- all come with a money-back guarantee

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: GUEST,reggie miles
Date: 18 Nov 07 - 03:57 PM

This is a response to what others have said in this thread regarding leaving too much $ in your case and wearing sunglasses while performing. In my many years as a street performer and a performer at many other events both public and private, I've never found the wearing of sunglasses to hinder one's ability to connect to an audience. It's really about what each individual has to offer, and not whether you can see the whites of their eyes. Don't get me wrong, eyes can be very expressive in performance but it's only one aspect of a performance.

The comment that someone made about leaving too much $ in your case as being the cause of lost donations from listeners is just plain goofy. The only reason that I can imagine to fear leaving your donations visible in your case is if you fear being robbed or the wind is blowing too hard and you're losing more $ blowing down the stree than you're gaining. If that's the issue, then I'd suggest you're in the wrong neighborhood.

I've had money taken out of my case. It isn't a pleasant discovery to find that someone would stoop so low as to steal from a street performer, especially when they seem perfectly comfortable doing it, as if it was some kind of sport. I guess there are those who have a compulsion to thievery.

Allowing folks to see what you've been offered while performing may make some listeners shy about donating, as was suggested previously. There may be those that feel their offering is being given to someone who has already received enough. I think it can also be a measure of the success of the artist, and of how much folks have enjoyed what you've offered as a performer/entertainer. Seeing how much others have enjoyed your playing will cause some to pause to listen, because they want to see and hear in your performance what others have.

Subject: RE: Most lucrative songs for busking?
From: The Sandman
Date: 18 Nov 07 - 04:09 PM

I sing traditional folk songs and I always do well,in fact if I had a fiver for every time I that I have been told, that I have a lovely voice ,I wouldnt need to busk any more,
I did have the privilege of being given a fiver one time by RonnieDrew[Dubliners].Iam modest as well.Dick Miles[no relation to Reggie]