Just about every wedding I have ever played, someone wants to hear "Crazy" by Patsy Cline. I have a strict rule on that one- bass player gets an extra $200 for every time we have to play that. I hate that song.
Another one I got a request for was some obscure country song that I had never heard of (not that I listen to much country). I asked the guy if he had a cd of it in his car, we all went out on break and took a listen to it. Singer wrote out the words, the rest of us took mental notes and somehow we pulled it off on one listen!
Later that nite, the same guy requested "The Cowboy Song" by Thin Lizzy, and we were able to play it. Then he asked for "Take 5" by Dave Brubeck. Played that as well. When he came back the last time, he asked for some Oingo Boingo. He was all over the map on requests- no genre was left out. I had to confront him on the last break, and ask what was up with the country jazz rock new wave requests. He told me he was a DJ, and was upset that he didn't get to play this wedding and was trying to make us look like asses by getting us "outside of our element". I was surprised when he complimented us on pulling off every tune he had requested. Sure, we had some clams trying to do tunes we didn't know, but we did passable jobs on all of them. He ended up tipping us $50, which was nice, considering he tried to "stump the band" and failed. Just goes to show you what having good ears and a good attitude can do for you...
we finish the song and then instantly get requests for "play twinkle twinkle little star again" and "yankee doodle!" and "row your boat". I didn't want to disappoint my unpotty-trained fans, so I played out their little requests... one of the guitar players, mitch, screwed up twinkle twinkle, so we had a good laugh at him...
