Odd song requests for your band

Yea we have had some weird requests in the past also. Whats funny are the people who think just because you are a musician and play in a band, you should know every song ever written.

 

Every now and then someone requests something unusual from our classic country band. Last time it was "Some Enchanted Evening". Yeah, us old cowboys really dig those old show tunes!

 

I took a stab at All About That Bass a few threads back, but now that I've learnt to play it, I find it oddly groovy.

 

Many years ago, I was playing with an original southern rock/blues outfit at an industry showcase down in Los Angeles. This was late 80's and southern rock was not really happening at that time - even ZZ Top was using drum machines and hair bands were king. Still, we had a great group of musicians and a fantastic horn section and were really just playing what we all loved.

So, there we are - decked out in faded jeans with long hair and beards, thinking we are the next Allman Bros. Band- and this DB industry exec shouts out between songs "Hey, do you guys play "A Night in Tunisia." Light laughter follows from those sitting at his table. Really pissed us off. Well, to his chagrin, I had met and recruited several of our horn players from old jazz bands/combos. So, our drummer counted it off and we went right into that Dizzy Gillespie classic (although our version sounded more like the Miles Davis/Charlie Parker version). We actually did a really decent job with it. Shut the DB right up and and put a smile on all of our faces. In retrospect, it probably also derailed that showcase for us.

Moral - If you are in a covers band, playing for tips, try to know and play as many requests as you can. But, if you are in an original band trying to get signed, stick with what you know.

 

We had a girl singer, played a lot of Barenaked Ladies, Matchbox 20, Blue Rodeo and so forth....some dufus comes up and asks if we do any Metallica....

I said 'yeah, sure, that's next'. ;(

 

The band was a country-rock/obscure cover band. We got booked into a bar for a two night run in Pine Bluffs, WY during Trail Dust Days. The first thing the owner said to us was, "How many country songs do you know?" The first night went OK, but the next afternoon at the motel, we worked on every country song I ever sang in my life. We weren't a country band when we got there, but we were by the time that we left. Anyway, a drunk cowboy came up to us and said, "Y'all know any Skynard? Y'know, like 'Stairway to Heaven?'" The strangest thing about that gig was that we did some Richard Thompson songs. And they went over as well as anything we played.

In the early '70's I was in a duo where I played acoustic guitar and the other guy played pedal steel. A couple of younger guys came up and said, "Do you know any punk rock? Like Rod Stewart?" It was the first time I heard the expression "punk rock" but even then I knew Rod Stewart was anything but punk.

 

In my last band the lead singer (female) said we should play "call me maybe" because it was her daughter's favorite. Her daughter was 8 at the time. I mentioned that where she was a lovely young lady, she was not out target demographic. I'm not in that band anymore

 

A fan who attended our gig posted: " Id love to hear some different songs that I think your singer would excel at like "Black on Black" by Heart, "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane, and maybe something new to showcase your strings like Thunderstruck by ACDC or Whole Lotta Rosie."

We're a Country Band. Complete with Fiddle and Accordion.

 

we play a couple sublime songs in our cover band , last show we played must have been Bradleys fan club because we ended up playing a better part of 40OZ to freedom album as our encore songs, we probably played an extra hour , but it was fun and worth it. Also as a side note , its probably a good thing we all know the songs too

 

Our cover band is quite eclectic ie: Black Keys, John Mellancamp, B52's, Dobbies, the list goes on.
Our female singer has asked that we learn 2 Spandau Ballet songs for her friends wedding that we "may" be playing at, I say may because there is no firm date or $ discussed.
My position is, if we learn songs I feel they should be songs we are going to keep in our rep for future use, rather than a one off,,,,, I dont think Spanau Ballet is our sound?? & the time spent learning them could be put to better use on keepers...
I think she was a bit put out??? when I said this,,,, which wasn't my intent, anyway we are going to put it to the vote with the rest of the band, will see what happens.

 

80s/90s BritPop band The Wonderstuff toured Oz in the early 90s.

Lotsa fans at the gig.

At one stage some people yelled out their fave songs they wanted to hear.

The band stopped playing, the singer went troppo
"We are the @%^#$^ band, you paid to hear US, we'll play what we #$%^&*^ well want to play"

lost all respect for them right there. Never played their songs again, ever.

 

At a Holiday Inn omewhere in the midwest in the late 70s while we were on break, Farmer John (seriously, bib overalls, muddy boots, John Deere gimme hat, the works) comes over and asked us to play the song about the cowboy again. We didn't know what song he was asking for. Then he said, "you know, the one where he gets all the women."
"Oh, Panama Red?"
"Yes!" he exclaimed, happily.
It is always nice when you can please the audience.
It's funnier if you know the lyrics. "He'll steal your women then he'll rob your head."

 

Out of curiosity, which ones did you play?

I think it depends. There are a handful of Spandau Ballet songs that might fit well into your repertoire.

 

I'm in an 80s rock band. We play mostly hair band and some harder stuff - think Poison, Bon Jovi, Van Halen, Twisted Sister, Ozzy, Ratt, Quiet Riot, etc. So this quite inebriated lady comes up during the last set and asks if we know any Bob Seger. Ummmm, not quite what we do. She was drunk mad when we said we don't do any Seger. Can't please 'em all, I guess.

 

If I had a dollar for every time I had someone yell "PLAY SOME SKYNYRD" I'd be ordering a custom Fodera

Some guy asked for Zappa the other day. Thought that was interesting. I was ready to whip out "more trouble everyday" but I guess I was the only one on the band.

We played some Skynyrd next..

Regards
Mark

 

FOR THE WIN!!

 

My heavy blues trio, al-la SRV, Cream, Hendrix, Zeppelin, ZZ Top.....you get the picture, was recently asked to play:

Uptown Funk
Anything by Kenny Chesney

Yeah, right.

 

One of my gigs is a trio with my two daughters who are 14 and 12. They are really professional beyond their years and recently it is getting to the point where you would definitely not pick the eldest for 14. Her looks, playing ability and voice are more that of a 17 or 18 year old and the youngest you'd think was 14 or more (wish our gun laws were a little more lenient as i'm starting to think that a shotgun purchase might be in order..... but I digress). Anyway, it's not uncommon to get requests for songs that are very much in the genre being played but have lyrics that are really not age appropriate. The look on the request-ee's face when my girl says, "i'm 14 and probably shouldn't be singing those lyrics", is usually quite funny.