Songs I do not want to play

[lz4005]

I only heard it once and hated it. IMHO the original version is just boring. I never even made it all the way through the first time, ready to gouge my ears out to make it stop.

Here is a version I could do though, so every song has hope:



Although having the duck-heads in it kind of ruins it.

I yell "F Hootie" as I walk off stage. Because he brought it back twice as bad as it was before.

 

[Engle]

I am a whore. There, I said it. As did a few people before me. In so many word, I guess. If I'm getting paid, I'll play what I'm asked.

What irritates the hell out of me is that in my main band, it has been a decade or better since I've felt challenged by the material. The last several years, I've been resistant to bring in songs that have been done to death. The other guys willingly refer to it as "low hanging fruit". It's easy to learn, people like it and very little effort is needed on their part to learn it. I want to be challenged. I want to have to put in some time to learn a song. To need to practice it on my own. To get that sense of accomplishment in figuring out and being able to play something that I could not previously play. Apparently the others have no such desire. We, as a band, are slipping into the "good enough" mentality. They started refering to it as the "Trevcda Test" when picking songs. I told them there was no longer any such thing as the Trevcda Test, and that I really no longer wanted to be involved in the song selection process and would just learn any song they saw fit. Not out of spite, but because I was clogging up the works.

To challenge myself, I've taken to learning whatever I feel is a challenge and have an interest in. It's a lot more fun to do it as group and play it front of an audience, but it will have to do for now, until I find a group of like minded individuals.

I guess I'm lucky. We play parties/pub/dance gigs, so we have worked up set lists that include the cheesy tunes people love to dance to. But we also get gigs where people aren't necessarily dancing (and often we don't make much money).
So we play challenging stuff like Spain and A Night in Tunisia.
Right now we're learning one called Garaje Gato. I've been working on it for a month and I can play about 70% of it!

 

[Engle]

You gotta do what you gotta do...
That said whenever I hear
"Keep your eyes on the road and your hands up on the wheel"
My stomach turns

Me too, but last time a BL called it when I was being paid to play, I sucked it up and sang along doing my best JM impression. The crowd was having fun and so was I.

 

[lfmn16]

I am a whore.

I call it being a professional. If someone is paying you to play music for them and the song is in your genre, and it is a guaranteed crowd pleaser, I don't see the problem with playing it.

 

[soulstew]

We play Wagon Wheel, singing three part harmonies. The audience packs the floor and sings along. I love singing the changes. And I'm actually the vocalist on Mustang Sally. To be honest, I am good and sick of it, but, again, it's one that fills the dance floor, which makes it worth it to me.

However, I did just refuse to play Hank Thompson's Squaws Along the Yukon. It was a number that two of my bandmates had done in a previous band together. They said it packed the dance floor, and people loved it and sang along:

She makes her underwear from hides of grizzly bear
And bathes in ice cold water every day
Her skin I love to touch but I just can't touch it much
Because her fur lined parka's in the way

Ooga ooga mooska, which means that I love you
If you'll be my baby, I'll ooga ooga mooska you
Then I take her hand in mine and set her on my knee
The squaws along the Yukon are good enough for me

I just couldn't do it.

 

[EdO.]

"Very few people have gotten rich making complicated music."

WORD! Amazing to me how many "working musicians" don't seem to get this. Making $$$ at playing music generally = playing what the paying audience wants. That's why it's referred to as "entertainment", it ain't about creating art. If you're making Art For Art's Sake you're most likely playing at home in your music room. Nothing wrong with that whatsoever other than it normally doesn't pay very well. If you're playing to a party-type atmosphere you're dealing with a musically minimally educated audience that wants to hear what they're familiar with.

I call it being a professional. If someone is paying you to play music for them and the song is in your genre, and it is a guaranteed crowd pleaser, I don't see the problem with playing it.

Guess then that I'm a whore,... er, I mean professional, too.

 

[Remyd]

Tired of Wagon Wheel. It's been called on the last 3 gigs in a row, all with different musicians. Bleh.

However, if you have money, I have a bass. If you give me the money, I give you the boom stick. Whatever you want, you get.

No ego required.

 

[LT131]

We play Wagon Wheel, singing three part harmonies. The audience packs the floor and sings along. I love singing the changes. And I'm actually the vocalist on Mustang Sally. To be honest, I am good and sick of it, but, again, it's one that fills the dance floor, which makes it worth it to me.

However, I did just refuse to play Hank Thompson's Squaws Along the Yukon. It was a number that two of my bandmates had done in a previous band together. They said it packed the dance floor, and people loved it and sang along:

She makes her underwear from hides of grizzly bear
And bathes in ice cold water every day
Her skin I love to touch but I just can't touch it much
Because her fur lined parka's in the way

Ooga ooga mooska, which means that I love you
If you'll be my baby, I'll ooga ooga mooska you
Then I take her hand in mine and set her on my knee
The squaws along the Yukon are good enough for me

I just couldn't do it.

Deep. Life changing. How can you resist?

 

[Ron Plichta]

Man, how I do not miss bar gigs anymore. These days, I just rosin up the bow and play whatever the conductor puts in front of me.

 

[Indexed]

All good perspectives. I try to be Worf-like about it, being professional and sucking it up regardless of how I feel.

 

[Moosehead1966]

I'll play whatever gets the females dancing, guys drinking and club staff smiling. This seems to also help us sneak in more originals in the night.

Marc

 

[Matthew Fisher]

I'm having one of those "things you want to say on talkbass but shouldn't" moments. Anyone else?

 

[Jefff]

I will never play Sweet Home Chicago, or Mustang Sally ever again.

If you put a gun to my mothers head I would say, "I'm gonna miss you mom"

 

[ZAR14]

I have some song that I prefer to not play. Not that they are bad songs, just that I am sick and tired of them...
Rockin' In The Free World
Born To Be Wild
Cinnamon Girl
What I Like About You....
Just to name a few

 

[LT131]

I've always played blues, rock, motown, rockabilly, country, etc. Done it so long that it all runs together and I haven't heard anything original in 10-15 years. Still love music and playing. So I play a lot of stuff mentioned on this thread.

Given my druthers I really don't want to play any music that emphasizes guitar solo. Absolutely bores me to tears watching some guy solo till his tongue hangs out. It's killed the blues for me. No Hendrix, SRV, etc.

 

[The Deep End]

I hate playing (at 60) what I've been playing since I was 12 :-/

This includes Suffragette City, anything by Credence, Bachman-Turner, and Steve Miller Band, We're An American Band (it was cheesy when it 1st came out and hasn't aged well), House of Rising Sun, Play that Funky Music, Smoke on the Water. Some songs have been overplayed!

That said, I still dig: The Stones, The Beatles, The Doors

 

[gsquare]

When I am getting paid to play, I am getting paid to play.

All of the songs mentioned so far, while not my favorite, are someone's. I honestly enjoy finding something to like in every song, even if it's just an opportunity to work on my time or technique. Not to sound cheesy, but I am addicted to creating joy in others, I just love when people have smiles on their faces and are into it, even if the song is lame by my standards. I'd much rather hear about how much they enjoyed a performance over how good they thought it was. Just me.

I'll get off your lawn now.

 

[Medicine Man]

You're payin, I'm playin.

 

[lbbc]

I refuse to play NOTHING...if it's for a paying gig and gets the dance floor packed. I don't do open jams or open mic nights...life is too short!

 

[Stranger Danger]

Im Canadian, and my choice will likely only hit home with my fellow Canadians, but I generally refuse to play anything by The Tragically Hip. Just so overdone and ive never been a big fan of their music.

I am not Canadian but I like 38 Years Old.