The fifty-buck tip list

[kopio]

Lol....I don't play venues where there are requests....but whenever I'm in the audience, if the band is dumb enough to ask for requests I always shout out "freebird" at the top of my lungs....not because I actually like it (I really don't) but just so I can see the band leader or guitar's face when I request it!

 

[richntiff]

oh no... don't be THAT guy! lol

 

[dbase]

Played that one three (3!!!) times one night.
Could not believe it, twice in the same set even!

Locally the one song I never had to learn (not that it's difficult) is 'Taking Care of Business'
In every band someone always said "we are not playin' that song".

I did eventually play it once as an off the cuff request.
Once in 30 years ain't too bad, ....now how many times I've played 'Old Time R+R' and 'Brown Eyed Girl' is another matter altogether.

See, now I like playing Taking care of business... it's a nice rocker song and people dance.. It's a little boring but that's usually our last song for the night and we end with long and sustained crescendo. I play it mostly a few octaves down on the E. I believe it's in the key of C which gives it a nice deep heavy bass tone..

 

[Lazylion]

Here's my list, based on number of times playing each, and how much I dislike each. W/varying price points. In a perfect world, all bands would adhere to it, and all customers would fork over the cash.
My current alt.country band plays just one, Darlin'. Cause Coe is such an outlaw, don't ya know. So that's not too bad.

1. $10
Lay Down Sally (Eric Clapton)
Take This Job And Shove It (Johnny Paycheck)
Amy (Pure Prairie League)
Wipeout (Surfaris)
Lyin' Eyes (Eagles)
Devil Went Down To Georgia (Charlie Daniels)
Trashy Women (Confederate Railroad)

2. $25
Rocky Top
Takin' Care Of Business (Bachman Turner Overdrive)
Stormy Monday
Sharp Dressed Man (ZZ Top)
Gimme All Your Lovin' (ZZ Top)
Can I Have This Dance (Anne Murray)

3. $50
Johnny B. Goode (Chuck Berry)
Proud Mary (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
Cocaine (Eric Clapton)
Make The World Go Away
For The Good Times
I Will Always Love You (Dolly Parton)

4. $100
Sweet Home Alabama (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
Free Bird (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
Old Time Rock And Roll (Bob Seger)
Margaritaville (Jimmy Buffett)
Darlin'/You Never Call Me By My Name/Perfect Country Song (David Allan Coe)

5. $there isn't enough money on the planet
All Summer Long (Kid Rock)

Please note: Brown Eyed Girl and Mustang Sally are not on my list.

 

[Lazylion]

Btw, Wiki says this about Mustang Sally:
"Pickett's version climbed to #6 on the R&B charts and #23 on the Pop charts in 1966..."

And the chicks have been diggin' it ever since!

 

[John Swartz]

Here's my list, based on number of times playing each, and how much I dislike each. W/varying price points. In a perfect world, all bands would adhere to it, and all customers would fork over the cash.
My current alt.country band plays just one, Darlin'. Cause Coe is such an outlaw, don't ya know. So that's not too bad.

1. $10
Lay Down Sally (Eric Clapton)
Take This Job And Shove It (Johnny Paycheck)
Amy (Pure Prairie League)
Wipeout (Surfaris)
Lyin' Eyes (Eagles)
Devil Went Down To Georgia (Charlie Daniels)
Trashy Women (Confederate Railroad)

2. $25
Rocky Top
Takin' Care Of Business (Bachman Turner Overdrive)
Stormy Monday
Sharp Dressed Man (ZZ Top)
Gimme All Your Lovin' (ZZ Top)
Can I Have This Dance (Anne Murray)

3. $50
Johnny B. Goode (Chuck Berry)
Proud Mary (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
Cocaine (Eric Clapton)
Make The World Go Away
For The Good Times
I Will Always Love You (Dolly Parton)

4. $100
Sweet Home Alabama (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
Free Bird (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
Old Time Rock And Roll (Bob Seger)
Margaritaville (Jimmy Buffett)
Darlin'/You Never Call Me By My Name/Perfect Country Song (David Allan Coe)

5. $there isn't enough money on the planet
All Summer Long (Kid Rock)

Please note: Brown Eyed Girl and Mustang Sally are not on my list.

I wish I could get those prices. That was practically a setlist for a band I used to play in...

 

[Lazylion]

I wish I could get those prices. That was practically a setlist for a band I used to play in...

I hear ya. I didn't include the disclaimer, which says I've sung most of these myself at one time or another.

 

[Bassamatic]

The last time we played Sally at an event literally ALL the women came out to the dance floor and we had to extend it to at least 6-7 minutes! There is just sumthin' about that song and the female psyche.

 

[John Swartz]

The last time we played Sally at an event literally ALL the women came out to the dance floor and we had to extend it to at least 6-7 minutes! There is just sumthin' about that song and the female psyche.

It's the "Crazy Bitch" of it's time...

 

[Guiseppe]

How can you possibly be a surf-rock band without Wipeout?
It is like the iconic Surf-Rock song.
Now, if you tell me you don't do Pipeline, I will classify you as Rockabilly.

I remember playing a biker wedding party one time (GREAT gigs, safe, friendly, and fun!) where we played Miserlou and then five minutes later a drunk comes up and says 'play it again!' We politely said we don't usually repeat songs, and then a lady who must have been 100+ (seriously!) totters up, and drops what we later found to be $200 in our jar and says, 'Will $200 do it? That's what our table had..' We found out a couple of her favorites and added those to the next set...gotta be nice, right?

PS that old lady was the biggest pot smoker at the wedding.

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

I remember playing a biker wedding party one time (GREAT gigs, safe, friendly, and fun!) where we played Miserlou and then five minutes later a drunk comes up and says 'play it again!' We politely said we don't usually repeat songs, and then a lady who must have been 100+ (seriously!) totters up, and drops what we later found to be $200 in our jar and says, 'Will $200 do it? That's what our table had..' We found out a couple of her favorites and added those to the next set...gotta be nice, right?

PS that old lady was the biggest pot smoker at the wedding.

Just proves we geezers got it going on.

 

[bassbully]

Brown eyed girl, Cocaine, freebird, three steps, old time R&R and margaritaville Glad I don't play allot of covers anymore.

 

[bikeplate]

There's a couple I won't play. In fact I ask the cover outfit I'm gigging with if they play the couple I detest. If they answer yes, I turn down the gig.

 

[corinpills]

Not to get serious on anybody, but if I plan on cashing the check I cannot turn my nose up at any request. Also, I'll happily play "Mustang Sally" if we are going to play it like he record (which is really pretty great if you can listen to it objectively), but dang musician- types always try to make it "a little hipper" and ruin the thing. It's kind of a zen exercise of perfect minimalism and simplicity to try to play it just like Wilson Pickett's band. I think it's David Hood on bass, Spooner Oldham on keys- those Muscle Shoals guys.

 

[bassplayer2014]

I get paid to entertain , not feed my ego. If someone requests it and we can play it , we play it. I've been doing this now for a little over 50 years so yeah , there are a lot of songs that I have played ad-nausium.
Somehow , I seem always able to get over myself and play a song if someone requests it or even likes it.
One of the first bands I got into when I first moved into this area had the same philosophy as you. They wouldn't play Mustang Sally , Brown eyed girl , Brickhouse and a couple of others. I remember one specific night that one of those songs was requested and rather vociferously refused by the band leader. An entire table got up and left complaining to the manager on the way out. That band never played there again. I left that band soon after. They still aren't playing any of those songs and ten years later they are still playing $200 and $250 dollar gigs. I play those songs and often my cut of the evening is close to as much as their whole band makes.

Agreed. I have many songs I'd prefer to never play again. I do try to minimize the inclusion of many of these $50.00 tip tunes into our routine set list. Some always sneak in. However, if a request is made, especially a tip request and we know it we play it.

 

[Steven Ayres]

It's kind of a zen exercise of perfect minimalism and simplicity to try to play it just like Wilson Pickett's band.

This is important. One of the factors that make these tunes so annoying in the club context is the difference between "yeah, I can play that" and really knowing it. There are not many bands that can offer Mustang Sally with an organ, horn section and plausible singer, and anything less is various levels of hackery, imho. How many guitar players even attempt the right rhythm riff? Maybe the tune is the victim of its chord progression, which looks dead easy and winds up getting played that way.

 

[plankspanker13]

Just because a tune has enough flexibility built into it does not mean that all interpretations are gonna be lame. There are limitations of instrumentation and format, but they can be overcome with talent and imagination. In other words, sometimes, you get lucky.

Here's a 2012 performance, in a live band karaoke situation:


Of course, the guest vocalist is a ringer of sorts; he later did some time behind the drum kit with the dance cover band I was playing in. Camera placement means minimal guitar, and lots of my DiMarzio Model J-equipped G&L Tribute JB-2 coming through. I sure do miss my old Genz Benz 2x12 rig.

 

[old spice]

"Standing on Shaky Ground."
"Born in Chicago." (And I was born in Chicago. That song does not and cannot groove.)

 

[corinpills]

This is important. One of the factors that make these tunes so annoying in the club context is the difference between "yeah, I can play that" and really knowing it. There are not many bands that can offer Mustang Sally with an organ, horn section and plausible singer, and anything less is various levels of hackery, imho. How many guitar players even attempt the right rhythm riff? Maybe the tune is the victim of its chord progression, which looks dead easy and winds up getting played that way.

That's it, nailed right on the head. It's that uneasy feeling yI get whenever I hear someone says "It's just a blues". That's a good indication that something really icky is about to go down.

 

[corinpills]

"Standing on Shaky Ground."

Must be a regional thing, I've never heard of it and I've been taking requests for 30 years.