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Thread: Not "Wagon Wheel" again - are there other popular band songs?

  1. #26
    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: Not "Wagon Wheel" again - are there other popular band songs?

    Quote Originally Posted by allenhopkins View Post
    Ya know, one of the reasons songs get overplayed is that they're good songs.
    True enough. Of course, this isn't always the case - the confounding popularity of "Achy Breaky Heart," for instance - but yes, many songs that enter the public consciousness and linger forever after do so because something about them resonates with a great many people, well beyond their original time period.

    I wonder how much this part of the discussion is any help to the OP. I hasten to point out that every song
    Allen mentioned in this post is a possible candidate for inclusion in the OP's repertoire. I'm not sure if this was his intent, oblique or not, but there ya go all the same.

    BTW, heckuva good post to be your #11,111. FWiW, natch ...
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

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  3. #27
    Mandolin Botherer Shelagh Moore's Avatar
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    Default Re: Not "Wagon Wheel" again - are there other popular band songs?

    A new guy at our jam last night asked if it was a "Wagon Wheel" friendly jam and was promptly told by the bass player and guitarist who have anchored the jam for at least a decade that it was not and that we don't play that song here.
    Hmmm... the music police again. Over here it's still popular and IMHO it's not a bad song.

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  5. #28
    NY Naturalist BradKlein's Avatar
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    Default Re: Not "Wagon Wheel" again - are there other popular band songs?

    Wagon Wheel really is a fascinating case. I LOVED that song when the first Old Crow CD came out and I would teach it to friends who, universally, had never heard it live, on radio, or covered. But it did sour for me really fast, and by the time folks started requesting it, I no longer had any desire to play it. I've thought hard about it, but I'm still not sure how this happens.

    In part, I think, because it gets called out at bluegrass jams, and it's not a bluegrass song. Whereas even a chestnut like Old Home Place, or Rocky Top still fits in to a BG jam. And maybe another part of the problem is that the verses are personal and idiosyncratic in a way that's more typical of a pop song than a 'folk' song.

    Anyway, I still think about from time to time and wonder at how unpredictable matters of musical taste and appetites tend to be.
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  7. #29
    String-Bending Heretic mandocrucian's Avatar
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    Default Re: Not "Wagon Wheel" again - are there other popular band songs?

    This one should be revived and put back into circulation:


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    Default Re: Not "Wagon Wheel" again - are there other popular band songs?

    or maybe this:


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    Default Re: Not "Wagon Wheel" again - are there other popular band songs?

    But, getting back on track:

    I was in a band that got hired to play a sorority thing at NCSU. What did the co-eds call out? Little Cabin Home On The Hill? Gonna Settle Down? Down The Road?

    Nope - no how, no way. They called out Wagon Wheel.

    That job paid pretty darn good...

  10. #32
    Registered User Drew Egerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Not "Wagon Wheel" again - are there other popular band songs?

    The band I was in while in college at WCU had Wagon Wheel as a staple and our "fans" (friends) coud not get enough. As a disclaimer thoug, that was around 2006-2007 which is before it 'exploded' too much I think....and we were in college....playing for college kids.

    We made it pretty bluegrass-y. Our bass player who was a very rockabilly-type (and very good) would spin his bass around several times during one of the 'stop' points in the middle and then come back in with a sweet walk before we all joined back in. Pretty good if I say so myself. We even got to play it for Mountain Heritage Day on campus after a band called Whitewater Bluegrass Company, which sported the then-unknown Buddy Melton, now of Balsam Range fame. Claims to fame....lol.
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    Registered User sgrexa's Avatar
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    Default Re: Not "Wagon Wheel" again - are there other popular band songs?

    The Weight by the Band is always a crowd favorite, easy to play and sounds great with acoustic instruments.

    Sean

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    TBI survivor Richard J's Avatar
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    Default Re: Not "Wagon Wheel" again - are there other popular band songs?

    Hey Jon, do you have tabs for "Buckets of Rain" that you would share?
    I think, therefore, I pick.

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    Default Re: Not "Wagon Wheel" again - are there other popular band songs?

    Does anybody remember "Freebird" this still haunts me.

  14. #36
    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: Not "Wagon Wheel" again - are there other popular band songs?

    The band I was in here back in '88 was known as the band that actually DID "Free Bird." Not as an encore or only-if-you-ask deal - it was in our set list. The end part, with triple lead played on electric guitar, amplified acoustic guitar, and electric mandolin - unique. I was playing an EM-150 then, with single strings (too much trouble tuning the pairs).

    When I was playing in a classic country duo a dozen years ago here, we would get the odd "Free Bird!" The guitarist was fond of saying "Here's your free bird," coupled with an example of non-verbal communication. Being a rather nicer fellow than he, I took some time to devise a more pleasant response. I finally hit on two methods: a bluegrass version and a reggae version. The reggae version was pretty silly all right, but the bluegrass version was nice. And it got it over with real quick. Actually, I hardly ever got to, let alone past, the first refrain. That was enough to make everyone laugh and sometimes even get the fool who had "requested" it blush from embarrassment, having been shown the folly of his ways.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

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    Registered User Ray Neuman's Avatar
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    Default Re: Not "Wagon Wheel" again - are there other popular band songs?

    Music touches souls in ways words alone can not. Having spent the majority of my life interacting with Sr citizens, and seeing music "bring back" more then a hand full, I delight in ANY song that has that sort of power. Not many Christmases ago, we were singing "Oh Christmas tree" and a voice sprang up that had been silent for 10 years! Over played or not, "You are my sunshine", or any tune with that kind of power is a friend of mine! Some day, we all will perk up when a group of youngsters come in and play "Wagon Wheel"!
    Bulldog #24

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  17. #38
    Registered User Tom Smart's Avatar
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    Default Re: Not "Wagon Wheel" again - are there other popular band songs?

    Quote Originally Posted by Ray Neuman View Post
    Some day, we all will perk up when a group of youngsters come in and play "Wagon Wheel"!
    That will be the day I beg my caregivers to pull the plug.
    "Few noises are so disagreeable as the sound of the picking of a mandolin."

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  19. #39
    bon vivant jaycat's Avatar
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    Default Re: Not "Wagon Wheel" again - are there other popular band songs?

    About 20 years ago I bought the brand new John Cale release "Fragments of a Rainy Season" It contained a song that totally blew me away, called "Hallelujah." I checked the liner notes and saw that it was a Leonard Cohen composition.

    I could be wrong, but I think that was the first time it was covered (I know someone will correct me!) At least it was the first time I'd ever heard it. Since then, according to Wikipedia, it's been covered at least 300 times.

    Talk about done to death! I don't care if I never hear it again, even though it's probably one of the best popular songs ever written. So, yes, there is such a thing as death by (over)exposure.
    "The paths of experimentation twist and turn through mountains of miscalculations, and often lose themselves in error and darkness!"
    --Leslie Daniel, "The Brain That Wouldn't Die."

    Some tunes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa1...SV2qtug/videos

  20. #40
    Registered User Jon Hall's Avatar
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    Default Re: Not "Wagon Wheel" again - are there other popular band songs?

    I don't have the melody tabbed out. The chords are the basic I, IV. V and V7.
    Quote Originally Posted by Richard J View Post
    Hey Jon, do you have tabs for "Buckets of Rain" that you would share?

  21. #41
    Registered User Jon Hall's Avatar
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    Default Re: Not "Wagon Wheel" again - are there other popular band songs?

    In defense of "Wagon Wheel", because the lyrical phrasing isn't easy to sing and the accented up beat of the rhythm guitar is beyond most beginning guitarists, this oft heard song is still interesting.

  22. #42
    Registered User Dan Cole's Avatar
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    Default Re: Not "Wagon Wheel" again - are there other popular band songs?

    I had never heard this song until I read this thread.
    Go Vandals!

  23. #43
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    Default Re: Not "Wagon Wheel" again - are there other popular band songs?

    I was at a Saturday A.M. jam and somebody opened up a book, put it on the music stand and started to warble On Top Of Old Smokey. I hurredly beat it on down the line...sheesh.

  24. #44
    Purveyor of Sunshine sgarrity's Avatar
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    Default Re: Not "Wagon Wheel" again - are there other popular band songs?

    A book on a music stand is almost never a good sign!

  25. #45
    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: Not "Wagon Wheel" again - are there other popular band songs?

    Quote Originally Posted by jaycat View Post
    About 20 years ago I bought the brand new John Cale release "Fragments of a Rainy Season" It contained a song that totally blew me away, called "Hallelujah." I checked the liner notes and saw that it was a Leonard Cohen composition.
    The first time I heard this song was in an episode of "The West Wing." As I recall, it was playing during the funeral procession for the president's secretary, as it wound through the streets of the capital, to the cemetery, and her body was laid to rest. I sat in stunned silence during and after this sequence. I have rarely been so moved by anything I've seen on TV. I was suitably impressed to learn later who had written the song and who had performed this version (Jeff Buckley). I'm not sure if it is one of the greatest songs of all time - though it really might be - but that first verse is really well written, a nearly perfect combination of music and words, of self-referential and universal themes. Really well thought-out. And it just goes on from there, with its far-ranging subject matter and captivating rhyme scheme. OK, maybe it IS one of the all-time greats.

    I'm not sure if its having been covered over 300 times qualifies it as being overdone. If it showed up in countless jams and campfire circles, that would be a different story. But I don't think I've ever heard anyone pull it out in those or similar contexts. It's a warhorse, rather demanding for a singer, so I would think it unlikely to come up in such a casual situation. And personally, I haven't gotten anywhere near hearing it enough, let alone too much.

    BTW, the record for cover versions is "Yesterday," by The Beatles (Paul McCartney, really). Last I checked it was over 2200. But that was the day before yesterday ...
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

    Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!

  26. #46
    bon vivant jaycat's Avatar
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    Default Re: Not "Wagon Wheel" again - are there other popular band songs?

    Quote Originally Posted by journeybear View Post
    . . . It's a warhorse, rather demanding for a singer, so I would think it unlikely to come up in such a casual situation. . . .
    If Leonard Cohen could sing it, anyone can sing it.

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    Registered User tkdboyd's Avatar
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    Default Re: Not "Wagon Wheel" again - are there other popular band songs?

    Having very little contact with POP Culture of any sorts (barring what I get from the Cafe) I was rather shocked to hear a voice from an old Carolina College band singing "Wagon Wheel". Never back in the early '90s would I have thought Darius Rucker would have gone from playing in places like the Lighthouse Tavern, The Blind Tiger, etc...to top 40 country. That is fine with me, but came as a bit of a shock!

  28. #48
    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: Not "Wagon Wheel" again - are there other popular band songs?

    Quote Originally Posted by jaycat View Post
    If Leonard Cohen could sing it, anyone can sing it.
    Well, he wrote it, so he gets to sing it. I could sing it, but I won't, out of kindness to all within earshot.

    BTW, the movie of his Isle Of Wight show, from 1970, I think, was a revelation about his singing ability. Or perhaps a better way to put it would be his ability to put over a song. After many delays and a riot or two, he and his band went on in the dead of night and put on a very good show. I recall he sang very few notes on pitch but was utterly compelling anyway. Not sure how he did this, but if I ever figure it out and use it for my own singing, look out! I could be the next Leonard Cohen. There is such a demand for this ...
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

    Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!

  29. #49

    Default Re: Not "Wagon Wheel" again - are there other popular band songs?

    My two favorite versions. Both genius.



  30. #50
    Registered User Cryo's Avatar
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    Default Re: Not "Wagon Wheel" again - are there other popular band songs?

    Quote Originally Posted by allenhopkins View Post
    Jams where certain songs are banned seem odd to me; if someone had suggested Foggy Mountain Breakdown or Rocky Top, would the answer have been the same? I resurrected Fox On the Run at a join-in open mic a few months ago. "Back in the day" that was played over and over again, perhaps not so much now.

    Ya know, one of the reasons songs get overplayed is that they're good songs. We had a "Dylan night" at our folk club tonight (Bob turned 73 this week, can you believe it?), and I led Blowing In the Wind. Someone said to me, "Well, I guess we can sing that song now, since everyone's not singing it any more." So I guess, if everyone else is singing a song, we "cool people" can't?

    No bluegrass content, but I went to a Tom Paxton concert a year or two ago, and he sang Last Thing On My Mind -- a song he wrote 50 years ago, that's been covered by many, and sung at a zillion hootenannies and sing-arounds, open mics and campfires. He said, "People ask me if I get tired of singing that song. I say to them 'Would you?'"

    So, I try not to be snobbish. If someone wants to do Will the Circle Be Unbroken or Mountain Dew, well, what's the harm? Doing seniors' programs as much as I do, I must sing You Are My Sunshine 150 times a year. Still a good song, and people know it and join in. That's not necessarily a bad thing, is it?

    Well said. These songs are played because they are popular. We should aim to please our audience as much as possible. Here is a song that was not played very often, but now we are getting requests for it (since the Coen Brothers movie "Inside Llewyn Davis"):

    http://youtu.be/gBjwIyYLuzw

    A real folk number - Railroader's Lament (or 500 miles, but I don't like using that name because we also play the Proclaimer's song "I'm Gonna Be" which is also known as 500 miles).

    We are fortunate to have a great vocalist for this one - Shannon really shines here.

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