music everyone loves

[JeffD]

I've heard there are colleges in most if not all of the Southern cities mentioned in the song, and the single is in the jukeboxes in the college unions and cafeterias etc, and also all around those towns. It surely gets a LOT of play that way.

Two of my favorites (and very mandolinny).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kj59fB9WKus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hqqb2OHkEQ


This might be a real crowd pleaser.

[Steve Ostrander]

When we play and people start singing along, I know we've got them. Some of the most popular songs we do are: Ring of Fire, Amie, Copperhead Road, Up on Cripple Creek, Ripple, If I Had a Million Dollars, Losing My Religion, Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard, Norwegian Wood, The Weight, Southern Cross, The Galway Girl, Uncle John's Band.

Criticize me if you want, but the crowd likes them and we are paid to entertain the crowd. They're not there because we're the Beatles, they're' there because they want to hear the Beatles music. Fine by me.

Speaking of the Beatles, we do a nice BG version of I've Just Seen a Face.

[Ky Slim]

Just a suggestion - Let's get off "Wagon Wheel." ... The OP is asking about other songs that get an immediate positive response. There have been a few suggestions, with a bit of analysis as to why and how they have this effect....

Well I said "Whiskey River" by Willie Nelson so I'll try to give a tid bit about it. For some mysterious reason, songs about drinking go over best at times when the audience is drinking. For the same reason, these songs might flop when used at times when the audience is not drinking.

Beyond that... Whiskey River (and many tunes like it) "catches" or "lands on" the IV chord from the I chord in the chorus. This I - IV movement seems to make people want to groove and dance. Whiskey River goes on to turnaround with the V chord but there are a lot of solo sections in lots tunes that move simply from the I to the IV and back. "Fire on the Mountain" by the Dead is just a I - IV groove for the whole song.

[bigskygirl]

Anything by these two....

[journeybear]

I have a friend who is an above average singer song writer, playing guitar and harmonica. He tells the story of a jazz player who asked him why he doesn't "move on" form I IV and V. My friend says he told him that he sees no reason to move on until I IV V has been "mined out" and that there is still a whole lot to be crafted from those chord progressions. He says moving beyond may be interesting and good, and even inspired, but "moving on" implies "we have done as much as can be done here".

Perhaps. It's a good enough progression, just been showing up a lot for the last ten years or so. I thought I invented it in a song I wrote back in 1980, just as an intro/interlude riff ( in this it actually goes I / V / Vim - Vim V / IV), then later I found Dylan uses it in "Don't Think Twice," when he sings "You just kind of wasted my precious time." Prophetic? Perhaps ...

As has been shown on another thread, there are so many of these songs out there people have done mashup videos. Indeed, you could do a whole set of just these songs. Heck, a whole night, if you wanted. Do this often enough you might finally get enough people so sick of them you might at long last kill the trend. But it's more likely you will get bottles thrown at you, dragged off the stage, tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail - but the beat will go on, and on, and on, with or without you. But don't let the thought of that discourage you. Please try. It should make an interesting youtube video.

Most anything by Jimmy Buffett or the The Band.

Funny you should mention it. Here IN Margaritaville, things are a little different. You hear Buffett songs all up and down the street, mostly done from fair to poor. Tourists love it; locals are over it. One bar I've played in - Schooner Wharf, one of the most popular, among tourists and locals alike - has a very strict "No Buffett" policy. And we'd get requests - all the time - and had to politely make excuses. My current band does occasionally do "Pencil Thin Moustache," and we've done it there. I was apprehensive each time. But it doesn't sound like the rest of his stuff; in fact, it sounds like the ragtime/swing stuff we do a lot (why we do it, and only that one of his), so it slipped in very smoothly. And slipped past management, too.

"Fire on the Mountain" by the Dead is just a I - IV groove for the whole song.

Eh? It's I VII (or B A).

Oh, and jaycat - right. Not every Grateful Dead song. Not every Beatles song, either.

[Ky Slim]

Eh? It's I VII (or B A).

Woops. Right you are! That also grooves!

[crisscross]

Most anything by CCR

Not every Grateful Dead song.

You should avoid "Anthem of the sun"

[Upnorth]

I think the thing about Wagon Wheel is that it is a very cheerful song. People tend to respond well to a cheerful song, especially over a beer.

[allenhopkins]

As far as bluegrass goes, some of the "sure fire" songs from my BG days were:
Foggy Mountain Breakdown
Rocky Top
Fox On the Run
You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
Amie
Tennessee Stud
Will the Circle Be Unbroken
Wabash Cannonball

Other songs that worked well in the BG/acoustic genre included:
Teach Your Children
Country Roads
Peaceful Easy Feeling
Friend Of the Devil
Proud Mary

Since I'm [a] a folkie, and [2] old, I'd add some other well-gnawed chestnuts:
Goodnight Irene
Leaving On a Jet Plane
This Land Is Your Land
500 Miles
Michael, Row the Boat Ashore
MTA
What'll We Do With the Drunken Sailor
Low Bridge (The Erie Canal Song)

And around St. Patrick's Day:
When Irish Eyes Are Smiling
The Wild Rover
Gilgarry Mountain (Whiskey In the Jar)
My Wild Irish Rose
Toora Loora Loora
Black Velvet Band

One song that I've found that almost everyone knows, but which no one would want to perform in a club (as opposed to a nursing home or elementary school), is I've Been Working On the Railroad.

[JeffD]

Criticize me if you want, but the crowd likes them and we are paid to entertain the crowd.

No criticism at all Steve. I have nothing but respect for you and those who are able to do what you are doing. And I think you are right, they paid, make them happy.


I am not able to do that, and try and avoid performance opportunities as much as possible.

Another example. I think it was Mike Edgerton who explained that you don't want two instrumentals tunes in a row. Three singing songs and then you can do an instrumental. Some minimum formula, I forget.

I can't sing, first of all. But also I don't really like playing songs - they are so literal, they mean exactly what the words say. I much prefer to play a tune, where the meaning is abstract, and the feeling engendered in the listener have mysterious origins.

But it seems its true audiences prefer songs.

So I leave performing to you that do it well.

[StuartE]

One song that I've found that almost everyone knows, but which no one would want to perform in a club (as opposed to a nursing home or elementary school), is I've Been Working On the Railroad.

It'll get the crowd going in Texas. (It's the UT fight song "Eyes of Texas")

Horace Silver's hardbop classic "The Preacher" is said to be a reworking of Working on the Railroad. Maybe not so popular in BG circles.

John McCann, Julian Lage and friends did a great version of Working on the Railroad a few years ago.



John McGann- Octave Mandolin Julian Lage- Guitar Matt Glaser- Violin
Sonny Barbato- Accordion Margaret Glaspy- Vocal John Repucci- Bass

[RebYell]

I have found any sonf by Alabama does just find around where I live....same goes for the Zac Brown Band.

Interesting bunch of people that I surround myself with, but their taste in music is great.

[Beanzy]

Anytime someone cranks up the Ballad of Jed Clampett in one of our jams all the pickers grin like it's some guilty secret and all the punters listen then try to join in.

[bigskygirl]

.....Funny you should mention it. Here IN Margaritaville, things are a little different. You hear Buffett songs all up and down the street, mostly done from fair to poor. Tourists love it; locals are over it. One bar I've played in - Schooner Wharf, one of the most popular, among tourists and locals alike - has a very strict "No Buffett" policy. And we'd get requests - all the time - and had to politely make excuses. My current band does occasionally do "Pencil Thin Moustache," and we've done it there. I was apprehensive each time. But it doesn't sound like the rest of his stuff; in fact, it sounds like the ragtime/swing stuff we do a lot (why we do it, and only that one of his), so it slipped in very smoothly. And slipped past management, too. .....

Right on JB, I grew up in the Miami area and spent many, many weekends in the Keys and Key West, er...excuse me....the Conch Republic.....

I've seen the other JB so many times I can't count them, all before he became the machine he is today. I saw him again a few years ago and thought I was back at the Miami Marine Stadium (does that even exist anymore...), set list was the same one I heard 30 years ago but still a great entertainer.

I was last down in the Keys in the late 90s and saw the "no Buffett" signs and chuckled....he's laughing all the way to the bank.

Now that I think about it, you should post one of those sunsets from Mallory Square sometime, we could use some sun today here, foggy and cold with snow predicted later.....

[sgrexa]

Germans liked the Robbie Robbertson penned "Am Tag, als Connie Cramer starb"

Well, well, learn something new everyday! Can you translate that, not the whole song, but does it loosely have anything to do with driving Dixie down?

Germans like to have a good time, and Dieter Thomas Kuhn knows how to deliver:



Sean

[crisscross]

No it has absolutely nothing to do with the civil war. It's a song about drug abuse. "The day Connie Kramer died". (and the joints turned into trips, there was no holding back, people began to talk about him but no one offered help...)
Musically it sounds more like Joan Baez' version than the Bands'.
Juliane Werding had her first number one hit with this cover 1972. She was 15 years then. 2009 she retired from showbiz and went back to work as an alternative practitioner but Connie Kramer is still popular.

The song in the Dieter Thomas Kuhn Video is originally by Udo Jürgens who recently died.
It's a song about eldery ladys meeting to enjoy some creamy tarts.

[journeybear]

I was last down in the Keys in the late 90s and saw the "no Buffett" signs and chuckled....he's laughing all the way to the bank.

One of the local free papers ran an article today about a contest to win free tix to a concert by him, a rare occurrence here. Post a set list suggestion (27 songs) to win. I've never seen him, and I'd be psyched, especially with it being in a really nice small venue. Then I saw the date of the proposed show - April 1. I may have to write a letter to the editor. Of course, it could be for real. Details at his web site. Supposedly.

Now that I think about it, you should post one of those sunsets from Mallory Square sometime, we could use some sun today here, foggy and cold with snow predicted later.....

At the risk of ticking off some people, I'll do that. This is from ten days ago, the evening after a memorial parade here for a recently deceased musician (he was a drummer, OK, but a good one, well-thought-of, and an impressive turnout for this). My band was playing its usual Sunday gig at a beachside bistro on the south side of the island, and this remarkable sunset appeared. When a friend posted a photo on facebook, I recognized it immediately. They're not often this spectacular.

[bigskygirl]

Wow!! Super pic! Thanks for the memories, I've participated in that nightly ritual, one needs to experience that before they leave this planet. Suggesting a JB set list would be fun, at some shows he will play songs the audience chooses, he has said that he and his band can play any song he's written over the last 40 years. It's fun when someone calls out something obscure and they nail it.

To the OP, sorry for hijacking your thread back to regularly scheduled programming.....

I would vote for Pencil Thin Mustache as well. After our own JB mentioned it I went and looked up some sheet music and I think it sounds great on the mandolin either strumming or cross picking. Dang, another song to learn....

And I still like Wagon Wheel....

[journeybear]

I do too; just won't do it. Well, I will, if someone throws a $50 into the bucket. Used to do it every night in another band. This one ... nahhh. The bass player is a home town buddy of one of the OCMS guys, and has heard it too many times. Besides, it just isn't our style.

I guess a different way of looking at this (and in keeping with the topic) is that these are songs that almost everyone loves - with the exception of the band.

[Wesley]

"Goodnight Irene" anyone?

And have you noticed that at festivals everyone loves the Dixieland band but no one owns a Dixieland recording? Hmmmm...

I saw a sign at Preservation Hall in New Orleans. As I remember it was about suggested tips. It said - "Requests: $5.00. "When the Saints Go Marching In" $20.00.

[Tom Coletti]

Fleetwood Mac?

Everyone loves Fleetwood Mac, right? Oh wait, this is a bluelawn thread...







--Tom

[TonyP]

Because I've never listened to pop radio I'm always surprised what gets audiences going. We used to do a really different version of "Who'll Stop the Rain" by CCR. The music was double time to the vocals and the whole thing is faster than the original so I could see on people's faces the quizzical look until we hit the chorus. The other one that always surprised me was to see how many people would sing along with "Trail of Tears" by Peter Rowan. And not being tuned into popular music has saved me from being burned out on like Wagon Wheel which I'd never heard until we were doing a wedding and had to learn it for that. It was not as well received as some of our own stuff. So that idea of what gets a audience going remains a mystery to me.

But we never play bars or venues like that and prefer casuals where we are not expected to be a live jukebox. I'm not looking down on those that do entertain and play covers, I'm just not built that way. I don't listen to anything I used to listen to, especially when I was in school. Musical ADD? And when I go out to hear some live music I expect to hear some thing new and hopefully original. So I think that's what other folks want to hear too.

The idea my jazz improv teacher gave us about soloing has always stuck in the back of my mind. Start off with something familiar then stretch it out and take it some place unexpected, then if you can bring them back.

There are so many good song writers that can write new songs that sound familiar, have a great story but go some place unexpected. Jeff White was one. I think he got it from being in AKUS early on when her old bass player used to write their songs. His stuff was the epitome of that IMHO. Where you hadn't heard the song before but wanted to sing along. That's a real hook.

[Ivan Kelsall]

I've been in a few jam sessions at UK Bluegrass festivals when somebody kicked off an 'Eagles' song (or 10) - they never fail,especially 'Take It Easy' or any of the more up-temp songs. They're guaranteed to get the non-pickers gathered round in droves
for a sing-along,
Ivan

[Grateful Dawg]

Johnny Cash....

[crisscross]

Yes, everyone can hum the trumpet melody to "Ring of Fire"