# 30 Day Song Challenge, number 26: a song that you can play on an instrument **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 1, 2016, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-day-song-challenge-number-26-a-song-that-you-can-play-on-an-instrument/761512 "2016-08-01T23:26:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-day-song-challenge-number-26-a-song-that-you-can-play-on-an-instrument/761512/41 "2016-08-03T23:55:52Z")
Hey, I love the drums – and drummers – and also wish I had any talent in that particular area. I only mack on drummers out of the Grand Tradition of drummer jokes, and because it makes me feel like a Big Man when I’m called upon to play my tuba. (My less embarrassing instruments are flute, tenor saxophone, cornet, and piano. I don’t actually play the ukulele or any other stringed instrument, although I know the guitar chords for “Mr. Tamborine Man.”) ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-day-song-challenge-number-26-a-song-that-you-can-play-on-an-instrument/761512/42 "2016-08-04T00:46:53Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > I often describe my guitar playing as that of a frustrated drummer. Then you’re doing it right, at least [according to James Brown](http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2014/07/how_get_on_up_skimps_on_james_brown_s_revolutionary_music.html). > [@](#): > > In one scene, Brown and his band are rehearsing “Cold Sweat,” his epochal 1967 single; he’s got an idea for how it should work, and his band is complaining that it won’t be “musical.” Brown browbeats them into playing what he’s got in mind, explaining that they should treat all of their instruments as drums, and suddenly the song comes together. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-day-song-challenge-number-26-a-song-that-you-can-play-on-an-instrument/761512/43 "2016-08-04T03:48:53Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > I only mack on drummers out of the Grand Tradition of drummer jokes… Oh yeah totally getcha - a friend plays tympani in a symphony and apparently violists\* are the “drummers” of the symphony, and are apparently a fount of bountiful jokedom. Not sure why - my inquiry more or less got shrugged off, so I’m still baffled as to what why that’s the case. (ditto for stalwart, indestructible, visionary-with-wind-in-hair, most-likely-well-endowed drummers) \*and yes, that’s violists, not violinists. One time I tried to set up 8 glasses with water at different levels but after breaking two I thought - ok - best cut my losses…fuck this. And they were fucking love-taps too. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-day-song-challenge-number-26-a-song-that-you-can-play-on-an-instrument/761512/44 "2016-08-04T10:13:44Z")
The Viola not a featured instrument - it is an accompaniment instrument. It is focused on harmony parts more than main melody and takes no solos. The “saying” is that folks who can’t lead on violin end up on viola. It’s crap, just like folks who can’t play guitar “end up” on bass, but there ya go. I met violist Carol Cook in security at an airport. I asked what was in the pricey travel case and when I immediately knew who Mark O’Connor, master fiddle/jazz fiddle/ guitar player, whom she was going to play with, we had a nice conversation. Anyone who plays with O’Connor is a master. And she was beautiful! Link to her album with him: [Crossing Bridges - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_Bridges) ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-day-song-challenge-number-26-a-song-that-you-can-play-on-an-instrument/761512/45 "2016-08-04T14:08:29Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > The Viola not a featured instrument - it is an accompaniment instrument. It is focused on harmony parts more than main melody and takes no solos. The “saying” is that folks who can’t lead on violin end up on viola. It’s crap, just like folks who can’t play guitar “end up” on bass, but there ya go. > > I met violist Carol Cook in security at an airport. I asked what was in the pricey travel case and when I immediately knew who Mark O’Connor, master fiddle/jazz fiddle/ guitar player, whom she was going to play with, we had a nice conversation. Anyone who plays with O’Connor is a master. And she was beautiful! Link to her album with him: [Crossing Bridges - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_Bridges) Ah, I see - thanks. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-day-song-challenge-number-26-a-song-that-you-can-play-on-an-instrument/761512/46 "2016-08-04T14:15:46Z")
> [@Eddie The Horrible](#): > > Unfortunately this drummer can’t sit behind a kit and come up with ANY beat that will make someone (especially a casual listener) immediately identify it and go: “oh _that_ tune!” When the Levee Breaks We Got the Beat Come Together My Sharona Wipe Out Walk This Way Two Princes Lust for Life Sing Sing Sing I can go on and on… ETA: Oh, sorry, you meant yourself. I originally ready as “a drummer,” not “this drummer.” Surely you can do one of those, though. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-day-song-challenge-number-26-a-song-that-you-can-play-on-an-instrument/761512/47 "2016-08-04T17:42:49Z")
Big Star’s [Back of a Car](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SocFSUlEwtM). Well, the main guitar part at least. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-day-song-challenge-number-26-a-song-that-you-can-play-on-an-instrument/761512/48 "2016-08-04T21:39:52Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > When the Levee Breaks > We Got the Beat > Come Together > My Sharona > Wipe Out > Walk This Way > Two Princes > Lust for Life > Sing Sing Sing > > I can go on and on… > > ETA: Oh, sorry, you meant yourself. I originally ready as “a drummer,” not “this drummer.” Surely you can do one of those, though. No probs doing any of those - I’d readily wager, though, that a casual music listener would be able to identify only the beats for _Wipe Out_ and _When the Levee Breaks_ - the others don’t have a unique enough beat for someone to immediately link them to a song. Even _Walk This Way_’s open hi-hat (on the one) - _maybe_ some folks would identify, perhaps. Been known to do a pretty mean version of John Cage’s _4’33_ on both the dulcimer AND sousaphone. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-day-song-challenge-number-26-a-song-that-you-can-play-on-an-instrument/761512/49 "2016-08-04T21:52:06Z")
> [@Eddie The Horrible](#): > > No probs doing any of those - I’d readily wager, though, that a casual music listener would be able to identify only the beats for _Wipe Out_ and _When the Levee Breaks_ - the others don’t have a unique enough beat for someone to immediately link them to a song. Even _Walk This Way_’s open hi-hat (on the one) - _maybe_ some folks would identify, perhaps. > > Been known to do a pretty mean version of John Cage’s _4’33_ on both the dulcimer AND sousaphone. Hypnotized by Bob Welch is a good trademarked part. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-day-song-challenge-number-26-a-song-that-you-can-play-on-an-instrument/761512/50 "2016-08-04T22:04:52Z")
> [@Eddie The Horrible](#): > > No probs doing any of those - I’d readily wager, though, that a casual music listener would be able to identify only the beats for _Wipe Out_ and _When the Levee Breaks_ - the others don’t have a unique enough beat for someone to immediately link them to a song. Even _Walk This Way_’s open hi-hat (on the one) - _maybe_ some folks would identify, perhaps. > > Been known to do a pretty mean version of John Cage’s _4’33_ on both the dulcimer AND sousaphone. Ok, We Got the Beat I’ll take back. It’s not really unique enough. The rest I think are. But “Come Together”? Nothing else sounds like it. “Sing Sing Sing” only because it’s an old song, but of all those songs, that’s probably the only one my mother-in-law would know off the bat. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-day-song-challenge-number-26-a-song-that-you-can-play-on-an-instrument/761512/51 "2016-08-04T23:14:37Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > Hypnotized by Bob Welch is a good trademarked part. Indeed, very distinct, along with **Pulykamell** ’s offering of _Come Together_, despite the fact that nobody under, say, 40, could i.d. them, I’ll maintain. oh and I can whistle “A Whiter Shade of Pale” good enough to make Alex Ross to take note. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-day-song-challenge-number-26-a-song-that-you-can-play-on-an-instrument/761512/52 "2016-08-04T23:41:07Z")
I could easily ID _Come Together_, and I won’t be 40 until Sunday. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-day-song-challenge-number-26-a-song-that-you-can-play-on-an-instrument/761512/53 "2016-08-04T23:45:25Z")
> [@Fiddle\_Peghead](#): > > Big Star’s [Back of a Car](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SocFSUlEwtM). Well, the main guitar part at least. You had me at Hello. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-day-song-challenge-number-26-a-song-that-you-can-play-on-an-instrument/761512.md?page=2)