# Mustang Sally **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 30, 2003, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mustang-sally/165286 "2003-03-30T21:55:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![vl\_mungo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc8723/32.png) [@vl\_mungo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vl_mungo)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mustang-sally/165286/1 "2003-03-30T21:55:16Z")
Okay, I’m pitting the song, the bands that play it, and you rubes who shout out requests for it. When I first heard that piece of shit, 20 million years (and plays) ago, I thought it was okay. Not the best song in the world, but you know, fine. Now I can’t walk into a bar without hearing it once (or on a couple of occasions twice) an evening, usually as the “now we’re getting down to business” part of the show. I am so fucking tired of these half assed bar bands hacking out this chestnut… tired, unimaginative, boring, predicable, lame etc. etc. This is symptomatic of what’s wrong with North American culture these days. And you people who dance to it like you’ve never heard it before and it’s the greatest song in the world being played by the best band ever… WTF!!! You pack of idiots wouldn’t recognize a good song if it kicked you in your fat, wiggling asses. Bands… aren’t there a million other songs that are at least as good, have audience recognition, and haven’t been done to death? The playing of Mustang Sally is now my queue to make a hasty, and angry exit… any band that plays that so-called song can _fuck right off_, and any bar that suffers it to be played can do without my prodigious drinking habit. And I warn you, “Ring of Fire” is also nearing this realm of insipidness. Come on! There are plenty of other great Cash tunes… play one of them. ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mustang-sally/165286/2 "2003-03-30T22:03:00Z")
Yeah I fucking HATE it too. Especially when people do it at karaoke. Especially the fucking awful “riiiide, Sally riiiide” bit. I blame **The Commitments.** ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mustang-sally/165286/3 "2003-03-30T22:04:57Z")
Freebird! ---
**Author:** ![Sylkyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/da6949/32.png) [@Sylkyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylkyn)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mustang-sally/165286/4 "2003-03-30T22:10:17Z")
Great. Now I’m gonna hear this damn song in my head all day…and think about _line dancing_… Blech. ---
**Author:** ![Francesca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@Francesca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francesca)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mustang-sally/165286/5 "2003-03-30T22:29:41Z")
I also hate Mustang Sally and all it stands for. Hear hear. ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mustang-sally/165286/6 "2003-03-30T22:31:18Z")
Actually I don’t even know what it stands for. Except fucking terrible, hoary old music. ---
**Author:** ![butter\_pie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@butter\_pie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butter_pie)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mustang-sally/165286/7 "2003-03-30T22:35:10Z")
I’m happy to say I haven’t got a damned clue what this thread is about! ---
**Author:** ![Hoops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoops/32/6408_2.png) [@Hoops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoops)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mustang-sally/165286/8 "2003-03-30T22:37:02Z")
Well, as a musician who often does blues/funk/soul gigs, I can say that we try very very hard not to play that song for all the reasons in the OP. In fact, we have a semi-tongue-in-cheek response if someone asks: “Mustang Sally? Sorry, that’s a $200 request.” On more than one occasion, someone has paid it. But, from the other side of the stage, I can see that some people might take exception to this attitude. After all, for good or ill, it’s a well-loved song. And more often then not, the band is there to please the crowd, so if the crowd _really_ wants to do their crazy-go-nuts thing and yell RIDE SALLY RIDE when the singer points to them, we’ll give 'em what they want. We have plenty of more nourishing and (sadly) less well known nuggets in the set to balance things out. Ditto Brown Eyed Girl. This applies to club dates only. The put-upon (but well-paid) wedding musician must play all and smile. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mustang-sally/165286/9 "2003-03-30T22:53:43Z")
Isn’t a “mustang” slang for a transvestite hooker? Oh, screw Johnny Cash. When Willie Nelson was playing in my uncle’s honky-tonk in Waco, JC was considered a punk, a wannabe who took on “prison blues” airs after spending a couple nights in the slam for drug possession. “Feh”, as they say in Lubbock. ---
**Author:** ![vl\_mungo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc8723/32.png) [@vl\_mungo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vl_mungo)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mustang-sally/165286/10 "2003-03-31T00:41:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hoops \* > \*\*“Mustang Sally? Sorry, that’s a $200 request.” > > On more than one occasion, someone has paid it.\*\* That does _it_… there is no god. ---
**Author:** ![j\_kat\_251](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/71c47a/32.png) [@j\_kat\_251](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j_kat_251)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mustang-sally/165286/11 "2003-03-31T01:20:08Z")
Brown Eyed Girl is a totally cool song. Mustang Sally, however, is totally not. I can’t get the image of that crazy bitch from Bandits going “Ride, pony, ride”. Haha. Grates on your nerves after a while. Riiiide, asshole, riiiide. ---
**Author:** ![Davebear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@Davebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Davebear)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mustang-sally/165286/12 "2003-03-31T01:29:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by j\_kat\_251 \* > \*\*Riiiide, asshole, riiiide. \*\* Umm…the anal sex thread is in IMHO, if you’re looking to ride an ass ho. 😉 And, doesn’t THAT make for an interesting sentence. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Nightsong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nightsong/32/3083_2.png) [@Nightsong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightsong)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mustang-sally/165286/13 "2003-03-31T01:36:53Z")
For me, “Mustang Sally” is acceptable if you are actually **in a Mustang** , preferably a '64 1/2 to a '69 model, or at a classic car rally with the aforementioned car. But other times? Why? I just can’t see it being played at a wedding reception, unless the couple has good memories of making out in the backseat of a 'Stang… * * * \<\< Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy. \>\> ---
**Author:** ![Davebear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@Davebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Davebear)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mustang-sally/165286/14 "2003-03-31T01:44:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by vl\_mungo \* > \*\*That does _it_… there is no god. \*\* There IS a god. And, he/she/it is laughing at you! 😃 At the last company dinner/dance, they hired a lame-ass wedding band to provide background music during dinner, with dancing to follow. One of my co-workers, who is otherwise a fairly sane, and really cool, guy, and was sitting next to me at the dinner table made the mistake of mentioning that he loves Neil Diamond. Okay, Neil had a couple good songs, several centuries ago, but this guy, I’ll call him C, likes ALL Neil’s music. The subject came up because I had made some remark about the crap they were playing making me lose my appetite. Someone else, countered with “Well, at least it’s not 'You Don’t Bring Me Flowers, Any More”. When I responded that I would puncture my own eardrums with a salad fork, if they were to inflict that god-awful nightmare on us, and that the Geneva Conventions prohibit such torture, C went off on a three minute rant about what a wonderful song it was. It was actually a pretty good/funny rant, but when he got carried away, and said he’d dance with S (another guy, and our boss), if they played it, I was out of my seat like a shot. The bandleader was nice enough to agree to play it, even though it wasn’t part of their normal repetoire (or so he claimed), when I explained I had a bet riding on it. Didn’t cost me a cent, although I DID have to suffer through the song. But, we now have digital video of C dancing, cheek to cheek, with S. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mustang-sally/165286/15 "2003-03-31T01:53:00Z")
Let me be the first to say I _like_ Mustang Sally. I’ll go back and crawl under my rock now. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mustang-sally/165286/16 "2003-03-31T01:59:02Z")
Hey! I _like_ Mustang Sally! I liked it when Wilson Pickett’s version hit the charts, and I still like it as done by bar bands today. I give it an 8. It’s got a good beat and you can dance to it. SO…😛 😛 😛 ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mustang-sally/165286/17 "2003-03-31T02:01:31Z")
Ditto for “Johnny B. Goode”. As a solo acoustic guy, my Done to Death award goes to either Brown-Eyed Girl or Margaritaville. I’ll play 'em, but not until I’m drunk. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mustang-sally/165286/18 "2003-03-31T02:07:28Z")
**Ruby** : Ours was pretty close to a simulpost, due to the slowness of the board tonight. Anyways, what say me and you cut outta’ here? This place is filled with a bunch 'a deadbeats. We’ll go dance somewhere that’s got a good band and where the other people appreciate good music. 😉 _Play That Funky Music, White Boy_ ---
**Author:** ![j\_kat\_251](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/71c47a/32.png) [@j\_kat\_251](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j_kat_251)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mustang-sally/165286/19 "2003-03-31T02:17:16Z")
I don’t think you are legally allowed to perform Margaritaville while sober. It’s just not cricket. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mustang-sally/165286/20 "2003-03-31T02:49:51Z")
I **just** get the Hammond B-3 organ sound on my keyboard for that song and now you guys are telling me you don’t like it? Damn. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mustang-sally/165286.md?page=2)