I hereby propose–as I’m rejoining the bass playing ranks–forming a band that plays nothing but old covers of songs every one is sick of. We’ll either make a shitlod of money, or get killed trying!
All of the songs mentioned in this thread are GREAT songs! All of them! Well, except for that Neil Diamond one.
I don’t really have a problem with any of the songs mentioned in this thread, probably for the reason that CanvasShoes stated:
Where I do have a problem is somewhat related: when the band wants to play a song or songs that few (if any) outside the musicians’ community have ever heard of.
I’m really starting to hate blues for this reason. So often, I’ve heard the band say something like, “This next one is from an old 78 of Little Blind Jerry Joe Jefferson that we found in Grandma’s attic,” then launches into a fifteen-minute rendition of something that features a skilful, yet not really different from any other, blues guitar solo that never seems as if it’s going to end.
And then they play another one from Little Blind Jerry Joe. Then another, and another. Four unknown but extremely long songs later, an hour has passed. Those who haven’t left are buried in conversations, watching the TV, or just sitting with a glazed look. At this point, I usually pay my tab and head down the street to where somebody is playing “Mustang Sally,” “Louie Louie,” and “Wild Thing.”
I don’t mind being exposed to music from artists that are new to me. But I like it diluted with music that we all find familiar. From what I’ve seen in my many years of being a pub/club patron, the band that can keep the audience there, and ordering enough drinks, may get another gig at that pub or club. But if they play music that makes the audience bored (or worse, leave), they probably won’t.
Wilson Pickett, born Prattville, Alabama, not 15 minutes from where I grew up. Mustang Sally fucking rocks, and Pickett has the most divine soul voice that has ever existed.
This mini-drama brought to you by my (ex)stepdad, who used to play the bass:
[drunk]“PLAY ROLLING ON THE RIVER”[/drunk]
“No. And it’s called Proud Mary, asshole.”
[playing along]PLAY FUCKIN ROLLIN ON THE FUCKIN RIV-ER![/pa]
Sartre wrote “Hell is other people.”
If you are in a band that plays cover tunes, you obviously understand this. Ditto those working in music shops as someone else grabs a Gibson and mangles “Stairway.”
(As an aside to the music shop workers-are the DJ’s all coming in and scratching James Brown’s “Funky Drummer?”)
For me, Sartre’s words ne’er rang more truly than when J. Geils put out the songs “Freezeframe” and “Centerfold.” I don’t care what you think of the songs (passable pop-rock), they were transformed into instruments of torture.
I was in the boy’s PE class, and we were doing things like archery and wrestling, etc. Meanwhile, the girl’s PE class was doing aerobics. We shared that gym for more than a month, 5 days a week, 50 minutes a day. The only two songs they played were the 45’s of “Freezeframe” and “Centerfold.”
Hell, I tell you. Pure unadulterated HELL.
Oh don’t get me wrong, I love “Sweet Home Chicago”. Excellent song. But if you actually live here and go to any bars/sporting events/public events of most any kind, you get the dubious privilege of hearing someone mangle this song nearly every time, it seems. It gets kind of old after a while.
Bring on the rapping Granny!
What? She’s hilarious.
Neither here nor there with the OP; I like Mustang Sally, but there are plenty of songs done to death, so I hear ya. When I was going to blues festivals as my job, if I heard (Hey! Hey!) The Blues Is Alright! onemoretime…
Gotta shout out, though, for Sir Mack Rice, who wrote Mustang Sally, not Wilson Pickett. “Ride, Sally, Ride” comes from the old children’s rhyme, “Little Sally Walker (sittin’ in a saucer)” Them’s the facts.
elelle - then who is Bonny Rice, who is listed on my old LPs as Mustang Sally’s author? (I presume she and Mack are/were related.) Sounds like there’s a story here.
Am I right in assuming that, even though Pickett didn’t write Mustang Sally, he was the first to commercially record it? At any rate, it’s a Pickett song, in the sense that he popularized it and did what most of us think of as the definitive version.
(FWIW, my old LPs list Pickett as co-author of “Midnight Hour” along with Steve Cropper.)
Yup, that’s true, RT. Cropper actually co-wrote quite a few soul standards. One of my coolest experiences was seeing Booker T and the MG’s (the real deal…everybody was there except poor, dead Al Jackson) play the 9:30 Club in DC, and near the end, they did a few of the Cropper-cowritten songs. It was neat to hear Cropper say, “I remember the night Sam and I wrote this one,” then launch into “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay.”
My husband is a blues guitarist. He’s actually okay with “Mustang Sally.” He can’t stand “Midnight Hour,” though.
I, on the other hand…well, “hate” is a strong word, when it comes to how I feel about “Mustang Sally.” Not strong enough, though. Dear Goddess, I fucking loathe that song. The pure, undiluted, undirected rage that swells within me when I hear it makes musicians pack their gear and get day gigs. Oh. I really, really hate that song.
The only song that causes that kind of reaction in my husband, though, is “Freebird” (the one time I jokingly flicked a lighter and hollered “FREEEEEEEBIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRD!” at him was also the one and only time in our marriage that he’s ever said “fuck you” to me). I’ve actually heard him play it, once. Once. He tore it up. Rocked it out. It was stunning. Had the crowd on their freaking knees. His band was looking at him in amazement, shaking their heads, swearing he was channelling. When I told him how surprised I was that he’d actually played it, and just how outstanding it was, he just looked at me and said “glad you liked it. Remember it, because you probably won’t hear it from me again for at least another ten years.”
Well, elelle I’m not, but: According to this site Sir Mack Rice was born Bonnie Rice. I suspect he changed his name for stage purposes. He wrote “Mustang Sally” in 1965 and Wilson Pickett recorded the first popular version of it.
This site attributes the lyrics to “Bonny Rice”.
If ellelle comes back, you’ll probably get the “rest of the story” as that worthy individual knows much about music.
Well, down here in Houston, Texas we got a little dance we do called the “Tighten Up.”
*Nu nu nuuu nu, nu nu nuuu nu, ba, dododododoooo, turn it up.
Big wheels keep on turn ‘n.
Carry me home to see my kin. . .*
Oh, and should I be embarrassed that I can sing the entire lyrics to The Rodeo Song?
As a party player, I have several grades of songs that I get requested to play:
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Ten Guitars: I HATE this song. when ever I get asked to play this, I play a song I learned off a Billy Connolly album called “I’m really getting sick of 10 guitars”
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the Fields of Athenry: Always asked to play this by a drunk teenager or mid twenties idiot with a gang of mates. I really detest that song.
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Anything by Joe Dolan: Usually by the same drunk woman who asked me to play 10 guitars.
As an aside: I love Johnny Cash for 2 things. 1) singing Sunday morning, coming down, and 2) His latest album, for giving me some great versions of recent songs that I can sing. ( my vocal range is about the same as JC, although my voice is nowhere near as good as his. Infact, it suits drunken party playing down to the ground.
Or even worse, they “treat” us to a crappy orignal that the lead guitarist’s cousin wrote that also features a 5 minute drum solo that no one (not even baryshnikov [sp?]) could dance to.
Now, I realize that many bands have some great originals, so please don’t think I’m dissing bar bands!!
I’m just saying, if you have a song that no one gets up and dances to (or seems to enjoy) you may want to drop it from your repertoire even if you (the band) thinks it’s the greatest song since RnR’s birth.
Me, either. 
Them’s fightin’ words.