I was listening to Cab Calloway’s classic Minnie the Moocher, specifically the version from the Blues Brothers soundtrack, and it occurred to me: that song wouldn’t be the same without the audience participation. You know, where he sings “Hidey-hidey-hidey-ho,” and the audience sings back…
I’m sure that when Mr. Calloway pressed the record back in the 40’s, it was the band who sang back to him. And I guess the same is true for every song that requires audience participation; that is, that on the record it’s the band or whatever singing back at the lead vocalist.
Can we name some other popular songs that require audience participation?
There is a whole tradition in the blues callled “call and response” Usually, the call and response is performed by two instruments, or two singers. But some songs use the audience.
“Once in Love with Amy”, from the 1948 Frank Loesser musical WHERE’S CHARLEY? Although it’s not so much a response as an echo–the singer calls out the words and the audience sings them back. It’s very cute and was originally an improv by Ray Bolger; there’s a recording of him doing it in the London version, one of only two songs recorded from the original cast.
In 2000 I was at a Loesser tribute concert at Lincoln Center where David Garrison (yes, Marcy’s first husband in MWC) did it. We didn’t sound as good as the London audience but did OK considering the vast majority of people there were fifty years older than me–and I was 34.
“Once in Love with Amy”, from the 1948 Frank Loesser musical WHERE’S CHARLEY? Although it’s not so much a response as an echo–the singer calls out the words and the audience sings them back. It’s very cute and was originally an improv by Ray Bolger; there’s a recording of him doing it in the London version, one of only two songs recorded from the original cast.
In 2000 I was at a Loesser tribute concert at Lincoln Center where David Garrison (yes, Marcy’s first husband in MWC) did it. We didn’t sound as good as the London audience but did OK considering the vast majority of people there were fifty years older than me–and I was 34.
I don’t know if any of these requireaudience participation, but the OP made me think of a few that have the sing-back kind of thing going:
Chuck Berry, My Ding-A-Ling
Otis Redding, Fa Fa Fa Fa Fa (Sad Song)
and…oh dear…
Mac Davis, It’s Hard To Be Humble (I distinctly recall being eight or ten when I saw my mother lead a restaurant/bar full of drunks in the singalong part. It’s burned in my memory.)
The Flametrick Subs are a local psychobilly band, who bill themselves as Austin’s infamous hellhounds, and until the fire mentioned in a recent Pit thread had a regular Saturday gig. “Plastic Jesus” is a medley that includes a “Beer Run” section.
Singer: B-double E double R U N! Beer run!
Throng thrusts beer bottles into the air: Beer run!
Pretty much any song sung at a Cowboy Mouth concert.
The same for any song at The Red Elvises performances. Audience participation is definitely needed for I Wanna See You Bellydance, when they pull as many women as they can fit on stage to sing and dance.
The Flametrick Subs also have a miriad of drinking songs that require audience participation. They’re all in Norweagen/German, so I’m not too sure what’s being said, but they’re fun nonetheless.
Bands like this are the kind that rock. They play to the audience, for the audience, and for themselves as well. If they can get the audience to participate and enjoy the music, they visibly enjoy playing a hell of a lot more, which makes the audience participate more, and the circle continues and their concerts are just great. Much better than bands that just sit up there and play because “You paid to hear us play.”
That’s why I feel pity for myself that I never got to see The Presidents of the United States of America perform.
Along the same lines as Lola and Smapti’s suggestions, a song that doesn’t technically -=require=- audience participation, but you’d be hard pushed toplay it in any pub in Australia without the response from at least half the patrons…
The Angels, Am I Ever Gonna See your Face Again?
The standard response to the title line is a somewhat emphatic negative, colourfully expressed.
Tom Petty’s Breakdown. On Pack Up the Plantation the audience sings the entire first verse and chorus, which prompts Petty’s deadpan response “You folks are gonna put me out of a job.”
I’ve seen the video and Petty just looks out with a bemused expression, then sits on a monitor and waits for them to finish.
I listen to a lot of odd music, particularly Ren Faire stuff (more than half of my CDs were obtained by picking them up out of a basket and handing the recording artist cash). This style involves a lot of audience participation, particularly on drinking songs. The first one to spring to mind is “The Old Dun Cow” about a bunch of bar patrons who get paralytic drunk in the cellar while the tavern burns. Audience response is required at two points in the chorus–“As they [the firemen] came knocking at the door” is followed by everyone knocking on a table (or clapping) twice, and after the line “And somebody shouted MacIntyre” everyone shouts “MacIntyre”. I’ve heard a whole pub full of drunk Rennies sing “Whisky Johnny”, “Maggie May”, and “Swing a Cat”.
Audience response is also common in bawdy songs…sometimes with lyrics that startle the performer. Just this summer, I saw an entire crowd spontaneously change a chorus on a pair of performers (Iris and Rose–Wild and Thorny) to something even bawdier than the original. Iris and Rose tried to change it back, but got drowned out, so they just shrugged and went with it.
He plays the opening four notes, there’s a pause while the audience goes nuts and he tries to look surprised. Most of the audience sings along with the first two verses and chorus. Then he teases the audience until they sing the “third” verse themselves.
Yes, I’m a “pop country” fan. I also like “classic” country, oldies rock, classical, Broadway musicals - among others. My LP & CD collection defies classification; it’s almost as bad as my library.
