# Songs your band shouldn't play **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 8, 2012, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-your-band-shouldnt-play/612184 "2012-02-08T13:58:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-your-band-shouldnt-play/612184/21 "2012-02-08T19:34:21Z")
Must be a regional thing, as a few of these songs are ones I don’t recall hearing that often if at all from bar bands and jam sessions. (And I don’t even know what “Texas Flood” is.) And really, _any_ Beatles? A couple of weeks ago I heard a band do a very cool version of “I Am the Walrus.” How often do you hear that one? Adding: “Chain of Fools,” “Sweet Home Alabama,” and although I never tire of it, “Roadhouse Blues.” And from a player’s perspective, I’d be happy to join in on virtually any of the songs mentioned. Maybe even bloody “Brown Eyed Girl.” Maybe. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-your-band-shouldnt-play/612184/22 "2012-02-08T19:48:19Z")
> [@Lacunae\_Matata](#): > > Funny. The first thing I thought of when I read the OP was the sign posted at a dear recently-departed friend’s regular gig. It’s not that he wouldn’t play Brown Eyed Girl or Margaritaville, he just charged a premium for those and several other songs. (I don’t recall his price list, but I know that when I first met him, BEG was $20, and I think it had risen to $50 by the end of his career. Despite that, it was a rare night when he didn’t play it.) > > Personally, when I worked in bars, the songs I got sick of included Friends in Low Places, Wonderful Tonight, You Don’t Have to Call Me Darlin’, Why Don’t We Get Drunk and Screw, etc. But they made the crowds happy, and happy drunks = good sales and tips, so there you go. At Preservation Hall, requests were I think $2 for jazz standards, $5 for other requests, and $20 for “When the Saints Go Marching In”. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-your-band-shouldnt-play/612184/23 "2012-02-08T19:53:40Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > …a rock band should never play “Stairway to Heaven” or “Free Bird,” How about a night of **nothing but** _Free Bird_? Book a bunch of bands and let 'em each play their own version! ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-your-band-shouldnt-play/612184/24 "2012-02-08T20:05:40Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > Must be a regional thing, as a few of these songs are ones I don’t recall hearing that often if at all from bar bands and jam sessions. (And I don’t even know what “Texas Flood” is.) _Texas Flood_ is a blues song popularized by Stevie Ray Vaughan (he did not write it, but it is strongly associated with him). His virtuosity and passion in playing the song rendered any attempt to match his performance futile, thus it is on the “Do Not Play” list. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-your-band-shouldnt-play/612184/25 "2012-02-08T20:12:20Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > _Texas Flood_ is a blues song popularized by Stevie Ray Vaughan (he did not write it, but it is strongly associated with him). Thanks. I was guessing ZZ Top, as there are about half a dozen of their songs that get played a lot and I don’t know what half of them are called. ---
**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-your-band-shouldnt-play/612184/26 "2012-02-08T20:17:12Z")
Wagonwheel. I write a show review column for the paper, and I count off for anyone who does wagonwheel. And I tell the bands that after the show. ---
**Author:** ![Ichbin\_Dubist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@Ichbin\_Dubist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichbin_Dubist)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-your-band-shouldnt-play/612184/27 "2012-02-08T20:24:25Z")
> [@bdgr](#): > > Wagonwheel. I write a show review column for the paper, and I count off for anyone who does wagonwheel. And I tell the bands that after the show. You mean the Old Crow Medicine Show/Dylan thing? Where do you live that this song is being run into the ground? Also, when I was in college in the 80s the most over-covered bands were by far the Velvet Underground and the Stooges. What bands are young-uns mercilessly over-covering for imagined credibility these days? ---
**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-your-band-shouldnt-play/612184/28 "2012-02-08T20:29:20Z")
> [@Ichbin\_Dubist](#): > > You mean the Old Crow Medicine Show/Dylan thing? Where do you live that this song is being run into the ground? > > ? Fort Worth, Texas. It’s become the proud mary of the acoustic folk show(which Fort Worth is saturated with). It’s actually a Dylan tune originally…and I think he regrets having anything to do with it. Go to any open mic night around here and you’ll hear that damn song 3 or four times. Fort Worth has a very strong music scene, but some things grate on your nerves when your job is to hear live bands week in and week out. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-your-band-shouldnt-play/612184/29 "2012-02-08T20:42:55Z")
> [@Ichbin\_Dubist](#): > > Also, when I was in college in the 80s the most over-covered bands were by far the Velvet Underground and the Stooges. At an open mic jam the other day they asked who could play “Master Ray.” I’d never heard of it. I know “_Sister_ Ray,” but I couldn’t believe anyone would be calling that song, especially with a bunch of kids present. When they got a lineup together and started the song, the penny dropped: “Are we really happy in this lonely game we play…” (And they called me up to play a solo, even though I didn’t have the faintest idea of the chords to “This Masquerade.”) ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-your-band-shouldnt-play/612184/30 "2012-02-08T20:48:22Z")
Back in the late '60s, I was at a high school dance when the band decided to play Inna Gadda Da Vida. All of it. That was just wrong on so many levels. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-your-band-shouldnt-play/612184/31 "2012-02-08T21:14:50Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Back in the late '60s, I was at a high school dance when the band decided to play Inna Gadda Da Vida. All of it. > > That was just wrong on so many levels. I’m picturing how this would have gone at the dance - some dancing at first, then kids just getting tired and bored and sitting around, staring off into space. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-your-band-shouldnt-play/612184/32 "2012-02-08T21:20:41Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > I’m picturing how this would have gone at the dance - some dancing at first, then kids just getting tired and bored and sitting around, staring off into space. Yup. Then going outside for a smoke, even those who didn’t smoke. Then grumbling, and finally, around the 15-minute mark (an extraordinarily patient crowd) boos and catcalls. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-your-band-shouldnt-play/612184/33 "2012-02-08T21:23:12Z")
“Marge, remember when we used to make out to this hymn?” ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-your-band-shouldnt-play/612184/34 "2012-02-08T22:06:45Z")
I disagree. Play whatever you like, as long as you play it _well_. But if you suck, I will throw ice cubes at you. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-your-band-shouldnt-play/612184/35 "2012-02-08T22:57:04Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > Next thing you’re gonna tell me I can’t play “should i stay or should I go?”. No way. The Clash is always cool. Also, to pre-empt any suggestions about it: I’ll stop playing _Louie Louie_ when I’m six feet under ground, and maybe not even then. But yeah, I’m onboard with most of the list so far. If I never hear a cover of _Love Shack_ ever again my life won’t be any less happy, for instance. ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-your-band-shouldnt-play/612184/36 "2012-02-09T00:39:00Z")
Unless your band has **at least** 2 horns, stay away from anything by Chicago. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-your-band-shouldnt-play/612184/37 "2012-02-09T00:40:46Z")
Satan is in my band and we still wouldn’t play anything by **Chicago**. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-your-band-shouldnt-play/612184/38 "2012-02-09T00:46:54Z")
Mony Mony. Why does ever generic rock band think they have to play this? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-your-band-shouldnt-play/612184.md?page=1)