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Another music list

posted by McFrozen on August 13, 2001

I'm toying with the idea of performing live again. There are a few open mikes up here every week, and I thought I might just sit in on one of them. It'll give me something to do besides freeze my nads this winter. I'd like to start with set of about ten songs, just me playing an accoustic.

But I need some help. The way I listen to music is to listen to one CD over and over until I'm sick of it, which means that at any given time, the list of songs I'd like to cover sounds more like a tribute set than anything else.

So what five or ten songs would actually get you to sit through an open mike performance? (This assumes that somebody has gotten you to attend an open mike performance in the first place.)

Comments

I already have "Tonight (I Think I'm Gonna Go Downtown)" (Jimmie Dale Gilmore) and "Imitation of the Blues" (John Doe), so you don't need to add those two, but otherwise it's wide open.

Posted by: mccreath at August 13, 2001 11:39 AM

what about your own songs? I'd steer clear of Hipster songs, go for the obscuro, if it must be all covers. obscure country, jazz, reggae songs done in your own alaskan style.

Dave: "OK, but WHAT songs?!"

Posted by: lang at August 13, 2001 12:13 PM

I'll do some of my own songs, but I don't write very often. There's a few Hoyt songs that will work very well, but I don't have much beyond those that work on an accoustic.

ANYWAY. You're on exactly the right track, Sticky. I'd prefer obscure, although obscure varies from audience to audience. Obscure hipster (say, Beat Happening) is okay. Old hipster (Minutemen) is okay. Probably avoid modern hipster.

But just list your songs. We all like enough of the same shit that we could each probably put together a list that would entertain all the others.

Posted by: mccreath at August 13, 2001 12:19 PM

pick one by johnny cash. cocaine blues, if you're of a mind.

pick something made famous by doc watson, maybe. like omie wise.

pick something by johnny thunders, maybe. so alone? chinese rock?

kinks, waterloo sunset? or village green preservation society? or when work is over (many other drinking songs)? better, maybe: something from mulswell hillbillies? for instance, 21st century schizoid man?

pick something by jimmy rodgers. gosh. jillions of good songs.

pick a less obvious rabble rouser by woody guthrie.

well.

i would start looking at these, anyway.

Posted by: ttk at August 13, 2001 12:22 PM

oo oo oo. i'd be keen to hear 'days' by the kinks.

Posted by: ttk at August 13, 2001 12:30 PM

old loudon wainwright might work too. 'be careful there's a baby in the house.' or the little medley 'I Know I'm Unhappy/Suicide Song/Glenville Reel'

Posted by: ttk at August 13, 2001 12:33 PM

or lwIII's 'nice jewish girls.'

Posted by: ttk at August 13, 2001 12:37 PM

my bucket's got a hole in it.

Posted by: ttk at August 13, 2001 12:53 PM

martin mull for comic relief.

for instance, eggs, or maybe margie the midget.

Posted by: ttk at August 13, 2001 12:56 PM

big bottom by spinal tap

Posted by: ttk at August 13, 2001 12:57 PM

Strech the acoustic to the limits, how about the Minutemen, "Little Man With A Gun In His Hand"? "Momma Tried" by Merle Haggard is always a tear-jerker as well...

Posted by: Hoyt at August 13, 2001 01:06 PM

daddy frank. both sad and funny.

Posted by: ttk at August 13, 2001 01:13 PM

'framed' by the coasters.

Posted by: ttk at August 13, 2001 01:19 PM

"Sound On Sound", the Big Boys (forget the "real" name of it now)

Posted by: Hoyt at August 13, 2001 01:34 PM

Tom: is "Daddy Frank" a song or a performer? Enlighten me.

Posted by: mccreath at August 13, 2001 01:45 PM

i'm drowning by sister double happiness.

daddy frank is that merle haggard song ...

Daddy Frank played the guitar and the French harp,

Sister played the ringing tambourine.

Mama couldn't hear the pretty music,

She read our lips and helped the family sing.

That little band was all a part of living,

And our only means of living at the time.

And it wasn't like no normal family combo,

'Cause Daddy Frank, the guitar man, was blind.

Frank and Mama counted on each other,

Their one and only weakness made them strong.

Mama did the driving for the family,

And Frank, he made a living with a song.

Home was just a camp along the highway,

Pick-up bed was where we bedded down.

Don't ever once remember going hungry,

But I remember Mama cooking on the ground.

Daddy Frank played the guitar and the French harp,

Sister played the ringing tambourine.

Mama couldn't hear the pretty music,

She read our lips and helped the family sing.

That little band was all a part of living,

And our only means of living at the time.

And it wasn't like no normal family combo,

'Cause Daddy Frank, the guitar man, was blind.

Can't remember how they came acquainted.

Can't recall just how it came to be.

There had to be some special help from someone,

And blessed be the one that let it be.

Fever caused my mama's loss of hearing,

Daddy Frank was born without his sight.

And Mama needed someone she could lean on,

And I believe the guitar man was right.

Daddy Frank played the guitar and the French harp,

Sister played the ringing tambourine.

Mama couldn't hear the pretty music,

She read our lips and helped the family sing.

That little band was all a part of living,

And our only means of living at the time.

And it wasn't like no normal family combo,

'Cause Daddy Frank, the guitar man, was blind.

Posted by: ttk at August 13, 2001 01:49 PM

another great one from doc watson. but prolly real hard to play well.

https://www.geocities.com/Nashville/3448/train.html

Posted by: ttk at August 13, 2001 02:04 PM

Great site! If I played "Train" it would sound pretty different than Doc's version. I can't play like he can, at least not yet. But all them Doc Watson and Woody Guthrie lyrics are great.

Posted by: mccreath at August 13, 2001 02:25 PM

just when the audience thinks "oh here's a coutry/folk guy" you should slip in an accoustic version of some stereolab song- what with their neo-situationst lyrix, or some rap tune.

consult The Gourds "gogetyourshinebox" ep for the (i think) first reading of rap-as-traditional-folk/country; their cover of Gin n Juice, it's great.

Or perhaps THE WIZARD from the first Black Sabbath lp?

Posted by: philip gregory flowers at August 13, 2001 02:45 PM

Public Enemy's "You're Gonna Get Yours" would be perfect for that!

Posted by: Hoyt at August 13, 2001 02:54 PM

"corona" the minutemen

"west side" moby

and if you're gonna cover a song from muswell hillbiliies it should be "alcohol"

followed by "summertime" by the fresh prince and jazzy jeff

if they start lookin at you funny just start playing "creep" by radiohead

Posted by: dick at August 13, 2001 09:55 PM

you should cover a blink 182 song

Posted by: henry at August 13, 2001 09:57 PM

I know you've heard this many times probably but if you are into cover material try to pick out things that have not been played to death...tons of great tunes by artists that very seldom get air-play...many of which are lots better than the over-played stuff...

Posted by: Jerry Williams at May 15, 2003 03:22 AM

ANYthing from the Kinks' Muswell Hillbillies. But especially 'Alcohol" or 'Complicated Life". Damn those are good songs. I'ma listen to them right now.

BTW, who's the faux Dick two posts up? All the other Dicks are just imitators. Won't the real Dick please stand up, please stand up.

Do an Eminem song.


If you cover the Minutemen's 'Corona' you'll get a lot of "Hey, it's the Jackass song!" so i'd stay away from that.

Posted by: Dick Septic at May 16, 2003 01:32 PM

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