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Bizarre song requests


Bassmonkey
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Guess it wasn't too bizarre, but a bit out there. Used to do a mellow acoustic set in a local pub. Our singer had suggested at the previous rehearsal a couple of Woody Guthrie songs to which the guitarist replied along the lines of over my dead body. No prizes for guessing what we were asked for that night. Poor guy was baffled by the response, but loved it when we busked I Ain't Got No Home.

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Many years ago partway through a gig with my old jazz trio, a punter asked me if we could do Iron Man by Black Sabbath. He got quite cross when I laughed.

[quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' timestamp='1485813498' post='3226974']
My stock answer for daft daft song requests was "we don't do that one, but the next song contains some of the same notes".
[/quote]
:lol: Brilliant.

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Once played a function over in Stratford, East London where we were asked if we played any 'Bhangra'?
This was a couple of years before any 'Jai ho' etc.

Looking back on that request, makes me wonder if a couple of 'Ethnic' numbers/standards would be helpful in a Function bands repertoire? but then again, I've never had that sort of request come up again..Yet...

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[quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1485710054' post='3226007']
(1) Playing with an indie/rock/punk covers trio, got a request for the Spongebob Squarepants theme: 'He lives in a pineapple under the sea' etc.

...
[/quote]

I'd give it a go. In the mid 80s, when Nellie the Elephant had been given the punk treatment, we did a version of Postman Pat.

It went down an absolute storm.

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Noel, our singer, is a forty-something bloke, but it never stops drunken ladies asking for Tina Turner songs, for some reason...I've told him it's him... :)

We do an Irish half-set when requested, just the usual singalong suspects, but it's a can of worms: there's always some staggering drunk asking for something very very very obscure - I wrote a couple down last time, and even Google struggled... :(

Ironically, we do Never Too Much, but no-one's ever asked us for it...we don't let that stop us. :D

I'm having the 'No, but some of the notes are in the next one...', that's genius... :lol:

Edited by Muzz
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Not a bizarre request in itself, but we played at a wedding anniversary and agreed that the husband, who played guitar, could get up and play a song of his choice with us - Johnny B Goode in A, he told us.

So I gave him a spare guitar and we played the song, tho there was definitely some background noise from somewhere.

Turns out he'd played the entire song just mashing away on an A chord.

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[quote name='Muzz' timestamp='1485869815' post='3227317']
Noel, our singer, is a forty-something bloke, but it never stops drunken ladies asking for Tina Turner songs, for some reason...I've told him it's him... :)

[/quote]
Never really got the issue with blokes doing songs originally by women or vice versa. Tina herself did it with Proud Mary. Obviously there are very gender specific songs that wouldn't work.

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[quote name='Mykesbass' timestamp='1485935027' post='3227757']
Never really got the issue with blokes doing songs originally by women or vice versa. Tina herself did it with Proud Mary. Obviously there are very gender specific songs that wouldn't work.
[/quote]

The Shirelles had a song called 'Boys" The Beatles covered it and got away with it too!

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[quote name='Low End Bee' timestamp='1485791703' post='3226703']
Introduced all songs for the second part of the gig as Guns n Roses B sides and unreleased tracks ... [/quote]

Aye, we deploy this startlingly effective tactic also. Asked to play something by Tina Turner, our drummer will announce that the next song is indeed a tune by the ageing vixen, before launching into Iron Maiden's "Running Free".

It seems to work every time. Running Free has also been announced as a song by Oasis, AC/DC, the Rolling Stones and the aforementioned Human League.

Edited by HengistPod
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[quote name='HengistPod' timestamp='1486046688' post='3228776']
Aye, we deploy this startlingly effective tactic also. Asked to play something by Tina Turner, our drummer will announce that the next song is indeed a tune by the ageing vixen, before launching into Iron Maiden's "Running Free".

It seems to work every time. Running Free has also been announced as a song by Oasis, AC/DC, the Rolling Stones and the aforementioned Human League.
[/quote]

As a side note. I bet Tina Turner singing Running Free would be a splendid thing.

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A reggae band I played with were asked to play a wedding...all was proper irie until the brides dad announced in the interlude "the band are now, by speacial request, gonna play a Quo track for me"....ahem cue 12bars of grinning ;)

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Many years ago while dj-ing at Leeds Uni I was asked by a goth chap to "play some dance music, like 'Pagan Lovesong' by the Virgin Prunes." What surprised him was that I had it, and played it. He was the only one on the dancefloor...
But the really weird thing is that years later, while playing in a 9 piece jazz funk band, someone requested the very same song.

It's an easy bass-line!

[MEDIA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgoJn5SUa_4[/MEDIA]

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[quote name='Mykesbass' timestamp='1485935027' post='3227757']
Never really got the issue with blokes doing songs originally by women or vice versa. Tina herself did it with Proud Mary. Obviously there are very gender specific songs that wouldn't work.
[/quote]

Like what? We do love machine, thats pretty gender specific. Hard pressed to think of something we wouldn't do.
Sisters of mercy did jolene, that worked ok.

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