Are there tunes and/or songs that if another player starts up, or a member of the public requests, that send a shudder down your spine and you will not play? If so, what kind of tunes or songs would you vote for that should be on this list?
In terms of songs, how about the Wild Rover, Dirty Old Town, Only our Rivers run Free, Fields of Athenry etc for a few examples? - cant think of any tunes tho....I personally love Music for a FOund HArmonium AND the Masons Apron, altho I know from reading posts here that a lot of ye dont like these tunes....
Perhaps it makes one look cooler if you cast scorn on tunes? I could never figure that one out either.
Me, I like being a giant nerdy dork, so I play the cheesiest tunes I can find.
You know what I've often found odd? The concept of 'coolness' among traditional musicians. Perhaps an even greater oxymoron than "Military Intelligence" - a "Cool and Hip Traditional Musician".
"Perhaps an even greater oxymoron than 'Military Intelligence' - a 'Cool and Hip Traditional Musician'."
You've clearly missed all the hype in the UK about Seth Lakeman (who's generally regarded as preternaturally 'sexy' too). His agent could probably make Paddy Moloney naturally hirsute, divide the Red Sea and enrol Shane MacGowan in the Pioneers, all before lunchtime. Mwa, mwa!
I've been thinking that a request jar should be set up for specific tunes or songs that the session players are tired of - all money to go to some worthy cause. There could be a pricelist:
Fields of Athenry - $5
Danny Boy - $10
Derry Air - $10
Londonderry Air - $110
Irish Washerwoman - $12 (putting up with silly dancing extra)
Assorted Christmas Carols (in season) - $8
Whisky in the Jar - $12 and a round of drinks.
Arthur McBride - one crown (for to kick up the dust)
Assorted jigs and reels that all sound the same -- priceless!
[Harmony can be added to any of the above orders for an additional $5 per part.]
One of the nurses whom I work with is named Daniella and her nickname is "Danni Girl".
SWFL Fiddler, considering where you live, I should think you would want to try to be as cool as possible--especially during the summer.
If you embrace your nerditude, have you gone over to the Dork side of the Farce with your stupid, moronic oxen?
there's nothing wrong with the kesh jig OR silver spear! maybe you play them so much you just take them for granted, but they are great tunes. if john carty and colm gannon see fit to record silver spear than theres nothing wrong with it. personally i wouldn't go near music for a found harmonium, because its not really a session tune. i also wouldn't play the lonesome boatman which for some odd reason seems to be requested a lot in pubs in dublin.
Ah fauxcelt, there is little hope for me. I'm well past the age of giving a darn whether or not I'm cool.
Plus, as well you've noted, with an average summer temperature of 90 F and humidity of roughly the same, there's also little CHANCE of me ever actually BEING cool during those months...
Any song by a crap singer especially Wille McBride. I usually sit there thinking about the words of 'Windmills of your Mind'
Round, like a circle in a spiral like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or begining on an ever spinning wheel.
(very profound..don't you think?)
Also any song that glorifies recent political events or killings,especially songs with a 'punch line'. By punch line I mean where the singer shouts the last line and punches the air........
Only one tune makes me shudder. The Tamlin Reel and particularly when it's been played 4 times and then the fiddles and banjoes move it up a string to play it again. Really hate that tune.
A few months ago in London, I heard John Carty and Brian Rooney play the Kesh together. That was magic. There were a couple of other members from this site in the pub, so now you know I'm not joking.
The Horse's Brawl makes me feel I am about to disgorge a Mediaeval surfeit. The King Of The Fairies suggests bog-snorkelling in lead boots. These two tunes tower over my other dislikes. I regard The Musical Priest as the Devil's ringtone, for instance, but not as being in the order of gruesomeness of the first two mentioned.
Jupier said:
"The Irish Washerwoman" The patron will usually request it by its more familiar name, "That Irish SONG, you know, that one that everyone knows".
At last night's session, a Lady says, in total and unedited:
"I'm Irish, play the jig."
J for Jedi, J for Jedi Knight.
J for Jedi, J for Jedi Knight.
You want him on your side,
When you get into a fight.
Yoda-Jedi, Yoda, Yoda-Jedi,
Yoda, Yoda-Jedi.
Obi-Wan Kenobi, he showed Luke what to do,
Obi-Wan Kenobi, he showed Luke what to do,
But a few acting lessons,
Wouldn't hurt that poor boy, too.
Yoda-Jedi, Yoda, Yoda-Jedi,
Yoda, Yoda-Jedi.
An old light-saber is just the thing for you,
An old light-saber is just the thing for you.
It's great in combat,
Works well on salami, too.
Yoda-Jedi, Yoda, Yoda-Jedi,
Yoda, Yoda-Jedi.
Even Yoda's got him a lady who's shown him a thing or two,
Even Yoda's got him a Yoda-Lady-Who
Has shown him a few things,
That even the Force can't do.
Yoda-Jedi, Yoda, Yoda-Jedi,
Yoda, Yoda-Jedi.
Words by Bill Maraschiello
I was part of the audience who were listening the first time the late Bill Maraschiello performed this song in public in 1980. Before he sang this "thing", Maraschiello warned us not to compare his attempts to yodel to an air raid siren as it wouldn't be fair to the siren.
Then he told us that the only reason he had could think of to write and perform this thing was to justify the existence of an atrociously clever pun in the fourth and last verse.
Maraschiello's favorite weapon of musical destruction was a twelve-string guitar and he was quite talented.
No, the audience didn't try to kill him after this song. Instead, we applauded. Maraschiello actually died of asthma six years later in 1986.
I actually copied it from this site but Hamish Imlach's Wild Rover deserves a mention again:
1.) I've been a folksinger for twenty-five years
We will sing half the night for the fun and free beers
But now that we're older we both know the score
And I never will play the Wild Rover no more
2.) I know it's a song, one that pleases the folk
But I have to admit that it just makes me choke
A night with a sore tooth is more fun to me
Than to sing even one verse, never mind two or three
3.) It's a song that's requested again and again
If I hear it once more it'll drive me insane
The words all sound stupid it just makes me wild
And the tune could be learnt by a two-year old child
4.) I'll go to a folk club, take a shotgun along
And I'll shoot the first b*stard who asks for that song
And the hangman will say as I fall through the floor
Now you never will play the Wild Rover no more.
Sure there are plenty of tunes I am bored with and wouldn't consider playing when I start a set. However, to flat out refuse to play along when somebody else starts Kesh or Harvest Home or Silver Spear etc; to roll the eyes and make big sighs of discontent; to sit there like an irritated session snob and talk over the offending player; to rip into a warp speed version of Doctor Gilbert's the nano-second the person is done plodding through their tune of choice in order to make an alpha-dog statement, is in my opinion utterly f'd-up and worthy of a proper boot up the chute. I hate bullies of any sort.
SWFL is right - relax and just play - embrace our inner nerd, it's just for a couple of tunes anyway.
Thanks Jusa, and you bring up an important distinction lost by the internet, namely what people do you do when they don't like a tune at a session. I'm a bit of a fiend, so I'll play any old thing, but I know people have ones they get sick of.
Occasionally I'm asked if I can play Danny Boy.Over many years I worked up an interesting Jazz Guitar type version of the tune, and this is often enough to scare off any further requests from requestees. One of the other things I do is when I'm playing with the bluegrass band I often ask the audience that if they know the words to the song we're about to play could they please refrain from joining in.
I've been on the other side of this. Once, I started Banish Misfortune and a loud groan went up from several musicians. It really surprised me, and I wanted to upend a few pints on their heads.
Yeah, now see? I hate to be Miss Freaking Manners and all, but that just ain't cool. Someone could get an 'accidental' bow in the eye with that sorta nonsense.
Practicing your Comhaltas face is good, though just once I'd like to see a whoopee cushion go off in there.
This thread is the exact opposite of the thread posted by Mad Baloney on 16 Sep called 'The Old Tunes." And what I said on that thread I will say on that one. If you cannot cannot put life into an old tune, that is your loss. Greg, unfortunately, if you tip a pint over on such arrogant twits, all you do is waste beer--they are too stuck on themselves to get the message--too self absorbed to think of your feelings, and to understand how rude they are being. Sessions are about participation, and while there is plenty of room for new and different tune, there should always be room for some of the ones that everyone can join in on.
And those of you who would snub a request for Danny Boy, consider the fact that the last time the requestor may have heard the tune is the day they buried a loved one. Turn them down, if you will, but do not scorn people for what they enjoy.
a couple of days ago I was asked to play for a theatre production, turns out their "violinist" their words not mine had to go.
Think every song on the no-no list include Long way to Tipperary, Irish eyes, Fairytale of New York and Black Velvet band. The "violin" parts are a 2nd harmony on the off beat and seventh of the first harmony (harp) to singers singing in keys such as d flat minor, E and C#.
I told them they needed a professional orchestral player, it took a lot of will power to not say anything else. Lets say I wont be buying a ticket to this "showcase"
I am always amused by these types of discussions. I have always been on the side of playing requests to the best of one's ability, especially if the tip hat has been noticed.
I think it's just a musical snob thing that causes some individuals to have a negative reaction to a crowd favorite.
It's probably also related to insecurity, probably a throwback to
peer pressure to be with the "in crowd" from one's teenage years.
I always wonder if I'm playing the requested song or tune for the first or second time for someone. They liked it the first time and they now are in a place to hear it again. Why not give it your best shot? I spent the time to learn it, now someone really wants to hear it and they're paying attention and maybe even some dough. Why would I have a problem with this?
I'm not sure so many people would even know the Irish Washerwoman these days.
I find it a but tricky on the mandolin actually - for some reason tunes in G don't roll off my fat little fingers so easily, and I've always been a bit awkward on jigs, so it's a challenge I don't get tired of.
Heh. I don't even KNOW the Donneybrook Fair! Shows you how clueless I am.
I do play the Silver Spear quite a bit, though. Especially as the last tune in a three-tune set when no one else knows the first two...it's my "panic button" reel to let everyone else play on the last set.
James Kelly recorded it on one of his albums, and Mick O'Brien and Caomhin O'Raighallaigh recorded it on Kilty Lie Over, and I love both tracks!
THe goal should be in making whatever tune you're playing interesting and new. If you can't do that, then you don't REALLY know the tune yet.
Nothing to add. Except to say that *all* of the tunes and songs on thesheep's 'No No' list are great. Absolute classics.
As said above, groaning when someone plays a tune is poor form. I'm just feeling a twinge of guilt, because it may well be that I've done it myself once or twice. But I should think it was probably only when someone started Tam Lin, and that doesn't really count.
I'm with jwvansteenwyk, I use the Silver Spear and tunes like it to get everyone playing it at a session, especially if I've soloed one or two tunes, or the whole session has kind of spaced out because it has become a circle of people playing solo sets. That's when it's good to jump in with an "everybody tune," as a mate of mine calls them. It wakes everybody up and reconnects the session. And the thing is generally they all seem so happy that they finally can play along together! No rolling eyes or anything.
The Kesh and Morrison's are really "default tunes" in the pub here, and un-fortunatelly, played by ALL of bands (of which there are five).
I do agree that in different conditions, these tunes would be very lively and wonderful to raise everyone up from their chairs, especially that the Bothy Band played them, but since I get to hear them all the time, it's just not fun anymore
As for the songs - I dare you to get into Carol's gift shop in Dublin and stay there for 3 hours, hearing the same classics over and over and over again. Once again, this is what happens when all of the bands play the same songs.
By the way, I agree with grego - "Irish Washerwoman" is intolerable!
Seriously though, this is another of these threads. One (wo)man's forbidden tune may be quite acceptable to someone else and it all depends on the context and location.
"The Silver Spear" is a great tune and I've never known it to upset anyone, anywhere. As for the "Irish Washer Woman", it really depends on the circumstances. Actually, it's more popular in Scottish/ ceilidh type sessions.
If you find yourself in some situations where your "forbidden tunes" get played and you groan, roll your eyes etc then you might be the odd one out!
Again, as has been pointed out, not everyone will necessarily know some of the tunes which have been given as examples here. Imagine some poor musician who has just discovered one of these and gets "put in his or her place" if it is given an airing in the wrong session!
Forbidden?!
Forbidden?!
Are there tunes and/or songs that if another player starts up, or a member of the public requests, that send a shudder down your spine and you will not play? If so, what kind of tunes or songs would you vote for that should be on this list?
In terms of songs, how about the Wild Rover, Dirty Old Town, Only our Rivers run Free, Fields of Athenry etc for a few examples? - cant think of any tunes tho....I personally love Music for a FOund HArmonium AND the Masons Apron, altho I know from reading posts here that a lot of ye dont like these tunes....
# Posted on September 19th 2008 by BanjoBongo
Re: Forbidden?!
Big No No Tunes:
Kesh
Morrison's
DonneyBrook Fair
Silver-Spear
Sheebag Sheemor
Inisheer
Big No No Songs:
Athenry
Dirty Old Town
Wild Rover
Will ye go lassy go
Whiskey in a jar
Star of the county down
Anything else goes. And I personally LOVE Music for a Found Harmonium. Too bad they don't play it at my pub.
# Posted on September 19th 2008 by thesheep
Re: Forbidden?!
What about Danny Boy?
# Posted on September 19th 2008 by Ramiro
Re: Forbidden?!
A fine set of tunes and songs. What do you have against them?
# Posted on September 19th 2008 by crazy_fingerz
Re: Forbidden?!
Not a bit of it - They're all good tunes and songs, so long as they don't *all* get played in the same session *every week*.
# Posted on September 19th 2008 by ragaman
Re: Forbidden?!
Perhaps it makes one look cooler if you cast scorn on tunes? I could never figure that one out either.
Me, I like being a giant nerdy dork, so I play the cheesiest tunes I can find.
You know what I've often found odd? The concept of 'coolness' among traditional musicians. Perhaps an even greater oxymoron than "Military Intelligence" - a "Cool and Hip Traditional Musician".
Just surrender and embrace the nerditude!
# Posted on September 19th 2008 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Forbidden?!
"Perhaps an even greater oxymoron than 'Military Intelligence' - a 'Cool and Hip Traditional Musician'."
You've clearly missed all the hype in the UK about Seth Lakeman (who's generally regarded as preternaturally 'sexy' too). His agent could probably make Paddy Moloney naturally hirsute, divide the Red Sea and enrol Shane MacGowan in the Pioneers, all before lunchtime. Mwa, mwa!
# Posted on September 19th 2008 by Floss the Tethers
Re: Forbidden?!
I've been thinking that a request jar should be set up for specific tunes or songs that the session players are tired of - all money to go to some worthy cause. There could be a pricelist:
Fields of Athenry - $5
Danny Boy - $10
Derry Air - $10
Londonderry Air - $110
Irish Washerwoman - $12 (putting up with silly dancing extra)
Assorted Christmas Carols (in season) - $8
Whisky in the Jar - $12 and a round of drinks.
Arthur McBride - one crown (for to kick up the dust)
Assorted jigs and reels that all sound the same -- priceless!
[Harmony can be added to any of the above orders for an additional $5 per part.]
# Posted on September 19th 2008 by grego
Re: Forbidden?!
One of the nurses whom I work with is named Daniella and her nickname is "Danni Girl".
SWFL Fiddler, considering where you live, I should think you would want to try to be as cool as possible--especially during the summer.
If you embrace your nerditude, have you gone over to the Dork side of the Farce with your stupid, moronic oxen?
# Posted on September 19th 2008 by fauxcelt
Re: Forbidden?!
"The Irish Washerwoman"
The patron will usually request it by its more familiar name, "That Irish SONG, you know, that one that everyone knows".
Around here it never gets played so I don't know if anyone can actually play it or not.
# Posted on September 19th 2008 by juniper
Re: Forbidden?!
there's nothing wrong with the kesh jig OR silver spear! maybe you play them so much you just take them for granted, but they are great tunes. if john carty and colm gannon see fit to record silver spear than theres nothing wrong with it. personally i wouldn't go near music for a found harmonium, because its not really a session tune. i also wouldn't play the lonesome boatman which for some odd reason seems to be requested a lot in pubs in dublin.
# Posted on September 19th 2008 by fiddleruairi
Re: Forbidden?!
What did the Kesh, Silver Spear, or Morrison's for that matter ever do to you?
They can be lovely tunes if played well.
Mick O'Brien, Seamus Ennis, Liz Caroll, and Robbie Hannan are cool enough to record the Silver Spear. Dude.
# Posted on September 19th 2008 by TheSilverSpear
Re: Forbidden?!
Ah fauxcelt, there is little hope for me. I'm well past the age of giving a darn whether or not I'm cool.
Plus, as well you've noted, with an average summer temperature of 90 F and humidity of roughly the same, there's also little CHANCE of me ever actually BEING cool during those months...
# Posted on September 19th 2008 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Forbidden?!
Any song by a crap singer especially Wille McBride. I usually sit there thinking about the words of 'Windmills of your Mind'
Round, like a circle in a spiral like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or begining on an ever spinning wheel.
(very profound..don't you think?)
Also any song that glorifies recent political events or killings,especially songs with a 'punch line'. By punch line I mean where the singer shouts the last line and punches the air........
# Posted on September 19th 2008 by Free Reed
Re: Forbidden?!
Also, my Jedi Master often remarks how strong the Farce is with me and my oxen, thank you very much.
# Posted on September 19th 2008 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Forbidden?!
Only one tune makes me shudder. The Tamlin Reel and particularly when it's been played 4 times and then the fiddles and banjoes move it up a string to play it again. Really hate that tune.
# Posted on September 19th 2008 by Deise
Re: Forbidden?!
A few months ago in London, I heard John Carty and Brian Rooney play the Kesh together. That was magic. There were a couple of other members from this site in the pub, so now you know I'm not joking.
# Posted on September 19th 2008 by slainte
Re: Forbidden?!
The Horse's Brawl makes me feel I am about to disgorge a Mediaeval surfeit. The King Of The Fairies suggests bog-snorkelling in lead boots. These two tunes tower over my other dislikes. I regard The Musical Priest as the Devil's ringtone, for instance, but not as being in the order of gruesomeness of the first two mentioned.
# Posted on September 19th 2008 by nicholas
Re: Forbidden?!
This happens in other genres of music as well.
I am sure there are other members of this web site (besides myself) who can vouch for this.
# Posted on September 19th 2008 by fauxcelt
Re: Forbidden?!
Jupier said:
"The Irish Washerwoman" The patron will usually request it by its more familiar name, "That Irish SONG, you know, that one that everyone knows".
At last night's session, a Lady says, in total and unedited:
"I'm Irish, play the jig."
# Posted on September 19th 2008 by Eliot
Re: Forbidden?!
Speaking of Jedi Masters.....
(to the tune of "T For Texas")
J for Jedi, J for Jedi Knight.
J for Jedi, J for Jedi Knight.
You want him on your side,
When you get into a fight.
Yoda-Jedi, Yoda, Yoda-Jedi,
Yoda, Yoda-Jedi.
Obi-Wan Kenobi, he showed Luke what to do,
Obi-Wan Kenobi, he showed Luke what to do,
But a few acting lessons,
Wouldn't hurt that poor boy, too.
Yoda-Jedi, Yoda, Yoda-Jedi,
Yoda, Yoda-Jedi.
An old light-saber is just the thing for you,
An old light-saber is just the thing for you.
It's great in combat,
Works well on salami, too.
Yoda-Jedi, Yoda, Yoda-Jedi,
Yoda, Yoda-Jedi.
Even Yoda's got him a lady who's shown him a thing or two,
Even Yoda's got him a Yoda-Lady-Who
Has shown him a few things,
That even the Force can't do.
Yoda-Jedi, Yoda, Yoda-Jedi,
Yoda, Yoda-Jedi.
Words by Bill Maraschiello
I was part of the audience who were listening the first time the late Bill Maraschiello performed this song in public in 1980. Before he sang this "thing", Maraschiello warned us not to compare his attempts to yodel to an air raid siren as it wouldn't be fair to the siren.
Then he told us that the only reason he had could think of to write and perform this thing was to justify the existence of an atrociously clever pun in the fourth and last verse.
Maraschiello's favorite weapon of musical destruction was a twelve-string guitar and he was quite talented.
No, the audience didn't try to kill him after this song. Instead, we applauded. Maraschiello actually died of asthma six years later in 1986.
# Posted on September 19th 2008 by fauxcelt
Re: Forbidden?!
I actually copied it from this site but Hamish Imlach's Wild Rover deserves a mention again:
1.) I've been a folksinger for twenty-five years
We will sing half the night for the fun and free beers
But now that we're older we both know the score
And I never will play the Wild Rover no more
2.) I know it's a song, one that pleases the folk
But I have to admit that it just makes me choke
A night with a sore tooth is more fun to me
Than to sing even one verse, never mind two or three
3.) It's a song that's requested again and again
If I hear it once more it'll drive me insane
The words all sound stupid it just makes me wild
And the tune could be learnt by a two-year old child
4.) I'll go to a folk club, take a shotgun along
And I'll shoot the first b*stard who asks for that song
And the hangman will say as I fall through the floor
Now you never will play the Wild Rover no more.
# Posted on September 19th 2008 by kuec
Re: Forbidden?!
Sure there are plenty of tunes I am bored with and wouldn't consider playing when I start a set. However, to flat out refuse to play along when somebody else starts Kesh or Harvest Home or Silver Spear etc; to roll the eyes and make big sighs of discontent; to sit there like an irritated session snob and talk over the offending player; to rip into a warp speed version of Doctor Gilbert's the nano-second the person is done plodding through their tune of choice in order to make an alpha-dog statement, is in my opinion utterly f'd-up and worthy of a proper boot up the chute. I hate bullies of any sort.
SWFL is right - relax and just play - embrace our inner nerd, it's just for a couple of tunes anyway.
# Posted on September 19th 2008 by Jusa Nutter Eejit
Re: Forbidden?!
Speaking of Jedi Masters...
I like Weird Al's Yoda version of the Kinks' Lola...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=An_Kd-55-kg
# Posted on September 19th 2008 by airport
Re: Forbidden?!
Thanks Jusa, and you bring up an important distinction lost by the internet, namely what people do you do when they don't like a tune at a session. I'm a bit of a fiend, so I'll play any old thing, but I know people have ones they get sick of.
# Posted on September 19th 2008 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Forbidden?!
I like to practice my ComhaltasLive audience face (while I'm playing of course)
# Posted on September 20th 2008 by airport
Re: Forbidden?!
Our guitarist and a mate of his went to see James Taylor in Belfast recently. They met James sitting in the empty auditorium before the concert.
Guitarist's friend goes up to James and says "That bloke has been playing your songs for years James".
James says "so have I".
Think about it.
# Posted on September 20th 2008 by bodhran bliss
Re: Forbidden?!
Occasionally I'm asked if I can play Danny Boy.Over many years I worked up an interesting Jazz Guitar type version of the tune, and this is often enough to scare off any further requests from requestees. One of the other things I do is when I'm playing with the bluegrass band I often ask the audience that if they know the words to the song we're about to play could they please refrain from joining in.
# Posted on September 20th 2008 by Tony O'Rourke
Re: Forbidden?!
I've been on the other side of this. Once, I started Banish Misfortune and a loud groan went up from several musicians. It really surprised me, and I wanted to upend a few pints on their heads.
# Posted on September 20th 2008 by Greg the Piano Tuner
Re: Forbidden?!
Yeah, now see? I hate to be Miss Freaking Manners and all, but that just ain't cool. Someone could get an 'accidental' bow in the eye with that sorta nonsense.
Practicing your Comhaltas face is good, though just once I'd like to see a whoopee cushion go off in there.
# Posted on September 20th 2008 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Forbidden?!
This thread is the exact opposite of the thread posted by Mad Baloney on 16 Sep called 'The Old Tunes." And what I said on that thread I will say on that one. If you cannot cannot put life into an old tune, that is your loss. Greg, unfortunately, if you tip a pint over on such arrogant twits, all you do is waste beer--they are too stuck on themselves to get the message--too self absorbed to think of your feelings, and to understand how rude they are being. Sessions are about participation, and while there is plenty of room for new and different tune, there should always be room for some of the ones that everyone can join in on.
And those of you who would snub a request for Danny Boy, consider the fact that the last time the requestor may have heard the tune is the day they buried a loved one. Turn them down, if you will, but do not scorn people for what they enjoy.
# Posted on September 20th 2008 by AlBrown
Re: Forbidden?!
a couple of days ago I was asked to play for a theatre production, turns out their "violinist" their words not mine had to go.
Think every song on the no-no list include Long way to Tipperary, Irish eyes, Fairytale of New York and Black Velvet band. The "violin" parts are a 2nd harmony on the off beat and seventh of the first harmony (harp) to singers singing in keys such as d flat minor, E and C#.
I told them they needed a professional orchestral player, it took a lot of will power to not say anything else. Lets say I wont be buying a ticket to this "showcase"
# Posted on September 21st 2008 by Joze
Re: Forbidden?!
I am always amused by these types of discussions. I have always been on the side of playing requests to the best of one's ability, especially if the tip hat has been noticed.
I think it's just a musical snob thing that causes some individuals to have a negative reaction to a crowd favorite.
It's probably also related to insecurity, probably a throwback to
peer pressure to be with the "in crowd" from one's teenage years.
I always wonder if I'm playing the requested song or tune for the first or second time for someone. They liked it the first time and they now are in a place to hear it again. Why not give it your best shot? I spent the time to learn it, now someone really wants to hear it and they're paying attention and maybe even some dough. Why would I have a problem with this?
# Posted on September 21st 2008 by halfwaythere
Re: Forbidden?!
I'm not sure so many people would even know the Irish Washerwoman these days.
I find it a but tricky on the mandolin actually - for some reason tunes in G don't roll off my fat little fingers so easily, and I've always been a bit awkward on jigs, so it's a challenge I don't get tired of.
# Posted on September 21st 2008 by Bren
Re: Forbidden?!
Heh. I don't even KNOW the Donneybrook Fair! Shows you how clueless I am.
I do play the Silver Spear quite a bit, though. Especially as the last tune in a three-tune set when no one else knows the first two...it's my "panic button" reel to let everyone else play on the last set.
James Kelly recorded it on one of his albums, and Mick O'Brien and Caomhin O'Raighallaigh recorded it on Kilty Lie Over, and I love both tracks!
THe goal should be in making whatever tune you're playing interesting and new. If you can't do that, then you don't REALLY know the tune yet.
# Posted on September 21st 2008 by jwvansteenwyk
Re: Forbidden?!
Nothing to add. Except to say that *all* of the tunes and songs on thesheep's 'No No' list are great. Absolute classics.
As said above, groaning when someone plays a tune is poor form. I'm just feeling a twinge of guilt, because it may well be that I've done it myself once or twice. But I should think it was probably only when someone started Tam Lin, and that doesn't really count.
# Posted on September 21st 2008 by benhall.1
Re: Forbidden?!
I'm with jwvansteenwyk, I use the Silver Spear and tunes like it to get everyone playing it at a session, especially if I've soloed one or two tunes, or the whole session has kind of spaced out because it has become a circle of people playing solo sets. That's when it's good to jump in with an "everybody tune," as a mate of mine calls them. It wakes everybody up and reconnects the session. And the thing is generally they all seem so happy that they finally can play along together! No rolling eyes or anything.
# Posted on September 21st 2008 by TheSilverSpear
Re: Forbidden?!
Although I thoroughly enjoy the tune I did laugh out loud at nicholas's comment about the musical priest being the devils ringtone.. . . . .
# Posted on September 25th 2008 by banjoburger
Re: Forbidden?!
The Kesh and Morrison's are really "default tunes" in the pub here, and un-fortunatelly, played by ALL of bands (of which there are five).
I do agree that in different conditions, these tunes would be very lively and wonderful to raise everyone up from their chairs, especially that the Bothy Band played them, but since I get to hear them all the time, it's just not fun anymore
As for the songs - I dare you to get into Carol's gift shop in Dublin and stay there for 3 hours, hearing the same classics over and over and over again. Once again, this is what happens when all of the bands play the same songs.
By the way, I agree with grego - "Irish Washerwoman" is intolerable!
# Posted on October 5th 2008 by thesheep
Re: Forbidden?!
"groaning when someone plays a tune is poor form"
I know but it's fun..
Seriously though, this is another of these threads. One (wo)man's forbidden tune may be quite acceptable to someone else and it all depends on the context and location.
"The Silver Spear" is a great tune and I've never known it to upset anyone, anywhere. As for the "Irish Washer Woman", it really depends on the circumstances. Actually, it's more popular in Scottish/ ceilidh type sessions.
If you find yourself in some situations where your "forbidden tunes" get played and you groan, roll your eyes etc then you might be the odd one out!
Again, as has been pointed out, not everyone will necessarily know some of the tunes which have been given as examples here. Imagine some poor musician who has just discovered one of these and gets "put in his or her place" if it is given an airing in the wrong session!
# Posted on October 5th 2008 by Johannes J