Has a band experience ruined a song for you?

[Dr88s]

I"m not talking about 'Mustang Sally' or 'Brown Eyed Girl' that you have played so many times that you can"t bear to listen to anymore -

 

Most of my shows are one offs at various events and fundraisers, so it"s not like my bands have weekly gigs to perfect songs over time. If something goes wrong, it"s indelibly engrained in my memory as a part of that song.

 

Other songs I just remember with negative feelings for the difficulty in getting them prepared, either for the amount of time I had to woodshed to get a certain part down, or for the frustrations I would have when some other bandmember for one reason or another just couldn"t seem to 'get' their part.

 

The longer I have been playing, the more songs this has happened to, and I generally can"t make it through one round of the presets on my car"s radio without encountering one of those songs. In some way, they have been forever ruined for me.

 

Is it just me?

[MAJUSCULE]

Closest thing I can come up with is when I played in the rhythm section for a jazz choir for a couple years and they did a latin arrangement of Don't You Worry Bout A Thing. The pain has faded somewhat with time but it was horrendous and really made me think about skipping it when listening to Innervisions. But you don't skip Stevie.

 

TBH I think I usually go the opposite way, where I may get into a song or an artist I didn't know or expect to like, because I played it on a gig. Cowboy Take Me Away comes to mind.

[KuruPrionz]

Once we started Maybelline and somehow the drummer had no idea what the groove was, at all.

Why we didn't stop I have no idea.

 

I still like the song though.

 

You've disqualified Sweet Home Alabama although NOBODY plays it right. I don't and I don't care. It's stupid.

[GRollins]

I can no longer stand Jumping Jack Flash, but that's in your disqualified category of overexposure.

 

There was a Traffic tune that was such a disaster during one gig that it ruined the song for me. I'm trying to remember the name...Can't Find My Way Home? Is that the title, or just part of the chorus? I haven't thought about it in years. I'll put a brain cell on it and see if I can stir some memories. Or not. Perhaps it's better to let that particular sleeping dog lie.

 

Grey

[Dr88s]

There was a Traffic tune that was such a disaster during one gig that it ruined the song for me. I'm trying to remember the name...Can't Find My Way Home? Is that the title, or just part of the chorus?

 

You"re close â it is Stevie Winwood, but with Eric Clapton in Blind Faith. I personally adore the song.

[KuruPrionz]

I can no longer stand Jumping Jack Flash, but that's in your disqualified category of overexposure.

 

There was a Traffic tune that was such a disaster during one gig that it ruined the song for me. I'm trying to remember the name...Can't Find My Way Home? Is that the title, or just part of the chorus? I haven't thought about it in years. I'll put a brain cell on it and see if I can stir some memories. Or not. Perhaps it's better to let that particular sleeping dog lie.

 

Grey

 

Can't Find My Way Home is Stevie Winwood with Blind Faith. And yes, a trainwreck unless everybody knows it or knows how/when to sit out or carefully decorate.

 

I sort of enjoy trainwrecks, especially the really bad ones. They bring a perverse joy to my black, greasy heart.

[16251]

My last GB band thankfully ended in 2008. There are too many songs to mention but the common theme of being ruined was the sax player doubling string lines I played.

[Dr88s]

Not to derail my own thread but I love the organ playing on this particular version.

 

[video:youtube]

[mate stubb]

Any song that the rest of the band thought would be a good idea to make me sing lead on.

[GRollins]

There was a Traffic tune that was such a disaster during one gig that it ruined the song for me. I'm trying to remember the name...Can't Find My Way Home? Is that the title, or just part of the chorus?

 

You"re close â it is Stevie Winwood, but with Eric Clapton in Blind Faith. I personally adore the song.

 

Thanks for the save. (Should have known Clapton was in the mix somewhere, as the guitarist was a fiend for anything EC ever did.)

 

I used to love it--actually probably still do, somewhere deep inside--but in my mind, I keep seeing our vocalist develop stage fright and retreat to the back of the stage, kinda-sorta behind the drummer, from whence she whimper-whispered the words. The guy running the PA didn't know what to do with her...turn her up to counter her low voice, or turn her down to remove her from the equation. I tried to take up the vocals, which should have worked pretty well, except that I had no monitor (don't remember why, only that there wasn't anything there) and I'm not one of those cats who can effortlessly sing on-key with nothing more to go on than the muscle memory in my vocal cords. The guitar player was gamely trying to hold his end together but was sorta freaked because he was the one responsible for bringing the vocalist chick onboard and was trying to encourage her to get back out front, even as he continued playing. The drummer, bless 'im, was rock steady, even with the girl practically tucked under his elbow.

 

Live gig. Outdoors. Zillions of people. That was the band's last gig, ever. Hell, I think I'm blushing in embarrassment, even all these years later. You'd think I'd have come to terms with the mess after all this time.

 

Not.

 

Grey

[Dr88s]

Awesome. We should start a thread on train wrecks.

[Baldwin Funster]

Spooky. I had a weekly gig that started at 7pm. Problem is the daytime drunks hadn't cleared out for the nighttime drunks yet and the daytime drunks dont like loud. So we always started with a 10 minute spooky. So on top of overexposing the song I have memories of being shushed at an already barely audible level. Song ruined now.

[KuruPrionz]

How about the reverse of the situation?

 

I was in a band, it was fun and everybody was cool, except... the two frontmen insisted on singing Wonderwall by Oasis.

It's a terrrible song, sung terribly by a terrible band. I hate it.

 

I figured out I could just play 2 notes like a pretend "Edge" with chorus and delay and never learn the song. I never did learn the song, waste of brain cells.

We are still friends but I still hate that we played that song, why?

 

Cuz Baybaaaaaaaaay...............

 

Ugh, shoot me now!!!!

[nursers]

Awesome. We should start a thread on train wrecks.

 

That's one of the favourite parts of my podcast interviews - asking each guest about their on-stage train wrecks. Some great stories so far

 

In relation to the topic, I struggle with 'Heaven on their mind' from JC Superstar due to a train wreck I caused night after night when playing in a production of it.

[Docbop]

Just remember what Robben Ford told his new bass player. After the first night the bass player was bummed out a bit, Robben asked why. Bass player said I made a few mistakes. Robben laughs and says... Man if you not making mistakes your not having fun, we do this to have fun!

[The Real MC]

Played a band reunion with a sub when the original drummer was unavailable.

 

I didn't learn until the day of the show that drummer speeds up the tempo every time he does a roll around the kit.

 

My only keyboard spotlight was Sweet Home Alabama, and by the time it came around to the piano solo the tempo was too fast to play it.

 

I was REALLY pissed at drummer. Probably the only time I wanted to strangle a musician.

[EscapeRocks]

Just remember what Robben Ford told his new bass player. After the first night the bass player was bummed out a bit, Robben asked why. Bass player said I made a few mistakes. Robben laughs and says... Man if you not making mistakes your not having fun, we do this to have fun!

 

 

We use a variation of that in my band 'If you don"t have a Spinal Tap moment now and then, you"re doing it wrong'

[CowboyNQ]

... the two frontmen insisted on singing Wonderwall by Oasis.

 

That song is super popular when we play it, be interesting to know if that's the case where you are KP (not sure where that is)?

 

Similar to KP's story, there are certain songs we do in my party band that I dislike intensely (Wonderwall isn't one of them, funnily enough), but I don't really mind playing them because if the punters dig it, that's cool with me. As long as it's not 80% of the set, I can live with it.

 

Back to the OP's question, that song for me would be 'My Sharona'. Many years ago we threw that one into the set at the last minute with minimal practice, the idea being it would be alright on the night. It really was not. We did a terrible job of it. The upshot is I now get a Herbert Lom-style twitch every time I hear it.

[Baldwin Funster]

My only keyboard spotlight was Sweet Home Alabama...

I hate SHA . I cant even write it out. I have to abbreviate it.

It's not a bad song I just have a grudge against any band leader who is sooo laaazy that he cant pick a better skinrt song. Any song. Even Freebird. As long as someone else plays out the Allen Collins bit at the end. I'm not going to break my fingers on that for 6 minutes or whatever.

Sadly SHA goes over big even when played badly. I dont care. I'm still not playing it.

[Modler]

I played in a band once were the other guys insisted on doing a mash-up with Cocaine and Jolene... yes...

The fact that neither the drummer nor the bass player had any sense of groove or any idea of how to play blues, didn"t make it any better.

 

Stuck in the Middle with You. Same band. Again: blues without the slightest amount of groove or rhythmic feeling.

[Lou_NC]

The song that was ruined for me was Pride and Joy - Stevie Ray Vaughan. I played in a jam group after hours at work, and we had a fairly proficient guitar player, but he just couldn't "get" that the timing of the guitar strums in that song was on the "and", not on the main beat. It was a completely different song when strummed on the beat, and NOT different as in "better"! I don't think we ever got that one right, so we just moved on to another song. I still cringe when I hear it played, and think about good old Scott..........and his timing challenges.......

 

Lou

[Stokely]

No, can't say that I feel that way. I've been in bands that really struggled to learn and play certain songs, but then my current band has been able to quickly do them. My feeling is that any song that is a struggle, provided people have done their homework--drop it and move on.

 

One former band struggled for three practices on Pat Benatar's Promises in the Dark; there are some odd timing things in that song and it was mostly the drummer having issues. We could have learned at least five, maybe ten, new songs with that effort and time spent. That drummer's strength was straight time grooving, he wasn't good with fills and that song is full of them...find something for your strengths.

 

I have found though that some songs that I really love and *think* will be great songs to play live sometimes aren't--and some of my favorite songs to play live aren't ones I particularly like to listen to

[RABid]

The first cover band I was in we had three guitarists and I played second lead. Our first job was to play 3 one hour shows at a grade school carnival. We learned 11 songs. 6 were Lynyrd Skynyrd. The lead guitarists was Skynyrd crazy and the songs fit the singers voice. I got so sick of Skynyrd. I've never been able to casually listen to that band since. Well, to be honest, 40 years later I'm starting to listen again. But wow, was I ever burned out.

[KuruPrionz]

... the two frontmen insisted on singing Wonderwall by Oasis.

 

That song is super popular when we play it, be interesting to know if that's the case where you are KP (not sure where that is)?

 

Similar to KP's story, there are certain songs we do in my party band that I dislike intensely (Wonderwall isn't one of them, funnily enough), but I don't really mind playing them because if the punters dig it, that's cool with me. As long as it's not 80% of the set, I can live with it.

 

Back to the OP's question, that song for me would be 'My Sharona'. Many years ago we threw that one into the set at the last minute with minimal practice, the idea being it would be alright on the night. It really was not. We did a terrible job of it. The upshot is I now get a Herbert Lom-style twitch every time I hear it.

 

Bellingham WA\, on the Pacific coast just south of Canada. I play songs that people love and I hate all the time - the one that comes up in this thread all the time is Sweet Home Alabama.

 

I honestly don't care who likes Wonderwall, I dislike it and that will never change. The band I am in now does not play it so I am happy. There is nothing more to be said.

 

As to Sweet Home Alabama, I am dying to do a trilogy - Southern Man by Neil Young, followed by Sweet Home Alabama, followed by this masterpiece of parody by Warren Zevon - Play It All Night Long.

 

I have an acoustic version of Play It All Night Long and it is obvious to me that very few get the joke.

 

It makes me laugh every time.

[mcgoo]

You've disqualified Sweet Home Alabama although NOBODY plays it right.

 

That's because nobody can agree on what key it's in. ;-)

[drawback]

The one and only time I ever had to play "Don't Stop To Pee Pee, Hold On To Your Weenie" ruined an already abhorrent tune for me.

[mate stubb]

I hate SHA . I cant even write it out. I have to abbreviate it.

It's not a bad song I just have a grudge against any band leader who is sooo laaazy that he cant pick a better skinrt song. Any song. Even Freebird.

 

Now hold on there partner. SHA is 4-5 minutes of awful, but Freeturd is liable to stretch to 10 minutes with special bonus guitar wanking.

[Fusker]

Oh definitely. One particular band I was in for 9 months to help get established in a new market. The sweaty human cube of a band leader/lead singer was constantly lowering things by like a 5th and ruined some perfectly good songs for me:

 

Rikki

Running On Empty

How Sweet It Is

Hip to be Square

Home

Green River

Take It Easy

Missing You

Josie

Smiling Face

 

Yep, there might be more!

[Dave Bryce]

Fooled Around And Fell In Love

Leave Your Hat On

Werewolves Of London

 

Honorable mention to Tom Petty's Breakdown, which I used to like a decent amount...until I was in a band with a drummer who would just call it and start playing it whenever he felt during the third set, even though it was not on the set list. First of all, it's not a third set song - too sleepy. Second of all, that meant a song in the set had to go. Third of all, what a dick.

 

dB

[The Real MC]

The first cover band I was in we had three guitarists and I played second lead. Our first job was to play 3 one hour shows at a grade school carnival. We learned 11 songs. 6 were Lynyrd Skynyrd. The lead guitarists was Skynyrd crazy and the songs fit the singers voice. I got so sick of Skynyrd. I've never been able to casually listen to that band since. Well, to be honest, 40 years later I'm starting to listen again. But wow, was I ever burned out.

 

I left the southern rock band at the end of 2016 because I was frustrated playing too much guitar and not enough keys. That burned me out on southern rock, and I'm still burned out.