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"Fun" songs


picker

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A club owner has told us we should learn some "fun" songs. So far, the songs proposed have been "Brick House" by the Commodores and "Tell Me Something Good" by Chaka Khan/Rufus.

 

Anybody got anything that isn't totally cheese ball to suggest?

Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else.

 

 

 

 

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I like older ones, like "A Question of Temperature", "I Fought the Law", "96 Tears", "Dirty Water", "Mothers Little Helper" "Nobody But Me"... gee, there are probably hundreds... one that I think is totally cheeseball but always filed the dance floor was "Born to be Wild"... hate that song.

"I believe that entertainment can aspire to be art, and can become art, but if you set out to make art you're an idiot."

 

Steve Martin

 

Show business: we're all here because we're not all there.

 

 

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Tell Mama, Another Brick In The Wall, I Saw Her Standing There, She's Not There, How Long, Life In The Fast Lane, Pride & Joy, Sharp Dressed Man, LaGrange, Keep Your Hands To Yourself, Day Tripper, Rocky Mtn. Way...

 

Just a few I grabbed off our set list that I think are kinda fun. Ultimately it comes down to the taste of the club owner and the crowd that hangs out there.

Good Luck,

SEHpicker

 

SEHpicker

 

The further a society drifts from truth the more it will hate those who speak it." George Orwell

 

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As far as 'Werewolves of London' a band I am in did this 'All Summer Long/ Sweet Home Alabama/ Werewolves of London' medley that was fun. We did however get a few comments about Kid Rock ripping off Warren Zevon.

 

We've played a lot of the afforementioned songs. Jet's 'Be My Girl' is fun too.

 

the 'isn't totally cheeseball' stipulation might be hard to stay away from, because so many of the 'fun' (read- popular with a crowd of half blitzed people in a good mood) songs are those instantly recognizeable overplayed staples of karaoke magic- that's what makes them 'fun'. The two that top my cheezeball list are 'Brown eyed Girl' and 'Sweet Caroline'.

"Political language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind"- George Orwell
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"Secret Agent Man", we used to get a great response from it. Oh, and if you have a crazy lead singer do "Fever", but substitue "Beaver" for Fever everytime(she gives me beaver....beaver in the morning...beaver all through the night...). Our singer also used to imitate Bob Dylan in whatever song he felt the mood strike him, that got lots of laughts(imagine Dylan singing Roxanne, Moondance, Money For Nothin')

 

Jim

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Laywers Guns and Money gets my vote too. That could be a lot of fun.

 

Also, the Trouble Boys always got over well for us, particularly in tough bars, and Crawling From the Wreckage (into a Brand New Car), as well as I'm The Man (a song about the ad industry)

 

 

"I believe that entertainment can aspire to be art, and can become art, but if you set out to make art you're an idiot."

 

Steve Martin

 

Show business: we're all here because we're not all there.

 

 

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A club owner has told us we should learn some "fun" songs. So far, the songs proposed have been "Brick House" by the Commodores and "Tell Me Something Good" by Chaka Khan/Rufus.

 

Anybody got anything that isn't totally cheese ball to suggest?

The club owner just wants you to play for the audience, not for yourselves. While it can be "fun" to get baked and play "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" for an hour, a sober audience will be bored to tears after 30 seconds. Right?

 

One approach club owners like is to play to the ladies in the audience. If the ladies come, the guys will follow. Ka-ching!

 

In general, ladies like to dance and sing. Guys like to sit and listen. Ladies like ballads; guys like to have their faces melted off. So if you're playing nothing but cock rock you're probably alienating the ladies, right?

 

"Brick House" is a "fun" song because all the ladies know it so they do that excited little scream thing when it starts and run to the dance floor to show off their moves.

 

"Sweet Caroline" is a "fun" song because everyone will sing along to the chorus.

 

Is it cheese ball? Is it selling out?

 

Well, it worked for The Beatles, didn't it? They started off as a "fun" dance band with pop tunes everyone liked to sing. If their first single had been "Revolution 9", would we even be talking about them today? Are The Beatles considered cheese ball or sellouts?

 

Now, you can overdo it. If you play nothing but chick songs all night the guys will be bored to tears. So throw something in each set for the guys. It will clear the dance floor, so put it in when the ladies are ready for a break anyway.

 

Here's the song list for one of my area's most popular all-male rock cover bands, which just happens to be a bunch of older guys, Fifty Amp Fuse:

 

Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen

Revolution - Beatles

Hotel California - Eagles

Desperado - Eagles

Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd

Creep - Radio Head

Wicked Game - Chris Isaak

Livin' Lovin' Maid - Zeppelin

Bang a Gong - T-Rex

Boogie Shoes - K.C. and the Sunshine Band

Shake Your Booty - K.C. and the Sunshine Band

Tempted - Squeeze

Any Way You Want It - Journey

Don't Stop Believin' - Journey

Lights - Journey

This Love - Maroon 5

Dropped a bomb - Gap band

Alison - Elvis Costello

Grey Seal - Elton John

Your Love - Outfield

she's Not There - Zombies

All Day All Night - Kinks

Magic Carpet Ride - Steppenwolf

I'm Gonna Love Ya Love Ya Love Ya - Barry White

My Everything - Barry White

Can't Get Enough of Your Love - Barry White

Jessie's Girl - Rick Springfield

Funky Music - Wild Cherry

Take It On The Run - REO

Fat Bottom Girls - Queen

Call Me Al - Paul Simon

Just What I Needed - Cars

Bye Bye Love - Cars

Jive Talkin' - Bee Gees

Two Tickets to Paradise - Eddie Money

Honkey Tonk Woman - Stones

Brown Sugar - Stones

Let's Stay Together- Al Green

Life is a Highway -Tom Cochrane

Summer of '69 - Brian Adams

Rebel Yell - Billy Idol

Brick House - Commodores

Give It To Me Baby - Rick James

Hungry Like the Wolf - Duran Duran

How Deep Is Your Love - Bee Gees

Every Little Thing - Police

Red House - Jimi Hendrix

Should I Stay or Should I Go - Clash

Dancin' Queen - Abba

Pride and Joy - Stevie Ray Vaughn

Roadhouse Blues - Doors

Spill the Wine - War

Shining Star - Earth, Wind, and Fire

Hello Goodbye - Beatles

Sgt. Pepper / Billy Shears - Beatles

Sweet Child O Mine - Guns N Roses

Livin On A Prayer - Bon Jovi

Band On The Run - Wings

I Want You To Want Me - Cheap Trick

Blister In The Sun - Violent Femmes

Night Moves - Bob Seger

You're Beautiful - James Blunt

Never Been Any Reason - Head East

I've Seen All Good People - Yes

Little Red Corvette - Prince

Frankenstein - Edgar Winter Group

Dirty Deeds - AC/DC

You Shook Me - AC/DC

Thats What I Like about You - Romantics

Jenny Jenny - Tommy tutone

Cant Get Enough Of Your Love - Bad Company

Everybody Wants You - Billy Squier

Lonely Days - Bee Gees

Live And Let Die - Paul McCartney

Working For The Weekend - Loverboy

Vertigo - U2

Free Ride - Edgar Winter Group

Walking On The Sun - Smashmouth

Roxanne - Police

Beyond The Sea - Bobby Darin

Just The Way You Look - Frank Sinatra

Into the Mystic - Van Morrisson

Teach Your Children _ CSN

Wild World - Cat Stevens

Where Do The Children Play - Cat Stevens

Forgiveness - Don Henley

Hey Jude - The Beatles

Suspicious Minds - Elvis Presley

Sweet Caroline - Neil Diamond

Satisfaction The Rolling Stones

We Are The Champions - Queen

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Eric, I have a couple of questions for you;

 

Do they get a lot of booty-shakin' babes on the floor with these?

Teach Your Children _ CSN

Wild World - Cat Stevens

Where Do The Children Play - Cat Stevens

 

Who said anything about selling out? The Brickyard, where the jam is held, is a biker bar. I'm much less worried about selling out than I am getting my head caved in for playing "Dancing Queen" for a crowd that screams "FREEBIRD!" at the drop of a blackjack. And it would be the biker's old ladies who did the caving, if you know what I mean...

 

Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else.

 

 

 

 

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Eric, I have a couple of questions for you;

 

Do they get a lot of booty-shakin' babes on the floor with these?

Teach Your Children _ CSN

Wild World - Cat Stevens

Where Do The Children Play - Cat Stevens

 

Who said anything about selling out? The Brickyard, where the jam is held, is a biker bar. I'm much less worried about selling out than I am getting my head caved in for playing "Dancing Queen" for a crowd that screams "FREEBIRD!" at the drop of a blackjack. And it would be the biker's old ladies who did the caving, if you know what I mean...

 

It`s a biker bar? well that sure puts things in a different light, maybe the owner thinks it would be fun to watch the band get beaten to a pulp by a bunch of chicks...

 

How about some Social Distortion? White Zombie? that would probably count as light reading for that crowd.

Same old surprises, brand new cliches-

 

Skipsounds on Soundclick:

www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandid=602491

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Laywers Guns and Money gets my vote too. That could be a lot of fun.

 

Also, the Trouble Boys always got over well for us, particularly in tough bars, and Crawling From the Wreckage (into a Brand New Car), as well as I'm The Man (a song about the ad industry)

 

Billy Bremner, Dave Edmunds and Joe Jackson! Damned right!

 

(or did Status Quo write "Wreckage?" Is it one of Dave's 3 original songs? Hell, if I could write "I'm Gonna Start Livin' Again If It Kills Me," I'd probably never write another song again, either)

 

Edit-> Forgive me, Graham Parker... it's been a while since I read actual record center labels...

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I've never found "Suspicious Minds" to fail in any situation.

 

"Rebel Rebel" or "Sufragette City" by Bowie, if the singer can put out the attitude (they can fall flat if not)

 

"All The Way To Memphis" by the Hoople seems like it'd get a biker bar rockin'

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I'll also say, people think I'm ridiculous but I'll bring an extra Tele in 5 string G tuning for "Honky Tonk Women," "Brown Sugar" and "Start Me Up," and I swear something about that tuning makes people react to those songs more intensely than doing them in regular tuning, and I've transcribed them over where I'm hitting the same notes, but something about the overtones with the open ringing, maybe... Keith tapped into some voodoo with that stuff.
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Apologies for the late suggestion. My advice: anything by Queen. Especially Another One Bites the Dust. What band better allows for people to do any kind of movement along with the song and it works?

 

Also, and this depends on a twisted clientele, anything by The Misfits and/or Ramones. "Some Kind of Hate" and "Now I Want to Sniff Some Glue" respectively. :)

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Biker bar?

 

No question, one that will get raves from the audience (though not a 'fun' song) is "Still in Saigon". The Pusher, Born To Be Wild, that stupid motorcycle instrumental from that stupid Peter Fonda movie, Stairway to Freebird (or any other Reverend Billy C Wirtz songs.... Your Incredible Friend from Hell comesto mind, or Vanessa Williams: the Girl who Muffed her Chance), and those Dave Edmunds/Nick Lowe/Rockpile/Graham Parker/etc jams I mentioned above, Watching the Detective, I Knew the Bride, American Girl and Breakdown, and obviously any Skynyrd, Grinders Switch, Charlie Daniels, Allman Brothers (the obvious Whipping Post, but I got a lot of milage out of Please Call Home) Talk Talk, ...

 

in a biker bar in particular you have to play to the ladies, because the guys are likely only to dance to "Born to be Wild". But The Trouble Boys and Crawling from the Wreckage might really hit well in that venue. These are songs that they don't have to know, they'll like as soon as they hear the words.

"I believe that entertainment can aspire to be art, and can become art, but if you set out to make art you're an idiot."

 

Steve Martin

 

Show business: we're all here because we're not all there.

 

 

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Anything pre-LSD Beatles.

 

I dunno. There's a lot of fun stuff in the post-LSD Beatles catalog too:

 

"With A Little Help From My Friends"

"Octopus's Garden"

"Oh Darling!"

"Taxman" (may be a little too short to bother, although it is only two chords)

"The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill"

 

I could go on and on....

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