John Gribble - Posted - 12/30/2010:  20:22:45

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I don't know what devil is leading me to do this. But I'm curious. Anybody like to share what song(s) or tune(s) they loath? I mean in the old-timey/Bluegrass/"roots" repertory.

Mine is "A Short Life of Trouble." Why anyone old enough to buy beer legally would sing that adolescent snivel is more than I can understand. I have several otherwise fine CDs almost completely ruined by that thing.

Some years ago I was listening to a pair of really fine old-time buskers in San Diego. Their main instruments were fiddle and hammered dulcimer. I requested "Red-Headed Boy" and the dulcimer player looked as if he'd gotten a whiff of something foul. The fiddler liked the idea. "Yes!" she said, almost triumphantly and to their credit they did a fine job. I don't know if the dulcimer player found the tune awkward or difficult to play, or simply didn't like it. But I did leave a little extra in their basket for his trouble.

So what piece of music could you do without?

oldwoodchuckb - Posted - 12/30/2010:  20:35:35

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"Lazy John" really gives me the oldd badd gass.

Among instrumentals I tend to dislike D Mixolydian tunes that are just chord riffs (D to C and back) like "Valley Forge". While I admit they can be fun while you are playing them IN a big jam (many fiddlers trying to outscreech each other), in terms of wanting to actually hear them as a tune... not so much. Most of them are new compositions, and I suspect were attempts to catch the energy of "Waiting For Nancy" - a good newly composed tune (circa 1980) from Curt Bouterse. The trouble with new tunes is that a hundred years or so haven't passed to allow the bad ones to be forgotten.

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Edited by - oldwoodchuckb on 12/30/2010 20:36:45

mojo_monk - Posted - 12/30/2010:  20:44:30

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Nothing turns my stomach more than WAGON WHEEL, personally.

Matter of fact, I'd listen to Justin Bieber play the banjo for 36 hours straight if that meant I never had to hear it or be asked to play it ever again.



Man that felt good.


-Sean
2ftlbanjer.wordpress.com/

Big Dan - Posted - 12/30/2010:  20:45:07

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For me it would have to be 'Don't Get Above Your Raisin''. I think it's a great tune, very cool chorus, and, of course, Earl's playing on that track probably inspired millions to pick up and love the banjo.

But that's some mean-spirited stuff going on in the lyrics. A bit nasty, methinks.

ethan_vivian - Posted - 12/30/2010:  20:46:27

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Deuling banjos got old really quick. I can't even stand to hear it anymore. I will never play it.

stigandr5 - Posted - 12/30/2010:  21:16:27

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quote:

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Nothing turns my stomach more than WAGON WHEEL, personally.

Matter of fact, I'd listen to Justin Bieber play the banjo for 36 hours straight if that meant I never had to hear it or be asked to play it ever again.



Man that felt good.


-Sean
2ftlbanjer.wordpress.com/

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A HUGE second from this guy over here!! Wow. As it goes with certain songs, their popularity is at first embraced and later scorned. If I never hear a request for Wagon Wheel again it'll be too soon. I liked that song quite a bit when it first came out, but it really got under my skin when I'd be playing "Last Chance" or some other sweet old tune with a rich-as-you-like pedigree and some kid with dreadlocks would suggest, "Play something real old-timey. You know, like Wagon Wheel."

My girlfriend loves the song, so I do indulge her from time to time. But that's a whole nother topic.

-Nathan

chaosfrailer - Posted - 12/30/2010:  21:29:25

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Sandy Boys makes me want to puke. I can't stand it. The hangout is usually pretty positive, but it feels good to get that out of my system. I'm not talking about Sandy Boys played properly by the Hammons family, but the horrible mutated hippie version with the stops in the B part. God I hate that #*##&$ song.

whyteman - Posted - 12/30/2010:  21:47:13

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Down Yonder and Golden Slippers (oldtime stringband format; ok as a proper old time piano piece).


Anything by Burl Ives and most Kingston Trio arrangements.

And...99.9 % of Missouri Fiddle tunes. Wow, I feel better too.

Don

Ernest M - Posted - 12/30/2010:  22:17:02

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Ditto on Golden Slippers. Keep that thing away.

MountainBanjo - Posted - 12/30/2010:  22:33:11

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Dont let your deal go down.

mikebanjo - Posted - 12/31/2010:  02:18:32

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Cripple Creek and Rocky Top . . . they are played to death by folks in jams and I do my best to not play them well.

BigRedWarEagle - Posted - 12/31/2010:  04:52:27

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Cripple Creek without doubt.

BanjoDiva - Posted - 12/31/2010:  06:10:17

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Reuben. But I think some of you probably knew that already.

One thing I've learned: Sometimes I like hearing a song until I learn to play it. Then there is something about the break that I just don't care for and I end up having a more negative response to that tune when I hear it. But the converse has also happened. A song I don't particularly like to hear becomes more interesting when I actually learn to play it. Reuben is a good example of the former; Groundspeed is a good example of the latter.

Chris Via - Posted - 12/31/2010:  06:25:19

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Henry Reed did a nice version of Golden Slippers that changed my view of that one.
Personally I dislike all new tunes, and all festival style tunes. Once in a while I hear a festival tune and find the source, and like the way it was played pre-folk revival(1970's). A lot of tunes today are chopped up with pauses and stops. Kitchen Girls is one of them on the 1st part. Seths example of Sandy Boys is another. Most oldtimers wanted the music to be continuous, and go round and round like a wheel. No accented breaks on offbeat chord changes. They say it muddied it up.
Back to Kitchen Girl, Henry Reed played it quick, snappy, and dancable. Not slow, mornful and minorish like its played today. Nothing wrong with tunes evolving. Thats just one of the things I dislike about great old tunes, and the way they are intepreted today. But as long as everyone has fun, I guess nothing else matters. We all have tastes, and choices.

BanjoDiva - Posted - 12/31/2010:  06:33:54

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quote:

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Originally posted by Chris Via

Henry Reed did a nice version of Golden Slippers that changed my view of that one.
Personally I dislike all new tunes, and all festival style tunes.

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Chris, I'm not familiar with the phrase "festival style tunes." Can you explain that to me?

chaosfrailer - Posted - 12/31/2010:  06:35:42

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quote:

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Originally posted by BanjoDiva

Reuben. But I think some of you probably knew that already.

; Groundspeed is a good example of the latter.

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Dido on Groundspeed---I always skipped that song on the record until I learned to play it, and now it's one of my favorites!

tree1 - Posted - 12/31/2010:  06:38:17

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Bile 'em Cabbage Down. Just the name, I really can't get away with it.

olpete - Posted - 12/31/2010:  06:44:25

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I agree with Tony on Lazy John but most of all if I never hear another round of someone playing and singing Johnson Boys it wouldn't hurt my feelings a bit.

jduke - Posted - 12/31/2010:  06:49:48

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At a Texas music camp last summer, several of us were having lunch and listing songs we absolutely could not stand. Mine, more country than anything, is Long Black Veil. One of the other participants indicated he really did not like Paradise.

Paradise? That’s one of my favorites!

Here is another topic we will all never agree on, but does make for an interesting list.

Jeff

rickshunter1 - Posted - 12/31/2010:  06:51:04

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I'm sorry there are no Bluegrass tunes I can honestly say I hate and Banjodiva I cannot believe you hate Reuben that's one of my favorites but to each his own

bluemule_77 - Posted - 12/31/2010:  07:09:24

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There's a tune called "Dog Town" on Garry Harrison's "Red Prairie Dawn" album that just drives me mad. It sounds like the CD is skipping! (I love some other tunes on there, though, and mean no disrespect to the musicians or their performances!!)

rudy - Posted - 12/31/2010:  07:19:21

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Anyone who plays banjo and has a dislike for "Wagon Wheel" should watch this:

youtube.com/watch?v=5pW6QgYGbc...e=related

Chris Via - Posted - 12/31/2010:  07:26:32

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festival styles tunes covers a pretty broad scope, but to me its a modernized version of tunes. Tunes considered festival style around here are
Sadie at the backdoor
Little Billy Wilson
The new Cotton eyed joe
Fly around my Pretty little Miss (in G)
and so on, The popular tunes you hear in mega jams at festivals.

Karen Kruske - Posted - 12/31/2010:  08:37:29

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Weird, I kinda like Wagon Wheel even though I must be in the minority among pickers, but rudy, I liked the video on YouTube. I'm including again in case anyone missed it.
youtube.com/watch?v=5pW6QgYGbc...e=related

olderisbetter - Posted - 12/31/2010:  08:47:53

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can't stand wagon wheel of course. when tunes are turned into "festival tunes" i generally lose interest.
basically any song with modernizations or hippifications added to it.

Cornflake - Posted - 12/31/2010:  08:50:23

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In bluegrass there's Train 45. I have yet to figure out if there is even a tune in that tune. Just a string of licks. Maybe I'm wrong.

raybob - Posted - 12/31/2010:  09:19:37

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Have to agree on Rocky Top

slickstrings - Posted - 12/31/2010:  09:33:20

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I hate old joe clark.

Granada90 - Posted - 12/31/2010:  10:51:20

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quote:

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Originally posted by Big Dan

For me it would have to be 'Don't Get Above Your Raisin''. I think it's a great tune, very cool chorus, and, of course, Earl's playing on that track probably inspired millions to pick up and love the banjo.

But that's some mean-spirited stuff going on in the lyrics. A bit nasty, methinks.

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What is so mean spirited about it?....a shy down to earth girl turns high society and the male subject resents it.

If a song has feeling and soul, I like it!

J-Walk - Posted - 12/31/2010:  11:00:28

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I was tempted to add a few, but I held back because it really all depends on who's playing it.

For example, "Angeline The Baker." Kind of a boring tune, very simple, and it's played a lot. But when Aoife O’Donovan starts singing it, it's like the first time you ever heard it:

youtube.com/watch?v=8XtMGiVcAEM#t=77s

In other words, for every song you hate, somebody can probably play it so you like it.

Well, except for "Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine." I really hate that one.

FretlessinTexas - Posted - 12/31/2010:  11:19:19

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I think I overdosed on "Whiskey Before Breakfast" a few years ago. Now when I hear it, I cringe.

minstrelmike - Posted - 12/31/2010:  11:55:23

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It comes and goes for me.
Songs that I used to hate have come alive for me again when someone who loves it plays the tune. (Many of the songs already listed have been in the hate or boring category for some periods of time).

A lot depends on who else is around at the jam.

Wagon Wheel is one of my favorites if everyone sings; otherwise it's pretty boring and when I'm at home, I switch over to Let It Be just because I like singing that tune more. same with Paradise. I won't practice that tune at home but love it when there's a bunch of good singers.

oldwoodchuckb - Posted - 12/31/2010:  12:19:11

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Perhaps a lot of festival types have done damage to "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss" in G but the original recording from 1927 is pretty good stuff. You'll find it on the "Music of The Lost Provinces" CD - which has some excellent other rare stuff too.

I'm trapped in the middle of "Organizing" my cds so I currently can't find it to read the group name off the back, but it is a recording well worth finding and the whole CD is full of treasures from waaaay down in south-west NC - beyond Rutherfordtown (pronounced "Rufferton" according to my friend who lives there

jojo25 - Posted - 12/31/2010:  12:23:17

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hate is energy wasted

any tune...really....any tune...can be made good...or even great...by an inspired performance

remember

there are absolutely no absolutes

and happy new year

hayesdt - Posted - 12/31/2010:  13:12:06

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quote:

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Originally posted by oldwoodchuckb

"Lazy John" really gives me the oldd badd gass.

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I would have agreed until I heard (BanjoHangout member) Tom Berghan's version, which can be downloaded here in the forum in his music section. Great version.

As far as I'm concerned, I agree with some others here that "Down Yonder" badly needs to go "Down Under."

Just joking. I pretty much like all of them if they're played well.

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Edited by - hayesdt on 01/02/2011 04:05:03

minstrelmike - Posted - 12/31/2010:  13:46:48

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quote:

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Originally posted by hayesdt

As far as I'm concerned, I agree with some others here that "Down Yonder" badly needs to go "Down Under."

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Ha. I read that and thought "I haven't played that song in years and should pull it out at the jam." So it goes in the circle of music and life. ;-)

OTOH, there is a reason we haven't played it in years.

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Edited by - minstrelmike on 12/31/2010 13:48:37

BanjoDiva - Posted - 12/31/2010:  13:59:56

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quote:

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Originally posted by rickshunter1

I'm sorry there are no Bluegrass tunes I can honestly say I hate and Banjodiva I cannot believe you hate Reuben that's one of my favorites but to each his own

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Rick, it was a joke. I wrote a tongue-in-cheek article about it for the Banjo Newsletter last year.

Don Borchelt - Posted - 12/31/2010:  14:18:24

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I really like most of the old time tunes you guys said that you hate, Valley Forge, Sadie at the Back Door, Angeline, Cripple Creek, Old Joe Clark, Golden Slippers, Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine, Whiskey Before Breakfast, even Down Yonder. I feel so... depressed.

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Edited by - Don Borchelt on 12/31/2010 14:20:25

Bart Veerman - Posted - 12/31/2010:  14:27:01

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Salt Creek, Fox on the Run, Rocky Top, Cluck Old Hen, FMB.

Marc Nerenberg - Posted - 12/31/2010:  15:02:53

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quote:

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Originally posted by jojo25

hate is energy wasted

any tune...really....any tune...can be made good...or even great...by an inspired performance

remember

there are absolutely no absolutes

and happy new year

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By far, the most sensible post in this thread!

Jim Yates - Posted - 12/31/2010:  16:29:51

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I like most of the tunes mentioned so far. Sometimes the lyrics of a song can cause me to dislike it. I wouldn't sing It's a Shame To Beat Your Wife On A Sunday.
On the other hand, I like a lot of the old (politically incorrect?) murder ballads.

rickshunter1 - Posted - 12/31/2010:  16:34:12

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quote:

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Originally posted by BanjoDiva

quote:

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Originally posted by rickshunter1

I'm sorry there are no Bluegrass tunes I can honestly say I hate and Banjodiva I cannot believe you hate Reuben that's one of my favorites but to each his own

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Rick, it was a joke. I wrote a tongue-in-cheek article about it for the Banjo Newsletter last year.

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Its all good sorry

Big Dan - Posted - 12/31/2010:  16:40:52

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quote:

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Originally posted by Granada90

quote:

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Originally posted by Big Dan

For me it would have to be 'Don't Get Above Your Raisin''. I think it's a great tune, very cool chorus, and, of course, Earl's playing on that track probably inspired millions to pick up and love the banjo.

But that's some mean-spirited stuff going on in the lyrics. A bit nasty, methinks.

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What is so mean spirited about it?....a shy down to earth girl turns high society and the male subject resents it.

If a song has feeling and soul, I like it!

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It just sounds a bit controlling for my tastes. Probably just me being over sensitive and stuff. It's still catchy as hell, though!

BanjoDiva - Posted - 12/31/2010:  17:25:55

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quote:

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Originally posted by rickshunter1

quote:

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Originally posted by BanjoDiva

quote:

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Originally posted by rickshunter1

I'm sorry there are no Bluegrass tunes I can honestly say I hate and Banjodiva I cannot believe you hate Reuben that's one of my favorites but to each his own

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Rick, it was a joke. I wrote a tongue-in-cheek article about it for the Banjo Newsletter last year.

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Its all good sorry

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No problem.

J-Walk - Posted - 12/31/2010:  17:26:39

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Hey Bart, watch this video, and then tell me you hate Cluck Old Hen:

youtube.com/watch?v=SQoB1P6Gk0k

Klondike Waldo - Posted - 12/31/2010:  18:10:09

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quote:

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Originally posted by J-Walk

I was tempted to add a few, but I held back because it really all depends on who's playing it.

For example, "Angeline The Baker." Kind of a boring tune, very simple, and it's played a lot. But when Aoife O’Donovan starts singing it, it's like the first time you ever heard it:

youtube.com/watch?v=8XtMGiVcAEM#t=77s

In other words, for every song you hate, somebody can probably play it so you like it.

Well, except for "Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine." I really hate that one.

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Same tune, but on bagpipes, is known as The Battlel of Waterloo- I like it better on pipes.

slabounty - Posted - 12/31/2010:  19:38:26

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quote:

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Originally posted by J-Walk

I was tempted to add a few, but I held back because it really all depends on who's playing it.

For example, "Angeline The Baker." Kind of a boring tune, very simple, and it's played a lot. But when Aoife O’Donovan starts singing it, it's like the first time you ever heard it:

youtube.com/watch?v=8XtMGiVcAEM#t=77s

In other words, for every song you hate, somebody can probably play it so you like it.

Well, except for "Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine." I really hate that one.

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Is it wrong to have a crush on her even though I've been married over 20 years ;-)?

Scott

pete hobbie - Posted - 12/31/2010:  19:40:45

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Soldiers Joy

WildJimbo - Posted - 12/31/2010:  20:24:53

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quote:

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Originally posted by Don Borchelt

I really like most of the old time tunes you guys said that you hate, Valley Forge, Sadie at the Back Door, Angeline, Cripple Creek, Old Joe Clark, Golden Slippers, Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine, Whiskey Before Breakfast, even Down Yonder. I feel so... depressed.

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I'm with you Don. I've sat here and tried to think of a tune I don't like... not having much luck.