quickmill - Posted - 01/07/2011:  08:59:23

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O.k. I hate The Matterhorn.

My banjo instructor hates FMB and Ballad of Jed Clampet (I assume because of the number of times he's heard/played them. I've not been playing banjo long enough to hate from overplaying. Mine is just natural hatred.

slc - Posted - 01/11/2011:  08:59:49

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I just came across the Skillet Lickers version of Cripple Creek - and it's amazing, just how a great old-time tune should be. You can grab an mp3 of it here:

1001tunes.com/fiddlers/gidtanner.html

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Edited by - slc on 01/15/2011 16:37:58

black flag - Posted - 01/11/2011:  12:43:59

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"Afternoon Delight"

kevinwholmes - Posted - 01/11/2011:  16:00:41

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Grandfather's Clock. Hate it. HATE IT. REALLY, REALLY HATE IT!

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Edited by - kevinwholmes on 01/19/2011 16:27:34

mrbook - Posted - 01/11/2011:  16:45:54

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I'm not fond of Cripple Creek or Old Joe Clark, and I've never Biled Them Cabbage Down, but I will play them from time to time. On quite a few songs that I don't like, I also realized that it was because I never really learned to play them. They got better once I learned to play them.

I alos played for 17 years with a guy who had to play "The Yellow Rose of Texas" at EVERY show we played (yes, I'm shouting). If I left it off the list, he would claim we had a request. Finally, one day I said, "It's not a bad song, but if I had to pick one song I wanted to play in every show, it wouldn't be 'The Yellow Rose of Texas.'" The rest of the band agreed, but it was the beginning of the end. We don't play together anymore. A little sad, but at least I don't have to play that song unless I want to.

Jeremiah - Posted - 01/11/2011:  18:58:32

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Here's a nice Cripple Creek by Jimmie Strothers
youtube.com/watch?v=tPV0X9fif-g

slabounty - Posted - 01/12/2011:  07:49:20

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Now *this* is how Cripple Creek ought to sound ... youtube.com/watch?v=LXkM11kp_t...ature=fvw

Scott

ramjo - Posted - 01/12/2011:  08:06:19

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Slabounty--you hit the nail on the head. I remember watching that segment with my kids, dancing around the living room. Sweet nostalgia. Thanks for finding and posting the link.

Boog - Posted - 01/12/2011:  11:52:17

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My Sharona

John Gribble - Posted - 01/12/2011:  13:26:41

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quote:

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Originally posted by black flag

"Afternoon Delight"

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Not even Earl's version?

John Gribble - Posted - 01/12/2011:  13:31:11

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quote:

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Originally posted by Boog

My Sharona

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But what about Dock Boggs's cover of it?

Seriously, I was aiming more at something other than pop/rock tunes.

I'm really surprised by how much play this thread received. It really grew some legs. Thanks, everyone. I was a little sad to see some of my old favorites trashed. But I'll get over it

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Edited by - John Gribble on 01/12/2011 13:32:30

KnarfEK - Posted - 01/14/2011:  11:16:26

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Funny stuff!

Reminds me when at a traditional Flamenco show someone requests the Gipsy Kings Bamboleo. Always good for a laugh.

quickmill - Posted - 01/14/2011:  19:27:45

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quote:

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Originally posted by mrbook

and I've never Biled Them Cabbage Down

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I could never hate "Boil Them Cabbage Down" cause it always makes me think of "Little Dickie Smothers".

drew-gurbach - Posted - 01/15/2011:  16:45:53

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Muskrat Love (Was it some Captain guy and that big toothed woman?)

leemysliwiec - Posted - 01/19/2011:  16:43:24

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Over the waterfall.....Not really a bad tune, but I'm just TIRED of it. LEE

mastertone250 - Posted - 01/19/2011:  20:25:48

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Rocky Top
Foggy Mountain Breakdown
Smoke on the water
that song from the pig squealing movie(deliverance, Dueling Banjos)
Free Bird
Sweet Home Alabama
Little Maggie
Man of Constant Sorrow

LEUllman - Posted - 01/19/2011:  21:09:08

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Only one: "Snake Hunt"

banjopogo - Posted - 01/20/2011:  01:25:59

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quote:

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Originally posted by black flag

"Afternoon Delight"

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When it comes to Old Time and Bluegrass, there really isn't much that I absolutely hate,
and a lot can be remedied by a better version, and if it's a popular tune, there probably is a better version than you know out there.

But yeah, there are pop songs I loathe, and "Afternoon Delight" is one of them!!!!
(Edit- a couple of days later)
I walk into the grocery store today to pick up a few necessities... and what's playing on their sound system....
AFTERNOON DELIGHT... gag!!!!

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Edited by - banjopogo on 01/21/2011 20:06:15

Banjorb3 - Posted - 01/21/2011:  16:19:52

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Rollin' in My Sweet Baby's Arms.

WGE - Posted - 01/22/2011:  04:20:02

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I don't much care for Chinese Breakdown or Golden Slippers.

Durwood Edwards - Posted - 01/25/2011:  06:24:08

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Cripple, By God, Creek

blamethebanjo - Posted - 01/29/2011:  13:51:28

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I don't like Farewell Blues. Even the fiddle is depressing. I don't really hate it. Just don't like it!

wormpicker - Posted - 01/29/2011:  14:19:39

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quote:

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Originally posted by LEUllman

Only one: "Snake Hunt"

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Really? L'Ville? (Volo Bogtrotters)? That's one of my favorites!

Paul

james krewson - Posted - 02/01/2011:  04:23:31

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I must say I love Rocky Top to the chagrin of my bandmates, but ya gotta pitch it up high.
And thank the lord the "Oh Brother" thing is over!

mule47 - Posted - 02/02/2011:  08:49:46

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Rudy, that video is a riot!

RatLer - Posted - 02/02/2011:  23:52:12

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I like most of the songs already listed...but I can say without a doubt, I hate rock-n-roll and any variation of it, especially when the try to call it country...I feel much better now...

oldtimer - Posted - 02/04/2011:  13:32:46

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Years ago, Mike Seeger and I were performing Soldier's Joy at a show. Mike said, "after all these years of digging up obscure tunes, Soldier's Joy is still my favorite tune.

I think that sort of attitude comes from growing up in the tradition...you love the tradition and you love even the most common, over-played and frequently badly-played tunes.

Some of the tunes named, such as Chinese Breakdown, have lost a lot of their old unique qualities because modern players missed out on some of the essential subtleties. I still play Chinese Breakdown at every dance and I love the strange double-stops in it that I learned in the 1940's. But, I don't hear those odd double-stops anymore when others play the tune.

Some of the "hated" tunes named were never part of the southern tradition. "Whiskey Before Breakfast" is a Canadian tune, and it only came to the south after Norman Blake put it on one of his first LP's. So, it is rather celtic and notey. It is easily learned from notation so a lot of beginners play it.

Needless to say, "The Matterhorn" is not a part of any real tradition in the way I think of tradition.

stay tooned....
Glenn Godsey

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Edited by - oldtimer on 02/04/2011 13:34:18

banjofrog - Posted - 02/04/2011:  19:06:23

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Eight More Miles to Louisville...don't know why exactly...just don't like it.

Matt Buckley - Posted - 02/05/2011:  09:05:38

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quote:

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"Whiskey Before Breakfast" is a Canadian tune ...

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Do you mean originating in Canada? My understanding has always been that the tune originated across the pond.

Matt

playjed - Posted - 02/05/2011:  14:26:14

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Been a newcomer to banjo playing, it was these songs that inspired me to play, but I do agree once you've played it to death....time for a new one. Love the traditionals still.

Chammer - Posted - 02/07/2011:  10:35:49

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"Salty Dog." Can't stand that song, and really don't know why. It's just aggravating.

Don Borchelt - Posted - 02/07/2011:  11:16:56

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quote:

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Originally posted by Matt Buckley

quote:

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"Whiskey Before Breakfast" is a Canadian tune ...

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Do you mean originating in Canada? My understanding has always been that the tune originated across the pond.

Matt

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I first learned Whiskey Before Breakfast around 1972 (before Norman Blake recorded it, I might add), from a recording of Dick Barrett, on a compilation from the Weiser, Idaho fiddle contest. Here's what the Fiddler's Companion has to say about it:

WHISKEY BEFORE BREAKFAST. AKA and see "Spirits of the Morning." Canadian (originally), Old-Time; Breakdown. D Major. Standard. AABB. A widely known tune, often mistaken for an old traditional old-time tune (it was even listed on one album as "an Irish tune which has been popular in America for a number of years"). It has generally been credited to the mid-twentieth century by Manitoba, Canada, fiddler and composer Andy de Jarlis (known for his fine waltzes) probably on the strength of his copyrighted arrangement (it is a common practice among music publishers to copyright arrangements of traditional tunes). " "Whiskey Before Breakfast" was included in de Jarlis' book Canadian Fiddle Tunes from Red River Valley (1957), where he is credited for the arrangement only. It is often used as musical accompaniment for the quadrille 'Reel of Eight' in Canada. Gibbons (1982) notes that "Whiskey" is a favorite of Metis (native American) dance troupes in Western Canada, and in this connection Paul Gifford suggests that de Jarlis learned the tune from Metis fiddler Teddy Boy Houle's father (de Jarlis himself had Metis blood). It seems that de Jarlis and the elder Houle were up playing till dawn with the aid of libation before finally passing out. On finally awaking, de Jarlis remembered the last tune they played and perhaps gave it the "Whiskey" name. Perlman (1979) identifies it as coming from Canada's Maritime provinces where it is called "Spirits of the Morning." It has been pointed out by several sources that the 'A' section is similar to the older melodies "Liverpool Hornpipe," "Great Eastern," "Bennett's Favorite" and the Irish reels "Silver Spire" and "Greenfields of America," however, the original source for all these tunes may be "Speed the Plow." Folksinger/multiinstrumentalist Mike Cross wrote words to the melody which have become popular in Bluegrass circles (Bryan Bowers also recorded his song). Sources for notated versions: Frank Lowery (Prince Georges, British Columbia) [Gibbon]; Clem Myers [Phillips]; Dick Barrett [Phillips]. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 290. Frets Magazine, April 1989; pg. 64. Gibbons (As It Comes: Folk Fiddling From Prince George, British Columbia), 1982; No. 3, pgs. 14-15 (includes variations). Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 1, 1994; pgs. 254-255 (two versions). Sing Out!, 198-, pg. 75. Spandaro (10 Cents a Dance), 1980; pg. 20. American Heritage 19A, Loyd Wanzer- "Plain and Fancy Fiddlin.'" Bay 204, "The Arkansas Sheiks." Fretless 103, "Clem Myers: Northeast Regional Fiddle Champion 1967 & 1970." June Appal 003, John McCutcheon - "How Can I Keep From Singing?" (1975. Learned from Ben Hensley, Speedwell, Tenn.). London EBX 4118, Andy DeJarlis - "Backwoods Fiddle Tunes.' Marimac 9017, Vesta Johnson (Mo.) - "Down Home Rag." Missouri State Old Time Fiddlers Association 002, Taylor McBaine (Mo.) - "Boone County Fiddler." Revonah RE-924, "The West Orrtanna String Band" (1977). Rounder 0063, Norman Blake- "Whiskey Before Breakfast." Voyager 304, Dick Barrett- "More Fiddle Jam

Frankly, I often find these supposed connections between old world and new world tunes to be mighty thin, once you actually sit, listen and compare all of them.

- Don Borchelt

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Edited by - Don Borchelt on 02/07/2011 11:29:23

Newl Post - Posted - 02/07/2011:  14:12:00

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Free Bird. Not Free Little Bird. Not Little Birdie. I like those. I mean Lynyrd Skynyrd's Free Bird. I just have bad memories from my childhood associated with that tune.

Thank God it's not considered traditional.

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Edited by - Newl Post on 02/07/2011 14:12:47

mikey5string - Posted - 02/07/2011:  17:03:38

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Salty Dog... i just never liked that song for some reason.

any other song i might "hate" is almost always a result of me playing it 9,003 times.

like..

salt creek & blackberry blossom.

it seems to me that salt creek has a very sparse melody. not much going on there. i think that this is a result of the tune getting watered down while making the rounds through the banjo circles. i do like that it lends itself nicely to improvising though.

i agree that any tune can be made to sound really bad or really good. overexposure is the culprit.

except Salty Dog. that song is just bad. ;)

oldwoodchuckb - Posted - 02/08/2011:  14:27:29

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Whiskey Before Breakfast is obviously a variant on "The Grand Hornpipe" as are any number of such hornpipes, including at least one version of "Debuque".

I have to admit I am somewhat tired of it but that is mostly because I have been exploring it for 40 years now. I learned it well before Norman Blake came along, and I have always done my best to avoid his Rising Gorge String Ensemble and other overly-arranged and guitar centric recordings. I do NOT like most attempts to turn dance music into chamber music.

Someone started a thread calling this "the dumbest thread ever". This leads me to another "Old Man" story.

My 5th grade class was asked how we liked "The Grand Canyon Suite" a film of the canyon with the suite as background which we had just seen that morning - In fact, I had seen it 4 times as I was an AV boy (I could run a Bell and Howell projector, and get the sound loops right) and had shown the movie to all the AM assemblies since the other AM AV Boy was out that day.

When I was called upon I said. I didn't like it. So far at that point the answers had been heavily positive - except John Peters who said he hated "long hair music". When I said I didn't like the music, the teacher, who didn't really know me, said "another vote against long hair music?" I just smiled and sat back down, expecting her to go on to the next person and so on with the rest of the class. Instead she told me to stand up again and tell the class what I found so offenssive about classical music and why I didn't like music that had been popular with millions of people for hundreds of years.

Now I had just seen the film 4 times, so I had a fast and accurate answer - Since the composer was conducting the "Grand Canyon Symphony Orchestra" in the film, this piece was obviously not hundreds of years old. I quickly went on to say that there was better music by Beethoven, Bach, Tchaikovsky, and several other respected classical composers, but that instead of using any of them they took this piece written by a guy who wrote movie music. At the time "movie music" was about the biggest put down I could think of, and I had seen more than one movie with the composer's name on the credits - I'll read anything, even down to key grip and hair stylist in screen credits.

This got me a trip to the principal's office. Fortunately she DID know me, and the net result was I got switched over to the class being taught by the new teacher - a man. The first male teacher I ever saw, and the first young teacher to boot. He was pretty cool. Futhermore, his class was combined 5th and 6th grade, so stayed there the next year and never had to go back to the little old ladies -- save for my frequent trips to the assembly hall to show movies like "How Milk is Made" and "Your Friend The Atom". Some of the teacher were so anti-tech I was called down to their classrooms to set up and thread the film strip projectors. FIlm strips were cartoon or live action still photography telling stories much like comic books or explaining "The Wonder Of Glass" etc. Since any kid who passed kindergarden (including John Peters - who should not have graduated kindergarden) could set up and run a film strip projector I felt my valuable time was being wasted on such beneath my dignity stuff - still I wanted to keep the gig, because being an AV boy meant I couldn't be on the safety patrol - since I was expected to be doing important stuff like re-winding movies when others were out crossing streets. I was willing to do anything to stay off the safety patrol - those guys were ragged and tormented all the time - except fo the jerks who were on power trips, I walked a block out of my way to avoid one of those. Without a car in sight - literally without a single moving car visible in any direction, he would make us wait at his corner until there were enough people to pass through. He even ordered everyone not to talk. Ahh the old school days. Power trips bad assumptions and little old ladies. What could be more fun?

All the young teachers were at the Junior High - but that is another old man story.

What does this have to do with a thread about songs we don't like and people who think that is a dumb thread? Simply the fact that people are always willing to pigeon-hole us about music based on their own biases and their assumptions about our biases. I recently had a discussion about a really beloved singer/songwirter - probably not Tom Waits, but someone with that kind of fans. THe fellow simply assumed that because I didn't like him, I had pre-judged his latest album and had not listened to enough of it. I know I had listened to enough of Tom Waites close on to 40 years ago, but I have been subjected to him and others like him over and over, by accolites who insist that I simply have not heard the "right" stuff. I have heard the right stuff - over and over. I'll never like it, and I'll never like The Grand Canyon Suite - but if you assume that my not liking Groffe's turgid l melodrama means that I don't have several recordings of Beethoven's 7th symphony at home - you are being an ass - go sit with John Peters, and that idiotic safety patrol dude, who's name has long been lost to my sieve-like memory.

Musical taste is built over a lifetime. It changes constantly. Some opinions never change. My opinions are pretty much set after 65 years. But I had a better knowledge of classical music when I was 9 than any of my grade school teachers Ever achieved. I never got into much trouble in school - but music teachers tended to hate me. Music was my subject of passion, and unfortunately they simply didn't share my passion. They were just making a living.

oldtimer - Posted - 02/08/2011:  22:15:47

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quote:

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Originally posted by Don Borchelt

quote:

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Originally posted by Matt Buckley

quote:

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"Whiskey Before Breakfast" is a Canadian tune ...

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Do you mean originating in Canada? My understanding has always been that the tune originated across the pond.

Matt

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I first learned Whiskey Before Breakfast around 1972 (before Norman Blake recorded it, I might add), from a recording of Dick Barrett, on a compilation from the Weiser, Idaho fiddle contest....
- Don Borchelt

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Sorry, I wasn't clear in my casual statement. I didn't mean to imply that Norman was the first to record the tune...only that his recording was influential with a bunch of OT southern players, and I think many in the south started playing the tune as a result of Norman's recording. The southern OT players didn't make a habit of listening to Dick Barrett's recordings, although Barrett is an old friend of mine and I don't intend to demean his contest style fiddling.

Anyway, my point was Mike Seeger's remark to me about Soldier's Joy. My secondary thought was my idea of why I, personally, have never been comfortable fiddling Whiskey Before Breakfast.

Glenn Godsey

H Kimball - Posted - 02/09/2011:  13:34:40

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Hey OWC, liked your response. My thread regarding "dumbest" was simply a response to the term - "songs you hate". To me hate has a significant notation. I guess it goes back to the way I was raised. If you consider the phrase "songs you are tired of playing" or songs your don't like that's different (at least to me). Normally I'm not very a very caustic person and would just let my response to the thread, that inspired me to post, slide by. But song you hate just kinda had me ticked off. It was good to see that many folks responded that they liked some of those old classic tunes.

banjered - Posted - 02/09/2011:  19:38:21

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Ha OWC! That was a great story - sent to the principal for honestly expressing your opinion. When I was in first grade there was a music teacher who traveled from school to school. He showed up at our class and from a bag started handing out clangers and bells and whistles and the inevitable happened, the kids started using them. Suddenly the teacher let out a horrible scream and started yelling at us that we didn't respect music or Mr. XXXX. Then she asked "Who doesn't like this Music?" Then the dumbest kid in the class - that would be me - raised his hand and naively declared, "It just sounds like a bunch of racket to me." The very next second I was "stationed" outside the class door facing a wall, contemplating my first lesson in expressing non-establishment opinions. Compulsory public "education" - ya just gotta love it! Banjered

Miguel MC Dowell - Posted - 02/20/2011:  16:51:10

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I guess I am way to new to dislike this music. I might find one that after playing it a few times it is a tune that I don't want to play a lot of, but for the most part I love music, and to me there is no song that I really dislike. For me old time music is something that one feels, and if played with an instrument, like a friend told me; really listen to your playing and feel it. That one statement has caused me to listen to the music I play and listen to.

carryonal - Posted - 03/22/2011:  14:48:32

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O man.. it' gotta be "Over the Waterfall" run away fast! Talk about a dorkfest..

SJL - Posted - 03/22/2011:  17:50:03

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quote:

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Originally posted by Newl Post

Free Bird. Not Free Little Bird. Not Little Birdie. I like those. I mean Lynyrd Skynyrd's Free Bird. I just have bad memories from my childhood associated with that tune.

Thank God it's not considered traditional.

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I actually like the first part of Free Bird, but the second part with the three guitars drives me crazy!!!

sugarinthegourd - Posted - 06/04/2011:  04:21:59

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"Sadie at the Back Door."

Marc Nerenberg - Posted - 06/04/2011:  07:36:34

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I was surprised to see this thread revived...since it seemed to have faded away a long time ago. So I checked to see what was new in it.

I know it's a few months old, but OWC's "Old Man Story" a few posts up was definitely worth the price of admission. A delightful story, delightfully told!