What are your "Go-To" top-ten tunes?

SteveZ

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Whether you call them "Go-To" or "Warm-Up" or "Old Standby" tunes, many folk tend to play certain songs all the time. It can be as the first ones once the instrument is tuned or what just seems to happen after a while. We all have our favorite genre(s) and the "Go-To" tunes usually reflect what floats our respective boats.

As UU shows, the musical tastes and the uses of ukuleles among the members are quite broad. Our common appreciation of this versatile instrument is truly magnified by the different sounds we get from it. So, when you open up the case/bag and retrieve the ukulele du jour, what are the ten tunes you play the most often? For me, its:

1. Hotel California
2. Heartache Tonight
3. Tequila Sunrise
4. Heart of the Matter
5. Hallelujia
6. Sultans of Swing
7. Wonderful World, Beautiful People
8. Somewhere Over the Rainbow
9. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
10. Toes

Yeah, I'm an Eagles/Henley fan who's mainly into Southern Rock, Reggae and some special stuff. I play the ukulele like I do my other stringed instruments - it's got to rock or it's traded. I prefer to flatpick rather than finger-strum.

Again, we're all different. There is no such thing as "the" way to play. If there was, it would be a boring world.
 
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My musical portfolio is much smaller.

My go to song I have been making my own is Please don't talk about me when I'm gone.

I have a version of Mr Sandman that I'm working on trying to get it consistent and up to speed but a couple of chord shapes still baffle me.

And thanks to following the seasons (without actually yet contributing more than the printed word) I have a good portion of Stairway down and an OK version of yummy yummy yummy.

I was listening to the Eurythmics 1984, Fight, and some old gangster rap in my car today. My musical tastes are all over the spectrum, Im very fussy with jazz though.
 
My go to songs vary over time. But now I'd say these:

Silent Night
Hallelujah
Stray Cat Strut
From Four until Late
Behind Blue Eyes
White Sandy Beach
This Hard Land
Nobody Knows You
The River
Tenth Avenue Freeze out
Desperado
House of the Rising Sun
City of New Orleans
WMGGW
Thunder Road
Secret Garden
 
I'm gonna sit right down and write myself a letter
Where or when (Lyle Ritz arrangement)
Somewhere over the rainbow (Brittni Paiva arrangement)
Girl from Ipanema (Jeffrey Thomas arrangement in Db)
Meditation (Glen Rose and Nellie McKay arrangements)
What are you doing New Year's? (Glen Rose)
Tonight you belong to me (Lyle Ritz)
Maybe (Ingrid Michaelson)
Heart's Content (Brandi Carlile)
Hotel California
 
Solo instrumentals in heavy rotation at the moment:

La Vie en Rose
Minuet in G
Theme from Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Greensleeves
Spanish Fandango
Midnight in Moscow
Someone to Watch Over Me
My Funny Valentine
'Alekoki
My Favorite Things
 
Well, I have only been playing the uke for a short time so my go-to list is short. My list of "songs to learn" is much longer. But I've been playing:
1. Are You Lonesome Tonight
2. Time In A Bottle
3. Somewhere Over The Rainbow
4. Stolen Dance
5. Foolish Games
6. Santeria
7. Will You Love Me Tomorrow
8. I Don't Wanna Talk About It

My musical taste is all over the board. I'm hoping to learn Ripple, The Boxer, Diamonds & Rust, & Folsom Prison Blues soon. I also see a lot of songs listed on this thread that I would like to learn.
 
This is my top ten go to list. Not all of them are in my uke repertoire yet. Some may never be in my uke repertoire but folks do not live by uke alone.

I'll Fly Away
Star of the County Down
Johnny I hardly Knew you
Greenland Fisheries
Somewhere over the Rainbow
Ripple
Five Foot Two
I've been working on the Railroad
I'm My own Granpa
Rockytop

I just started listing then winnowed the list down. I think my goto list may really be driven more by the environment I'm in at the time. These are the also rans:

Rolling down to old Maui
Milkaukee Blues
Let it Snow
Angelina Baker
Magic Child

Edit: On second thought I really don't have a goto list I sing and/or play most of the time. What I sing/play is not just environment but my present mood. I'm bi-polar so I would need at least two goto lists anyway.
 
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My go to songs vary over time. But now I'd say these:

Silent Night
Hallelujah
Stray Cat Strut
From Four until Late
Behind Blue Eyes
White Sandy Beach
This Hard Land
Nobody Knows You
The River
Tenth Avenue Freeze out
Desperado
House of the Rising Sun
City of New Orleans
WMGGW
Thunder Road
Secret Garden

Sorry, I had a bit of trouble getting my gob round the third from bottom....is it a Welsh song ?
CJ
 
My #1 go-to song is an original, because it is pretty much always a hit:



It so depends on the room. Different songs work better in different crowds - I am learning to assess the room and choose accordingly. And evolves weekly. Right now, it's:

2) White Room - when there are rockers present
3) Windy
4) Wonderful Worlds Collide
5) I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) - The Proclaimers - this one's good to get everybody playing & singing along
6) Creeque Alley - The Mamas & The Papas
7) Psycho Breakup ("Breakup Song" / "Psycho Killer" mashup)
8) John Gorka's "I'm From New Jersey"
9) This silly thing is always good for a laugh
10) Fooled Around and Fell in Love

Plus about a dozen holiday songs for a gig, including last year's original: Happy Everything

Other stuff I'd love to get (back) into playable shape, when I have a moment:
Badfinger's "No Matter What", my first original "That Thing You Said", plus my Slaid Cleaves parody "New Jersey Love Song", when I can find someone to do it with me, "Born to Run", "There She Goes" by the La's, Fogelberg's "Longer".

I wasn't sure whether you meant, "What do you play for and/or with others?", or "What do you play when you pick up your uke at home?" For me the answer to the latter is generally, the ones I'm keeping in shape for playing for and with others, plus whatever I'm working on for the current Season of the Ukulele, or gig, or whatever else is "up".

Right now I'm working on an original for Season 148, one for Pabrizzer's Christmas song contest, and an opening and closing theme for Season 150 a week from Sunday, which I'm hosting. (Four originals at once is not usual! Usually I pop out about one a month, plus a mashup or two.) Plus a bunch of holiday songs for a little gig Friday night. Plus the "Hallelujah Chorus" (not on uke :)).
 
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I always introduce "White Room" as "a typical ukulele song". It's fun to see the light dawn on the faces as I launch into those very recognizable opening chords.

Friday night I was at a party with a whole rock band, so I knew what I had to do when my turn finally came around.

As I was introducing the song in my usual innocent way, the bass player started to unplug and walk away. I said, dude, come back, you're gonna want to play on this ... trust me.

He protested, but I waited till he came back and plugged back in.

He thanked me later.

That song is epic in the right room.
 
5) I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) - The Proclaimers - this one's good to get everybody playing & singing along

I love you for this. That song is basically my wing's song at school this year. Whenever we have a jam session, we play that and belt it loud to the heavens. It's glorious. We usually have a few guitars, a mandolin, a ukulele (me of course ;) ...), a cajon, and an occasional banjo or accordion in the mix.

My top ten... Hmm... That's really tough. I play a lot of stuff, and I have a lot of songs I like to mess around with that I can't play straight through yet, but these are the ones I go to most often.

1) Switzerland by The Last Bison (an awesome indie band everyone should check out)
2) The Boxer
3) The Cave
4) Wagon Wheel (because duh)
5) I Will Follow You Into the Dark
6) Hallelujah
7) Over the Rainbow
8) Foggy Dew
9) Piano Man
10) Man Who Can't Be Moved
 
My "Go To" song list really kind of hinges on what I'm playing at the time... If I had to play from memory at the moment it might run something like this:

* 5 foot 2
* The Watchmakers Apprentice
* Nothing Else Matters
* Randy Scouse Git
* When You Were Mine
* There Is A Time
* Dooley
* The Men Behind The Guns
* A Short Song
* You're Always Welcome At Our House
 
I'm gonna do this as 'What do I play if I'm being put on the spot?' either by someone asking me to play something quick or if I've gone to an open mic without any new or very practiced material. Stuff I can generally play pretty well no matter how long it's been since I last played it. In descending order:

1: Layla
2: The Final Countdown (I introduce this as a traditional Swedish folk song. Nine times out of ten realisation dawns on the faces of the punters midway through the first verse and by the end of it they're doing the DA DA DADAs for me)
3: Apple Blossom by the White Stripes
4: Feelin Good
5: Paint it Black
6: Rubber Ball by Cage the Elephant
7: Mardy Bum by Arctic Monkeys
8: Can't Keep by Eddie Vedder
9: About a Girl by Nirvana
10: Times Like These by Foo Fighters
 
Ukulele Lady
Home on the Range
Hey Good Looking
Wayfaring Stranger
If the River Was Whiskey (Hesitation Blues)
City of New Orleans
Old Folks at Home (Swanee River)
Nelly Bly
City of Chicago
Back Home in Derry
 
Need a LOVE button for some of these lists.

Friends, please post links if you have versions recorded of some of these songs. Beautiful and interesting thread. Shows what a wonderful and flexible instrument the ukulele truly is. No genre of music is immune from its arms outstretched. Thanks Hodge. :cheers:s
 
I have a repertoire of about 60 songs that I try to keep in my head but obviously some drift out because they don't get played enough. 10 I play a lot would be,

Changes by Phil Ochs. My usual opener. http://youtu.be/iACKqDJWx4M
Leaving on a Jet Plane
Down on the Corner, CCR
Bad Moon Rising, CCR
Proud Mary, CCR
Here Comes the Sun, The Beatles
Feliz Navidad for Christmas
Shine a Light, Original song http://youtu.be/XXeMtvuJdJg
Love Shine in my Life, Original song http://youtu.be/cZyt_qjG2BE
Fire Raging, Original song. http://youtu.be/T06R2UkVxug

I busk these songs regularly. Its hard to pick what's going to be popular. Sometimes its the well known tunes. Sometimes its my Original songs that really work for the crowd and sometimes an obscure cover that works. Its not as predictable as some would think.

Anthony
 
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