Songs you hate to play.

Gangsta's Paradise by Coolio. It was requested by someone at my old ukulele group and I had to find it and write up the chords and lyrics.

Not only do I hate playing it, I hated it so much when I had to listen and transcribe it that I only managed the first verse and just made a note to repeat the chords.
 
RafterGirl said:
2 of my 3 groups pick a theme each month. Depending on the theme, you’ll get a mix of things that are familiar and some things that are new. The last group does the “around the circle” thing. This usually gets 60% yellow book and 40% current/popular/new stuff.

I can’t think of a song I loathe. I just hate when I get music for church with the dreaded Capo word at the top. Those darn guitar players. ��
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I hate going around the circle suggesting songs. As someone said, you can spend time thinking about what song to suggest rather than enjoying the song you're playing. After my suggestion was rejected a couple of weeks ago, I'll pass if we do that again.
 
Jerryc41 said:
I hate going around the circle suggesting songs. As someone said, you can spend time thinking about what song to suggest rather than enjoying the song you're playing. After my suggestion was rejected a couple of weeks ago, I'll pass if we do that again.
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I'm OCD. I have at least 4 songs picked out ahead of time......either in the Yellow book, or copies of music to hand out.
 
I get the final say on what goes into our jam's songbook, so it's a bit rigged in my favor. Folks can pick almost any song, and I will like it or it wouldn't be there. I do have about a few songs that I don't like but aren't atrocious that have made it on the list because they are requested soooo often that I have given in. Sloop John B was one that I allowed on that I now regret but I buck up because I am a benevolent dictator.
 
Jerryc41 said:
I hate going around the circle suggesting songs. As someone said, you can spend time thinking about what song to suggest rather than enjoying the song you're playing. After my suggestion was rejected a couple of weeks ago, I'll pass if we do that again.
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That's crazy, because the whole reason for doing it is so that people can play songs that they want to play. I've never heard anyone in either of my groups complain to someone about their choice, at least out loud. There is some eye rolling sometimes, but that's it. I mean, when it is someone's turn to choose, they get to choose.
 
Rllink said:
That's crazy, because the whole reason for doing it is so that people can play songs that they want to play. I've never heard anyone in either of my groups complain to someone about their choice...
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That is why, in five years, I have never suggested a song. And I was right! No more suggestions from me. :D
 
Usually the one group that I go to has a list of songs we are going to play that is put together by a facilitator. When we get through those we go around the room. Sometimes I want to do something like play Amazing Grace to the tune of House of the Rising Sun, or maybe The House of the Rising Sun to the tune of Gilligan's Island. I usually bring a printout with the chord changes for everyone just so we are all on the same page. Some of the people really like to do that and some are okay with it, but there are a few muffled groans when I pass out the music. I don't worry about it. I play Jambalaya when they want to, they can play my song when it is my turn.
 
is this Ukulele Song Circle politics? :)

Yeah, there are some songs I really don't like to sing, but I play them when they are requested.
There are certain 'sentiments' I can't sing (like 'I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die' -
so we changed it to 'I pinched a man in Reno just to watch him cry').
there are other songs whose entire sentiment is disagreeable to me. So I don't sing the lyrics.
I play the song because those who are not at persnickety as I am seem to enjoy the song(s).

it think it falls under the category of 'Live and Let Live' or 'disagree agreeably'. We're all
in this together as a local Ukulele Community, so, unless I want to leave and start my own
group of like-minded players, I will be as cordial and compliant as I can, knowing that the
song will end and I can select one more agreeable to me :)

keep uke'in', :)
 
Uncle Rod Higuchi said:
Yeah, there are some songs I really don't like to sing, but I play them when they are requested.
There are certain 'sentiments' I can't sing (like 'I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die' -
so we changed it to 'I pinched a man in Reno just to watch him cry').
there are other songs whose entire sentiment is disagreeable to me. So I don't sing the lyrics.
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By no means am I averse to making minor changes to the lyrics of a song if need be. I'll always remove profanities. I haven't yet found a song where it made a difference or changed the meaning of the song. I've changed blasphemies to the same effect. I've melded a live and a studio version of a Bob Dylan song because the hybrid of the two made more sense and told the story better. I've used someone else's suggestion to change a John Prine lyric because it was unnecessarily cruel. "Behind her small eyes sunk deep in her fat." to "Behind her small eyes hidden under her hat." In all these instances the changes were minor, they made sense, they didn't change the meaning of the song or verse and most people wouldn't even notice a change had been made.

"I pinched a man in Reno just to watch him cry"

...... What? Are you serious?! At first I thought you were making a joke. That lyric makes absolutely no sense. Someone's not going to get thrown into Folsom Prison for pinching a man. Pinch a man to watch him cry? I don't think that crying is the reaction you're going to get from pinching a man in Reno. You're a lot more likely to get hurt and to a much greater degree than a pinch. This is a prime example of political correctness taken too far. I'm sorry, and nothing personal but that lyric is stupid. The whole story told in the song hangs on the action that was taken in the original line. If you find that line from an iconic Johnny Cash song so objectionable then I'd suggest not singing the song at all or not singing the lyrics (as you've done with other songs) before singing that ridiculous altered lyric. Apologies if you've taken offense but that altered line really got under my skin for some reason.
 
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mikelz777 said:
By no means am I averse to making minor changes to the lyrics of a song if need be. I'll always remove profanities. I haven't yet found a song where it made a difference or changed the meaning of the song. I've changed blasphemies to the same effect. I've melded a live and a recorded version of a Bob Dylan song because the hybrid of the two made more sense and told the story better. I've used someone else's suggestion to change a John Prine lyric because it was unnecessarily cruel. "Behind her small eyes sunk deep in her fat." to "Behind her small eyes hidden under her hat." In all these instances the changes were minor, they made sense, they didn't change the meaning of the song or verse and most people wouldn't even notice a change had been made.

"I pinched a man in Reno just to watch him cry"

...... What? Are you serious?! At first I thought you were making a joke. That lyric makes absolutely no sense. Someone's not going to get thrown into Folsom Prison for pinching a man. Pinch a man to watch him cry? I don't think that crying is the reaction you're going to get from pinching a man in Reno. You're a lot more likely to get hurt and to a much greater degree than a pinch. This is a prime example of political correctness taken too far. I'm sorry, and nothing personal but that lyric is stupid. The whole story told in the song hangs on the action that was taken in the original line. If you find that line from an iconic Johnny Cash song so objectionable then I'd suggest not singing the song at all or not singing the lyrics (as you've done with other songs) before singing that ridiculous altered lyric. Apologies if you've taken offense but that altered line really got under my skin for some reason.
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"I robbed a bank in Reno, just to get a little high." That might work, or not. :)
 
Rllink said:
"I robbed a bank in Reno, just to get a little high." That might work, or not. :)
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Or I poached an egg in Reno just to watch it fry. That could be an actionable offense if you lived in a vegan community in Reno or if you among foodies among whom the overcooking of an egg would be a crime (I'm afraid I would need to count myself among that crowd).
 
I refuse to sing murder songs, like "Banks of the Ohio" and "Delilah" and "Green, Green Grass of Home". I just find them distasteful. They sound so self-pitying.

John Colter
 
ukantor said:
I refuse to sing murder songs, like "Banks of the Ohio" and "Delilah" and "Green, Green Grass of Home". I just find them distasteful. They sound so self-pitying.

John Colter
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You forgot "I Shot the Sheriff."
 
"You forgot 'I Shot the Sheriff'."

I didn't forget it. I don't know it. Country & Western, is it?

John Colter
 
It’s funny but before I started playing the uke, I never really noticed what the words said. I just blindly sang along. Now I look at lyrics and say “this is wrong, that’s not what the song says”. Of course we can all mumble like Dylan and who knows what we’re singing - think that’ll work for me.
 
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