playing songs you hadn't thought of

[ira]

went to play at a guitarists friend's house last night. just messing around with songs with the thought of playing a short open mic together next week.
(so far a pretty cool set-
1.a neat mix of :
so lonely(police)-no woman, no cry (marley)
2. one more cup of coffee (dylan)
3. can't you see (marshall tucker))))

afteward looking through his binder of tunes, and come across "king of the road"

i hadn't even thought of this song in decades. he said he came across it when searching for other stuff.

what fun to play a tune that you hadn't considered but has a catchy sound and feel.- truly a blast!
anyone else have that "man, what a great song, never thought of playing it" experience lately?http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif\
peace,
ira

[bjc]

Started jamming on (by accident) "Folsom Prison Blues" the other day and I think we're gonna keep it...we might need to hear the original though...the chords are simple, but not sure if my partner is singing the words right...tee hee

[mandodebbie]

When I bought my first mando last year, most of the music I was trying to play was "just for fun".(It's all part of learning.) I dreamed of playing "Go Tell Aunt Rody (The Old Grey Goose is Dead)" and ABBA's "I Believe in Angels." Now I can play those songs(reasonably well). I can also render old show tunes from the Kalydescope of Songs for Hammond Organ I bought at my local thrift shop. Now to convert ABBA songs to Bluegrass... hmmm...could be a challenge. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[jbrwky]

Knocking On Heaven's Door is fun.

[flairbzzt]

When I played in the band, we always had fun with "The Battle of New Orleans". It's great for mando.

[luckylarue]

How about Levon Helm's version of "Atlantic City"?
I've also been thinking a mandolin version of Depeche Mode's "Everything Counts" could be interesting. "The grabbing hands grab all they can..." http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[Unclelevi]

I like to do Kingston Trio's "MTA" sometimes. It's exactly the same tune as "wreck of the Old 97". #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[steve in tampa]

Partial set list from last week:

Trying to Reason with Hurricane Season
Come Monday
Please Come to Boston
Brown Eyed Girl
Whiter Shade of Pale
Tupelo Honey
Paradise
Angel From Montgomery
To Love Somebody
Sweet Melissa

[flairbzzt]

Unclelevi- MTA was also one we played and was THE most fun for me to play out of all. Still is.

[Keith Miller]

The old T rex song Life's a gas works well, plugged in I can even get a reasonable sounding Paranoid. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

[billkilpatrick]

for fun songs and songs you probably never suspected you even knew, try looking in the broadway show repertoire. in another thread i read that oddnamnool had worked out "on the street where you live" - it's just fabulous on mandolin. strictly bow-tie daddy stuff but ... fun.

- bill