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Thread: Mandolin flagship song?

  1. #51
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    Default Re: Mandolin flagship song?

    Playing on a bowl back mandolin I would think Lara's Theme would work !

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  3. #52
    Joe B mandopops's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin flagship song?

    David, yes shared opinions again, bro.
    In addition to the Neapolitan tunes adding those Italian pop tunes would usually go over good. Another is More, the Mondo Cone theme. I originally learned it from Jethro. It was an instantly recognized melody.
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  5. #53
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    Default Re: Mandolin flagship song?

    Quote Originally Posted by yankees1 View Post
    Playing on a bowl back mandolin I would think Lara's Theme would work !
    it works really well.

    One highlight of my early mandolin career was playing "Lara's Theme" on a bowlback mandolin as the soloist with the New Orleans Summer Pops Orchestra, in lieu of a balalaika.

    Quote Originally Posted by mandopops View Post
    David, yes shared opinions again, bro.
    In addition to the Neapolitan tunes adding those Italian pop tunes would usually go over good. Another is More, the Mondo Cone theme. I originally learned it from Jethro. It was an instantly recognized melody.
    Joe B
    good tune choice - another would be "3rd Man Theme".

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    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin flagship song?

    Quote Originally Posted by Bob Gnann View Post
    ...Allen my big solo with our local group Higher Mountain Bluegrass was Ahab Bounce which I learned from Don Reno recordings. I'm sure we're talking the same tune...
    Vernon Derrick wrote Arab Bounce when working with Jimmy Martin & the Sunny Mountain Boys. I think I learned it off a Martin LP, 'way back when.
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  7. #55
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    Default Re: Mandolin flagship song?

    I asked my 8yo and 5yo daughters what song they think about when thinking about mandolins and their reply was Mama Dont 'Low

    There you have it folks.

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  9. #56
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    Default Re: Mandolin flagship song?

    Quote Originally Posted by mandopops View Post
    I don’t think the average person thinks of Maggie Mae. Mandolin players know it has a Top 40 hit with a Mandolin, but most Rock fans don’t.
    I beg your pardon, sir. Top 40? "Maggie May" was a monster hit. It was #1 simultaneously in the US, the UK, Australia and Canada (for six, five, and four weeks, respectively, for the first three), a Top 5 hit in at least four more countries. It was the #2 song of the year in the US and the UK. Yes, this was all the way back in 1971. But "The Godfather" was 1972, so ...

    As I've been reading up on this, "Maggie May" and "The Godfather Theme" get cited the most. I daresay all the other tunes mentioned here pale in comparison in recognizability, would even be considered obscure by the general public, though "Losing My Religion" deserves an honorable mention, being the biggest mandolin-featured hit since "Maggie May."

    That is not to say that nearly all the tunes mentioned heretofore don't sound good nor play well on mandolin. Quite the contrary. But the question originally posed concerned finding a tune that would be "automatically associated" with the mandolin: "is there 1 song that people always want to hear when you pull the mandolin out?" To my mind, that means more than "what is your #1 request?" It means "What song is most commonly associated with the mandolin?" As much as the mandolin is often considered a bluegrass instrument, I don't believe there is a particular bluegrass song that is known for such an association. And since pop, rock, and movie soundtracks have far larger audiences, my conclusion is that "Maggie May" and "The Godfather Theme" provide the best answers to the question.

    With one or two possible exceptions. People often overlook "That's Amore," though it was mentioned. I'm not sure how big a hit it was, but it opens with a glorious cloud of mandolins, and there is plenty of mandolin throughout. If you recall, "The Hangover" opens with the song. I had quite forgotten how magnificent that swell of mandolins is until I heard that. Although, again, I don't think it gets requested that much. Another Italian standard might - "Santa Lucia." It seems to be quite popular in movies; one would get the impression every gondolier in Venice plays this on a bowlback mandolin. And still, I doubt it gets requested that much.

    In conclusion, I reiterate my assertion that "Maggie May" comes closest to being a "flagship" song, with a nod to "The Godfather Theme."

    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

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  11. #57
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    Default Re: Mandolin flagship song?

    Quote Originally Posted by journeybear View Post
    People often overlook "That's Amore," though it was mentioned. I'm not sure how big a hit it was, but it opens with a glorious cloud of mandolins, and there is plenty of mandolin throughout.
    It was a big hit in my Italian-American family, and I played that tune at over 10 years worth of Italian Cabaret gigs with a group of singers that performed under the name "That's Amore".

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/That%27s_Amore

    "On November 7, 1953, Martin's record of the song, with "You're the Right One" (which was recorded at the same session as "That's Amore") on the flip side, peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard charts."

    Seems to have been a big hit.

    https://www.songfacts.com/facts/dean-martin/thats-amore

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  13. #58

    Default Re: Mandolin flagship song?

    Ha, hey David. As a sometimes itinerant accordionist (when covid is not in play) i often wind up playing amore, volare, lara's theme, third man, godfather, que sera...

    The accordion "tradition" encompasses those tunes too.

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    Default Re: Mandolin flagship song?

    Quote Originally Posted by DavidKOS View Post
    It was a big hit in my Italian-American family, and I played that tune at over 10 years worth of Italian Cabaret gigs with a group of singers that performed under the name "That's Amore".

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/That%27s_Amore

    "On November 7, 1953, Martin's record of the song, with "You're the Right One" (which was recorded at the same session as "That's Amore") on the flip side, peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard charts."

    Seems to have been a big hit.

    https://www.songfacts.com/facts/dean-martin/thats-amore
    That's Amore ? All I can think about is Dean Martin !!

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    Default Re: Mandolin flagship song?

    You mean it's not this 'un heah?


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    Default Re: Mandolin flagship song?

    Thanks Allen it is Arab Bounce after all. The banjo player I learned it from many years ago always called it Ahab Bounce and said it was a Don Reno number. All this time I was getting the title wrong! Blame it on the banjo man.
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    Default Re: Mandolin flagship song?

    So ya, this has been a lot of fun, but at the end, I don’t think there really is a “mandolin song” that would compare to the thought of Dueling Banjos or Foggy Mountain Breakdown being “the banjo song”

    Honestly, I don’t think this is a bad thing at all.

    OTOH.. songwriters? Opportunity awaits..

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    Default Re: Mandolin flagship song?

    Quote Originally Posted by AlanN View Post
    You mean it's not this 'un heah?
    No, no, signore! Ma grazie, mille grazie! People will be more likely to remember the singer than the subject. Secondo me ...

    Perhaps if the man who plays the mandolin were to play "Mambo Italiano" con poco amore, so listeners would sway ...

    This goes back to the big Italiano craze of the 1950s into the 1960s. Someone mentioned "Volare," another big hit from that time (though no mandolin in it, IIRC). Seems like a whole other world, now.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

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  24. #64
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    Default Re: Mandolin flagship song?

    Arab Bounce. Pronounced 'AY-rab'. In deference to Arab, Mississippi or Alabama, one of them states. Vernon Derrick was indeed a character. I saw him perform once with The Boys From Indiana, on fiddle. He introduced the next tune like this: "Now, this next number is called "Back Up And Push"...long pause..."Honey".

    O, behave.

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    Default Re: Mandolin flagship song?

    Maggie May is definitely forgettable AFAIC anyway.

    Ray Jackson the mandolinist got only couple hours of studio musician pay for adding that cool riff that made the song stand out and probably cause it become a big hit record for Rod Stewart. Disgracefully, Stewart refused to even include Jackson's name on the LP cover credits and to this day has refused to give him any credit nor any monetary reward for his important contribution.

    So Maggie May will never be my mandolin flagship song.

    I like Tarantella Napoletana!



    I think legend has it that Bill Monroe wrote Kentucky Mandolin for the mandolin so that is my fall back! This is not my favorite version of the tune but it is performed by the composer!

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  28. #66
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    Default Re: Mandolin flagship song?

    Yeah, but ...

    The way the question is posed in the OP, it's objective or empirical in nature. Emotional responses are beside the point.

    Here's the article by Bill Graham about "The Man With The World's Most-Heard Mandolin Solo."
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

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    Default Re: Mandolin flagship song?

    Quote Originally Posted by journeybear View Post
    Yeah, but ...

    The way the question is posed in the OP, it's objective or empirical in nature. Emotional responses are beside the point.

    Here's the article by Bill Graham about "The Man With The World's Most-Heard Mandolin Solo."
    Yeah I read that article when it came out about a decade ago I guess? But I had heard that story about the mandolin player getting the short end of the stick before Graham's excellent article which filled in the details nicely. If you look around on You Tube you can find an interview with Ray Patterson about what went down with Stewart that day and subsequently.

    As to this being an "objective" question? How so? Seems like the question was: "is there 1 song that people always want to hear when you pull the mandolin out?"

    Seems like there are many answers to that question depending on who you ask -- for you it is Maggie May but not me or some others it seems? How can a "which do you want to hear" question be "objective"??? I mean the song you want to hear is one you like -- I assume anyway, and that is subjective?
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    Default Re: Mandolin flagship song?

    When it's quarter to four and she says she wants more that's Amore .....
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  33. #69

    Default Re: Mandolin flagship song?

    (Verse) If you see a big eel,
    and his teeth are like steel,
    That’s a Moray. (A Moray!)

    If he’s big and he’s mean
    and he’s slimy and green,
    That’s a Moray. (A Moray)

    (Chorus) If he slices the hose,
    and then leaves you to doze,
    That’s a Moray!
    A Moraaaaaaaaaaaayyyy!
    A Moray.

    (Verse) When he’s fanning his gills,
    Better head for the hills,
    That’s a Moray. (A Moray!)

    From a hole in the reef,
    He will bring you much grief,
    That’s a Moray. (A Moray!)

    (Chorus) If he slices the hose,
    and then leaves you to doze,
    That’s a Moray!
    A Moraaaaaaaaaaaayyyy!
    A Moray.

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    Wow has this post veered off course!!!
    Thanks Carl M that's some funny stuff.
    Ratliff R5 2007, Capek A5 2003, Washburn M5S-SB Jethro Burns 1982, Mid-Mo M-2, Epiphone MM 30 Bk mandolins, Harmony Batwing 1970's, George Bauer bowlback early 1900's Philadelphia.


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  36. #71
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    Default Re: Mandolin flagship song?

    Quote Originally Posted by Bernie Daniel View Post
    As to this being an "objective" question? How so? Seems like the question was: "is there 1 song that people always want to hear when you pull the mandolin out?"
    Right. That is objective. It's like taking a survey. It's not what do you want to hear or play - subjective - it's what do they want to hear, what do they want you to play - objective.

    It's not "what's your favorite song to play." That subject has been done to a turn around these here parts. But "what do people want to hear" - that's a good bit different, a subject that isn't overdone, one with a different angle. And it goes along with the other way the question was phrased, whether there is a "flagship" song, a "song that seems automatically associated with the mandolin." That's a more distinct topic, it seems to me. And as such, more interesting. I'd like to see us stick closer to that.

    There have been some good suggestions, some off-the-wall ones, and a bunch that don't qualify. I think the answer, if there is one, resides in what have been big hits that featured mandolin prominently. Using the example of FMB, which was never a big hit but still entered the public's consciousness via the popularity of "The Beverly Hillbillies," to the extent that it must be about the most frequently requested song for banjo pickers, is there an analogue for mandolinists?

    I don't think so. The top two requests I've gotten over the years have been the aforementioned "Maggie May" and "friend Of The Devil." Both songs are fifty years old, yet nothing has come along since to replace them. Even "Losing My Religion, for which I've only ever gotten a handful of requests. Even "The Godfather" - I've not been asked for that often.

    Sorry to go on so long about that. I've found myself involved in a recording project which includes some mandolin warhorses - these two Rod Stewart songs, and also "Gasoline Alley," plus "Battle Of Evermore." At least "Morning Dew" isn't one such. But working on these songs has meant revisiting the love/hate relationship I have with them, being both songs that I actually like, yet also songs which come up disproportionately more often than many others. That's one of the problems with popular songs. They come up a lot, perhaps more than one would wish. Artists who have one big hit that they have to do all the time ... it wears on them. But they do have that song, their claim to fame, which may have put them on the map and subsidized much of the rest of their career. Ah, there' no success like failure, and failure's no success at all.
    Last edited by journeybear; Jan-17-2021 at 1:17am. Reason: a few more thoughts
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  37. #72
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    Default Re: Mandolin flagship song?

    CarlM - that's hilarious! Is that your doing? If so, hip hip hooray!

    The most I've ever been able to do with "Amore" is:

    When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie -
    That's a-messy.

    I've felt no impetus to develop this further.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

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  38. #73
    Registered Muser dang's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin flagship song?

    If it’s supposed to be what everyone requests, why hasn’t anyone said wagon wheel?
    I should be pickin' rather than postin'

  39. #74
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    Default Re: Mandolin flagship song?

    Did someone say "Wagon Wheel?" Put $20 in the tip jar!



    From the notes:

    We have never done this song. Someone put $20 in the bucket and kept asking for it, for over an hour. So at the end of the night we got our friend Lance Taylor up to sing it. We got such a crazy reaction from the crowd. Nearly everyone got up to dance, including Jerrod, who got mauled by the woman who requested it (she also stuck her head in the camera early on). Toward the end you can see she gave Jerrod a big "Thank you" and a kiss. I guess it's confirmed - it's a crowd pleaser. At the end Gibson said, "I told you we don't know that song." Such a smarty-pants! But we really don't, not the verses, anyway. Some of us have played it well over a hundred times, LaPierre probably twice that or even more, and everyone knows the chorus, of course, just not all the rest. We might have to learn it ... not!

    [LaPierre, the bass player, has been friends with one of the Old Crow guys since high school. He's done the song who knows how many times, and how he feels about it can't be said here. We were in a band that did the dang thing once or twice a gig every night for 2 1/2 years, plus plenty other gigs. Even after all that, I still like the song. Mostly. ]
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

    Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!

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  41. #75
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    Default Re: Mandolin flagship song?

    Cripple Creek
    Angeline the Baker
    Whiskey Before B'fast
    Soldier's Joy. . .

    stuff like that!

    f-d
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