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Question for Terry

babablowfish

By babablowfish
in Acoustic Guitars

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babablowfish Newbie

babablowfish

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Hey Terry (and anyone else who may be similarly knowledgable in this area)

 

You play at nursing homes. I recently played a couple of times at the local nursing home and the folks appeared to really enjoy it. But when I played a couple of songs in particular, they really seemed to perk up - The Old Wooden Cross, Just A Closer Walk With Thee, Brother Can You Spare A Dime. One lady requested You Are My Sunshine and I felt bad that I had to tell her I didn't know it. I have since found it online and have it ready for next time.

 

Anyway, it is clear that while these folks may enjoy hearing me sing Paul Simon or Jonathan Edwards or the Beatles, they would love to hear songs from a different genre. So my question is; what are some songs that you have found really resonate with the nursing home audiences you have played for. I plan to find them online and see if I can perform them next time around.

 

Thanks for any ideas you may have.

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Terry Allan Hall Newbie

Terry Allan Hall

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Hey Terry (and anyone else who may be similarly knowledgable in this area)


You play at nursing homes. I recently played a couple of times at the local nursing home and the folks appeared to really enjoy it. But when I played a couple of songs in particular, they really seemed to perk up - The Old Wooden Cross, Just A Closer Walk With Thee, Brother Can You Spare A Dime. One lady requested You Are My Sunshine and I felt bad that I had to tell her I didn't know it. I have since found it online and have it ready for next time.


Anyway, it is clear that while these folks may
enjoy
hearing me sing Paul Simon or Jonathan Edwards or the Beatles, they would
love
to hear songs from a different genre. So my question is; what are some songs that you have found really resonate with the nursing home audiences you have played for. I plan to find them online and see if I can perform them next time around.


Thanks for any ideas you may have.




Glad to share...over the past 30-odd years that I've been performing at nursing homes, these tunes have been consistently well-recieved:

Rambling Rose
Mr. Bojangles
Fly Me To The Moon
All Of Me
Shine On Harvest Moon
Georgia On My Mind
Ain't Misbehavin'
Beyond The Blue Horizen
Irene Goodnight (I always do this as the last tune of the program and do it as a singalong)

They love hearing the songs of their "salad days". :)

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Opa John Newbie

Opa John

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My daughter-in-law is the activities director at one of the nicest nursing homes in the central Ohio area......a place called Mill Run. My wife does volunteer work there so often a few of the old folks there think she's actually on the staff.

Anyway, they hire entertainment on a regular basis and, according to what I hear, any of the Gospel music is always a big hit with the residents there. I'm sure you can find tons of Gospel song suggestions on line.

In addition to those, I'd suggest doing songs (like Terry says) from their salad days. Songs that bring back some memories.

Like maybe some of the old Hank Williams stuff (Your Cheatin' Heart and Cold, Cold Heart). Blue Moon is one that I'm sure you could add a lot of "riffs" to that would go over big. And I'd also suggest some of the livelier songs like Wabash Cannonball and Frankie & Johnny would be appreciated. How 'bout Scotch & Soda, Daisy a Day, Gotta Travel On, Hand Me Down My Walkin' Cane, He's In The Jailhouse Now, Columbus Stockade Blues. I could probably come up with a bunch more, but those are some good ones that I think would work.

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babablowfish Newbie

babablowfish

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My daughter-in-law is the activities director at one of the nicest nursing homes in the central Ohio area......a place called Mill Run. My wife does volunteer work there so often a few of the old folks there think she's actually on the staff.


Anyway, they hire entertainment on a regular basis and, according to what I hear, any of the Gospel music is always a big hit with the residents there. I'm sure you can find tons of Gospel song suggestions on line.


In addition to those, I'd suggest doing songs (like Terry says) from their salad days. Songs that bring back some memories.


Like maybe some of the old Hank Williams stuff (Your Cheatin' Heart and Cold, Cold Heart). Blue Moon is one that I'm sure you could add a lot of "riffs" to that would go over big. And I'd also suggest some of the livelier songs like Wabash Cannonball and Frankie & Johnny would be appreciated. How 'bout Scotch & Soda, Daisy a Day, Gotta Travel On, Hand Me Down My Walkin' Cane, He's In The Jailhouse Now, Columbus Stockade Blues. I could probably come up with a bunch more, but those are some good ones that I think would work.



Thanks guys. Some really good suggestions there. Can't say that I have heard of all of them but it shouldn't hard to put together a nice set-list out of these with a little help from itunes. Thanks again. :thu:

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Opa John Newbie

Opa John

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L:lol:L...there is a VERY raunchy parody of
Que Sera, Sera
that starts out like that...perhaps we're thinking of the same ditty?
:p



Probably. Does your version have the chorus begin with "Kiss her ass, her ass" instead of "Que Sera, Sera"?

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