Requests

[Sgt. Rock]

I had a couple reguests the other night, never heard of them until I looked them up on the interweb.

 

How do you handle requests?

[richardmac]

If I know the song, I'll play it for them. If I don't, but I know a song by the same group (which happens a lot,) I'll play it for them. If I don't know anything by the artist, I'll apologize to them and say that I don't know any songs by that artist. And I'll make a mental note about what they requested - sometimes I'll go home and learn it. Sometimes I'll just ignore it. The thing about requests is that sometimes it's only that ONE person who wants to hear that one song. I'd rather go with songs that everyone is likely to like.

[EightString]

I'll add to Richard's post that I may do a song by another similar artist as a 3rd fallback.

 

Someone asks for "Weird Science" by Oingo Boingo, I might do "Dead Man's Party" by the same artist, OR I might do "She Blinded Me with Science" by Thomas Dolby because it has a similar theme and that 80s pop techno vibe.

[Terry Allan Hall]

If I don't know a particular song, I'll either do another by that artist or, in some cases, a song on the same subject (if some folks wants to hear "Casey's Last Ride", another train song may quite often work just as well, like "City of New Orleans" or "Wabash Cannonball").

 

Or I'll apologize and learn it for the next time I play there.

[daddymack]

I can see that as a solo, honesty is the best route...with a band, if someone asks for a song I don't know (or don't want to do) and I'll say something like 'wow, great song, but these guys (pointing to the band) don't know it'...

I think if you get enough requests for a song or songs by a particular artist, it is in your best interest to learn one or two...but if it is one drunk person coming up asking for a Katy Perry tune, not likely...

[chemikool]

 

How do you handle requests?

 

I agree with everything said before. If I don't know the exact song I'll substitute another by the same or similar artist.

 

I have a rule. And it has come back to bite me in the ass exactly ONCE. If I don't know the song requested it goes on a list. Once the song has been requested 3 to 5 times I'll learn it.

 

This came back to bite me in the ass BIGTIME. I'm not really knowledgeable about GORDON LIGHTFOOT but this same crew used to come out and see me a lot. They would ALWAYS request GORDON LIGHTFOOT and I'd do my spiel about "once a song is requested five times I learn it." Well little did I know they were counting. After about 7 or 8 times requesting it they GAVE UP ON ME and have since never come out to see me again. The last time I saw them, they requested it, I said my spiel with a mea culpa, they ALL said BS, made a scene and LEFT!!! Gordon F*#!ing Lightfoot cost me a cool group of people that tipped a lot.

 

You win some and you lose some.

[RupertB]

"We do take requests, so let us know if you want to hear a song. If we know it, we'll play it. If we don't know it, we might play it anyway."

 

Depends on the venue though. A couple of places require a little more polish, so we're less likely to "just try it." Others are full of old friends & acquaintances who wouldn't care if we hacked a request.

 

I keep a book of lyrics for the oddball stuff I can play but just haven't committed to memory. I've used it just once this year to do a request for "I'll Be."

[Howie22]

I'm a whore. If I know it, I'll do it. If I kinda know it and have the right crowd, I might hack it.

 

If I don't know it, I'll play something by the same artist or a similar artist.

 

I do HATE it when I get inundated with requests and don't know any of them. Makes me feel like a tool, but I only have about 150 songs on the list. I'm working hard to expand my songlist.