You know, like when the crowd wants to get romantic..........
:)
You know, like when the crowd wants to get romantic..........
:)
Well, in the two party/R&B/Classic Rock bands I'm in, these four are in regular rotation.
Little Wing
Me & Mrs. Jones
Let's Get It On (trite but a huge crowd pleaser)
Wonderful Tonight (ditto)
My Funny Valentine (our version as a bit of an urban beat but still a ballad).
I Won't Stand In Your Way
Wonderful (yawn) Tonight
"No harmonic knowledge, no sense of time, a ghastly tone, unskilled vibrato, and so on. Chuck is one of the worst guitar players I know" -Gravity Jim
I know that WT is boring for you guys. It's got some history for me, though.Originally Posted by Offshore Angler
I would love to do more ballads, but unfortunately nobody wants to hear them.
"I'm gonna find myself a girl
that can show me what laughter means
And we'll fill in the missing colors
In each other's paint-by-number dreams..."
Wild Horses is pretty much the only one we do. A cross between the Stones and the Sundays.
Several guitars in different colors
Things to make them fuzzy
Things to make them louder
orange picks
We just worked out a wonderful slow version of Stand By Me that is sure to have the couples grinding away in a nice, slow dance to a great song that personally, I think was done too fast in the first place.
If you're bored, you're not groovin'.
WT
Don't Dream It's Over
Lay Down Sally
Sleepwalk
Without You
Brandy
First Cut is the Deepest
Maggie May
Ain't no Sushine when she's gone
It's Different For Girls
Feel Like Makin Love
Ready For Love
Waitin on a friend
hmmmmmm, I would consider "Ain't no Sushine when she's gone" and "Ready For Love" ballads, but the rest I would call "slow to moderate pop".
Am I wrong in assuming that "tempo" determines what a ballad is? Or are there other elements?
If you're bored, you're not groovin'.
The technical difinition of "ballad" is a song that tells a story with a recurring refrain. By that definition, some ballads are pretty uptempo. ("Ghost Riders In The Sky" is a good example of a modern ballad that chugs.) But pop and jazz musicians have used the term to mean "a slow song."
So everything on Wilko's list fits the relaxed defintion, with the possible exception of "Lay Down Sally" and "Maggie May." The song that comes closest to the classic defintion is "Brandy!"
So... what, among bar band players, a ballad is anything that doesn't "rawk?" :)
Melissa
Tin Pan Alley
If, at first you don't succeed, don't try skydiving.
Two leaps per chasm is fatal!
Thanks Jim. I love a good ejumacation!
If you're bored, you're not groovin'.
Brandy, you're a fine girl, but, tempo-wise, you don't quite strike me as a ballad.
Lyrically, yes, and an almost sure fire sing-along, but my life, my love and my lady is the sea.
"Well, I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused..."
Elvis Costello
"Take me! *whump* AALLLLLL the way home, and rock me, ohhhhhhhh rock me, in your cradle..."
Betcha don't know it. Gets 'em ev'r' time.
"I'll be your baby tonight" for the country/hippie/geezers.
let me think on this whilst I sip my java.
Shine your light.
You Send Me
Bring It On Home To Me
Sleepwalk
and want to add In My Room
No neck, no problem
And I Love Her
If I Fell
_____________________
"Can you hear me now?"
Let's just clear this up: Slow songs vs. Ballads.
"Love letters straight from your heart..." is a sexy slow song.
"Being born in blocks of buildings to a slow, soft lullabye..." is a ballad.
"When A Man Loves A Woman" is a slow sexy song that can be updated and rhythmically enhanced and is guaranteed to get the ladies' in the mood.
They Complained In The East
Shine your light.
I close every gig with Lucinda Williams' "World Without Tears".
(am I beating the dead hoss again?) :dead
Shine your light.
"Brandy" is most definitely a ballad. I know Elliot Lurie, and he wrote it at a slower tempo. They went more R&B for the recording, and it paid off. Number 1 baby!:yay
Wonderful tonite
Can't you see
Lay Lady Lay
Down on Main Street
The River
Fast doesn't always mean good
One of my bands has taken "Stand By Me" and slowed it down to about half the tempo of the original recording. It's a slow dance success every time.
If you're bored, you're not groovin'.
Good idea.:yay
By the end of the night, when a a guy says, "Ya' wanna dance?," what he's really saying is "Ya' wanna stand by me? We'll shift our weight from right foot to left in time and sorta fondle eachother in an I'd like to get to know you better sort of way."
"Well, I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused..."
Elvis Costello
Ha!
A perfect description of the "slow dance" as practiced by millions and millions of American primates.
But hey, what else are they gonna do? Walk up to your average bar band and ask, "I say, old beans... do you fellows suppose you could find your way through a tango?"
Last edited by Gravity Jim; 11-17-2005 at 08:55 AM.
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