Which song is your "Mustang Sally" song?

Midnite Zephyr

Platinum Member
Mustang Sally is a cool song that has a bad rap for being over-played.

I've never had a problem with Mustang Sally myself, I wouldn't even mind playing it with the band, but I do have a song that is over-played in my bands...it's Come Together. Man, I have played that song so many times that I've lost count. I couldn't hear it anymore for awhile, but now I've come to embrace it like a red-haired step-child. Nowadays, I just have fun with it.
 
One song that I can't seem to get away from in any band I get to play for is Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl".

And you'd think I would've met a cover band that could do the tripleted "sha la la la" part towards the end.
 
I like Mustang Sally. Brown Eyed Girl is the one that makes me cringe. I just hate it.
 
We have a few at my church that I really can't stand.


Thankfully, we tend to retire songs if they aren't that good. However, there are a few that I hate that everyone else loves.
 
Sweet Home Alabama baby! Like you MZ, I've learned to embrace it and now enjoy playing it. Actually, as long as I'm playing music, I'm good to go!
 
I've probably played "creep" like a thousand times.

Notable mention: literally almost anything by Zepp. Hate playing that stuff.
 
I also 'embrace' Mustang Sally - its just a standard and I tend to hunker down make an effort to play it as simple/straight as possible. No embellishment on any of it.
Right now, I'm actually pretty tired of Jumpin Jack Flash - done in every band I've been in.
 
I like the Commitments version of Mustang Sally, but on my list of cringe and bear it songs are:proud Mary, Born To Be Wild, Sweet Home Alabama, Bad Moon Rising, Brown Eyed Girl, Jambalaya, Folsom Prison Blues, Taking Care of Business, The Midnight Special. Some I never liked. Others, I used to like, till every band I heard killed them, All turned sour after I was forced to play them too much!
 
Mustang Sally, Summer Of '69, Sweet Home Alabama, Stuck In The Middle With You,
Proud Mary.

All of them great songs, but played far too often, when IMO there are equally great songs that are overlooked and underplayed.
 
Valerie.

I don't mind it as a song but it is something I've played way too many times to enjoy.
 
I've always wondered why certain songs became bar band classics. I think it's a combination of popularity and how easy they are to cover. You don't need a vocalist with some crazy range or singing in an impossible register to sing them. They don't require amazing technique or unusual gear. Just a four-piece guitar band with a reasonably-good vocalist and pretty much anyone can pull them off.
 
I've always wondered why certain songs became bar band classics. I think it's a combination of popularity and how easy they are to cover. You don't need a vocalist with some crazy range or singing in an impossible register to sing them. They don't require amazing technique or unusual gear. Just a four-piece guitar band with a reasonably-good vocalist and pretty much anyone can pull them off.

They just gotta be so popular that both the band and the audience are likely to know them. That combination is going to lead to a lot of play time for those songs.
 
Being in a surf band mine is a little different. "The Wedge" by Dick Dale. We play it every gig usually toward the end. I don't mind the song, but the guitar player is off to the races with it. I usually start it at around 150 bpm but he is always pushing the tempo. I've tried talking to him about it, and he always says he'll do better but it's always the same. When I keep the tempo constant he is always giving me the stink eye. He also refuses to work with a metronome. He says that keeping the tempo is my job, but it's like he's listening to the drummer inside his head instead of me.
 
I've always wondered why certain songs became bar band classics. I think it's a combination of popularity and how easy they are to cover. You don't need a vocalist with some crazy range or singing in an impossible register to sing them. They don't require amazing technique or unusual gear. Just a four-piece guitar band with a reasonably-good vocalist and pretty much anyone can pull them off.

^^^translation = look ma...I have zero talent, but I'm in a band.

I know people like some of those songs, but there doesn't appear to be many bands in AZ that don't play the same dead songs. If they do, they are usually some pretty awesome musicians.
 
I get bored of playing Frank Zappa's 'Black Page'. I mean it's an easy song but like, every band covers it! Still it's a good one for getting them up dancing.
 
I get bored of playing Frank Zappa's 'Black Page'. I mean it's an easy song but like, every band covers it! Still it's a good one for getting them up dancing.

Gee, I thought I was the only one!
 
There are a few songs I don't like playing, but it's not because I don't like the songs. I think if a song is worth playing, it's worth playing well. But if the band doesn't play a song well for whatever reason, I don't have a very good time with it. It's extremely rare that I would actually refuse to do a song, I don't recall the last time I did that. But I would have a suitable replacement to suggest if springing it on the unsuspecting band. :)

Bermuda
 
I get bored of playing Frank Zappa's 'Black Page'. I mean it's an easy song but like, every band covers it! Still it's a good one for getting them up dancing.

I know, it's that and requests for Ornette Coleman, all night long. If one more person requests that, I think I might lose it.
 
There are a few songs I don't like playing, but it's not because I don't like the songs. I think if a song is worth playing, it's worth playing well. But if the band doesn't play a song well for whatever reason, I don't have a very good time with it. It's extremely rare that I would actually refuse to do a song, I don't recall the last time I did that. But I would have a suitable replacement to suggest if springing it on the unsuspecting band. :)

Bermuda

Sounds like a conversation I had not too long ago, about playing it like you mean it and stop simplifying songs to get by! Wasn't received well at all.
 
I play in an 80s band, so:

Whip It
Dancing With Myself
Shout (Your Make Me Want To)
White Wedding
Blister In The Sun
Don't Stop Believing
 
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