Struggling With Whether I Should Perform These Songs. Opinions?

[Offshore Angler]

I was hired to cover a couple shows and when I saw the setlist it was all repertoire but a couple tunes raised my eyes: Travelin' Shoes and Boom Boom Out go the Lights. I asked the manager if these are really in there and he assured me they were. I told him if there was any way possible I would rather not perform them for obvious reasons and he got all huffy and basically told me what a douche I am. Whatever, comes with the job and so I told him maybe I'm not the correct guy for the gig. Later I got a call from the singer and he asked me what happened. I told him I just prefer not to play songs with that theme and he completely understood. He said he would remove them but said that they always go over big with the audience. I told him I'd think it over. He did say that he's been doing them so long he never really stopped to think about it but agreed I have a good point which he respects.

What would you do? I'm leaning towards not doing them. Want to be a team player but I think there are times when you need to put your moral compass in front of the money.

Chuck

 

[darkwave]

I was hired to cover a couple shows and when I saw the setlist it was all repertoire but a couple tunes raised my eyes: Travelin' Shoes and Boom Boom Out go the Lights. I asked the manager if these are really in there and he assured me they were. I told him if there was any way possible I would rather not perform them for obvious reasons and he got all huffy and basically told me what a douche I am. Whatever, comes with the job and so I told him maybe I'm not the correct guy for the gig. Later I got a call from the singer and he asked me what happened. I told him I just prefer not to play songs with that theme and he completely understood. He said he would remove them but said that they always go over big with the audience. I told him I'd think it over. He did say that he's been doing them so long he never really stopped to think about it but agreed I have a good point which he respects.

What would you do? I'm leaning towards not doing them. Want to be a team player but I think there are times when you need to put your moral compass in front of the money.

Chuck

I'll admit I'm not familiar with the first one and only casually am acquainted with "Boom Boom". I looked up the theme of the first and wondered what the big deal was:

"The theme of "Travelin' Shoes" (most famously recorded by blues artist Elvin Bishop) revolves around the spiritual and cultural imagery of being prepared for the afterlife or major life transitions"

Didn't seem to be much of a polarizing issue to me - then i read one particular lyric. Hoo boy. Then I read the actual lyrics of Boom Boom... oh man.

I don't blame you at all. I used to find a perverse humor in "Run For Your Life" by the Beatles, then I was with a group of people where we started playing it and I caught the look on the face of a woman across the table from me. I never took it serious, but I realized then that serious intent or not it just wasn't something I wanted to do again. I appreciate dark humor and cultural context, but I didn't need to visit that space anymore. I can see why you'd want to step away.

- Douglas C.

 

[TBurst Std]

Go with your gut, you have the experience so trust it.
Oh by the way, don't be at a jam sit in playing Boom Boom Out go the Lights when PT happens to walk in. Yeah it happened.

 

[TMeth]

You do you. Having been around back in the day when those songs were released, including the Beatles', I can tell you that no one took them in any way literally, there were no hidden meaning, no male superiority themes, nothing like that - as the singer told you, you didn't take any lyrics back then too seriously, it was rock and roll (and one reason why we could only take so much Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel at a time because it was so 'serious') - all this to say, the original songs shouldn't be vilified, it was in their time, and you had to be there. That said, we live in a much more sensitive time now, everyone's head on a swivel to see who's disrespecting them, and some of us have grown kids who look at these themes a little differently or more personally - so all good if you want to skip them. Those songs were then, this is now, and things / reference frames / sensibilities have changed.

 

[Offshore Angler]

Go with your gut, you have the experience so trust it.
Oh by the way, don't be at a jam sit in playing Boom Boom Out go the Lights when PT happens to walk in. Yeah it happened.

I'd tell PT that if he had a problem with it to take it up with Little Walter.

FWIW, Gary Lewis is my neighbor and I wouldn't have an issue doing Diamond Ring if he walked in. Lou Gramm also lives not far from me and I've seen him at a table when I had to cover a Foreigner tune. Cool dudes don't care after the first 50 years, lol. Generally, they take it as a compliment, but you should avoid their tunes if they happened in because you want to keep attention away from them and let them enjoy themselves as anonymously as possible.

I remember Lou from Black Sheep. One of my drummer friends just a couple weeks ago was relating a funny story to me about him. He was saying how back in the Black Sheep days he couldn't stand being around Lou because he thought he had an attitude, that he was one of the greatest rock singers of all time. My drummer friend just shrugged and laughed, " I guess he was right!" We had a good chuckle over that one.

Chuck

 

[charliechitlins]

Yeah...songs about beating women just aren't cool.
I think this contributes to normalizing that behavior, even if only just a little.
The Stones don't do Brown Sugar anymore.
Mama Chitlins is a very awake and aware 36-year-old and sees things from several angles that I just don't.
I write kind of shallow "beer music" (maybe George Thorogood would be a good parallel...he doesn't go too deep either) and I wrote this song called, "We Ain't That Good".
(Stop-time Blues)
Listen all you women
Something you need to understand
If you're even thinking about
Getting with a man
We just aint that good
No, We aint that good.
We'd be better if we could, but the truth is, we ain't that good.

We see a woman on the street
Wearin a little itty bitty dress
We're trying not to look
We're trying our best
But we aint that good....



I could see on her face she was starting to seethe.
Why would you want to propagate/support/normalize that crappy view of men?
We have to deal with enough of that stuff and don't need cute songs about how that's just the way it is.

What do you suggest?

Write it in the first person...about yourself...now YOU'RE just a dope, and not all men.

At first I didn't agree, but, as I started rewriting the song "I ain't that good", I started to get it.
And now it's a better song, and only the pronouns have changed.

Funny...I recently thought about Boom Boom and listened to the Junior Wells version.
I knew it so well, but that was a long time ago and in the context of myself today, I almost couldn't believe I used to do it.
Yup...just like I remember it.
Even in the early 80's when I was getting started, as funny as it was, we knew better than to do Shut Up by Bo Diddley.
So...yeah...as musicians, we have people's attention.
Let's do what we can to point them in the right direction

 

[Señor Verde]

I refused to do Hey Joe in one of my old bands, so I'm with you on those too..

 

[charliechitlins]

I refused to do Hey Joe in one of my old bands, so I'm with you on those too..

Hey, Joe is like a genre... it's a murder ballad.
They have a long history in British folk music.
I get the discomfort, but, to me, it seems like telling a story of a tragedy, and that's different from, This is what I'm gonna do.
Like Pat Hare's, I'm Gonna Murder My Baby.
Scary stuff.

 

[jb_abides]

Down by the river

 

[Wilko]

Ted Nugent became non-playable for a couple of reasons.

Politics aside, "Stranglehold" is real piece of crap. Violent pedophilia doesn't need to be in my rep.

 

[corpse]

Our singer won’t do some b-list tunes by major artists seeming out or respect- I guess?
I brought All the young girls love Alice one time. Nope.
Bell Bottom Blues- nope.
Big Al had a story-several about Rev Billy Gibbons. He happened into a club in Reno wher Al’s band had a gig ( with two Playboy bunnies in tow) AFTER a ZZ show in the area. Sat in for an entire set with them.
Al was playing an ( unheard of at that time) Legend amplifier. A few weeks later Billy was on a late night program playing thru a Legend amp.
Unrelated but bears repeating for the memory of our friend.

 

[c_wester]

This is wrong!

You have to differentiate the art from the artist or the deeds they may have done.

If we are going to take this stance be prepared to not like any art.



Get a grip and enjoy music.

I still enjoy John Lennon and Woody Allen.
Although I do not like everything about them and how they handled stuff.


We shall never hide the past in some retarded woke bulleavings.

We shall learn from it.

 

[charliechitlins]

This is wrong!

You have to differentiate the art from the artist or the deeds they may have done.

If we are going to take this stance be prepared to not like any art.



Get a grip and enjoy music.

I still enjoy John Lennon and Woody Allen.
Although I do not like everything about them and how they handled stuff.


We shall never hide the past in some retarded woke bulleavings.

We shall learn from it.

People respect and heed musical artists.
If these people have no effect on behavior, there would be no Woodie Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Jesse Welles or Tom Morello.
When I saw Clapton (circa 1978), the audience was fist pumping and yelling, COCAINE!!
I was no angel, but I knew this was irresponsible.

 

[c_wester]

People respect and heed musical artists.
If these people have no effect on behavior, there would be no Woodie Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Jesse Welles or Tom Morello.
When I saw Clapton (circa 1978), the audience was fist pumping and yelling, COCAINE!!
I was no angel, but I knew this was irresponsible.

Yes, but we do not blame others for our actions.
We get inspired and leave the bad and take the good.

 

[darkwave]

This is wrong!

You have to differentiate the art from the artist or the deeds they may have done.

If we are going to take this stance be prepared to not like any art.



Get a grip and enjoy music.

I still enjoy John Lennon and Woody Allen.
Although I do not like everything about them and how they handled stuff.


We shall never hide the past in some retarded woke bulleavings.

We shall learn from it.

I understand your perspective, but I feel the majority of comments here were about avoiding problematic songs.

I definitely believe in avoiding songs that represent horrible ideals (unless I feel they are presented as a terrible example to learn from, such as some murder ballads mentioned earlier). The artist I'd judge separately - if it was an anomaly or something they grew out of I'd probably overlook it, but if they wrote good music that constantly conveyed things I felt repelled by, why would I want perform or listen to them? None of us are perfect, but patterns are worth paying attention to.

- Douglas C.

 

[Wilko]

This is wrong!

You have to differentiate the art from the artist or the deeds they may have done.

If we are going to take this stance be prepared to not like any art.



Get a grip and enjoy music.

I still enjoy John Lennon and Woody Allen.
Although I do not like everything about them and how they handled stuff.


We shall never hide the past in some retarded woke bulleavings.

We shall learn from it.

I'm sure we're talking about particular songs, not the artists.

Even McArtney won't play some of his own songs. I"ll play pat traverse songs, but Boom Boom is just wrong. PErpetuating that shit isn't woke. IMNSHO, if you use "woke" as an insult, that's some bullshxt

 

[buckledknuckle]

I am currently dealing with a similar situation. I'll spare you the details, but this is what I told myself:

1. All that I truly have is my soul. It's not for sale.

2. Truly successful people know when NOT to be a team player... occasionally it's ok.

Everyone must do what they have to do, I'm not judging anyone. Refusing the gig I was offered was the right decision for me. Will I be passed over next time? Perhaps, but I'm ok with that possibility.

Ultimately, you're the only one that has to look at yourself in the mirror every morning. Make your decision, right or wrong, and live with it... don't look back.

 

[Saved]

When anyone says "you have to play..." anything, walk away from the bully. I love and play the blues but some of the old blues songs have violent lyrics. Who needs that ?

 

[Offshore Angler]

A couple of you are totally missing the point. it's not about me and being an "artiste" guys. I play professionally and singing songs about bashing your Old Lady's head with a baseball bat may, just may, offend some people. I just want to play my guitar and get paid and not have to make excuses to my wife, anyone's daughter, or the ladies in the audience.

If that's not manly enough for some of you "tough guys" out there, you play whatever you want, but don't jump on me about thinking about doing the right thing. You do you, and thanks for the insight into what makes you tick.

I openly admitted I can do these songs from repertoire and have performed them all in the past, I'm just older and wiser now and we've evolved as a society to see things more clearly and treat women with a lot more respect. Robert Randolph once hipped me to changing a famous line about shooting a man in Reno in a Johnny Cash song because it was not in line with his values. I learned from that.

Chuck

 

[TBurst Std]

I totally understand OA. Maybe that's the reason I basically only play Christian Contemporary now. Music is a powerful tool. Some just listen to a song and hear a good tune. Other's listen to the lyrics and it impacts them. Some do both.
Not only are there songs I no longer play, there are songs I'll turn the station off as I won't even listen to it.