Overplayed blues songs?

[tinadiva]

I'm borrowing the topic from the folks in Dallas/Ft. Worth, USA....

Are there any blues songs you think are overplayed? List the songs you think you can do without for a while.

I honestly can't list any... hearing a song I like repeatedly doesn't bother me. Because as much as dancers complain a song is overplayed, it's not "overplayed" in the Top-40 radio sense.

Hell, I still like dancing to Eva's "Wade in the Water". I guess I should have my cool license revoked...

Anyway, do your worst.
Tina

[SuperGrover!]

"Wade In The Water" was a good song but I can't listen to it for a while.

Another one -- I was at a blues afterparty this past weekend an another guy took over DJing for a set, he played about four Norah Jones songs within one hour. Now, i still love her, and she one of the reasons that i got into blues dancing, but that was overdose. I play "When the Day is Done" with the Charlie Hunter Quartet a bit myself and still really like "Cold, Cold Heart" a lot too, but I don't want to hear "Come Away With Me" at a blues dance, at least for a long, long, long time. That one's not even bluesy, just a slow dance song.
When there is so much other music out there, please use the Norah sparingly.

[Antaeus]

Wade in the Water was the first song that popped into my head... Sorry!

That, and Fever... there's some great versions out there but the Peggy Lee one drives me insane.

Matt

[justdance]

Some of count basie's stuff is overplayed: Every day I have the blues wiht Joe Williams singing comes to mind. Also songs like Splanky more on the jazz-blues side is over played.

Wade in the water-most deffiantly.

[xnedra]

I think that a problem with trying to determine overplayed songs is that it really depends on how long you've been in the scene/dancing/listening to that music. I have only been dancing for less than two years...bluesing for a bit less than a year, so many of the songs that people I hear refer to often as overplayed, are actually much newer to me and haven't lost their magic for me yet.
Plus the fact that they can be considered overplayed songs means that fewer people now will play them a lot.
Wade in the water is a song I really do love, but have only heard a select number of times at swing venues I go to...and I don't actually think I've ever heard it played at a blues venue before. (another eg. I can think of is "fine brown frame", although that's not a blues one)
I guess that's just another thing that makes the dj's job that much harder.

[LindyChef]

Again, Norah Jones != Blues

As for Joe Williams, I have 4-5 different versions of it and I rotate in between them.

Lots of stuff off the Verve Remixed series (not to mention the Red Hot and Indigo series). I've found some other hip-hop remixes of blues artists that I love and am phasing out using the Verve Remixed stuff for a while until the memory becomes somewhat lessened with time (Lou Rawls is there for me now).

A lot of novice blues DJs I've noticed are playing a lot of popular albums by artists by BB King and Eric Clapton ... it's good music, but just too damn much of it.

Other songs:

Nina Simone - Feeling Good
Ali Farka Toure - Ai Du
Queen Latifa off of the Dana Owens Album
Jimi Hendrix - Red House
Alannah Myles - Black Velvet
Lot of stuff off of Barbara Morrison's 9:20 album

I suspect that Kim Massie is overplayed in some circles ... not much here in the PacNW. Played Dr. Feelgood at the PDX house party last weekend and it rocked the house.

[LindyChef]

To me, overplayed is quite easy ... does it make an experienced dancer (one that's been in the scene long enough to see the changes that have happened over a period of, say, three years previous) groan when they hear it?

I guess that's just another thing that makes the dj's job that much harder.

I think in actuality it makes it a lot easier. I have about over 4500 songs available to me any given time I DJ (and about another 27000 at home that I switch out with). Why would I limit myself to just a few?

Oh, and for me, Fine Brown Frame is a song that only gets played as a dedication to LindyPhil when he's in the house.

[amos_lynn]

Seems everyone is playing Summertime by Morcheeba everywhere lately. Summertime is one of my favorite songs and I love pretty much every version of it. I'm assuming this particular version is being played too much because it just recently became popular among dancers, but can't it just lay low for awhile?

[Dr. Feelgood]

Nice to know you played Kim's "Dr. Feelgood", Martin. She's
got some new stuff coming out shortly, and I'm really looking
forward to it!

There's too much stuff that I find overplayed, a lot of DJs don't
do enough homework/research. Not an easy thing to do, but I find
it kinda fun.

I've been happy not to hear "Ain't No Sunshine" for awhile.

I can't get enough of BASIE...I just can't. I'm happy finding different
versions of so many songs (like Everyday I Have The Blues), there is
almost one for every mood and/or setting.

Fine Brown Frame is one I can do without, it feels like a tribute to the
fact that a Black person's in the room (ha).

I won't play Wade In the Water by Eva Cassidy...don't ask me. Someone
else over the course of a dance weekend is bound to play it. It won't be
me. Doesn't mean I won't take a request, but if I don't "feel it" during the
set I'm playing - it ain't happening.

Unless it's the Blind Boys of Alabama (and I've only played that 3 times
in 13 months).

[LindyChef]

Heh, I also play the Aretha Franklin version ... but I prefer Massie's

[Dr. Feelgood]

4500 songs???

Since I'm a dinasaur still using cds, I'm not close to that number.
Thankfully my cd book is pretty well stocked, but I'm at a strong
disadvantage when DJing with 3-4 folks that are carrying that kind
of musical ammo.

At LindyBooty, DJing with you, Kelly, Jerry, Sue was a stretch because
I had to really KNOW my music. It's good because I was really pressed
to dig and play things that I hadn't found yet and/or neglected in my
book. On the plus side - not having a computer means that most of the
stuff I have is mine (from my personal collection), and I haven't shared
any music files with people because it's unconvienent/time consumering.
No one really has time to sit down and make me a cd or two while at
a dance weekend, nor do they have time to show me how to use their
computer to get music from me.

Sooner or later I'll join the computer DJ ranks I guess. But I actually
enjoy using my cds...

[wheresmygravy]

From my experience at Blues events, most of the experienced DJ's have such a diverse collection that it is a whole new game every time you hear them play. I get tired of some of my own stuff (after all, I only have 5 compilation CDs ) but everyone else seems to like what I play. So I think as long as we all establish our own identity, it's a new day everytime we see each other.

In my opinion, it's usually the newer DJ's who are still growing their collection that seem to play the overplayed songs. And I don't really have a grudge on them because of it.

However, that said, I would definitely like to hear more Blues music at a Blues events than Pop music. Occasional Pop songs are fine, I'm guilty of that myself (Summertime by Will Smith being one of them, it's not even bluesy, I just think it's FUN) but just keep the number to a minimum.

[tinadiva]

But I actually enjoy using my cds...

I feel the same way... I feel like having CDs forces me to listen to my music continually. I often find songs I forgot I had and work them back in the rotation.

I also hope that this saves me money buying new music, but I doubt it.

Tina

[LindyChef]

I feel the same way... I feel like having CDs forces me to listen to my music continually. I often find songs I forgot I had and work them back in the rotation.

That's what my iPod is for ... well, my iPod and iTunes.

I use iTunes to keep track of what I've been playing, how often I've played it, and my playlists for an evening. Not only can I see the evolution of my style, but I can easliy sort though my colleciton for things I haven't played.

[shaugran]

Over Played:

Wade in the Water

Come Away With Me

Ain't No Sunshine

At STLBX04--Going to Chicago (Granted it was 3 weeks before WCLX 6) I heard something like 5 different versions of the song that weekend. That was a bit much.

Summertime

Fire