songs that should be removed from the repertoire of BUSK3RZ!!1

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i had to deliver some bicycle parts to this customer of mine, and i agreed to meet him at this little railway station. Outside was a busker. He wasn't one of the better ones I have encountered. my customer was a little late, so i heard a lot of jis repertoire, two of which were familiar from other buskers i have heard:

1/"wonderwall"

2/"where do you go to my lovely"

I realised that damn near every busker I have seen sings "wonderwall". it = sux0r. i h8 it. i am so sick of hearing it and i wish they would stop singing it b/c it makes me miserable. perhaps they cd perform "nirvana for mice" instead. likewise "where do you go to..." god it's awful! don't they realise this?

Also, there used to be this busker in newcastle monument metro station, who would perform "the passenger" instrumental-style, ALL DAY. like, you'd go to town, and there he'd be going:

gn-a-nanga
gn-a-nanga
gn-a-nanga
gn-a-nanga

over and over again, then after you'd bought all yer rekkids from the rekkid shop, you'd go home, and he'd still be there, going:

gn-a-nanga
gn-a-nanga
gn-a-nanga
gn-a-nanga

on his acoustic guitar. poss this is classic actually, but i suspect not if you worked there.

so my list = :

wonderwall
where do you go to my lovely
the passenger

your nominations please and don't give me any of your nonsense, oh no, none of this i nominate "mr writer" b/c it is the song i like least, so i will use this thread to pour some addt/n/l hatorade on it. I want songs that you have actually seen buskers performing that you are SICK OF BASTARD BUSKERS PERFORMING!!!!@#

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Friday, 5 September 2003 19:30 (twenty-two years ago)

"Lucky Man" by The Verve seems to be a perennial favourite of buskers around here. Possibly because it sounds like it's being done by a busker in the original, I dunno. Then when they play it, local tramp White Lightning Pete comes round and starts dancing to it. Which redeems it slightly, but still not enough.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 5 September 2003 19:33 (twenty-two years ago)

"Hey stop hitting me, I'm just trying to play some Santana and earn enough for a sandwich and a bus ride home!"
I'm so fucking sick of hearing buzuzkers play that tired old song.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Friday, 5 September 2003 19:35 (twenty-two years ago)

My worst waiting-for-friend/busker experience was outside Shepherds Bush tube in 1996 when the busker was playing then-no-1 hit "Killing Me Softly" by The Fugees except of course he only knew ONE BIT OF IT i.e. the chorus and just repeated it again and again. And his instrument of choice was a FLUTE! That was all he played. I hate him still.

Bane of Central London (apart from Wonderwall which is no doubt being played by buskers on Arcturus) - LOSING MY RELIGION!

― Tom (Groke), Friday, 5 September 2003 19:38 (twenty-two years ago)

argh losing my religion yes!! I've heard that one loads of times AND IT IS RUBBISH!!

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Friday, 5 September 2003 19:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Related to buskers is the trend you get in town centres (Kingston is awful for this) of enormous whole bands setting up in the middle of the main street and starting to play at the crowd. Often what they play is the blues. This is the absolute worst as a crowd of halfwits soon surround them and the road becomes completely blocked, plus you can't escape the shitey sound anywhere and are driven to browse in the likes of Bookends.

― Tom (Groke), Friday, 5 September 2003 19:44 (twenty-two years ago)

anything by Dylan or Jewel. Steve Poltz who co-wrote "You Were Meant For Me" tells this great story in concert about getting wasted in Vegas and having crazy misadventures and getting thrown out of a casino onto the sidewalke where a busker is performing "You Were Meant For Me" and he screams "You owe me money for that" at her and takes all her change.

― teeny (teeny), Friday, 5 September 2003 19:46 (twenty-two years ago)

what we get in central newcastle is either apu, who are this peruvian traditional music ensemble, who are great actually, or the jesus army - oh man.

best buskers ever seen = dave brock, nik turner and huw lloyd langton from hawkind (they were playing the city hall that evening) busking in the same metro station mr passenger was playing in.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Friday, 5 September 2003 19:50 (twenty-two years ago)

but, like, not at the same time, obv.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Friday, 5 September 2003 19:51 (twenty-two years ago)

damn, I was hoping for the dueling buskers story next.

― teeny (teeny), Friday, 5 September 2003 19:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Hah Tom, that busker is STILL THERE. His repertoire has got wider since, but he still has a problem getting through entire tracks.

― Ricardo (RickyT), Friday, 5 September 2003 20:03 (twenty-two years ago)

haha perhaps hawkwind could have taught mr passenger how to play "silver machine"!!

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Friday, 5 September 2003 20:06 (twenty-two years ago)

BTW the Stereophonics song most likely to join the busking canon is not "Mr Writer" but HAVE A NICE DAY, I've heard it a couple of times and these things take a few years to really bite.

― Tom (Groke), Friday, 5 September 2003 20:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Street Performer sign proposed by comix artist Peter Bagge:

"WILL PLAY DYLAN BADLY FOR MONEY"

― Dock Miles (Dock Miles), Friday, 5 September 2003 20:24 (twenty-two years ago)

less dueling buskers, more busker arkestras, please.

― vahid (vahid), Friday, 5 September 2003 20:36 (twenty-two years ago)

there's an old black guy w/the WHINIEST VOICE EVER who used to busk at Pike Place Market in Seattle (and maybe still does); his "My My, Hey Hey" needs to never happen again on my eardrums' time

― M Matos (M Matos), Friday, 5 September 2003 20:41 (twenty-two years ago)

"Here Comes The Sun" < /mary whitehouse experience>

Perhaps we should have a parallel "Songs we wished buskers played more" thredd?

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Friday, 5 September 2003 21:51 (twenty-two years ago)

best busker ever: the old black guy trife told me about in athens who plays nelly and ludacris covers on an acoustic guitar

― gabbo giftington (dubplatestyle), Friday, 5 September 2003 21:54 (twenty-two years ago)

note to self: go to Athens

― M Matos (M Matos), Friday, 5 September 2003 22:20 (twenty-two years ago)

note to Matos: you won't be hearing much rembétika, kantádes or mirolóyia there, thou :)

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Friday, 5 September 2003 22:48 (twenty-two years ago)

"WILL PLAY DYLAN BADLY FOR MONEY"

Ha! The worst thing I've ever heard coming out of a busker was "Desolation Row".

― Nick Mirov (nick), Saturday, 6 September 2003 01:26 (twenty-two years ago)

john burton!! he rode by me on his bike yesterday, smiling widely as ever, i felt bad cuz i still never did my article on him!!! i remember when like i love u came out, it was like the song was created anticipating his rendition of it!! he also does jagged edge songs, and elvis

― trife (simon_tr), Saturday, 6 September 2003 04:35 (twenty-two years ago)

note to t\'\'t: wha?

― M Matos (M Matos), Saturday, 6 September 2003 04:38 (twenty-two years ago)

hmm not sure abot the worst thing ive ever heard from a busker. best busker ive ever heard is at gants hill station sometimes, theres this real old guy who looks a bit down and out, and he props himself up against the wall just in the subway, and he plays violin, very very soulfully. sometimes ive heard him when his violin gets a bit out of tune, which actually adds to the effect, it can be like this dischordant lonesome sound, and wow, its good stuff.

― Bob Shaw (Bob Shaw), Saturday, 6 September 2003 07:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Matos, to which Athens are you going then?...

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Saturday, 6 September 2003 08:27 (twenty-two years ago)

We also have a couple of those Peruvian ensembles, one in Glasgow and one in Paisley. They seem to excel in playing Abba and 80s power ballads on the pan pipes.

Where I work is like the epicentre of Glasgow buskers, and on any given day I can hear a guy massacring Highland Cathedral and Scotland the Brave on the bagpipes, a string quartet who only seem to know the first part of the Four Seasons, some guy who is ridiculously au fait with Bob Marley's back catalogue, the ubiquitous "Have A Nice Day" / "Wonderwall" guy and a couple of blokes who look like the Proclaimers and play Simon and Garfunkel, the Beautiful South and..yes...the f***ing Stereophonics.

I was saying to mr ailsa the other day that Glasgow would be so much better if Ally C went out and busked Lloyd Cole songs with the pinefox.

― ailsa (ailsa), Saturday, 6 September 2003 10:12 (twenty-two years ago)

not exactly fitting this thread- but a bum in my town, which mostly lacks buskers, pushes around a shopping cart with a hat, singing "Maniac" a capella over and over.

― sucka (sucka), Saturday, 6 September 2003 13:55 (twenty-two years ago)

The partially blind woman in Glasgow who sings to a full backing ('full') is kinda scary.

― Cozen (Cozen), Saturday, 6 September 2003 14:06 (twenty-two years ago)

the guys dressed as dogs (cats?) who play Part Time Lover on trumpets (over & over again)in London Underground stations. They must die. Soon.

― bham, Monday, 8 September 2003 07:34 (twenty-two years ago)

ten years pass...

..
the passenger
..
― Pashmina (Pashmina), Friday, 5 September 2003 19:30 (10 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Really? Never heard a busker do that one.

"La la la la, lala laaaaaa"

That woud be OK..

― Mark G, Tuesday, 17 September 2013 13:07 (twelve years ago)

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