Topic: Songs for a girl, a guy, and a guitar. (Read 12931 times)

casull · « **on:** 12 Mar 2008, 16:33 »

So I've been playing music with this girl recently- everything from old old folk songs to bluesy stuff to more modern things. I'm trying to think of other things for us to sing. Ideally it won't be anything too complicated, since I am not that great at playing guitar and singing simultaneously. Duets would be nice, but even if the original version wasn't a duet, we can work something out. Basically, it needs to be doable on an acoustic guitar. Everything else is negotiable. Ideas?

StaedlerMars · « **Reply #1 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 16:37 »

have you seen juno?

Edit: I'll elaborate a bit, the last five minutes about.

Scandanavian War Machine · « **Reply #2 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 16:50 »

'This Protector' by The White Stripes is a sweet guy/girl duet.

although it uses a piano instead of a guitar, i'm sure you could figure it out.

i used to sing it with this girl i knew who played piano and it was alot of fun.

PECOAE · « **Reply #3 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 17:20 »

Quote from: casull on 12 Mar 2008, 16:33

So I've been playing music with this girl recently- everything from old old folk songs to bluesy stuff to more modern things. I'm trying to think of other things for us to sing. Ideally it won't be anything too complicated, since I am not that great at playing guitar and singing simultaneously. Duets would be nice, but even if the original version wasn't a duet, we can work something out. Basically, it needs to be doable on an acoustic guitar. Everything else is negotiable. Ideas?

Hurricane - Bob Dylan, but a fiddle is basically requir'd.
We Are Nowhere, And It's Now - Bright Eyes (this is an amazing duet)
Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) - Nancy Sinatra (basically a staple for male-female duets)
Ciao! - Lush (Jarvis Cocker & Miki Bernyl - I want to have a threesome with these two)
oh, and if she's good enough:
Fade Into You - Mazzy Star, obviously. But you need a slide or piano.

Christophe · « **Reply #4 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 17:29 »

Velvet Underground- After Hours
Most of Belle and Sebastian's early work (from Tigermilk to Boy With the Arab Strap)

casull · « **Reply #5 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 17:39 »

Handy that I am 10x better at fiddle than guitar then, I suppose. I might do that if I can find someone to play guitar.

Bang Bang is a great idea... I actually just pulled out a Joan Baez record I used to listen to long ago, I'm thinking about trying Diamonds and Rust.

Keep 'em coming, I'm listening to everything.

casull · « **Reply #6 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 17:46 »

Edit: found it.

Liz · « **Reply #7 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 17:49 »

"Worried" by Tyler Ramsey would sound really good as a duet, I think.
"9 Crimes" by Damien Rice. Done with a piano originally, but I've heard it with a guitar and it works just as well.

I'll try to think of more. Maybe one of the duets from Once? They're all gorgeous and could probably work with just a guitar.

Inlander · « **Reply #8 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 17:56 »

God knows you'd better be playing Fairytale of New York by the Pogues:

You're a bum,
You're a punk
You're an old slut on junk
Lying there almost dead on a drip
In that bed

You scumbag
You maggot
You cheap lousy faggot
Happy Christmas your arse
I pray God
It's our last

Cons: the girl has to compare to Kirsty MacColl.
Pros: the boy only has to compare to Shane MacGowan!

PECOAE · « **Reply #9 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 18:03 »

Quote from: TheLetterM on 12 Mar 2008, 17:29

Velvet Underground- After Hours
Most of Belle and Sebastian's early work (from Tigermilk to Boy With the Arab Strap)

AHHHH THE BELLE AND SEBASTIAN THING

- I WAS GOING TO SAY THAT EXACTLY HOW YOU DID - except I think it continues till Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant.

AHHHHH

And yeah, Diamonds and Rust is a great one.

casull · « **Reply #10 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 18:05 »

Could I trouble you to recommend a couple of specific B&S songs?

casull · « **Reply #11 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 18:21 »

No, I don't have any of it... I'll try to find some, or if you would care to direct me...

@ Misconception: MMM I had forgotten about once, good idea!

Liz · « **Reply #12 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 18:30 »

How about Whiskey Lullaby? I know it's pretty cliche and all but I'll be damned if that isn't just some good songwriting.

Christophe · « **Reply #13 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 18:48 »

To be honest, you could probably point at a random song within any of those three albums and it would be a good song for your style. Then again, most of them are just Stuart Murdoch's vocals but a girl harmony would probably work in it.
As far as specific examples...
-Is it Wicked Not To Care?
-The State I Am In
-Judy and the Dream of Horses
-The Stars of Track and Field
-Sleep The Clock Around
-A Summer Wasting
-I Could Be Dreaming (make sure that the girl can recite the beginning of Rip Van Winkle)

BTW, nice avatar. Achewood is lovely.

PECOAE · « **Reply #14 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 18:53 »

Is It Wicked Not To Care? - The Boy With The Arab Strap
If You're Feeling Sinister - If You're Feeling Sinister

michaelicious · « **Reply #15 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 19:09 »

PECOAE · « **Reply #16 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 19:25 »

Quote from: michaelicious on 12 Mar 2008, 19:09

Low.

this man is correct.

SUNFLOWER

greenMonkey · « **Reply #17 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 19:31 »

Low is basically all you need.

Though it is a bitch finding Low tabs. Sunflower and Death of a Salesman are the only two good ones I have found. Dinosaur Act shouldn't be that hard to find or figure out either.

imapiratearg · « **Reply #18 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 19:32 »

Quote from: Misconception on 12 Mar 2008, 17:49

The duets from Once.

This.

PECOAE · « **Reply #19 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 20:26 »

Quote from: greenMonkey on 12 Mar 2008, 19:31

Low is basically all you need.

Though it is a bitch finding Low tabs. Sunflower and Death of a Salesman are the only two good ones I have found. Dinosaur Act shouldn't be that hard to find or figure out either.

I don't think anything off of Things We Lost In The Fire would be hard to figure out.

Liz · « **Reply #20 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 21:01 »

I will second the votes for Low. I love Low. Low, Low, Low, Low, Low. If only they would do a show near me so I could enjoy them live.

PECOAE · « **Reply #21 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 21:58 »

You want a Low Show?

My god, how much of an asshole thing would it be if they cancelled a show right before playing it?

The headlines would go something like:

LOW IS NO-SHOW

LOW SHOW? NO!

SHOW NO LOW!

The Viz · « **Reply #22 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 22:34 »

Borne on the FM Waves - Against Me & Tegan Quinn

I'm not a big fan of Against Me's new album, but this is a really good song. Can be easily done acoustically.

casull · « **Reply #23 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 23:16 »

Mmm, I got together with her earlier this evening, and we did Diamonds and Rust, Don't think twice, Hard times come again no more, Falling Slowly from Once, and Velvet Underground's After hours. Turns out she LOVES after hours and already knew all the words. good call.

I'll keep some more of these in mind for next time, I'm slowly working through everything suggested so far. I really like hurricane but it would need a guitarist as well to make it good, I think.

MobyDickhole · « **Reply #24 on:** 13 Mar 2008, 01:52 »

I've always been a fan of "tonight you belong to me" covers.

The song being the same as the one in the film The Jerk

Also, The Bird and the Bee just did a cover of it for their valentines EP

PassiveTheory · « **Reply #25 on:** 13 Mar 2008, 02:06 »

Eli the Barrow Boy by the Decemberists
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel

That's all I got.

Patrick · « **Reply #26 on:** 13 Mar 2008, 05:43 »

Arrange a couple of Sinatra love songs (bonus points for "I Get A Kick Out Of You") and you have got yourself enough duets to last for a good hour-long set, heh. Get some James Taylor love songs up in there, and toss in a bit of John Denver's stuff (none of that namby pamby puppies-and-rainbows shit like "Thirsty Boots" though).

You could also try listening to country duets (no Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow do not count as country) and doing your own acoustified version of it.

Now that I think about it, Noel Gallagher's "Half The World Away" could be done as a nice acoustic duet. I'd never do it myself, but if somebody did, I'd be game to listen.

Inlander · « **Reply #27 on:** 13 Mar 2008, 07:46 »

If you want to try some harmonies, one of the more straight-ahead rock numbers from X's back-catalogue could fix the bill nicely. Something like "Fourth of July" off See How We Are.

Unless you want to punk it up and do something off Los Angeles, in which I can only say "Aaaaaayyyyyyyy!"

michaelicious · « **Reply #28 on:** 13 Mar 2008, 08:03 »

Quote from: Misconception on 12 Mar 2008, 21:01

I will second the votes for Low. I love Low. Low, Low, Low, Low, Low. If only they would do a show near me so I could enjoy them live.

The internet told me they were playing in Toronto at a place where my friend works, but he told me that it is just Alan's side project thingy. It was pretty disapppointing.

Liz · « **Reply #29 on:** 13 Mar 2008, 08:08 »

That is what happened to me as well. I got all excited that they were going to be in St. Paul next weekend, but it's actually Retribution Gospel Choir and not Low. I was sad.

Christophe · « **Reply #30 on:** 13 Mar 2008, 08:17 »

Quote from: PECOAE on 12 Mar 2008, 21:58

LOW IS NO-SHOW

LOW SHOW? NO!

SHOW NO LOW!

"Does he not know?"

"He does not know."

"He knows not?"

"Knows not does he!"

"Not he knows?" "ENOUGH!"

Can't resist an excuse to quote Futurama.

Thrillho · « **Reply #31 on:** 13 Mar 2008, 09:16 »

Quote from: Inlander on 12 Mar 2008, 17:56

Pros: the boy only has to compare to Shane MacGowan!

That's a lot easier to do on the mic than it is when writing...

imapiratearg · « **Reply #32 on:** 13 Mar 2008, 09:22 »

Quote from: PassiveTheory on 13 Mar 2008, 02:06

Eli the Barrow Boy by the Decemberists
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel

That's all I got.

If we're suggesting Decemberists songs, I'd say "On the Bus Mall." It's real pretty and sappy.

Patrick · « **Reply #33 on:** 13 Mar 2008, 09:24 »

Guys guys guys.

The Proclaimers.

Christophe · « **Reply #34 on:** 13 Mar 2008, 09:24 »

Quote from: DynamiteKid on 13 Mar 2008, 09:16

Quote from: Inlander on 12 Mar 2008, 17:56
Pros: the boy only has to compare to Shane MacGowan!

That's a lot easier to do on the mic than it is when writing...

And alcoholism and tooth loss.

Thrillho · « **Reply #35 on:** 13 Mar 2008, 10:19 »

Quote from: Patrick on 13 Mar 2008, 09:24

Guys guys guys.

The Proclaimers.

You just won the fucking thread.

One of the most criminally underrated bands ever. I don't care if they're ugly Scottish bastards, they've made some glorious, uplifting music.

Valrus · « **Reply #36 on:** 13 Mar 2008, 12:58 »

Quote from: imapiratearg on 13 Mar 2008, 09:22

If we're suggesting Decemberists songs, I'd say "On the Bus Mall." It's real pretty and sappy.

If we're suggesting Decemberists songs, "Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then)."

greenMonkey · « **Reply #37 on:** 13 Mar 2008, 15:05 »

Engine Driver?

My friends and I play this often.

Yakob · « **Reply #38 on:** 13 Mar 2008, 15:39 »

Quote from: PassiveTheory on 13 Mar 2008, 02:06

In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel

Nodaisho · « **Reply #39 on:** 13 Mar 2008, 17:54 »

Quote from: Patrick on 13 Mar 2008, 05:43

Get some James Taylor love songs up in there

Not a love song, but it strikes me that Sweet Baby James would be an excellent duet, depending on the voices of the singers.

imapiratearg · « **Reply #40 on:** 13 Mar 2008, 20:19 »

Quote from: Yakob on 13 Mar 2008, 15:39

Quote from: PassiveTheory on 13 Mar 2008, 02:06
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel

That's not a duet...

De_El · « **Reply #41 on:** 13 Mar 2008, 21:04 »

I think the idea was it is possible to -make- it a duet.

David_Dovey · « **Reply #42 on:** 13 Mar 2008, 21:30 »

If you could find a way to re-arrange it for acoustic instruments, "Nothing Better" by The Postal Service would be pretty cool, and how about some songs by The Evens?

Oooh and maybe some Mountain Goats!

imapiratearg · « **Reply #43 on:** 13 Mar 2008, 22:07 »

Quote from: David_Dovey on 13 Mar 2008, 21:30

Oooh and maybe some Mountain Goats!

"Broom People!" I could go on with a whole list, but ones that stand out in particular are:

"Snow Song"
"Historiography"
"Love Love Love"
"Game Shows That Touch Our Lives"
"Peacocks"
"Old College Try"

And, if you want a laugh, you could try doing "No Children." It's kind of a bitter song, but it makes me laugh.

Liz · « **Reply #44 on:** 13 Mar 2008, 22:50 »

How about some Stars? "Barricade" would make a great duet and could be done on guitar pretty easily, I think.

Patrick · « **Reply #45 on:** 14 Mar 2008, 04:22 »

I'm going to start listing Cake songs now. Because seriously? If you were to do some careful arranging work, you could do some bitchin' good stuff.

Friend Is A Four Letter Word
Stickshifts And Safetybelts
Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps (I'm actually doing this as a duet as part of my gig tomorrow)
Take It All Away
Dime
Waiting
Mexico (I want to do this)
Never There
Guitar (I want to do this too)
Walk On By

tl;dr guys Cake

Jackie Blue · « **Reply #46 on:** 14 Mar 2008, 05:48 »

A lot of Eric's Trip. Particularly "Allergic To Love".

Yakob · « **Reply #47 on:** 14 Mar 2008, 07:30 »

Quote from: David_Dovey on 13 Mar 2008, 21:30

If you could find a way to re-arrange it for acoustic instruments, "Nothing Better" by The Postal Service would be pretty cool

http://ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/p/postal_service/nothing_better_crd.htm

Divide by Zero · « **Reply #48 on:** 14 Mar 2008, 09:21 »

Quote from: StaedlerMars on 12 Mar 2008, 16:37

have you seen juno?

Edit: I'll elaborate a bit, the last five minutes about.

Oh, hell yes. "Anyone Else But You" is the song you're thinking about, and as soon as I saw this thread I knew I had to reccommend it. The Moldy Peaches did it, and the soundtrack includes a version by the stars of that film.

karl gambolputty... · « **Reply #49 on:** 14 Mar 2008, 09:25 »

The Delgados did some fantastic boy/girl duets, although it might take some work simplifying them to a single guitar.

THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

Author Topic: Songs for a girl, a guy, and a guitar. (Read 12931 times)

The Viz

PassiveTheory