Post by henryj on Jul 21, 2018 16:06:23 GMT
My brothers and I have played Beatles songs in a nursing home on three occasions. It's me and one brother on guitar (he does most of the leads) and the other brother on bass. No drums. The guitar brother's daughter used to work at the nursing home and had the bright idea of us playing for them. She sees and hears us playing Beatle songs whenever we get together, usually at Christmas.
The first time we did this was in 2016. The audience just sort of sat there. Someone told us that they were probably more of the Elvis generation. At least we DID do "Blue Suede Shoes" for them and they really liked it. (I know John Lennon did a live version of the song and maybe Paul.)
This year it went over much better. I don't know if Beatle generation people are entering nursing homes, or if it was because we did not use music stands with the lyrics. I forgot the words on a couple of songs, but that may have helped us relate more to these old codgers and codgerettes.
We did "Twist and Shout" (me on lead guitar),
"This Boy",
"You Can't Do That" (me on lead vocal),
"Can't Buy Me Love",
"A Hard Day's Night",
"Things We Said Today",
"I Saw Her Standing There" (me on lead guitar again),
"I Want To Hold Your Hand,"
"I Call Your Name" (me on lead vocal, and I did remember all the words on this one),
"From Me to You",
"Any Time at All" (Me on lead vocal. I forgot some words),
"I'll Get You" (at least we all sang the same words),
"She's a Woman" (Me on lead vocal in a lower key than Paul sang it),
"You're Going to Lose That Girl",
"Help" (Me on lead vocal)
"Slow Down"'
"Baby's in Black",
"Roll Over Beethoven" (Me on lead vocal), and
"Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby".
And all this for "old folks." They ate it up! My guitar-playing brother played his new Rickenbacker 360-12c63 guitar to give it an authentic sound. On the rest he played his Gretsch Duo-Jet. I had my bedroom-player Gretsch G5120 and our bass-playing brother his Hofner Viol bass, played with a pick.
We wore cavern-style outfits with white shirts, dark ties, dark vests, and dress pants. I don't have Beatle boots like my guitar brother.
But it was actually fun.
The first time we did this was in 2016. The audience just sort of sat there. Someone told us that they were probably more of the Elvis generation. At least we DID do "Blue Suede Shoes" for them and they really liked it. (I know John Lennon did a live version of the song and maybe Paul.)
This year it went over much better. I don't know if Beatle generation people are entering nursing homes, or if it was because we did not use music stands with the lyrics. I forgot the words on a couple of songs, but that may have helped us relate more to these old codgers and codgerettes.
We did "Twist and Shout" (me on lead guitar),
"This Boy",
"You Can't Do That" (me on lead vocal),
"Can't Buy Me Love",
"A Hard Day's Night",
"Things We Said Today",
"I Saw Her Standing There" (me on lead guitar again),
"I Want To Hold Your Hand,"
"I Call Your Name" (me on lead vocal, and I did remember all the words on this one),
"From Me to You",
"Any Time at All" (Me on lead vocal. I forgot some words),
"I'll Get You" (at least we all sang the same words),
"She's a Woman" (Me on lead vocal in a lower key than Paul sang it),
"You're Going to Lose That Girl",
"Help" (Me on lead vocal)
"Slow Down"'
"Baby's in Black",
"Roll Over Beethoven" (Me on lead vocal), and
"Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby".
And all this for "old folks." They ate it up! My guitar-playing brother played his new Rickenbacker 360-12c63 guitar to give it an authentic sound. On the rest he played his Gretsch Duo-Jet. I had my bedroom-player Gretsch G5120 and our bass-playing brother his Hofner Viol bass, played with a pick.
We wore cavern-style outfits with white shirts, dark ties, dark vests, and dress pants. I don't have Beatle boots like my guitar brother.
But it was actually fun.