One man, one guitar, one microphone.

February 22, 2008 7:28 PM

My 9th grade son has taught himself guitar and he's thinking about entering the school talent show. He's trying to pick a good song that he can play and sing, and I'd like to help him out. What's a good song for one young man and an acoustic guitar and a high school audience?

I'm impressed with his skill on the guitar... but then I'm his dad. He's been playing for about 8 months. He has a repertoire of about 50 songs including many classics (Stairway to Heaven, Freebird, etc.) and a lot of Jack Jackson, Dave Matthews, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and he has good timing and a good ear. The challenge for him will be singing, as he has no confidence in his voice. So far his favorite candidate is Good Time [YouTube link] from Scrubs.

posted by JParker to media & arts (45 comments total)

"Little Boxes" by Malvina Reynolds

Or anything by Bob Dylan. Singing doesn't come first with Mr. Dylan.
posted by KenManiac at 7:30 PM on February 22

Extreme - More Than Words
Classical Gas
Maybe some of the more-accessible Leo Kottke
posted by rhizome at 7:31 PM on February 22

Swing Life Away-Rise Against
Pardon Me-Incubus
posted by carefulmonkey at 7:36 PM on February 22

I just learned the Grateful Dead's Friend of the Devil last night. I cannot stop playing it. Might be a bit simple, since he's trying to show off to the peers and all, but god is it fun.
posted by Plug Dub In at 7:37 PM on February 22

No New Tale To Tell by Love & Rockets
posted by The World Famous at 7:37 PM on February 22

Hey There Delilah is super simple, and will the hearts of all the girls, though all the die-hard music fans here will hate this suggestion, haha.
posted by Phire at 7:44 PM on February 22 [2 favorites]

"Blister in the Sun" is an evergreen and doesn't require vocal chops (but also doesn't show off guitar chops, if he's got them.)

Perhaps he should try a medley of the above two suggestions ("No New Tale To Tell" and "Hey There Delilah") and see if the resulting collision of cool and anti-cool actually annihilates the universe. That would be impressive.
posted by escabeche at 7:46 PM on February 22

Any of the Colin Hay songs they play on Scrubs would be good. Especially, his Overkill.

Maybe Beautiful World or Waiting for my Real Life to Begin.
posted by CrazyJoel at 7:53 PM on February 22 [1 favorite]

Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison.

Your young gentleman should be ready to deal with female attention.

50 songs? Unfair that the kids can learn so fast.
posted by Ironmouth at 7:58 PM on February 22

Still Alive from Portal. A guy could totally get away with singing that.
posted by Sufi at 8:01 PM on February 22

I don't know how difficult it is, but "We're Going to Be Friends" would be SO EXTREMELY beautiful. At least give it a listen, it's by the White Stripes. Yes, you might know it from the beginning of Napoleon Dynamite.
posted by zenja72 at 8:01 PM on February 22

How about This is the Day by The The? It's pretty easy to play, just G / E / Am / C, I think, for the whole thing, and it's great for high-school age kids. Very resonant at that age.

And it is NOT hard to sing, and it's pretty slow, so you can take your time.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 8:04 PM on February 22

He might could totally bring down the house with the acoustic version of Outkast's Hey Ya, as seen here on YouTube. It's impressive as hell without the need for a ton of vocal range. Finding tabs is probably tough, but if he's got a Capo and an ear for figuring it out, I bet he could pull it off.
posted by Ufez Jones at 8:10 PM on February 22 [7 favorites]

If he can rock the vocals, High and Dry by Radiohead. It's perfect for the age.
posted by ellF at 8:20 PM on February 22

Ufez has nailed it. Hey ya would be great, and the Obidiah Parker version in the link is a great cover (that the kids at school probably have not seen). Incidentally that version was linked on the blue a while back.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 8:31 PM on February 22

Undone (The Sweater Song) by Weezer
posted by saraswati at 8:34 PM on February 22

"hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen
posted by sourwookie at 8:48 PM on February 22

"Fake Plastic Trees" by Radiohead. Simple, but not cheesy.

Me and my high school friends absolutely swooned over a guy who played that in a talent show.
posted by landedjentry at 8:50 PM on February 22

Concerning the Leonard Cohen: I was burnt out on it over a decade ago but to a room of 9th graders he'll seem like the deepest person they've ever seen.
posted by sourwookie at 8:51 PM on February 22

Pink Floyd. Mother or Goodbye Blue Sky.
posted by Kwantsar at 8:53 PM on February 22

Expanding on Ufez's suggestion, I think any hip-hop or R&B song done on acoustic guitar is a crowd pleaser for all types. See Jonathan Coulton's version of Baby got Back and Jenny Owen young's cover of Hot in Herre.
posted by sarahnade at 9:03 PM on February 22 [1 favorite]

I second the suggestion for "Hey There, Delilah". The audience will freak out.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:08 PM on February 22 [1 favorite]

Seconding "Hey There Delilah". Most of these suggestions are of songs from before these kids were born. They won't recognize them enough to be able to appreciate them.
posted by 23skidoo at 9:09 PM on February 22

Wow. Thank you thank you thank you. An embarrassment of riches!

This hivemind delivers.

There are so many GREAT songs linked here - I've been on Youtube listening pretty much since I posted the question - it's hard to pick favorites. But so far I've got to go with Overkill or Hey Ya, both just left my jaw hanging.
posted by JParker at 9:10 PM on February 22

Beatles, "Blackbird". Timeless, gets the girls.
posted by notsnot at 9:14 PM on February 22

Goodbye Blue Sky, would be beautiful. Beautiful.

You have to record this for us!
posted by zenja72 at 9:20 PM on February 22

Pink Floyd's "Hey You" worked in "The Squid and the Whale"
posted by Andy's Gross Wart at 9:26 PM on February 22

I'm guessing you meant Jack Johnson, but I think one of his songs would be a good choice. Maybe Good People or Sitting, Waiting, Wishing (a a video lesson of the latter can be found on YouTube). I'm sure your son is familiar with both.

If the audience only consisted of girls, then "Hey There Delilah" might be a good choice, but I doubt the guys would be crazy about it. We're talking high schoolers here.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 9:42 PM on February 22

"You have to record this for us!"

I do plan on recording it. I doubt if I can post it back here, though, don't the mods close comments after 30 days or so?

"I'm guessing you meant Jack Johnson"
Yep. Hmmpf. I even proofed before I clicked.
posted by JParker at 9:47 PM on February 22

Hey There Delilah is over for the high school set. He shouldn't play it.

Hey ya might work, it's getting a bit long in the tooth as well. The chord progression is a simple G C D E.

If he really wants to bring the house down he should work in some acoustic "crank that" by soulja boy. There are tons of acoustic versions of this on youtube.

He has to absolutely nail this. High school audiences are pretty unforgiving.
posted by davey_darling at 9:54 PM on February 22

"(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding".
Nick Lowe wrote, Elvis Costello recorded. Add guitar flourishes.

Big encore with "Whole Wide World" by Wreckless Eric".
posted by artdrectr at 10:00 PM on February 22

Not sure how a song not in English would go over in a high school, but This version of Estate, played by Joao Gilberto, still kills, and it's pretty simple to play.
posted by ctmf at 10:05 PM on February 22

The hip-hop-into-acoustic-white-boy-music thing is cool and fun, to a point. I think people would enjoy that more for the novelty factor than for your kid's talent.

I think he'd really shine plucking out an acoustic killer with staying power, like aforementioned Blackbird.

Some great songs to be played acoustically, and some one-dude-and-his-guitar-in-the-dorm standbys from this 21 year old kid:

Sublime - Santeria <> Weezer - Say It Ain't So <> Weezer - Island In the Sun
Foo Fighters - Everlong
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Scar Tissue
Nirvana - All Apologies
Oasis - Wonderwall
Smashing Pumpkins - 1979
The Kooks - Naive

He's bound to find something in there, and most of those songs are simple and have a charm, rythm, and melody that sell themselves.

Side note: in the past year and a half, I've taught myself (with help from better-singing friends) to sing. As in, from goofy karaoke singer, to more than decent singing Al Green on stage. Tell your son to sing his favorite songs, sing them in the shower, sing them in the car, and sing them while he plays guitar. He'll get comfortable with his voice,
posted by crunch buttsteak at 11:19 PM on February 22

... in time. why crunch not finish sentence :[
posted by crunch buttsteak at 11:20 PM on February 22 [1 favorite]

Mad World by Gary Jules (not a guitar song, per se, but here's a rather good acoustic cover on YouTube).
posted by astrochimp at 12:07 AM on February 23

High school kids are a fickle lot but I think you can never go wrong with a classic. How about "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" by the Beatles? It's easy to sing and play on guitar and your son can play it in his own style.
posted by gfrobe at 2:55 AM on February 23

The audience will be spellbound if he plays Death Cab for Cutie's I Will Follow You into the Dark.
posted by Jaltcoh at 6:37 AM on February 23 [1 favorite]

Rock Lobster. For a talent show, dress as Peter Griffin.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 6:43 AM on February 23

There is an ocean by Donovan is one of the most fantastic songs for a lone acoustic guitar i can think of. Tried to find a youtube clip but didnt have much luck. I know it is on the "children of men" soundtrack so you can probably preview it on itunes.
posted by ilike at 7:07 AM on February 23

I doubt if I can post it back here, though, don't the mods close comments after 30 days or so?

For AskMe, this time period is a full year, not 30 days.
posted by DMan at 8:13 AM on February 23

I'd suggest Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here. Ideally you'd have someone playing rhythm along with you, but the basic chords are easy and more importantly the solos are quite doable as well.
posted by man why you even got to do a thing at 8:38 AM on February 23

I would suggest playing something that everyone in 9th grade will recognize. Seriously, people, the kid's 14.
posted by YoungAmerican at 9:12 AM on February 23

"Mad World" is incredibly easy to play and to sing.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 10:36 PM on February 23

Yeah, you guys picking Beatles songs and stuff might be forgetting that those songs were released thirty years before they were born. While Jparker's son is interested in the classics, the audience is definitely going to be paying a lot more attention to Soulja Boy. A good version of "Anyone Else But You" from Juno would probably do really well, too, assuming he does better than the 3 other guys who do a version of the song at the talent show. Even "Hey Ya", much as I love the idea, might not resonate that much -- these kids were in fourth grade when it was a hit, and might not have been listening to Outkast then.
posted by anildash at 7:54 AM on February 24

Listen to what Anil Dash says. Speaking as someone who performed Gilbert and Sullivan's classic comic operetta "The Mikado" to a high-school audience in 1985, I can say with authority that high-school kids do NOT appreciate the classics.

The hip-hop-into-acoustic-white-boy-music thing is cool and fun, to a point. I think people would enjoy that more for the novelty factor than for your kid's talent.

I'd go for the novelty factor if I were you, because the fact is, a high school audience isn't going to be paying much attention to his guitar-playing talent. "Blackbird" will just sound like Boring Old People Music to this audience.

Either be funny or be timely, with a song that everyone will recognize. Funny will win over more people - even the most current hit for their generation will be loathed by a third of the audience. That's how teenagers are.
posted by mmoncur at 4:55 AM on February 25