Singing and song choice

I wanted to bring this topic up because I'm not sure I've seen it
discussed here before and I'm wondering if other people's experiences
are similar to mine.

I'm not particularly interested in singing (lead vocals I mean), I
don't consider myself the greatest vocalist on the planet. Yet I find
that if you want to be able to pick some songs to do in a cover band,
you have a far better chance of getting to do them if you can sing
them. If not, then you have to convince someone else to sing the
song. How many of you are in bands where most of the musicians in the
band share the singing duties (everyone gets a number of songs to
sing)?

If you're in an original band, or a cover band that does some
originals, and you want to write some songs that will actually be
performed, then you'd better be prepared to sing them. I like to
write songs myself, and I would rather just have someone else sing
them. But it is way more convenient and easier to just sing them
yourself - they are far more likely to get played this way. Otherwise
you're placing a roadblock between writing the song and performing it
- again you have to convince someone else to sing it. Easier to bring
it up in a jam type situation and just grab a mic.

In bands where I've just played bass with no vocals, I've pretty much
just played whatever songs everyone else wanted to do. Otherwise
there's an issue over who's going to sing it, and that can be a pain.
Does any of this match your experiences at all?

.

Relevant Pages

  • New York Times: Magic
    ... Our purpose was not to fantasize but rather to observe the E Street Band in rehearsal, and then to hear what the man himself had to say about the new record, the coming tour and whatever else was on his mind. ... Mr. Springsteen’s best songs, it seems to me, are about compromise and stoicism; disappointment and faith; work, patience and resignation. ... That was a nice surprise, a nice change of pace to include those things and integrate them into the album, rather than having them be fun to record and then cast them aside.” ... the collective experiences of grief and terror were up front. ...
    (rec.music.artists.springsteen)
  • Jimmy Gutermans Review Of Hartford Show.....TBC
    ... On Magic and opening night of the E Street Band tour ... with The E Street Band, it's as powerful a piece of music as I've ... The topic is hardly new -- good bands were writing songs complaining ... official Springsteen/E Street opening night, ...
    (rec.music.artists.springsteen)
  • Re: Jimmy Gutermans Review Of Hartford Show.....TBC
    ... On Magic and opening night of the E Street Band tour ... with The E Street Band, it's as powerful a piece of music as I've ... The topic is hardly new -- good bands were writing songs complaining ... official Springsteen/E Street opening night, ...
    (rec.music.artists.springsteen)
  • Re: PPVII
    ... Not bad stuff for a pre-party band. ... I think I only missed a couple of songs though. ... I think this singer is better than Hanso these days, ... I had a very hard time hearing the guitar though. ...
    (rec.music.artists.queensryche)
  • Re: Sunday NYT Article
    ... longtime collaborators, the E Street Band. ... The rehearsal includes versions of other folk standards - the old labor song ... The Seeger Sessions," a collection of songs popularized by ...
    (rec.music.artists.springsteen)