with KRJ's comment about going busking this summer (http://forum.bandamp.com/Gear_Talk/46641.html)
it got me thinking what are the BEST busking songs?
what are songs that people are just gonna be astounded
you know them and then give you alittle gas money
Busking is something i seriously would love to do
and i guess it wouldn't hurt to start building
my repituar of busking songs???? so any suggestions?

what's busking?

its where you set up on the sidewalk with your case open and kinda play for gas money!! lol my dad said he new some guys once that played for 12 hours every saturday and they made like $600 weekly of course thats serious dedication!!! lol i want to do it sooooo bad

It obviously depends on the crowd that will be passing by....obviously I guess some advice would be to stay away anything that could easily offend ANYONE....that also would be determined by the crowd....I find the busking that gets my attention most is the singer/ songwriter stuff on acoustic..ya know...Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Paul Simon, Tom Petty......etc etc..I guess it wouldn't hurt to be able to play some top 20 stuff from a few decades/genres either as you obviously wont know who could be coming by at any time..Here's a top ten, not that they are the ultimate but an idea..

1.  Last Dance With Mary Jane- Tom Petty
2.  Me and Julio Down by the School Yard- Paul Simon
3.  Cinnamon Girl- Neil Young
4.  Blowing in the Wind- who does that? LMAO
5.  Patience- GNR
6.   something original
7.  Copper Head Road- Steve Earle
8.   something by the Eagles....NOT Hotel California!
9.   Love Me Tender- Elvis
10. Give A Little Bit- Super Tramp

HEY WHAT exzactly is wrong with hotel california i was making a list of songs and it is like number 1!!!!!!

Nothing....except I don't know everyone and their grandma has heard it a million times and theres so many different guitar parts and layers of vocals it will never come close to the sound of the original with one person performing it...my humble opinion anyway. It's a pretty long track with some extended instrumental parts...

Blister on the sun
boots are made 4 walking
tiny dancer
king of the road
brown eyed girl
learn 2 fly
any thing by crowded house/beatles/red hot chille peppers
i'm a believer

And yep Hotel california followed by stairway 2 heaven/

 

ohh!!that makes sense now :]

how about just a bunch of old rock songs,sings people know by heart and would sing along to if the passed you by,songs you just make up as you go,so on and so forth.

but definitly,some beatles songs.NOT,absolutely NOT I'm A Believer.It's been done a million times and quite frankly it is terribly annoying by now.(The Turtles,The Beatles Smash Mouth and a bunch of other people)

Get a flamenco guitar and bust out some Malaguena Rhumba by Paco de Lucia.



Or, play stuff with a style.  I've had mild success covering, say, Iron Maiden in the style of Bob Dylan.  Or, take crazy mainstream songs and acoustify.  Dragostea Din Tei unplugged, for example. The song has a instantly recognizable hook anyone can recognize.

I hand out money almost every day to some form of busking, and it's the guys who do something different that get a bill and not a coin.

If it wasn't so balls cold outside I'd be busking.

Big Boss Man by Syndicate of Sound

very Beatles-ish.

imo, Drifting by Andy McKee
It's an amazing song to see performed, and most of the time nobody has seen anything like it.

Play anything you want - just play it with FEELING and folks will love it.  I used to busk quite a lot (got enough gas money to see 48 states!)...and I mostly played original music 

It is ***supposedly*** about a Hotel in California where occultists go to worship the devil.........

key word **supposedly** lol whatever... anyway im thinking some beatles!

the Wallflowers have a couple of good songs
some blues songs couldn't hurt
some old country hits too
and don't forget the old pop rock songs

you can take just about anything and turn it acoustic, just be inventive and make sure your singing is up to it.