TOP 10 Dueling Pianos/Piano Bar Requests - Songs That Make Ya SCREAM!!!

Maybe it's that this is a busy, busy week for us at Shake Rattle & Roll Dueling Pianos, but we've been thinking about our throats lately. In fact, every piano bar player does this, and often. Especially on those weekends when it's one long night of singing after another. And then, come those requests that literally make you scream.

I mean SCREAM.

Let's be honest - what would rock n roll be without it's great high screamers? Those vocalists who could peel the paint off the wall with one gut-wrenching, blood curdling, roof-shaking shriek. So, here now, for those who really want to hear the high stuff, are the top 10 that piano players simultaneously love to hear, but might hate to sing (at least at 1am...)

#10 - WON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN/LOVE REIGN O'ER ME - The Who

Let's be honest - in any typical rock n roll list, either of these would wind up at number one for all-time best yells. Nobody does it like Daltrey. However, in fairness, we can't remember the last time either of these got requested at the piano, so in deference to the golden haired, golden-throated Roger Daltrey, we are combining these two into our #10...and we hope we don't get yelled at.

#9 - I GOT YOU (I FEEL GOOD) - James Brown

The Godfather of Soul is back at the cineplex this month, and his songs are reappearing at the piano bar too. You have to respect a song that starts right off with that soulful bellow, and then ends with another, and packs a whole lotta funk in between.

#8 - REVOLUTION - The Beatles

Sir Paul may rule the track for HEY JUDE, but to kick off this political rocker, The Fab Four called upon John Lennon for the scream heard 'round the world.

#7 - WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE - Guns & Roses

There is no such thing as a screamers list without the representatives from the 80s, and certainly not without Axl Rose. While not the most piano-friendly song (thanks ALOT Slash...) there's no escaping the power of that swooping vocal.

#6 - DREAM ON - Aerosmith Four decades later, and Steven Tyler is still screaming his way across the stages of the world. We, mere mortals left behind to try and emulate him, can only do our best to approximate...

#5 - WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS - Joe Cocker

One of the all-time great covers, that really has become it's own song. It is so different from the original that the Beatles version and this have hardly any common ground. And when Joe says he's gonna get high with a little help from his friends, we're not really sure he needs any help. But ohh, that power scream. You feel it all the way down to your socks.

#4 - PIECE OF MY HEART - Big Brother & The Holding Company

Making the case for the ladies of rock, it's none other than Janis Joplin, and there isn't a gal in the room (or a few of the guys...) who can hold back from that last chorus when Janis lets loose one of the great, soul bearing wails in music history.

And as an aside, this is the title song for the new Off-Broadway musical which tells the story of one of rock's lesser known, but greatly influential songwriters - Bert Berns - played by a good colleague of Shake Rattle & Roll - Zak Resnick. Go check it out, if you can.

#3 - WHOLE LOTTA LOVE - Led Zeppelin

While The IMMIGRANT SONG also shakes the foundations, it just doesn't get the traction at the dueling pianos show that this timeless, gyrating force of nature does. Anyone who comes to a piano bar asking for Led Zeppelin deserves bravery points in the first place. Or perhaps has never seen a piano before.

#2 - TAKE ON ME - Aha

Okay, while this may not technically be a scream, it's pretty darn high, and as singalongs go, the entire room strains to hit that note, not once, but three times during the song. And if you want your mind blown, consider this - while in the States, the boys of Aha are seen as another 80s one-hit wonder, over in Europe, they've had album after album, and quite a successful career. All from that note heard 'round the world. And lyrics that still don't make any darn sense.

And at #1 -

HERE I GO AGAIN - Whitesnake

Was that Robert Plant? Ronnie James Dio? Roger Glover? Nope, it's everyone's favorite 'other' hair band vocalist - David Coverdale, bringing the heat on his biggest hit, and the chorus that stops traffic every single time. Wanna hear the most insane drunken high note ever, from a room of complete strangers? Request this song.

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