Season 145 - Croeso i Gymru

many great films were shot in wales, sometimes with the welsh landscape appearing as totally other places - eg. carry on up the khyber (wales as india) and an american werewolf in london (wales as yorkshire)

here is the beautiful song "if paradise is half as nice" by welsh band amen corner, played on uke by me, obviously, and set against clips from from an american werewolf in london, showing the exquisite natural beauty not only of the brecon beacons, but also of jenny agutter

yeah baby



P.S. mike, if this doesn't count because it's jenny, and not me and my uke, in the vid, then fair go, kick it to the island!
 
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cua94 Those Were The Days... That tremolo and rhythmic strum is absolutely spot on for this song, that's a terrific performance Liz!

CeeJay The Pontypool Front Row... Well that's made my cold morning... you crazy man! That was wonderfully hilarious! Good on you for taking on Max Boyce and well done for a solid explanation of the cultural references too. But lets not miss the SUPERB advanced strumming technique going on there Sir! VERY impressive stuff! Absolutely love it!!!!

Barbablanca The Hand That Signed The City... I need to find a friend who plays the pipes... they sit SO well with the uke don't you think? What can I say, simply "excellent" I thinks sums it up nicely.

frisbeefred JuJu Man... Dave Edmunds! Inspired Sir! Perfectly sung and sweetly strummed Fred, that works really nicely on the uke and I love the little fade at the end, neatens it up beautifully. I believe the phrase I'm looking for is "nailed it"... in fact I'm going to play it again!

Xommen How The Mighty Fall... Ahhh Wim, I love an egg shaker.... it's amazing how much such a simple percussion instrument to can add to a song. Very interesting you didn't listen to it before you recorded it, that sounds like a fun thing to do and it certainly came out wonderfully so I'll give that a go sometime. Awesome entry Wim!

lelouden Y Brawd Houdini... I'm so pleased you made it to the party :) Vocals: perfect. Harmonies: even more awesome than usual... that chorus will have my head bobbing from side to side all day. Percussion: highly effective. Strumming: effortless. Lyrics: OMG!!! You went for some Welsh!!! Now that really is going the extra mile, I doff my Welsh bonnet to you. Yr oedd hynny'n wych , Linda.

Xommen Breathe... Absolutely love the dual vocal here Sir. I really enjoy figuring out chords, it's very satisfying don't you find? And I think it helps get under the skin of a song and make it your own. Another super job here Wim. North Wales salutes you.

UkeFoote Ar Hyd y Nos... Well! Firstly, beautiful uke playing Sir of a lovely traditional tune, just lovely! But... well... THEREMIN!!!! WOWZERS!!! I only said last week how I love the mix of a uke and a subtle bit of electronica and bam, there it is right there. I am a little speechless, I really wasn't expecting such a thing and I am completely overjoyed. I stand up and enthusiastically applaud Sir!

lelouden Old Carmarthen Oak... Some beautiful Welsh folk here Linda! Sensational harmonies and I love the little pipe melody. Play that in my local pub and it would be free drinks all night long.... first one's on me!

Rustyy Mercy... Brilliant Sir... Thank you for bringing Duffy to the show!!! A local(ish) girl with a cracking voice! This is exactly why I love the Seasons... you're playing Duffy for me... just wonderful, wonderful and another big bag of wonderful to go on top :D

BirdsEyeViewOfMyUke 68 Guns... Ooooo I like that Lynda, some super smooth strumming going on there and excellent vocal delivery. Wonderful stuff... yeah baby ;)

Joko Chardonnay... Yay, you've brought Cerys to the party! Nice one Sir! She's very big on the Welsh language circuit these days and has made a highly respectable "post-Catatonia" career. Great harmonies, tapping and whistling... a highly enjoyable version all round, I'm sure Cerys would be very proud!

BirdsEyeViewOfMyUke If Paradise... You mean Werewolves are in Wales!!!!??? I moved away from Yorkshire in the first place to escape them!!! ARGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! Well firstly "An American Werewolf..." is one of my favourite films and secondly, no I don't mind looking at pictures of Jenny Agutter ;) So you're safe, it's in. In fact it's definitely in seeing as it was a cracking version!!!! Holywood recently wanted to film part of World War Z near here using the "fun ship" but it never happened. Shame. (see Wikipedia for more info about this local curiosity!)

Max Boyce... Cerys Matthews... Duffy... songs in Welsh... you lot are the best! I'm SLIGHTLY beginning to regret choosing a winner rather than a random draw!
 
Do a duet with your sister :D

A great suggestion ....but I am retreating to the snow for Thanksgiving. We live in the dry desert and it is a treat to play in the snow for the holiday, provided there is some:) Laurie will be 4 hours away for the rest of the week:( Im going to sit by a fire, enjoy good food and family and think about all the christmas shopping I have yet to do!
 
Third and last contribution to Welsh week. In fact, this would have been OK for last week's Season too because it is an updating/improvement of a solo effort I did some time back.

The background to this song is an unsolved murder of a middle aged couple some years back who were murdered while walking the Pembroke Coast path. At the time I wrote the song, there was speculation that they had stumbled on either some criminals smuggling something ashore, or else some IRA men bringing arms ashore. The latter seemed a highly likely scenario and set my creative juices flowing as I imagined the wheels of destiny involved in bringing them together with their killers that day.

However, a year or so after I had written the song, it turned out that the killer was actually a local loony farmer.

So, I had to rewrite the song and give it new protagonists. It was no longer speculative fact, but pure fiction. I still think it's a great story though, too good to lose just because it turned out to have flown in the face of reality ;).

In this video you can see Jim showing that he's not only a good piper, but also a great guitarist (here tuned in DADGAD).



PS I have just encouraged Jim to start his own Youtube channel and we have uploaded one of his songs to that: A great Dylanesque piece called Lonely Consumers - this video has me playing the bandolim (Portuguese mandolin) in the background too! Please give it a look, if you have time, and comment there. I'm sure Jim would be ever so pleased if you did. And it would encourage him to upload more. He's quite a shy chap, actually, but don't tell him I told you that :rolleyes:
 
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This one's for the Ladies!

Anytime I hear Tom Jones it makes me laugh. -don't get me wrong - he has a powerful voice. It's just his over-the-top sexual persona that really cracks me up!
 
I have only been to Wales once, to visit my friend Hugh Johns’ parents, including his father, the former vicar of Rexham. While touring around, Hugh pointed out the ruins of a cathedral and said that it had been bombed during the war. I commented that it must have been an effort by the Nazis to disrupt the vital bed-and-breakfast industry in that part of Wales.

I was having a drink with my roommate in Phoebe’s, a bar on 4th Street and the Bowery, in the late 70s, when he said “Hey, there’s John Cale”. I went up and asked him if, in fact, he was John Cale, and he replied “Well, I was when I woke up this morning”. I asked him for his autograph, but the only thing I had for him to sign was a 1040 tax form. He signed it “Best wishes from H&R Block – John Cale”.
Even though he says, in this song, that Wales is not like California, he evidently picked up at least a a little bit of American culture.

The song is Mr Wilson, an ode to Brian, although some have said it also refers to Harold Wilson. It's from his album Slow Dazzle, a favorite of mine.

 
Mae Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau
The Welsh National Anthem. I'm playing along to a sweet guitar arrangement which can be seen here:
It is a very beautiful melody.

It's quite rough as I only just learned the tune and I'm not very good at picking melodies. Also there were two notes that were too low for uke so I just paused and let the guitar play them.
 
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OGGI OGGI OGGI
Oi Oi Oi

So happy you did that CJ I have been watching Max Boyce all night long
and I have been having a great laugh. If you are up for seconds then you should give
his Hymns and Arias a go.



If you have time take a look at his one hour show Live at Treochy
It is a great laugh. I had tears running down my face with laughter.


Will check out the Vid ....I might give one more of his a go...he waas one of my fave comedians ..him ,Billy Connolly, Jasper Carrott and Dave Allen all hit the screens and vinyls at the same time ...each country it seemed had their own National Comedian ....comedy nirvana....
 
Whirring - The Joy Formidable



This is a song I really like by the band The Joy Formidable. The band has started a "Singles Club" called Aruthrol on its web site which will release vinyl singles with TJF singing in Welsh on one side, and B-sides by other Welsh artists.
http://thejoyformidable.com/aruthrol/

This song is all 5th chords. I've got my uke tuned E-B-E-A to make it easier to play them. If any of you like guitar noise, I highly recommend this live video version of "Whirring" done for Seattle radio station KEXP:

Whirring (Live)
 
All Through The Night- 145 Welsh Music. A Welsh Christmas Lullaby.

 
Right, so I haven't had much time since scoping out the theme on Saturday night..I had a couple of ideas, then I got to perusing the list of bands

...there was one called "Punks not Dad" that sounded intriguing..as soon as I saw that the lead singer is called Sid Life Crisis, and the guitarist is Joe Strimmer (UK word for weed whacker), I was sold.Turns out the back-up guitarist for when Joe's too busy at work has the best middle aged punk name of all: Andy Inflammatory.
So they're a joke band, some 40 something dads singing about the travails of middle age. This is their first single: "In Me Shed".
I kind of worked out the chords by ear, but was a little too lazy to get all the rockin transitions. If anyone has any chord advice, I would gladly take it..

http://youtu.be/J2sSU-UVwZo

 


This is a song I really like by the band The Joy Formidable. The band has started a "Singles Club" called Aruthrol on its web site which will release vinyl singles with TJF singing in Welsh on one side, and B-sides by other Welsh artists.
http://thejoyformidable.com/aruthrol/

This song is all 5th chords. I've got my uke tuned E-B-E-A to make it easier to play them. If any of you like guitar noise, I highly recommend this live video version of "Whirring" done for Seattle radio station KEXP:

Whirring (Live)


Ah Jim you legend! I love Joy Formidable. Got one of their songs in the pipeline too.

I saw them play a ridiculously small venue in Portsmouth last year. One of the best gigs I've ever been to.
 
Will check out the Vid ....I might give one more of his a go...he waas one of my fave comedians ..him ,Billy Connolly, Jasper Carrott and Dave Allen all hit the screens and vinyls at the same time ...each country it seemed had their own National Comedian ....comedy nirvana....

You can find the words and chords on Ultimate Guitar

Hymns and Arias

The stunt with the bottle of pale ale might appeal to your schoolboy sense of humor :biglaugh:
 
Anyone else hear this great story about Welsh musician Gruff Rhys's new album this morning?

Glad you picked up on Gruff Ralf... I'm a HUGE fan... I wondered if anyone would discover "American Interior" as it does cross this Season rather nicely with my US uke buddies. It's a whole multi-media project and well worth a look, read or listen. We're in the process of setting up a community cinema in our village and showing this is high on my personal list and I have heard that a similar project elsewhere in Wales got the man himself to come down and introduce it... imagine that!!
 
Barbablanca The Wrong Place... It's always the loony Welsh farmer. Nice to hear a bit of DADGAD... works very nicely with the uke and a l lovely piped outro. Jim seems a very talented guy :) REALLY nice song that Berni, you two are on fire this week Sir.... when's the gig? Front row please :)

Markwo Sex Bomb... I was very excited the see this in the list today... classic TJ. So I clicked the play button very keen to see how you approached it and woaaaaaaaah... what a version! A gentle strumming tempo with a Spanish lilt, strong yet controlled vocals and a wonderful multitracked solo. Very very impressive Sir, I love it!

greenie44 Mr Wilson... Cooo, I love that sexy vocal part in the middle! The whole arrangement was amazing... 70's bass sound, great harmonizing at different ends of your impressive range and a great uke part and a phasing Risa to boot... psycheukelia!!! In other news and purely out of interest... "Wales is not like California"... we have own North Wales surf band... Y Niwl... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLZPdHn0RQo ("Y Niwl" means "The Fog" which I suspect wasn't chosen without a sense of irony).

myrnaukulele Mae Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau... [stands up and sings]... "Gwlad, gwlad, pleidiol wyf i'm gwlad, Tra môr yn fur i'r bur hoff bau, O bydded i'r hen iaith barhau"... Gosh that was beautiful Myrna, simply beautiful!

uke4ia Whirring... Now that's a decent filthy uke sound... it's not an easy thing to accomplish with all that treble... has a real "chug" quality to it. Great to see a newish Welsh band getting a shout, terrific job Sir and I had to smile at the way you so politely just put your fluke down at the end as if you haven't just been threaten to break its strings with that awesome solo. Top stuff.

Milliron All Through The Night... Awww Laurie, that was so lovely and gentle, I suddenly feel very very peaceful. I concur with the other comments about the simple yet effective zoom to the nativity scene, just perfect. Sensationally serene.

peewee In Me Shed... Now where on earth did you find these guys! They're new to me but I shall certainly go and check them out... "sorting out me jam jars, in me shed"... LOL! Brilliant Sir, I shall be smiling all morning!

Gosh what a mix this morning, certainly the far ends of the Welsh spectrum I'd say and bravo to you all for such diversity!
 
I was gonna do an Instrumental this week but found I haven't the time Isn't It, wasn't It yooooo see.
Heres my rough, ready and raw version of Delilah by the greatest export from Wales........Tom Jones.

 
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