Season 176: Rainbows

Well someone had to be the first to sing this song. I'm sure there will be other versions of this one posted before the Season is through.

Last night it suddenly dawned on me I have written two original songs with "Rainbow" in their titles. In addition to "Rainbow Blues" posted earlier, I also wrote a silly little ditty called "Rainbow Ukulele". It came out of a creativity exercise where you were asked to list words that made you happy, shuffle them up, and then pull them in random orders and read them as a poem. So of course I set mine to music. "Rainbow" and "ukulele" were two of the words I chose. You'll have to listen if you want to know the rest.



If anyone's daft enough to want to cover it, charts are in the usual place.

Okay, enough old stuff from me. I am of course planning something new this week too ... I just have to decide whether I have the energy to write another "Love Wins" themed rainbow song after I already took all of Friday off to do the first one, or just pick something fun to cover. (Or add a rainbow verse to "Same Boat" maybe. )

The Ramones have been U2's inspiration, and I know Ralf loves them, so it seemed fitting to do a version of She talks to Rainbows. I had some multi-tracking fun, and put some effect on my uke in the initial recording, enjoy ;-).

There's a rainbow in it, so we recorded a quick version of "What a difference a day made". Don't miss the cool SHIRTS!

I love a well-constructed, bad song. This one is from the amazing mockumentary, "A Mighty Wind."

I don't think I'll be the only one to do this one, but possibly the only one to do it like this.
An instrumental version of over the rainbow in the Saharan surf style

When I saw the theme, I immediately thought of Ronnie James Dio, who seems to have mentioned rainbows in multiple songs on every album he ever recorded. Here, then, is Catch the Rainbow, by the band Rainbow.

This song is from Wings' debut album in 1971.
After I recorded this, I added a synth electric piano and a couple of other small synth sounds.
"Honey, pray for sunny skies so I can speak to rainbows in your eyes."

Hope you don't mind Myrna

Joan Baez and Donovan did this as a Duet at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival:



Joan Baez has been a human rights activist for generations.
"Colours" - 1965 Newport Folk Festival

SOTU 176 - Rainbows - Rainbow Love (Original Song)

With the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding Same-Sex Marriage there has been a lot of use of the rainbow symbol, and I have often heard the term, "Rainbow Love" which I thought was a beautiful pairing of words that took on a powerful meaning. My song is the result of the impact of these paired words and some of the issues they address.



++++++++++ Lyrics and Chords +++++++++++++++

Argh, want to post original Moon Rainbow song but told myself I MUST go to bed on time!! Pooh! Gnight all.

SOTU 176: Love and Marriage

Here's a little number to celebrate the Season with. It was premiered in the TV production of Thorton Wilder's Our Town in 1955.

Amazing stuff so far, everyone!! Remember to keep your list of worth plastic-uke winners together as the Season goes along. (So you can vote... and maybe win a victory plastic uke.) Here are comments from my first amazingly awesome viewing session:

pabrizzer "Neon Rainbow"
Wow, your voice sounds even better than usual this week---this song's in your sweet spot, range-wise. Love that simple uke plucking, too. Great way to kick off this week's celebration, Brian!

IamNoMan "Rainbow Race"
Great choice, Tommy. Seegar was one of the great voices for freedom and human rights. Lovely, heartfelt performance here with some great uke playing. Gracias.

wee_ginga_yin "Rainbow"
Lovely one, Rob. Love that rhythmic uke over the organ. You bring a lot to this poem, which had a heck of lot of good stuff to start with. Woohoo! (Nice victory plastic uke, too.)

greenie44 & Southside Mike "Bold As Love"
Love is bold this week, for sure. Cool psychedelic uke jams here, and some sweet, touching singing. Thanks for getting together and putting this together, uke rockers!

xommen "I'll Go Crazy if I Don't Go Crazy Tonight"
Cool stereo effects on those overdubs, Wim. Great singing and uke playing to hold it down. Makes me wanna go crazy, too. Whee!

Harry122 "Any Time"
Just a perfect sentiment for this Season, Randy. Sweet, mellow uke playing here, and some infectious spirit in your singing. Great!

UkeFoote "I Was Zapped by the Lucky Super Rainbow"
Way to build up a wall-of-ukuleles sound here. Cool harmony singing. Trippy video. I love that you've brought us a psychedelic rainbow. Killer.

IamNoMan "Rainbow Stew"
Another great choice, Tommy! I love you combine plucking and strumming on your uke---both expressive and rhythmic---cool.

lelouden "I Can Sing A Rainbow"
Pure rainbow for your song and a lovely performance, Linda. Singing and uke playing both sound terrific!

GaryC1968 "Sing Me a Rainbow"
Cool, peewee-esque set-up with the window behind you. You've got your baritone uke sounding groovy. Silverstein's lyrics give us some rainbow thoughts to mull over. Nice.

ukulele extra cheese "Rainbow in the Dark"
Ukulele Dio? Awesome. Ukulele RAINBOW Dio?! AAAWWWSSSSSOOOOOMMMMEEEE!!!!!!

bird's eye view of my ukelele "Hot George"
A gender-bending glam rock rainbow song? Paaahhhfect. Rockin' verson, Lynda. Woohoo!!

decaturcomp "I'll Paint Raingbows Alllllll Over Your Blues"
Loose, groovy good stuff here, Alan. Fun. Muchas gracias.

uke4ia "In a Rainbow"
Ah, groovy rainbow rock. A rainbow uke kicking out the distorto-uke jams. Rad, Jim.

bird's eye view of my ukelele "I Just Can't Get Enough"
Wow. Another IDEAL choice. Disco pop? Check. Vince Clark?! Check! Rainbow?!?!?!! Check!!! Kick-ass ukulele version?!!???!!!? CHECK!!!!!!! Awesome, Lynda.

Season #176 of the Ukulele


Dancing with a head.
Lust of the flesh
Rainbow & dove
Final days
Darkness & flood
Sexuality
Biblical references


It has to be a Leonard Cohen song

Thanks for the week Ralf!

Here is my entry:

Hey Ralf thanks for hosting and for the perfect theme this week. I feel great to help celebrate history in this way. So here's a Duke Ellington song that mentions rainbows. Thank you!

Whoa. I'd left the WFUV media player running on my computer after this morning's Question of the Day, but had turned the speakers off. I turned them back on and went to turn off the app and go get some work done ... and the first word out of my speakers was "rainbow". They were playing this:



Whoa.