Season 256 - At Seventeen

lizalele said:
At first thought, I really didn't think I could contribute to this Season, because almost everything I play was written before I was born.

Then I reread the rules and realised I could play something I had listened to when I was 17, even if it wasn't current. I happened to be very into classical music at the time, so here's a bit of Mozart. It's a comic aria from his opera The Magic Flute.

I'm a new member here and it's also the first time I've filmed myself playing the ukulele.

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Hi Liza & welcome to the Seasons. Just so you know: you can use the filmstrip icon in the post menu bar to put your YT vids between the [video ][/video ] tags - or perhaps you did it that way on purpose, in which case, my apologies :)
 
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auntieuku said:
When I was 17, I was mainly obsessed with opera music. Apologies to Delibes. :)
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That's amazing. I've played quite a few videos on this site and I've never seen any opera on here, but coincidentally, I've just uploaded a bit myself, straight after yours! Well played. I find it tricky to play instrumentals on the uke, as it seems so tiny!
 
redpaul1 said:
Hi Liza & welcome to the Seasons. Just so you know: you can use the filmstrip icon in the post menu bar to put your YT vids between the [video ][/video ] tags. :)
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Thanks for letting me know. :)
 
I forgot how many Gordon Lightfoot songs I enjoyed back then ("Edmund Fitzgerald" notwithstanding, which gives me chills to this day), so this season has been a wonderful memory-jogger. Here's one that he released in '75. I believe I will take it to my uke jam for us to play.

 
AlanDP said:
I still have so many cassettes, my kids both first heard music on cassettes and pretty much always knew what they were. When my daughter was about 4 years old she had been given a kind of "toyish" tape player for her birthday or something, and one day I walked in to find her sitting there with it in her lap, quietly listening to Cowboy Junkies Caution Horses.
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That's way cool you still have some around for your kids to see/hear. Where on earth were you able to find a small tape deck? Wait, I'm sure online somewhere! I converted most to CD when it was pretty obvious they were here to stay. I have an old recording my dad did of my first cello lesson with him at age 10 on tape still. Really need to copy that as it's getting harder and harder to come by tape players!
 
Auni said:
That's way cool you still have some around for your kids to see/hear. Where on earth were you able to find a small tape deck? Wait, I'm sure online somewhere! I converted most to CD when it was pretty obvious they were here to stay. I have an old recording my dad did of my first cello lesson with him at age 10 on tape still. Really need to copy that as it's getting harder and harder to come by tape players!
Click to expand...

Well, that was about 15 years ago. They were a little easier to find back then, I guess.
 
"You May Be Right" - Billy Joel

Hey, look who's back. I just checked in to see what the current Season theme was, after about two months of not looking here at all ... and then made three videos tonight.

What a fun theme ... I want to do more!

When I first looked at the list of 1979 hits, I was rather horrified ... but further down the list and into 1980 I found lots of wonderful stuff I once loved and sang along to. Like many of you, most of my music that year was on the radio. (That and musicals - I was in the pit for "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" two years in a row - junior year (age 16) at our high school, and senior year (age 17) for the local junior high.)

Anyway, I listened to a whole lot of Billy Joel. Still love his stuff - so many great hits. Here are two from 1980:



PS, at a recent music party, someone mistakenly referred to another well-known song as "Ode to Billy Joel" ... which struck me as just about the best mashup title ever. I'm still figuring out how to assemble that one!
 
"It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" - Billy Joel

Even when I was 17, most of the references in this song were so old I didn't know what they meant. But this fun Billy Joel song is still rock and roll to me.

 
"Crazy Little Thing Called Love" - Queen

And for good measure, how about a crazy little band called Queen?



Really ... I can only do THREE?!!!
 
Finally managed to get around to recording a couple. :)

(Hands are a bit stiff, that's my excuse.... ;) )

Still unable to get much volume into my recordings, despite having found a usb mixer hidden away under 'sound cards' in my software. :(

I'm pretty sure this one was around when I was 17'ish - the film was on at the cinema.

 
Well, I've had a great time catching up this morning. A Seasons debut, some opera, some originals, and a semi-naked performance. Who said Variety was dead?
I think we are up to 70 videos now. Thanks to everyone!
 
AlanDP said:
I still have so many cassettes, my kids both first heard music on cassettes and pretty much always knew what they were. When my daughter was about 4 years old she had been given a kind of "toyish" tape player for her birthday or something, and one day I walked in to find her sitting there with it in her lap, quietly listening to Cowboy Junkies Caution Horses.
Click to expand...
Ah yes, those moments when you think that maybe you are getting the parenting thing right after all. When my daughter was about 7 she came home from school with some homework. They had to do an illustrated timeline, and the teacher had suggested they could do an actor or a group they knew well. With a little nudging from me, she did The Clash. The teacher was stunned. I was so proud...
 
I was hoping to bring you a couple of songs I wrote when I was 17 - but unfortunately I just can't find the exercise book I have somewhere with all those early songs in and I only remember scraps of them - not enough to do them justice. So, I shall post here the second song I ever wrote (and the first that was not a collaboration). I wrote it in 1970 at age sixteen and it was still firmly in my repertory when I started singing in folk clubs at 17 the following year. It tells the sad tale of a young man who sees his family captured by the notorious Nigerian Aristocrat and slave trader Madam Tinubu and the narrator's attempt to free his family. I had only just left Nigeria the year before, so it was little surprise that a story from Nigeria's rich history would be foremost in my mind when I came to writing my early songs.

It is a curious fact that the square in Lagos named after Madam Tinubu was a splendid square in the centre of the city - while Glover Street (the street named after the British Governor who was a major opponent of the slave trade) was a street with lots of whore houses and seedy bars along it. So it goes! It is written in pidgin English - the language of my childhood - but you should be able to follow the story alright.


 
In checking upon the music scene when I was 17 I chanced upon the following tidbit from that year, 1968.
The 13th Eurovision Song Contest is held in the Royal Albert Hall, London. The winning song, Spain's "La, la, la" is sung by Massiel, after Spanish authorities refused to allow Joan Manuel Serrat to perform it in Catalan. The UK finish in second place, just one point behind, with the song "

i thought that that was an interesting tidbit for a season whose first entry I saw was brother Berni's. It seems that people were pricks even back then.
 
Although I was listening to Elvis and Rockabilly revival underground stuff at 17 you couldn't help but hear George Michael being played everywhere at that time especially the slow dances at the local clubs.(The women loved him)
Seems such a shame he seems to have passed without much recognition except for the British press selling sordid stories of a dead man who can't defend himself.
Like his music or not he was definately an Iconic figure globally who did so much mega stuff for charitable causes and was politically outspoken on the Iraq war and even showed other musicians that giants like Sony could be taken on in court. Through all these achievements, the happiness he gave to people through his music and all his good causes, we know how the media would like us to remember him .........shame on them.

RIP George Michael -25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016
 
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Hi! I wasn't sure if I was allowed post a video here yet, since I'm new on the forum. :confused: However, I thought this sounded like fun, so I practiced a song for this week's theme. I just started learning to play the ukulele on Christmas Day, 2016, and this is my first video.

I was 17 (and graduating high school) in 1995. My best friend often slept overnight, and she always turned on the radio before I got up. I remember waking up to this song playing nearly every morning! So, this is my rendition of "Wonderwall," by Oasis:

 
JodeTheToad said:
Hi! I wasn't sure if I was allowed post a video here yet, since I'm new on the forum. :confused: However, I thought this sounded like fun, so I practiced a song for this week's theme. I just started learning to play the ukulele on Christmas Day, 2016, and this is my first video.

I was 17 (and graduating high school) in 1995. My best friend often slept overnight, and she always turned on the radio before I got up. I remember waking up to this song playing nearly every morning! So, this is my rendition of "Wonderwall," by Oasis:
Click to expand...

You are absolutely allowed, and welcome!
 
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