Season Of The Ukulele #286

Waikiki

I see Ralf onlyukethatmatters and I visit the same tailor (Persky's of Boston, I believe :cool: ).

In October 1913, Rupert Brooke arrived in Waikiki, en route to Samoa, New Zealand, and ultimately Tahiti, before returning to the UK and taking up a commission in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (the 'Wavy Navy') in 1914. He died of blood poisoning on the Greek Island of Skyros shortly before the commencement of the Dardanelles campaign. The poem 'Waikiki' was written on the island and first appeared in his volume of poetry "1914 and Other Poems," first published by Sidgwick & Jackson in 1915.

One thing that's particularly interesting about this sonnet is his phonetic spelling of "eukalili", made at a time when the spelling and presumably the pronunciation was not yet settled.

Unfortunately, it does little to resolve the ookelele/youkelele question.

One would think that Brooke intended the 'eu' in 'eukalili' to be pronounced 'you', as in 'europe'; but in the line in question he prefaces 'eukalili' with the indefinite article 'an', which would indicate that Brooke intended the 'eu' to be pronounced 'oo' - 'ookalili' - except,... that it was the practice of upper class Edwardians to preface every vowel, and every 'h', with 'an' - "an hotel" for example!

The late great John King ended his researches into the issue by saying "your guess is as good as mine"!

Words by Rupert Brooke; arrangement, etc by me.
Code:
Waikiki

Em                   Am
Warm perfumes like a breath from vine and tree
Em                     B7                        Em
Drift down the darkness__. Plangent, hidden from eyes
Em                 Am
Somewhere an 'euka-leli' thrills and cries
Em             B7                            Em
And stabs with pain the night's brown savagery.
F♯                           B                     A
And dark scents whisper; and dim waves creep to me__,
A                    B             A        F♯
Gleam like a woman's hair, stretch out, and rise;
    Em                      Am
And new stars burn into the ancient skies,
         Em        B7           Em
Over the murmurous soft Hawaian sea.

    Em              Am
And I recall, lose, grasp, forget again,
Em           B7                           Em
And still re-member, a tale I have heard, or known,
   F♯             B                  A
An empty tale, of idleness and pain___,
   A                    B                   A      
Of two that loved -- or did not love -- and one___
F♯               Em        Am
Whose per-plexed heart did e-vil, foolishly,
             Em         B7            Em
A long while since, and by some other sea. 

Rupert Brooke 1913
 
Last edited:
I see Ralf onlyukethatmatters and I visit the same tailor (Persky's of Boston, I believe :cool: ).

In October 1913, Rupert Brooke arrived in Waikiki, en route to Samoa, New Zealand, and ultimately Tahiti, before returning to the UK and taking up a commission in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (the 'Wavy Navy') in 1914. He died of blood poisoning on the Greek Island of Skyros shortly before the commencement of the Dardanelles campaign. The poem 'Waikiki' was written on the island and first appeared in his volume of poetry "1914 and Other Poems," first published by Sidgwick & Jackson in 1915.

One thing that's particularly interesting about this sonnet is his phonetic spelling of "eukalili", made at a time when the spelling and presumably the pronunciation was not yet settled.

Unfortunately, it does little to resolve the ookelele/youkelele question.

One would think that Brooke intended the 'eu' in 'eukalili' to be pronounced 'you', as in 'europe'; but in the line in question he prefaces 'eukalili' with the indefinite article 'an', which would indicate that Brooke intended the 'eu' to be pronounced 'oo' - 'ookalili' - except,... that it was the practice of upper class Edwardians to preface every vowel, and every 'h', with 'an' - "an hotel" for example!

The late great John King ended his researches into the issue by saying "your guess is as good as mine"!

Words by Rupert Brooke; arrangement, etc by me.
Code:
Waikiki

Em                   Am
Warm perfumes like a breath from vine and tree
Em                     B7                        Em
Drift down the darkness__. Plangent, hidden from eyes
Em                 Am
Somewhere an 'euka-leli' thrills and cries
Em             B7                            Em
And stabs with pain the night's brown savagery.
F♯                           B                     A
And dark scents whisper; and dim waves creep to me__,
A                    B             A        F♯
Gleam like a woman's hair, stretch out, and rise;
    Em                      Am
And new stars burn into the ancient skies,
         Em        B7           Em
Over the murmurous soft Hawaian sea.

    Em              Am
And I recall, lose, grasp, forget again,
Em           B7                           Em
And still re-member, a tale I have heard, or known,
   F♯             B                  A
An empty tale, of idleness and pain___,
   A                    B                   A      
Of two that loved -- or did not love -- and one___
F♯               Em        Am
Whose per-plexed heart did e-vil, foolishly,
             Em         B7            Em
A long while since, and by some other sea. 

Rupert Brooke 1913


Once again, the audio got stripped out during YT 'processing'. I got notified of the problem the first time I uploaded, made some adjustments, and got no indications from Google/YT that there were any issues with the 2nd upload. I blame Apple, 'cos I'm using the same processes & procedures I've always used. They don't make any money from computers these days, & so I don't think they pay any attention to their computer O/S's any more (iOS, on the other hand...) :-(
Anyway, fixed now (fingers crossed).
 
A bonus I recorded outside on Sunday, and which I actually have memorized, which is one reason I thought I'd try it outside, even though it was too hot. A few weeks ago, when I was away at music camp, one night after all the official activities were done and before we had to get back to our cabins for lights out...I walked through the "quad" (I guess that's a good word for it) and one of the teenage girls had a ukulele. I walked over and asked her if I could see it. It was one of those Fender concerts, and it was pretty sweet. I checked the tuning and then launched right into this song. There was a sudden stunned silence from everyone around when they heard me playing and singing. It was so funny, I almost lost my place in the lyrics. Then I brought out my low-G tenor which I had taken with me and let her play it for a while, since she had never used a tenor before.

 
Probably not a Hawaiian song, but growing up in the 70s, I think the two songs that come to mind is the Hawaii 5-0 theme and Tiny Bubbles.

 
Looking for a bit of relief with the Thornton Rule here. I'm sure Willie was talking about Hawai'i when he wrote this one...

 
Aloha! Here is the song "Koke'e" by Dennis Kamakahi, arranged by Spencer Gay. Slow and rough version - perhaps going to Hawaii would help with "the Hawaiian feeling"? :)
 
Yes, we had great entries again, what a nice time we had watching! Now we remember again what fun it is to host a Season!!

The new entries:

stanat20: Hawaiian Turnaround
While listening to your Hawaiian Turnaround I can almost see palm trees swinging in the breeze. This was beautiful from the single notes start to the final chords. Very well done, Stanley, soft singing and sweet playing on your little ukulele. Mahalo!

Harry122: Princess Pupule Has Plenty Papaya
This was excellent, Randy, and great setting with your swinging palm trees and your ukulele shirt. I was hoping for some Alfred Apaka, as I own some records from him which I love, but never heard this song before. Thank you for this!

wee-ginga-yin: Hawaiian Summer Holiday
This is so funny and so filled up with ohana and aloha it would fit in even when it hadn’t Hawaiian in it’s title. You’re a lucky man, Rob, having so adorable grandkids around. Thank you for bringing this to the Hawaiian Season!

redpaul1: Waikiki
What a great idea using a old poem and adding your own music. Your on minor chords based music underlines the mood of the strong lyrics and the haunting result is great. Very interesting – perhaps we’ll steal your idea in the future. Aloha, Paul, and mahalo for your fine entry! PS: Cha cha cha?? Are you reaching out for Dave’s Throne of Silliness?

TCK:Hawaii
Yeah, Dave, bringing some Beach Boys and turning it in somewhat Angry Samoans style – yes, that’s you for sure and we’re so glad to have you here! The seasons wouldn’t be the same without The Cloverdale Kid. Say Aloha to Mel. Mahalo, my friend!

BigDaddyUkers: Tiny Bubbles
Great choice, Big Daddy, absolutely fits in because this was recorded by many many Hawaiian artists. I guess it was more a song for tourists and the money box than for distinct aficionados of Hawaiian music but it’s a classic for sure (even my steel guitar hero Jerry Byrd recorded it). And you did it very well with soft and sweet singing. Mahalo, BDU, and Aloha!

Rustyy: Alice in Hulaland
Aloha, Rusty, you don’t need the Thornton rule here – the word „Hula“ does it anyway! And it’s a waltz – Hawaiian music has many waltzes (and marches, due to the work of Prussian military bandleader Henri Berger). Thank you for coming up with this Willie Nelson / Merle Haggard title, you did it so well! We’re glad to have you in our Season, mahalo!

kolibri: Koke’e
Thank you for being part in our Season and coming up with this pretty song which was new to us – great sounding ukulele btw – and the nicely done video beside your soulful playing. You did it very good already but, as you mentioned, going to Hawaii is a good idea anyway. Mahalo, Kolibri!
 
Big Daddy Uker... GMTA!

When I was a kid, when you thought of Hawaiian music, you thought Don Ho and this song.

 
I love this song by the Makaha sons.



In case you are wondering, I have changed my youtube account because I was getting unwanted attention. I have also made my video unlisted so if cannot be searched. I hope that is okay.
 
I first heard "Blue Lei" lyrics by R. Alex Anderson, music by Milton Beamer from Kimo Hussey and Zanuck Lindsey. They were performing it for HawaiiMusicSupply. I fell in love with it. There weren't to many sources for chords so I worked this off of their video. Not the same but close enough for me :)
Here is theirs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY-2H9WkIfI&index=13 its beautiful.

Robert Alexander Anderson (R. Alex Anderson) (June 6, 1894 – May 29 or 30, 1995) was an American composer who wrote many popular Hawaiian songs within the Hapa haole genre including "Lovely Hula Hands" (1940) and "Mele Kalikimaka" (1949), the latter the best known Hawaiian Christmas song. Anderson was born in Honolulu, Hawaii.

 
Like Linda, I too chose a song by R. Alex Anderson. He wrote over 100 songs, and this one is said to have been his favorite. It has become a standard hula dance tune. All the dance footage included in this video is of dancers dancing to this song. I have synced the song and the dance movements (as much as possible).
 
This beautiful little uke came my way recently, and Hawaiian songs sound right at home on her.
Here's one by Johnny Noble and Gordon Beecher (who ended up as a Vice Admiral in the U.S.Navy - now that's my kind of military guy: one who composes wonderful songs too!)
I know it isn't a roots Hawaiian song, but I do think it very evocative, and a joy to play....

 
This cold has only got worse over the course of the week, but I really wanted to bring something this week, so here it is. I've been run off my feet and I'll be up a mountain for the next few days, so I had to squeeze in a quick and dirty recording today. Sorry about the voice cracking early on. Also, don't mind the cat. She just likes to feel involved with things.

It looks like RAB11 and I have been thinking along the same lines doing Jack Johnson songs.

 
TCK and I often joke that we share a brain, so when he posted his plugged in version of The Beach Boys' Hawaii I laughed, because I had the exact same idea for the exact same tune. So he's been egging me on to do a version myself. I'll be honest, this has been one of the shittiest weeks of the year and I'm tore down. But, third time's a charm. And Melissa. So here you go. #parentingishard
And one more thing, I'd give just about anything to get some more face time with The Ukelites. Love you guys!

 
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