Season 321 - The Discovery Channel

This is an original that I wrote some time ago, but have never put on the Seasons before. This is a new recording of it, this time with some overdubbed harmonica. I thought our host might like the sentiment.



Grandpa had a bottle that he kept in his top drawer
Just an empty old pop bottle that he'd stopped up with a cork
Funny when you look back, people did the things they did
I didn't understand it as a kid

I never thought of Grandpa as the sentimental sort
He never seemed to smile too much, and his temper was a little short
But he liked to sit outside and read his True West magazine
And he always watched Bonanza on TV

He'd finish every day with a pipe on his back porch
Just an old Missouri Meerschaum packed with Carter Hall, of course
He'd wake up every morning and first thing, he'd make his bed
Then he'd shave and splash some Wildroot on his head

He took out the bottle one day when he was looking for his keys
He saw me looking at it, and he handed it down to me
A strange expression crossed his face, he put one hand on my head
He spoke quietly, and this is what he said

That bottle's full of air from back in 1965
When the barn was freshly painted and your Grandma was still alive
I had a brand new pickup and my overalls weren't too worn
I sealed it off the day that you were born

Grandpa passed with half a pint of Wildroot left to use
And his last old faded overalls were whiter than they were blue
He'd cleaned his old corncob and set it on his mantelpiece
And there were three bowls left of Carter Hall, at least

They asked me if there was anything of his I'd like to keep
I'd forgotten all about it, but then my memory took a leap
I said, There's an empty old pop bottle hidden back behind his socks
And I guess I could use his old radio clock

Yes, it's funny, when you look back, people did the things they did
I didn't understand it as a kid
 
i've never done a cover of an original song by heino before. and, indeed, you could argue that i haven't here! but i loved his song for this season https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjflHR0E7mI&t=1s and wanted to bring it too, but a. my german is non-existent and b. i worked on this away from the computer, with only the memory of his song, and the two lyrics from it that i did know, to guide me! so, here's something that WANTED to be a cover of his song, and tried to be, but ended up going it's own merry way! (i'm afraid it is no longer about getting drunk :cheers:and vomiting :uhoh:)

 
My favorite new band this year is Superorganism. They have members from 5 different countries, and several of them met on-line. They started putting together songs by passing around sound files and adding their own touches. Last spring, they posted their first song on Soundcloud and it somehow got the attention of the British music press. It was only when people wanted to see them on tour that they all got together in person for the first time.






Here's them performing it live:
 
3 videos this week! I'm on a roll! Admittedly, all 3 songs were songs that I had toyed with doing for previous seasons but didn't get around to doing. In fact, in the past 8 seasons that I have missed, I had songs ready to go for all of them, but didn't manage to do them for whatever reason. Hopefully I'll have another chance to play the Rammstein song that I had ready for Ylle's season. Anyway, If bad language offends you, probably best not to listen to this one.

 
i've never done a cover of an original song by heino before. and, indeed, you could argue that i haven't here! but i loved his song for this season https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjflHR0E7mI&t=1s and wanted to bring it too, but a. my german is non-existent and b. i worked on this away from the computer, with only the memory of his song, and the two lyrics from it that i did know, to guide me! so, here's something that WANTED to be a cover of his song, and tried to be, but ended up going it's own merry way! (i'm afraid it is no longer about getting drunk :cheers:and vomiting :uhoh:)



Oh, how I adore your spin on 'Hawaii, Hawaii'!!:)) You did a supreme job, Lynda!
 
This week's been great Linda. Each song I've done so far has taken a bit of arranging, a way of fitting it on a uke fretboard. I love that challenge and I don't force myself down that route often enough, so thank you.

Here's a song by :bowdown: Souxsie and the Banshees that has one of my favourite ever riffs. I've wanted to do it for ages but never found a theme to fit.

Bloody difficult to keep the fingerpicking in the verses going.


 
I have really enjoyed the prompt to look for 'new to me music' this week Linda. I do it every now and again mainly to meet a seasons theme. But I've done it every day this week.
So a BIG thank you!
This one is brill imho. Love the driving rhythm and the energy. It is longer than need be imho. It sort of encouraged my latest original. Black Dresses is also worth a listen. Didn't hear anything I didn't like.





I have also discovered Patty Gurdy this week and learnt about the Hurdy Gurdy.





Thanks for both of these listens, Brian! I was fascinated by the sound of that hurdy gurdy. Really mesmerizing in this song! Thanks!
 
Hi everybody.
Today I am going a different way than last time. I did a version of the song "Spooky" from the film "Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels"; the song is by Atlanta Rhythm Section but I am basing mine on the Dusty Springfield version that I heard in the abovementioned film.
Anyway, here is my attempt.
 
"Pretty Miss" Norma Jean was Porter Wagoner's girl singer before Dolly Parton, and I was always a fan of Norma Jean. She was as different from Dolly as different could be. Norma Jean was not flashy at all, plaintive style, came off like a conservative housewife of the 1960's, but she was really good at what she did. Here's one of her songs I've always gotten a kick out of, I had to change the lyric in the first line to make it fit for a guy to sing it. I took the sporanino challenge on this one.

 
I've never done anything by these guys before. I guess they were a one-hit wonder, and this was it. Just basic southern blues rock. I overdubbed my best attempt at some single-string blues shredding.



Georgia Satellites weren't no one hit wonders at my place brother.
this song below, still in my top 10 faves of all time.
please play it for me Alan.
 
Georgia Satellites weren't no one hit wonders at my place brother.
this song below, still in my top 10 faves of all time.
please play it for me Alan.


The did “Battleship Chains”also. Got a lot of radio play in my neck of the woods. And ... Zevon and Hindu Love Gods covered it too.
 
Nightwish! I don't think I could ever possibly translate one of their songs into ukulele.

They do a cracking version of "Walking in the Air" - though you might need to wait till there's a bit more snow on the ground to do it justice :)
 
Since I get to do an extra one today and tomorrow, I thought I'd dig into my mp3 collection and see what I could come up with.

 
Great topic that fit right in with some stuff I have been doing lately. I heard Sam Baker in an interview on NPR, and he just knocked me out. This number is, from what I can tell, typical Sam Baker - beautiful, simple and moving.

Best of all, I was able to do a collaboration with my friend the fabulous Shelley Standing. Hope you all like it.

 
As I bring my Saturday to a close, I'd like to thank everyone for another terrific day. The diversity of performances and songs chosen made for terrific listening. We're at 98 vids for the Season so far, with each a beautiful reflection on our love for the ukulele and music.

Trent has posted his great bluegrass theme for Season 322, but we've one Sunday left to post in Season 321. I look forward to tomorrow.

Thank you again! Linda :)
 
My brother gave me an old LP of his from 1973 by Esperanto Rock Orchestra. One of the guys went on to be in the Little River Band, but otherwise the band quickly sank into obscurity. There was a song I always loved on this album called "Gypsy". They weren't a prog rock band, but this song always felt kind of proggy to me.


 
Orphans - Beck

It snowed here. A lot. That gave me the opportunity to record a Beck song for the first time and discover my new cajon I bought recently.
 
Wow, how do you follow that one. Terrific

This one came up in one of the Mokum Sessions quite recently.

 
I never thought I'd get a video in for this week. I have been working night and day to finish subtitling an excellent Catalan Crime Thriller series into English. I did the first series for them last year and this year they asked me to do Series Two. It's very rewarding and creative (but very demanding: subtitling has very strict rules about length, etc). It's also exhausting and time consuming. However, they only sent me 8 of the 13 episodes - so I managed to finish them before the weekend was out and thought I might have time to do a cover. My muse had other ideas and woke me this morning with the chorus of this submission almost complete in my head. I sat up in bed and sketched out the verses. Then I typed them up on my PC before returning to the bedroom to do the early unsuccessful takes (purple walls in the outtakes). Oh yes. After the song finishes I added a few of the 27 outtakes this song ended up having ;) .

There is a real discovery element involved in this entry too. For years I have had a Bolivian Charango in my collection. It's a cousin of the ukulele and is tuned (Lowest to Highest) GCEAE. Essentially, it's an eight stringed uke with an extra treble course. The strings it came on were dead as door nails. It is supposed to have a very bright sound but the original strings were as bright as mud. So, I never played the thing and even put it on a website to sell it (no takers).

Anyway, I got to wondering if a string change would help and I ordered a new set recently (from the excellent Strings & Beyond) and patiently changed the originals for the new Super-Gut or whatever Aquila call it. They proved excellent strings and they bedded in faster than any other nylon strings I have ever used. The long and the short of this is that I DISCOVERED an entirely new instrument through this string change. And as that is the theme of the week, I couldn't resist using this Charango, rather than one of my standard ukes for my entry this week.

Enjoy!

 
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