SOTU #326 (Lonnie & Rose )

Thanks all. What a beautiful poem Rob. She is a beauty!

Maybe I can get a calypso in sometime :)
 
Seems to be a popular theme this American stationed in Japan falling in love with a Geisha girl :)


It was a popular theme for awhile, so popular in fact there were answer songs to it such as Skeeter Davis' "Lost to a Geisha Girl", and Jimmie Skinner's "I found my girl in the USA".
 
Here's another Harry Belafonte song I'd never heard before, but liked instantly. He did some really fun stuff!

 
I don't know how the young men living

It's 9 years almost exactly to the minute that I purchased my first uke :)



Code:
I don't know how the young men livin' - Lord Executor (P Garcia ) 1937

  Em                         Am 
I don' know how di young men livin'  
     Em           B7 
They never have a shilling 
  Em                         Am 
I don' know how di young men livin'  
     Em           B7 
They never have a shilling oh

Em               Am 
Tommy, o-pen the door
 v     ^  v   v   v
            Em                B7 
Give me the bundle and let me go
 ^   v   v   v     ^    v  v  v
Em              Am 
Tommy, open the door 
           B7                Em 
Give me mi bundle and let me go

       Em            Am 
In the day, he walk 'bout, 
     Em                    B7 
Only coming with his sweet mouth.
Em                 Am 
Calling for his mi-nou*, fowl, pound-
Em                   B7 
Plantain and Cal-lal-loo

 Chorus

       Em                Am 
In the night he come and peep, 
     Em                     B7 
Only longing for a place to sleep,
      Em             Am 
As to cast his weary head, 
             Em                B7 
As a lump of lead on the coz-y bed, ah!

 Chorus

        Em                    Am 
You can see that villain next day, 
     Em              B7 
Half-crazy and total-bey†
    Em                    Am 
His watchikong˚, goodness knows, 
    Em                  B7 
And half of his feet ex-posed.

 Chorus

        Em                Am 
Who can measure the human mind, 
              Em                 B7 
When it is un-cultured and un-re-fined?
      Em               Am 
An im-pulse o' soc-i-e-ty, 
          Em                   B7 
Not to be mentioned in his-tor-y.

Chorus
_____
*minou - kitten i.e., sweetheart
†total-bey - usually, 'crazy'; but here 'dishevelled'
˚watchikong - canvas rope-soled shoes
 
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Here's my second.

The lyrics are traditional and the melody seems to have come from a ragtime melody first published in 1909. Many, many people have recorded it. Lonnie Donegan recorded it in 1956 so skiffle. I've done it here with baritone uke and harp and the video is taken from the Cento Valli Railway, a metre gauge railway that runs along the southern side of the Alps from Domodossola in Italy to Locarno in Switzerland. It passes through some fabulous scenery.
 
Big Bamboo

An old Jamaican folk-tune, covered by mento revivalists, the Jolly Boys. The telephone spared you a reprise of the final chorus.

 
I'm sure this isn't a real calypso rhythm but it's about the best I could do and still sing and play at the same time. My favorite thing about this one is that I figured out a trick to make the melodica sound more like an organ. ChordPulse doesn't have anything that it calls "calypso," so I used a slow reggae beat.

Bad fake accent warning.

 
Written by calypso singer Sir Lancelot in 1943 and changed a lot over the years. I bet you all know this one!

 
This song came up in one of the singalong sessions at GNUF last weekend, and I decided to do it then. But since then it seems to have become this week's theme tune, including Ryan's version with added Nathan. I really can't compete with that, but here it is anyway.

Could be right about the theme song for this week.
It is strange how music migrates from Leadbelly to Guthrie
Music was music and it you liked it you sung it and there was never
a second thought about it, but nowadays the SJW's see clothes
or hairstyles as cultural appropriation. and not as a celebration.
 
It's 9 years almost exactly to the minute that I purchased my first uke :)

Code:
I don't know how the young men livin' - Lord Executor (P Garcia ) 1937

  Em                         Am 
I don' know how di young men livin'  
     Em           B7 
They never have a shilling 
  Em                         Am 
I don' know how di young men livin'  
     Em           B7 
They never have a shilling oh

Em             Am 
Tommy open the door 
            Em                B7 
Give me the bundle and let me go
Em             Am 
Tommy open the door 
           B7                Em 
Give me mi bundle and let me go

       Em           Am 
In the day, he walk 'bout, 
     Em                    B7 
Only coming with his sweet mouth.
Em                 Am 
Calling for his mi-nou*, fowl, pound-
Em                   B7 
Plantain and Cal-lal-loo

 Chorus

       Em                Am 
In the night he come and peep, 
     Em                     B7 
Only longing for a place to sleep,
      Em             Am 
As to cast his weary head, 
             Em                B7 
As a lump of lead on the coz-y bed, ah!

 Chorus

        Em                    Am 
You can see that villain next day, 
     Em              B7 
Half-crazy and total-bey†
    Em                   Am 
His watchikong˚, goodness knows, 
    Em                  B7 
And half of his feet ex-posed.

 Chorus

        Em                Am 
Who can measure the human mind, 
              Em                 B7 
When it is un-cultured and un-re-fined?
      Em               Am 
An im-pulse o' soc-i-e-ty, 
          Em                   B7 
Not to be mentioned in his-tor-y.

Chorus
_____
*minou - kitten i.e., sweetheart
†total-bey - usually, 'crazy'; but here 'dishevelled'
˚watchikong - canvas rope-soled shoes

Nicely done paul, and really appreciate the work you put into
putting the words and chords up... How does he do that???
Yeah I think that lots of people when they try to marry
chords and words have a terrible time with formating things
so everything lines up properly, but obviously you have the SKILLZ
What is your secret?
 
Here's my second.

The lyrics are traditional and the melody seems to have come from a ragtime melody first published in 1909. Many, many people have recorded it. Lonnie Donegan recorded it in 1956 so skiffle. I've done it here with baritone uke and harp and the video is taken from the Cento Valli Railway, a metre gauge railway that runs along the southern side of the Alps from Domodossola in Italy to Locarno in Switzerland. It passes through some fabulous scenery.

Geoff You sound so different in this song. I hardly recognised you.
Perhaps I am used to seeing you play in front of the camera, but with the
train and the alps I could concentrate more on the singing and the playing
The quality of the recording is clear and crisp, and the accent was transformed
slightly from North of England to mid Atlantic.

You have become a new man with this recording
 
An old Jamaican folk-tune, covered by mento revivalists, the Jolly Boys. The telephone spared you a reprise of the final chorus.

Now you are just being naughty. You get one boy in the classroom singing Big Bamboo
and the next thing you know the whole classroom are singing it. Go over and stand
in the corner young man with Mark C. and don't come out again until you have
learnt a skiffle song.
 
Calypso Rose

First Calypso Rose song, and rather infectious and joyous
and very appropriate considering your latest addition to your
extended family.

My daughter has a special song for each and everyone of her children.
and she sings them the words and the melody.
She will sing the songs to them at bedtime. Every child should have a special
song of their own.
 
I'm sure this isn't a real calypso rhythm but it's about the best I could do and still sing and play at the same time. My favorite thing about this one is that I figured out a trick to make the melodica sound more like an organ. ChordPulse doesn't have anything that it calls "calypso," so I used a slow reggae beat.

Bad fake accent warning.

There you are waiting for a Calypso Rose song and then two comes along one after another.
I love your interpretation of this song. Played and sung really well. Calypso at its best
is when it makes social commentary. Cy Grant used to make up calypso songs to topical
things that were happing in the news, usually very witty and funny, and here in this
song the spotlight is focused on poverty and what you can buy for a dollar in a rich country
and in a poor country. Not only that but fake values vs real values. You nailed it. I loved it.
 
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