Paris in the '20s

PeteyHoudini

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My latest ukulele video (original song about Paris in the 1920s)



cheers!

Petey
 
Oh, my God! That was freaking amazing!

Peter. Peter. I'm exhausted. Allow me to please catch my breath.

The song sounds so vintage. So retro cool. The playing is impeccable--the slides, the picking. My head is swimming! Your singing is superb, and I truly appreciate that you took the time to write the lyrics. A swinging romp, jumpy and fast, a dash through the years of 1920--leave the Empire State, stock market crash (while Paris dined). You even have a change in tone--a break--just like the pro songmeisters. You could sell this to Hollywood (along with Night Under The Stars). I can picture this song in a Woody Allen film!

You must promise to never ever take that video off youtube. I will watch it forever, my friend.
 
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Merci beaucoup for the time travel.
 
C'est plus cool, ça! Très jolie
 
Coolkayaker1 said it better than I can. Excellent!!
 
Yea, I guess it's pretty good.



Oh, my God! That was freaking amazing!

Peter. Peter. I'm exhausted. Allow me to please catch my breath.

The song sounds so vintage. So retro cool. The playing is impeccable--the slides, the picking. My head is swimming! Your singing is superb, and I truly appreciate that you took the time to write the lyrics. A swinging romp, jumpy and fast, a dash through the years of 1920--leave the Empire State, stock market crash (while Paris dined). You even have a change in tone--a break--just like the pro songmeisters. You could sell this to Hollywood (along with Night Under The Stars). I can picture this song in a Woody Allen film!

You must promise to never ever take that video off youtube. I will watch it forever, my friend.
 
That was incredible! I've had a soft spot for the Roaring Twenties ever since I read The Great Gatsby in school. (Sure, the book is actually about exposing the corruption of the partying lifestyle... but you can't read about the 20's without listening to Charleston music, and you can't listen to Charleston music that much without getting attached to it. ;))
 
Thanks everyone! I really put my heart into this one despite its very difficult performance demands! (It's terribly gruelling to play and sing at that speed and I was playing in an extremely hot room). You can see a bead of sweat on my forehead in the last 15 seconds. There was no way to simplify this song in my books… it had to be performed fast, furious, like one's love affair in Paris passing before one's eyes…

@coolkayaker1: Thanks a million, Steve! I wasn't expecting it to be so well-received! I just felt guilty for so long not having recorded it due to too many life distractions in the last two years! Without your well-determined persistence on wanting to see this song come to light, I probably never would have got it recorded. I owe you one, buddy! Thank you, sincerely. Sometimes, I need a proverbial kick in the pants to get back on track. Thanks for all your great comments! I love how a few people have noticed I embedded the Charleston rhythm for the first line of the chorus. hehe Yep, my mom had a Charleston record when I was a kid. Always liked that! I've also noticed before that many Canadian singer-songwriters often reference American musical iconic cities like Memphis, etc… in their songs, and I don't like doing that to appeal to people. In this case, I loved just singing "The Empire State" but it makes me more think of Empire apples! hehe My Finnish grandparents came to Canada and were married in 1929 so I love that stock market crash angle… let's just party and forget the world of invisible numbers that rule over us! hehe I can upload the mp4 to my ukulelenorth.ca site if you want to keep the file.

@Peterjens: Time travel is right! Thanks! I love that observation!

@Bookworm: Thanks! I love how you figured out the Charleston connection! I originally worked that into the song but it slipped my mind since I had done it two years ago!

@lakesideglenn: Thanks. It was my favorite Martin Cherry 3! Those are the new Martin ukes.

Thanks everyone!

Petey
 
That was a lot of fun! It's given me a whole new set of images to daydream about. Sigh!
 
Hey Petey,

Speaking of time travel your tune was posted in 2014 but I just heard it for the first time. Great composition- I'm inspired to play my soprano which I almost sold recently.. What was I thinking?
 
I am late to this thread now too, and only found it because of the new posts.

I am super impressed with this one Petey!

If you ever put out an album, I will definitely by buying it.

IMHO, You have to perfectly captured the full spirit of fun and potential that the ukulele is capable of, along with your masterful playing and great vocals, I could really enjoy listening to your music more often.

Belated yes, but thanks for sharing! :music:
 
This is a link to an interview with Barry Humphries in a serious mode. He is talking about his love for music of the Weimar Republic (Germany 1919 - 1933). In addition to the list of songs he chose, he talks about the composers and musicians so you can search on their names and track down some more music. I think if you enjoy the music in Petes video you will enjoy surfing around looking and listening to the Weimar music.

http://www.abc.net.au/classic/content/2013/04/17/3738451.htm

Thanks Bill- sounds fascinating!
 
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