Songs well-fitted for the Banjo Uke?

Captain America

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My wife kept at me (okay, some here may be surprised, but it truly happened) to get a banjo uke.

Maybe she doesn't like the sound I'm getting out of my other ones.

But, yeah, it's on its way, and soon to be here, and I'm wondering out loud now: what songs work well with the instrument? with that banjo voice?


Paper Moon?

When It's Hog-Calling Time in Nebraska?

When It's Peach-Pickin' Time in Georgia?
 
When I bring mine to our group, I play whatever they're playing. It does seem to go nicer with something country, like "I'll Fly Away," or "On the Road Again," but if a uke can play the tune, so can a banjo uke. What are you getting?
 
Maybe "Rainbow Connection"?
 
I tend to play mine when I'm looking for a percussive sound. At our jams, it's great for a song like "Doo Wah Diddy Diddy." Subtle they ain't. But they're tons of fun.
 
La Vie en Rose sounds very nice on the banjolele.
 
I don't know how old you are but back in the 60's, "Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter" by the Herman's Hermits might be a good one to try. It was played on a banjo.
 
St James Infirmary

A group I belong to is working on it, and one fellow has a banjo uke - it sounds great.
 
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Sloop John B & This Land is your Land work really well on the Banjo Uke
 
When a "Train" song comes up in one of my music books, I reach for my banjolele. Think, City of New Orleans and Freight Train, among others. Of course, any Stephen Foster song would without a banjo should be a federal crime.
 
Hmmm.... I'm trying to teach myself "Dueling Banjos"

Yes! It's not very hard. I can play the slow introductory part, but I'm not going to attempt the fast section. I watched that part of the movie recently - the duet was too long and boring. I guess I had remembered it differently.
 
Yes! It's not very hard. I can play the slow introductory part, but I'm not going to attempt the fast section. I watched that part of the movie recently - the duet was too long and boring. I guess I had remembered it differently.

Sounds pretty good on the new banjo uke!
 
I don't know how old you are but back in the 60's, "Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter" by the Herman's Hermits might be a good one to try. It was played on a banjo.

Pretty much anything recorded by Herman's Hermits works nicely on banjo uke. A lot of the British Invasion music-hall new Edwardian stuff. If the lead singer had mod hair and wore a ruffled shirt (I'm thinking of you, Davy Jones) it loves a banjo uke. I get by with a little help from my friends when I'm 64.

Most of the Tin Pan Alley songs of the 20s and 30s sound good on banjo uke. When the red red robin comes bob-bob-bobbin. Dixieland and bluegrass, of course. Plus anything you might expect to hear played on a lonely front porch in the Mississippi delta. Tishomingo Blues.

In fact, and this is for the OP and all the rest of us on this thread, almost anything can be made to sound good on a banjo uke. It doesn't have to be all yowza yowza yowza! The trick with a banjo uke is to listen and adjust your playing accordingly, not just bash away with a loud strum. Think of Kermit on his log, strumming with a light hand and a little fingerpicking, nice and relaxed and wistful. :)
 
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