140th Season of the Ukulele: What's New Pussycat?

[wee_ginga_yin]

Tyger Tyger ( William Blake poem set to music )

Berni posted his major Tyger song while I was working on my minor
Tyger song. I was encourage by his Mrs Go on go on go on Doyle exhortations
from father ted to give it a go... so here is the result.
A bit different from Berni's rendition.
Catch Patti Smith's medieval version

 

[redpaul1]

Top Cat!

First tune that came into my head when I saw the theme - taken a while though to get the right chords.

From 1962, the theme tune to the classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon series



Thumbnail chosen with care, since most of the time I sound like a clutter of cats

Btw the collective noun for kittens is kindle: A kindle of kittens. It's what the interweb's for...

 

[uke4ia]

There's been so much reposting of older material (cats are a pretty popular subject!) that I started a separate playlist for posterity.

Littermates.

In that case, here's a Littermate. This is "Paper Kitten Nightmare" by Margot and the Nuclear So-and-So's.

 

[bird's eye view of my ukelele]

kindle of kittens. It's what the interweb's for...

indeedy doody

 

[mattydee]

TCK - Lovecats - The Cure: This is great, Dave. I really love this song slowed down with a little TCK magic thrown in. I can see putting this version into my own sets. The low-G really helps "acoustify" the tune, and your laid back delivery is perfect. And actually, I really like the grainy B/W vid on this. Really well done.

CharlotteC - Soft Kitty - The Big Bang Theory: This is great, Charlie! I've never seen The Big Bang Theory, but a different American sitcom also has a little cat song that I love, so I'm glad to learn about this one, too! Your voice is so sweet on this tune -- the perfect lullaby. I hope RAB watches this and plays it for his little one.

RAB11 - Eye of the Tiger - Survivor: So glad you were able to take a bit of time to join us! This song transfers surprisingly well to uke -- I've had it in my repertoire for a few years. Great to hear another take on it. I like the way you do the riff -- that spareness works well in this acoustic version.

Rustyy - Three Cool Cats - Lieber and Stoller: I hadn't heard this song before -- thanks for bringing it, Rusty! Nice steady play, and I love the character voice that happens in the 'dialogue.' Also, that thumb technique for the E chord is pretty fancy. And my cats are certainly cool. Well done.

Weegingayin - Tyger Tyger - Blake/Wee: This is so great, Rob. It sounds like a Tom Waits song. So different than Berni's but just as great.

redpaul1 - Top Cat Theme: Yes! Big band gets the redpaul treatment! I had forgotten about Top Cat (figured people might go for Felix, though). Thanks for reminding me of that lovable scamp. And believe me, with three kittens running around, I definitely looked up the collective noun. Kindle is good, because while they haven't yet burned the house down, it certainly seems within the realm of possibility. I've taken to just calling them a gang of cats.

 

[ddanner]

SOTU 140 - What's New Pussycat - A Poison Tree And A Tyger

I hope ya'll aren't tired of William Blake's "Tyger, Tyger" and will welcome one more interpretation of it on the ukulele. A while back I had added "Tyger,Tyger" to accompany Blake's poem, "A Poison Tree" when I was trying to put chords together for it.

Like many I suppose, I first heard Tyger,Tyger after a reading of his poem, "The Lamb" and the contrast of his Songs of Innocence with his Songs of Experience. Putting the Poison Tree and Tyger together caused me to consider a slightly different angle with respect to these two poems, but it also required me to take a few liberties and add a couple of my own verses. (Yes, I've grown too old to have any shame!)

Chords are Dm, Gm, and A7. Blake's original poems and lines are shown within the video. (If anyone cannot understand my added lines and wants them, PM me here on UU.) I hope you enjoy it.

 

[pabrizzer]

You have a lot to answer for Matt Daniels - you've got me watching cats on the interweb....
I was just checking that there are indeed hairless cats and ....

 

[wee_ginga_yin]

CharlotteC - Soft Kitty - The Big Bang Theory: This is great, Charlie! I've never seen The Big Bang Theory, but a different American sitcom also has a little cat song that I love, so I'm glad to learn about this one, too! Your voice is so sweet on this tune -- the perfect lullaby. I hope RAB watches this and plays it for his little one.

Would that be a smelly cat?

 

[mattydee]

Would that be a smelly cat?

Yep.

There's an episode where Phoebe teaches Chris Isaac how to play it. And another where she teaches Chryssie Hind. Amazing.

 

[mattydee]

You have a lot to answer for Matt Daniels - you've got me watching cats on the interweb....
I was just checking that there are indeed hairless cats and ....

My work here is done.

 

[ddanner]

SOTU 140 - What's New Pussycat - If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out

I'm so glad that songs by "Cat" Stevens were considered O.K. for this theme. His song, "If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out" pretty much sums up my whole approach to singing and strumming on the uke! A bit of a personal anthem I guess. Of course, I am now wondering why I didn't give it a go in SOTU 129 which was "Theme Week." It was probably a better personal fit. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy my attempt at it. BTW, if you have never seen the movie "Harold and Maude" I think you'd really enjoy it. Video quality is poor by today's standards, but well worth watching for both the story and the C.S. songs.)

 

[pabrizzer]

My work here is done.

This little bit of wit and humour brightened my week.
And I'm not being sarcatstic.
Thanks Matt!

 

[erivel]

Here's a song for you all. Cave in town for a brief visit. So sorry that we butchered this one! Thanks for the shirts Linda!

 

[lelouden]

Heres another from me.

Cat Power / Sea of Love and an NFL player. I don't know the guy. Found it on YT....Enjoy

 

[greyghost]

Of the first three songs I thought of, two have already been done. Here's my take on the first hit song Cliff Richard had in America--I remember seeing it done on the Midnight Special (and I had it on a 45 rpm single too)!

 

[UkeCan1]

I'm not being sarcatstic.

You're just feline a bit purr-snick-kitty?

I'm so glad that songs by "Cat" Stevens were on the "approval list" for this theme. His song, "If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out" pretty much sums up my whole approach to singing and strumming on the uke! A bit of a personal anthem I guess. Of course, I am now wondering why I didn't give it a go in SOTU 129 which was "Theme Week." It was probably a better personal fit.

I thought about doing this for theme week too ... great song. Great movie. Nice cover. Love the "fade out" at the end. We should add this to the songbook for OUC 3.


I do hope someone will do "Smelly Cat". And that one of the Aussies (not me, I'm already working on #3) will do "Nobody's Moggie Now".

 

[greyghost]

My daughter reminded me that one of my all-time-favorite cat songs was available--I'd completely forgotten about it. If you've ever wondered what early-80s Giorgio Moroder music with Bowie would sound like on the ukulele, today is your lucky day!

 

[CeeJay]

indeedy doody

See ..I'm lucky ...I got a Biscuit to watch .....she is a Neurotic Ginger Tabby Tortoiseshell with more ticks than a grandmother clock .....and she is the boss.....she says so ....



Remember 3000 years ago the Egyptians worshipped cats........cats have not forgotten this ....

 

[bird's eye view of my ukelele]

my favourite vids (apart from uke vids obviously) have cats and dogs in together

cats are always the boss of THAT relationship!

no actually my favourite vids (apart from uke vids and vids with cats and dogs together) have cats and dogs and micro pigs. all together

i don't waste my time on the net

 

[DWitt]

That's wonderful ... and what an amazing coincidence. I hope you will tell us all about it here when you get back!

Here, there was a piece on it on the morning news today: