Season 328 - My three most favourite tunes.

This is a slightly longer one Keith.... sorry.

I love playing this one because the arrangement came together very quickly. Played it on a whim for a season a few years back, my Mrs overheard it and said for the first (and perhaps only) time that she really liked what I did with it. Occasionally I'd play it at an open Mic but for some reason it never stayed in my set.

Dusted it off a little while ago and got one of my favourite open Mic moments over the last bank holiday. Arrived late and there was only one other musician there, with a pub full of regular punters who'd been there all day and were blatantly not there for an open Mic. Normally a bad sign but the lack of acts meant I got six songs instead of the normal three and the audience was being receptive. Halfway through another musician turned up, doesn't normally play a set but will jam Along with his Ubass from his seat. So I told him to plug in, play blues in Bm, and away we went. Never had so many people come up to me after a song and say they love what I do. So here it is.



It sounds a bit rough because my low G string is on the verge of dying. Need to get that replaced come payday.

Who would have guessed that Gery Booker was a white man???

Hi, Keith! This should be easy, but I have so many "favourite songs" (and I'm learning new ones all the time with the Seasons), that it is impossible to narrow it down to three. Also, the only songs I tend to play (and never in front of other people!) are the songs I learn here each week and, once played, I tend to file them away, never to see the light of day again. So, from absolutely nowhere, this one came into my head ... well, it makes me feel nostalgic! Herewith, a full, unexpurgated version of a Beatles classic.

So, I've selected this song for a number of reasons. First, it was one of my favorite songs as a kid. Incredibly sung and musically rich, it is just a great tune from Journey. I like the message of it. Second, it was one of the first songs I heard on harp ukulele (and, in fact, recorded on this exact same model) and it drove me to consider buying one. Finally, it's just fun to play.

Faithfully by Journey.

And yes, now I can see I spelled "season" wrong, in the title.

Commentary after the song since we're supposed to tell why it is a favorite.

I have lots of favourite songs. But I only remember how much I like them when I hear them played. As I said before I love the blues.
I also like dire songs because I guess they are usually about not feeling so chirpy (as most blues songs are).
I also enjoy writing songs - often to get something off my chest or to say something that's on my mind. Sometimes for no reason and the words just go with the melody or chords.
I rarely visit songs I've written after playing them but I work on them til I'm satisfied with them.
Here's a dire song I've been working on the last few days - basic riff and chord structure came first - then the lyrics.

I'll try and bring a well known cover for my final song Keith.

This song fondly takes me back to 10yr old me listening to my first music teacher Miss Bird rattling off Beatle choons on her piano. In a school that was full of predominantly stuffy middle class teachers Miss Bird was from the hippy era and a huge Beatle fan, (and she smoked fags shhhhhh) a real breath of fresh air in what I always saw as a stifling Institution. There's a few wonky moments in my playing but hey I love playing the song so don't care.

When I was a kid, my mother listened to Molly Malone and I really liked this Irish tune:

this is my favourite song today.
Richard Buckner is my favourite singer-songwriter
today, yesterday, and the past 20-odd years since I first heard his music.

This was my first thought when I saw the theme. It's sort of become my trademark at open Mics because it completely takes people by surprise coming from a uke, but I've never played it in full on the seasons before. I usually play this on my Korala but I'm not sure the strings would stand up to it at the moment so decided to properly rock it on the Clearwater. Pickup problems return, not sure how much it comes through on the video but the volume was varying wildly and then I was getting connection issues towards the end of the song. I was getting fed up with it which inevitably means my wife was getting more fed up so this is the take I went with.



Anyone know if Risa supply their pickups individually or supply them as replacements?

Here's my third and last.An original.I'm happy how this sounds on the baritone.Written a while ago on guitar.Actually prefer the way it sounds on uke. Hope you like it. Cheers.Lyrics below.


On the far side of the world
That’s where you’re gonna stay
The far side of the world
The blindfold went astray

The juryman held out his hand
when he heard that you confessed
to playing the hesitation blues
to every lover that you met

,you’re not the only one,
you’re not the only one,
you’re not the only one
I know
There’s a sailor who fell from grace
From the sea
Never realised how dry land could be
Now he sails in a desert
Of his own making
His bow line all shot and his hands are all shaking

Its hard to turn that ship around
When the captain would rather be lost than found

The far side of the world
ghost trains run all day
everybody gotta ticket if
They want to fade away
Away from her time,
Away her place Madelaine
Takes her seat
Opens up a locket then
feels so incomplete

She says im not the only one,
Im not the only one
Im not the only one you know

Theres a brakeman who keeps his lamp trimmed and low
He’s searching for something but what he don’t know
Then somebody mentions a prodigal son
He just shakes his head
Then walks on and on

Its hard to turn that train on back
When you’re drowning in railway gin
On a railway track

To the far side of the world
That warm magnetic touch
The far side of the world
another stranger tries his luck

He books a room without a view
Of his recent past
Then dials up some game of chance
And prays its not his last

He said im not the only one, im not the only one
Im not the only one you know

Its hard to turn your life around
When the jokers have all been played and the kings have all been crowned

Whenever I play around with finger-picking, I seem to end up playing this. Written by Bo Carter, who produced a steady stream of smut back in the 1930s, it is a song I first heard in a pub in York about 30 years ago. The John Bull hadn't really been altered since the 1940s, maybe earlier, and the furniture was mostly broken. But the beer was good, and once a month they had a country blues evening, featuring Brendan Croker and (the other, no relation) Steve Phillips. They went on to join Mark Knopfler in The Notting Hillbillies, but as a duo they were hard to beat. This song brings back memories of those nights, in a pub which is now a distant memory under a garage forecourt.

RAB11 said:

...... so decided to properly rock it on the Clearwater. Pickup problems return, not sure how much it comes through on the video but the volume was varying wildly and then I was getting connection issues towards the end of the song. I was getting fed up with it which inevitably means my wife was getting more fed up so this is the take I went with.

Anyone know if Risa supply their pickups individually or supply them as replacements?

Click to expand...

This is his website - https://www.ukulele.de/shop4/en/en-RISA

However, I'd hazzard a guess it's one of the pots, maybe a local guitar shop could diagnose the problem.

The last song I wrote, about m'colleagues.



Sparky

I chose this as my third song for several reasons. It's another of my instant "go to" songs whenever I pick up a ukulele. I did it in a Seasons awhile back. Written and recorded by "Whispering" Bill Anderson, and much later Anderson did it as a duet with David Allan Coe, and both of those guys are all time favorite artists of mine. This song was also a hit in Australia for the Delltones. I personally relate to this song too, especially the first verse. My Grandparents had an apple orchard and a large garden, and they worked like fools in it, seemingly non stop to me, and it was miserable, I hated working in it. They used to say stuff to me like this hard work is good for ya, etc, and I was considered somewhat lazy by them, and I do have a lazy side, but I also have a hard working side. I think I was more just cheap labor to them, though they generally weren't impressed with my contributions, nor was I. They weren't ever getting ahead was what I noticed about it the most. I haven't ever been in trouble, but I've been around shady people, and I've noticed they tend to want to recruit you in to their world. I've always been a decent people reader. Sorry for the long dissertation here Keith, but you did say you wanted to see what makes us tick this week, so here's a bit of what makes me tick. lol

My "favorite" song changes from day to day, even from minute to minute. Here's an original that I just finished, having bounced around in my head for a long time. It's my favorite right now.

Until the year 2011, we had compulsory military service in Germany, but instead of the army, you could choose civilian service and help older people or work as an orderly in a hospital. I decided to become a "Zivi" (civil servant) and I cleaned the homes of older people, did some shopping for them and walked their dogs. That was in 1986.
Apart from my civil service, I remember three events, when I think back of that year:
-Chernobyl
-King of America
-Napoleon Dynamite
1986 was the year, when Elvis Costello released two albums. As a fan of American folk and country, I especially liked King of America.
Great songs, fine musicians like my Telecaster hero James Burton.
I started listening the album on side 2, and American without Tears will be engraved in my mind as the opener of the albun till eternity...

Entry No. 2. One reason to learn the uke is I wanted to mess around with pre-World War II music: Jelly Roll Morton, Hoagy Carmichael, etc., even Jimmie Rodgers. Leon Redbone was a gateway to a lot of that music. I played this one at the first open mic I attended. I chose my new Pittsburgh Steelers uke because it's silly and it's loud. My wife tried to get a Denver Broncos version but one wasn't available. (The Broncos always will be her team.) Since she couldn't find one of them, and she grew up outside Pittsburgh, the "stillers" would have to do.

I thought I should continue to surprise our host by not doing a country a song, so here's an old not-country favorite. REO Speedwagon was another of the first rock bands I discovered that I liked, I think mostly because my middle sister bought their Hi Infidelity cassette, and I'm pretty sure I ended up listening to it more than she did. This song isn't from that album, but it's always been a favorite. Kevin Cronin is another rock singer whose voice I've always liked. Back in the 80s I empathized quite strongly with the lyrics of this song. Now I just like singing it, although in the original key it's quite a strain on my voice.

I have these lyrics memorized. I woke up in the middle of the night last night thinking, "wait...what was that REO song I used to love to sing so much...something about storms or flying or leaving your girlfriend?"* It took me a while to remember which song it was, but then I realized I still had it all memorized...so, no chord or lyric sheet for this one, either!

I had to stand up for this one to get the breath support I needed. But I need to figure out a better way to position my gear for standing.



*This was an in-joke that my college roommate and I had with each other. "I heard REO came out with a new song...I forgot the title, but was something about storms, or flying, or leaving your girlfriend."
"Really? That's an unusual topic for them."

Also:
"I heard Air Supply came out with a new song. I can't remember the title, but it's something about love."
"Really? That's very strange."

Since our host claims to be enjoying hearing me do not-country songs, here is another not-country song, although it well could be, since the theme is heard in a countless number of country songs.

I first heard Marillion in 1985 when I walked into Sundance Records in San Marcos, TX, and heard them playing Misplaced Childhood on their sound system. They immediately became my new favorite band. I still think their Fish-era stuff is some of the best prog rock ever recorded, and Fish is one of the best lyricists there is. This song is from the album following Misplaced Childhood, titled Clutching At Straws. It's one of their few songs that I can halfway fake my way through. If I could sing and play better, I would do "Script For a Jester's Tear," but that one is way beyond me.

I did this once before, a long time ago when I was still very new here, and that time I multi-tracked a melodica part. No multi-tracking this time. Just me and my uke.