season 348 TELL US WHAT YOU REALLY THINK

I don’t feel like much of this song has aged very well. I’ve heard John Denver, Neil Diamond and Sammy Davis Jr. sing it. Not sure of the original provenance though. Incidentally, the reason many popular cartoon characters (Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Bugs Bunny) wear white gloves goes back to minstrel shows.

For Season 348 of the Ukulele, we're asked to bring out our politically incorrect tunes. This is "Black Coffee" by Sonny Burke and Paul Francis Webster, which features a bridge section with lyrics proclaiming it's a women's life to "stay at home and tend her oven."
For tenor ukulele with singing, and an overdub of Ubass.

348-3

This song is politically incorrect because of all the camels hurt in the making of this song. :O

way to get things rollin' y'all!
had me some wickedly disturbing fun...uh, and a touch of nausea listening to these first songs.
playlists are now on post #1 of the thread and are current to this point.
will check back in later in gleeful anticipation of having my delicate sensibilities shattered.

a tributary

cover of a very lovely song i happened on just tonight, written by thumbstrummer (aka "not another linda" here on the seasons)



the beautiful original is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzOeV65O3Rs

You know what's crazy...I don't even know what or how to comment this season. Here is somebody bringing a song that many of us probably don't know why, they do a great job bringing...what the hell do you say?????

My favourite Texas Bluesman. Lightnin' Hopkins.He's indulging in a bit of Peeping Tomery in this song.
A great A blues with licks around the long form A chord.

BigDaddyUker said:

You know what's crazy...I don't even know what or how to comment this season. Here is somebody bringing a song that many of us probably don't know why, they do a great job bringing...what the hell do you say?????

Click to expand...

bit confused by what you're saying here mate but:
if you like it, say so Dave. if you don't, say why.
no need to hold any cards close to your chest.
love you brother.

I assume this category includes songs that are deemed too naughty to play on the radio. Jake Thackray used to turn up regularly on our TV screens, playing his witty songs about everyday life, but this is one which probably had the producers saying "no Jake...have you got anything else?"

mountain goat said:

bit confused by what you're saying here mate but:
if you like it, say so Dave. if you don't, say why.
no need to hold any cards close to your chest.
love you brother.

Click to expand...

Got it. It just feels weird. A person may agree, disagree. A person may love the song or be ambivalent about the song but thought the person did a great job. Some songs jump out at me as being inappropriate for prime time so to speak, others don't. It just felt kind of weird when someone presents a song that they feel is inappropriate, others agree and then someone comes along and doesn't see it the same way.

PS - great theme. I think it creates some very healthy and much needed thought and introspection and has the potential to create some very healthy dialogue. THANKS.

Nothing is offensive if it isn't aimed at you. We can make fun of efforts not to offend people, but offending people should be anyone's goal. Complaining about having to stop being offensive is ridiculous.

Mañana by Peggy Lee
The Controversy: Another drawback stemmed from the portrait of the song's main character.
Lee brings her to life in the Mexican-sounding accent that was typically used by comedians of the time.
As a result, the number was met with a few complaints from listeners who mistook the
señorita's "self-confessed" procrastination for cultural mockery or, worse yet, an accusation of laziness.
The reaction was by no means widespread; to this day, there are listeners of Mexican heritage
who claim to find nothing but charm in the lyrics. But the situation was still a source of distress
for the singer. From her viewpoint, the character was by no means representative of an entire
culture or race -- as the song's critics perceived it -- but merely a humorous portrait of one happy-go-lucky
individual. If anything, her wacky character's attitude (a combination of laissez faire and joie de vivre)
was to be envied rather than criticized, she felt. In years to follow, the singer would repeatedly express
regret over the matter, and would protest that no sense of malice had been involved.

Lee enjoyed imitating voices and accents. On the matter of "Mañana," she further commented that
the accent she used would have probably been different if the vacation that inspired the song had taken
place elsewhere. The accent could as well have been Swedish/Norwegian (per her own heritage) or German
(which she tried in an appearance on the TV show "What's My Line?") or Italian (used in another recording of hers,
"Who's Gonna Pay The Check?").

Personally I think it is a witty song which shows a universal proclivity towards procrastination.

BigDaddyUker said:

Got it. It just feels weird. A person may agree, disagree. A person may love the song or be ambivalent about the song but thought the person did a great job. Some songs jump out at me as being inappropriate for prime time so to speak, others don't. It just felt kind of weird when someone presents a song that they feel is inappropriate, others agree and then someone comes along and doesn't see it the same way.

PS - great theme. I think it creates some very healthy and much needed thought and introspection and has the potential to create some very healthy dialogue. THANKS.

Click to expand...

eh brother. you're you. be you. in your responses to the songs...
mate, confession time: I struggled hard even to come up with an idea for a theme this week.
difficult to tap into anything that hasn't been done before.
but hey, I have this beast in me that likes to stir the pot a little,
so here we are. we see how it rolls mate. that said,
there is a goldmine of brilliant music that fits.
and Dave, if you're all for the PC thing, sing me a song about it.
and if you aint, sing me a song about it.

mountain goat said:

...confession time: I struggled hard even to come up with an idea for a theme this week.
difficult to tap into anything that hasn't been done before...

Click to expand...

You have a point here, Jon. When I was up for hosting my first season a couple of months back I had a few great ideas - but when I checked back through past themes they had virtually all been done already in one form or another. Maybe it's time for a bit of theme recycling? Maybe if we just try to avoid themes from the last couple of years? Maybe this discussion should be taken to another thread?

Edit: discussion moved here: https://forum.ukuleleunderground.co...shing-news-and-pictures&p=2103687#post2103687

DelGriff said:

You have a point here, Jon. When I was up for hosting my first season a couple of months back I had a few great ideas - but when I checked back through past themes they had virtually all been done already in one form or another. Maybe it's time for a bit of theme recycling? Maybe if we just try to avoid themes from the last couple of years? Maybe this discussion should be taken to another thread?

Edit: discussion moved here: https://forum.ukuleleunderground.co...shing-news-and-pictures&p=2103687#post2103687

Click to expand...

aye Del. I think we're sorta getting to that point.
from my view here over the River Derwent in Hobart,
I don't see any problem with recycling some old themes.
in any season there's a weight of songs left unsung and words unspoken.
I think it will be lots of fun to hark back to days of yore.

Here's my two cents. I love this theme. We all know that music is powerful. It can be beautiful, majestic, lovely, funny, bombastic, and even ugly. Music is important, it it true art.

And art has - and should have - the ability to make us uncomfortable sometimes, either intentionally or inadvertently. This Season urges us to look at music a bit more critically, a bit more carefully. And thus, to look into our own selves.

Brilliant Season.

Harry122 said:

Here's my two cents. I love this theme. We all know that music is powerful. It can be beautiful, majestic, lovely, funny, bombastic, and even ugly. Music is important, it it true art.

And art has - and should have - the ability to make us uncomfortable sometimes, either intentionally or inadvertently. This Season urges us to look at music a bit more critically, a bit more carefully. And thus, to look into our own selves.

Brilliant Season.

Click to expand...

above. this y'all.

Hey Joe, a song written by Billy Roberts, was first recorded in the mid 60's by The Leaves, then many others including the Standells and the Byrds, all on YouTube. Those versions were all up-tempo, and then Jimi Hendrix recorded his version, which is probably the most popular; he slowed it way down to a ballad. I obviously did the slower Jimi version, pretty easy, I transposed to just F C G D A for my vocal range, and hope that you like it. This is a 1-take, with one clam near the end sorry for that.

I don't think this song would see the light of day in today's world.

mountain goat said:

above. this y'all.

Click to expand...

Yes ... I agree with Randy as well! I think the trouble is that we have all become so "PC" that we find it really difficult to intentionally offend. It is amazing, though, how many songs of yesteryear (and not so yesteryear) were actually very close to the knuckle ... it's really surprising that some of them ever saw the light of day. Which reminds me, I have another non PC song, but I can't upload it yet as our Internet is operating at about one-quarter speed at the moment. I've just remembered that I have already done a couple of songs which would qualify for this Season .... "The Masochism Tango" and "Les Sucettes"; the latter being an exceedingly dodgy French song, which was, quite rightly, mainly politely ignored when I put it up!

LimousinLil said:

politely ignored

Click to expand...

now THAT'S PC!