Season 364 - In Someone Else's Shoes

Today, Ylle, I’m going to be Catherine Earnshaw - better known as the character Cathy from Emily Bronte’s novel Wuthering Heights. This song was written by the utterly wonderful Kate Bush when she was just 18 years old and released as her debut single in 1978, when it went to number one in the UK charts and stayed there for four weeks - what an incredible achievement and what an incredible song!

Must admit to being rather daunted by this one so I practised it more than most of my offerings and you’ll be very pleased to know I took the vocal down a few octaves from Kate’s!

 
Thursday evening greetings from Finland! Snow is turning into slush, as it's warmer today. But listening to the Seasons' songs feels as nice as ever. We've got some fine originals and there is plenty room for new songs from the point of view of ukulele or some forgotten instrument. And then we have a Kate Bush songs sub theme - with great submissions from Lynda ("Breathing"), Alan ("This Woman's Work") and Del ("Wuthering Heights").

The playlist should be up to date again.
 
Ok, this is silly and short.
But I ran out of ideas for lyrics.

From an ukuleles point of view - how does it feel not to be taken serious as an instrument?



The title is inspired by post that Jon started in the Uke Talk forum. I hope that it is OK to steal some words like that...
 
Ahoy
I want to play a song that is told from the perspective of a sailor.
Most Icelanders know the event that inspired this song.
On December 26th 1986 a tanker called 'Syneta' was sailing from Liverpool, England, to Iceland. Syneta was to transport Capelin fish oil from Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland, to Holland. Because of worsening weather and malfunctions the ship changed course and sailed along the east coast of Iceland rather than the south coast. During the night of the 26th Syneta hit a reef and began to sink.
The sailors, not knowing fully where they were situated because of busted steering and terrible weather, radioed in the wrong position; this delayed rescue as searchers had been heading in the wrong direction for 30 minutes before the error was corrected. There were 12 sailors on Syneta, six British and 6 from Cape Verde - they all perished. When Syneta was found a total of 7 bodies were reclaimed from the sea, one the ocean swept from a rescue boat on the way back to shore. One sailor was alive when rescued from the sea but he succumb to hypothermia before reaching land.

 
I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts ( in a minor key)

Every throw you make, makes me rich (Showman's point of view)
 
I have done this one before, sung from the point of view of a mugging victim, but always with the words & chords in front of me. I surprised myself last night by getting all the way through it without them, especially the tumble of words which appears at the end. Feeling brave, I thought I would see if it was just a fluke.

 
A cover of a Dave Clark 5 song, Anyway You Want It. Lyrics suggest he can read this girl's mind "you don't want money, you don't want a diamond ring...". OK then! :D

Pardon my clams, still recovering from carpal hand surgery 2 weeks ago today on my strumming hand, but no restrictions on normal activities (within reason), and strumming feels good, much better than trying to use a computer mouse! Played on my brand new concert Flea, Nyltech strings changed to Martin M600.

 
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Three Ravens look down from a tree on events unfolding below them. This version of the song was published in 1611 by Thomas Ravenscroft though there's good reason to believe it's much older.
In the last verse, a 'leman' is a word from Middle English meaning a lover or a mistress. By implication, they're not married to each other.
 
Jimmy Cliff and Joe Strummer put this one together back in 2001. This song helps me imagine being in the shoes of people looking for a better life over some border somewhere. And it reminds me that migration is beautiful.

 
Hello everyone.

Thanks for hosting Ylle! Your request moved me to participate, since you are always so kind in Your comments on my songs.

I had started on a new original for this week, got stuck, then thought I would just not be able to make it in this week. But then I remembered I had written a song from another perspective a few years ago, and thought I would bring it back with a new recording and a fuller arrangement.

I am glad I can still join in once in a while! Lots going on in life, much of it good.

My first remake, “I am a Troll”

Thanks!

 
Some words of wisdom from Pinocchio's dad: Old Man's Song (1975) by Juhan Viiding and Olav Ehala from a kids' musical about Pinocchio, in Estonian.
 
Not a lot of time this week; still recovering from my long, unplanned vacation and getting ready to go spend some time in the desert. So here is a short one wherein I inhabit a bit of crockery.



Thanks for hosting Ylle. And happy 8th (!!) anniversary Seasonistas.
 
Inspired by Geoff's wonderful "Three Ravens", I took this song from (at least) 1520:
Who never was "promenading on suitors feet" as this old-fashioned and still used phrase describes?
And sometimes all feelings vanish in a second.
(subtitled)

 
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I am not sure if this will be allowed, since the main instrument is not a Ukulele, but a Mandola. If that disqualifies it, then so be it. But it definitely an example of the theme in action. The story is told from the POV of a Soviet Bomber pilot in the Spanish Civil War.

It is not often that I get commissioned to write a song, but this is exactly what this song is. It tells the story of a particular bomber crew on a fateful day in February over the skies of Teruel (Spain) during the Spanish Civil War. I am to sing this song at the re-dedication of a memorial to these airmen which was destroyed in 1938 by the Fascists when they took over control of the area. It is incredible that it has taken 40 years of so-called democracy in Spain to get around to this re-dedication.

WARNING - this is the longest song I have ever submitted to the Seasons. But the story deserves it.

 
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