Season 421 - God and Satan

A fun one from Terry Allen

 
Season of the Ukulele 421 asks for songs that includes gods, devils, or other religious figures, good or bad. I offer angels, in the context of a dream about the war of the end times. From Internet search, Colin Meloy wrote this song after finishing the book "Infinite Jest" by David Foster Wallace, and intentionally wrote an R.E.M. style song. In fact, Peter Buck played with the Decemberists on this song and a few others. As for my cover... well..... the signature riff loses a lot when it moves from guitar to my uke, but I sure enjoyed playing it.

Let's hope and pray (if you like) that the global Covid-19 crises passes quickly and gets to be no bigger of a calamity than it already is...

 
Great Theme Ryan, so many songs come to mind. You could just look at someone like Johnny Cash and find a dozen or more songs that fit here. This a Tom Waits song, that i've had on my list to learn. Made a chart and really went with the raw feeling of first takes. Sent it Jon, who doesn't know what a second take is. So it's raw, but we're happy with how it turned out. Thanks for hosting mate ~

 
Directly from the aisle of our holiday flat, sorry for the noise ... may be the phone recorded a fan (notebook or shower)

 
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Hi again Ryan. Here is a simple short song and video that Jon and I did for your theme. Michael Leunig is one of our favourite cartoonists and we love his poetry too. We used one of his "prayers" as an inspiration for this song and video. The little wooden painted doll heads in the video are painted by our nephews Gylan and Jensen. Hope you like it.

God help us to live slowly
To love simply
To look softly
To allow emptiness
To let the heart create for us.
Amen.

To know more about Leunig's prayers go to
https://www.leunig.com.au/works/prayers

 
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A powerful song by Singapore's singer/songwriter Kelvin Tan, from his album Hosea's Tears.
You can find Kelvin's original here. https://kelvintan1.bandcamp.com/track/meditations-for-the-devil
I layered some bass loops and a drum loop on a phone app called Walk Band, then sang the words over. Jon played 2 ukulele tracks over, and added some shaker.


I've been talking to the Devil,
He knows me by my first name.
Well I asked him : Devil, Devil, why do you drive the world insane?
He said: I'm full of bitter anger for what God had done to me, you see. He said: Evil is not misplaced good. It's a reality that sets me free. And I said: Devil, can't you see the good there is in doing peaceful things instead of slaughtering all the innocent in a world that had clipped its wings? He said: The world doesn't deserve better 'cause it leads itself to evil anyway. I said: You seem to miss the point my friend. You're blind to your endless, tortured days. Well, you drive people to suicide, then you get them to kill lives. You set us against each other. You love to hear our violent cries. You deceive us to believe in superficial things and lead us to deceive us to believe in our vanity, pride and conceit. Oh Devil, Devil, Devil, you monster of disgrace. But I feel real sorry for you, Mister, everytime I see your God-forsaken face.

Well I've been talking to the Devil about his awful, evil ways. He admits he does it with pleasure. He doesn't do whatever God says. I told him I love spiritual warfare 'cause I don't want to be a mediocre man. I'm gonna fight you, sucker, I said to him. There's still a lot of the world to save.

Oh Devil, Devil, Devil
You monster of disgrace
( oh yes you are)
But I feel real sorry for you, Mister,
Everytime I see your God-forsaken face.

I'm gonna get you now, in the dark
I'm gonna watch you die
No matter how much it takes out of me.

AND THE LORD SAID: Amen.

Amen.
 
As I have mentioned before, as a retirement present to myself I bought a second-hand i-pad. Luckily, although it can't run most recent i-Pad software, it can run Garage Band, which I have begun to explore recently. It's an incredible piece of kit for a free app. So, this piece is my attempt to use its orchestral samples along with acoustic instruments.

The lyrics draw on an experience I had as a young man after spending time at a meditation centre. No substances were used to induce this vision.

Hope you enjoy:

 
Ahoy good people.
Very nice theme this week Rob and fitting as I have been learning God is in the House recently
 
Here is my offering for this week. Seven Spanish Angels recorded by Ray Charles and Willie Nelson. I played it on my Moore Bettah with accompaniment by Band In a Box.

The song is about an outlaw and his lover who are trying to outrun a posse sent to return them to Texas. When they are cornered, they decide to fight the approaching lawmen. Before the final gunfight, the two embrace, speaking of their belief that God will spare them. The gunfight then commences, with the outlaw firing upon the posse. He is immediately shot and killed, prompting his distraught lover to pick up his rifle. She tearfully prays, Father, please forgive me; I can't make it without my man. She deliberately points the empty weapon at the lawmen and is then shot dead. After each death, the angels gather to pray for the lovers. This is followed by "thunder from the throne" and the angels taking another angel home.

I've been working on this with my uke group, it's one of my favorites. Glad to see the subject surface here in the seasons.

 
Oh sinner man. Check out the 10 minute version by Nina Simone.
 
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"girl" by t rex

oh god, high in your fields above earth, come and be real for us

video features the adorable clip-on koala i received today from emma and jasmine for season 416 :rock:

 
No song limit although Tuesday and Wednesday were basically write offs for me in terms of listening! Going to try to catch up this afternoon.
 
Thanks for hosting again this week Ryan - a brave and interesting theme!

No surprises here - some Depeche Mode! A dark one this - released as a double A sided single in 1984. Couldn’t resist giving it the full synth treatment, along with some electric uke. :)

 
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