Season 479 - Destination Known

Hello, folks, and welcome to day two of season 479-Destination Known. Since I last wrote there have been 3 additions to the playlist, 2 fabulous covers and 1 fresh out of the box original. Brian F takes us to Trafalgar Square in London, or on a delightful drug trip, you decide, Steve takes us to Indian Queens, wonderful moniker, there, in the southwest corner of England, and Ryan transports us, beautifully and blissfully, to a serene spot in Kyoto called Kinkaku-ji. I’m attaching a photo I found amusing of a recent scene at Kinkaku-ji.

Please take a look at all three. I am thrilled! The tally stands at 11 covers and 2 originals, if I am counting correctly. Please keep them coming! I’d love to hear about your own hometown, too. 35A48579-055A-4DA2-9C54-5D861B469392.jpg
 
Hello, folks, and welcome to day two of season 479-Destination Known. Since I last wrote there have been 3 additions to the playlist, 2 fabulous covers and 1 fresh out of the box original. Brian F takes us to Trafalgar Square in London, or on a delightful drug trip, you decide, Steve takes us to Indian Queens, wonderful moniker, there, in the southwest corner of England, and Ryan transports us, beautifully and blissfully, to a serene spot in Kyoto called Kinkaku-ji. I’m attaching a photo I found amusing of a recent scene at Kinkaku-ji.

Please take a look at all three. I am thrilled! The tally stands at 11 covers and 2 originals, if I am counting correctly. Please keep them coming! I’d love to hear about your own hometown, too. View attachment 133597

Hahaha see what you mean with that photo and the same thing actually happened to me once! My wife and I went to Venice for our honeymoon and the Rialto Bridge was covered in scaffolding and a canvas with a picture of the bridge drawn on it! So frustrating!
 
Here's a song I first heard sung by a pub band while I was visiting Montreal about ten years ago. The crowd loved it. I'd never heard it before (but also loved it) and I made a note of some of the lyrics so I could look it up when I got back to my hotel. I understand it's Canada's alternative national anthem, so apologies to any Canadians if I've ruined it. In particular, there's no way I was getting the whistle part right so I've just sort of improvised a thing that kind of fits...



The locations in it aren't Canadian though. They are: London in general, Charing Cross Road, Euston Station and Yorkshire. Whenever I pass through London I usually spend at least a bit of time browsing the bookshops on Charing Cross Road, or at least sitting in the cafe at Foyle's. I gather the story behind the song is that the band were supposed to be touring the UK, but the shows got cancelled after they'd travelled so they decided to spend their time in the pub instead. It passes the time, I suppose.

By the way, the nerd in me can't resist nit-picking that if you get a train that goes through Yorkshire's green fields, you'd most likely be leaving from King's Cross, not Euston. But that doesn't fit quite as well, so I won't complain too much :).
 
Hey, Liz!

A terrific theme for me, anyway. Since I've spent significant amounts of time in five states and driven cross-country four times (and to Colorado from each coast once), I've been, well, not everywhere. But all these places!

 
I've been waiting to cover Toto's "Africa"!

But darnnit... I've never been there!
i've been to paradise
but i've never been to me


here is a little homemade song for the season, as you may know i love the south coast of england, pevensey bay especially. wherever you're going, it's nice to drive down to brighton, via pease pottage, and then motor along from there along the coast road to your destination. this song is about the london to brighton journey, and that lovely moment when you first see the sea

"brighton (feat. london + pease pottage)"

 
The House Of The Rising Sun SOTU 479

This song about a woman trapped in a life of prostitution, became a cliche during the Great Folk Scare in the sixties. I first heard it on a Josh White LP, but it was also recorded by Joan Baez, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan and, in 1964 The Animals learned it from Bob Dylan's first LP and made a folk rock hit out of it.

I first visited New Orleans when I was in Boy Scouts in the late fifties and we took a bus on a Good Will Tour to visit Scout troops in the States. I recall some strange shops where they sold black cats' bones and Voodoo charms. We were really interested in these places, but were discouraged from visiting them.
There was a woman at the Jung Hotel on Canal Street, where we stayed, who loved the way I talked and kept asking me to say things so she could learn to talk "Canadian".



There are a bunch of different chord progressions and tunes that folks use for this song. I've heard it sung to the tune of Amazing Grace and have done it to the Gilligan's Island Theme just for fun. I've heard it done bluesy, old-timey, country, bluegrass and rock styles.
 
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A bit of useless trivia.......Just up the Jurassic coast from me there's a place called 'Portland' (Isle of Portland) and there's a local tradition that you don't use the word 'rabbit' because of the damage they've caused to the Isle by burrowing which causes land slips. If the word Is uttered locals are said to get hot under the collar and fights have been known to break out in bars etc so visitors beware . The locals refer to them as either underground mutton or furry things. As an outsider I suspect that their landslips are probably more attributed to their mass quarrying of Portland stone that they build absolutely everything In and sell. (Portland cement)
 
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Good morning and welcome to Day 3 of Season 479 - Destination Known. Since last I wrote, we've had 4 new song submissions, bringing the tally up to 14 covers and 3 originals, SO FAR! This is fantastic. If any of you out there are hesitant to host a season, please be advised that it's a blast and also somewhat addictive. I am anticipating each entry with bated breath...but, no pressure. I can only imagine the travelogues and love letters to places of origin that are out there marinating.

I recap! The covers: Edwin takes us around London and up to Yorkshire, put on your dancing shoes for this one. Rick gives a vast tour around the Promised Land, as described by Chuck Barry, you may need a map. The number of locations is, indeed, impressive, and he's been to ALL of them. Jim Yates takes us to a brothel in New Orleans with the classic, House Of The Rising Sun. Listen close, and be honest, did you know all the verses? (I am not implying that Jim went to the brothel, only to New Orleans... he was a boy scout at the time. Actually, none of my business...)

One original work by Lynda (thank you, Lynda! :- D ) which takes us out of London, through Pease Pottage (actual village name!) and on to Brighton. Ahhhhh! Spoiler alert, if you are first to see the sea you get a kiss, so, look sharp.

Happy gatekeeper, here. Thank you all and take me somewhere today! Somewhere you've been...
 
A bit of useless trivia.......Just up the Jurassic coast from me there's a place called 'Portland' (Isle of Portland) and there's a local tradition that you don't use the word 'rabbit' because of the damage they've caused to the Isle by burrowing which causes land slips. If the word Is uttered locals are said to get hot under the collar and fights have been known to break out in bars etc so visitors beware . The locals refer to them as either underground mutton or furry things. As an outsider I suspect that their landslips are probably more attributed to their mass quarrying of Portland stone that they build absolutely everything In and sell. (Portland cement)

No bit of trivia is useless, in my humble opinion, especially if it can help one avoid fisticuffs. I shall mind my p's and q's, should I ever be lucky enough to visit Portland. Thank you!
 
Ok, so I have been to Berlin several time for work related trainings, and one of those times, I went by train, and we actually stopped at Zoo Station (it is not the normal Station to stop at, but I guess there where reasons ;)). This is a U2 song about that Station, they recorded the whole Achtung Baby record in Berlin, so I guess that is why they got inspired to write a song about it.
 
Hello, Liz! I've just had ANOTHER copyright claim - with THIS!!! - I think I'll give up! Anyway, I was unable to find any songs relating to my upbringing on the south coast of England. I did vaguely think about my old school song, the first verse of which went like this ... "Down where the Sussex sea floats by caressingly, warmed by the benediction of the Sun, hope fires our hearts and wills and our lithe bodies fills with vigour, as we leap and dance and run." Fortunately, I can't remember any more and the song seems to have sunk without trace ... like my old school! So, instead, I thought of a holiday we had, many moons ago, to the Isle of Skye and the Outer Hebrides ... probably the farthest north I've ever been. I bring you a copyright-laden version of "The Skye Boat Song" ...

 
Hi again Liz! You asked for songs about home towns, so I can't not do this one about my home town of Bedlington, Northumberland (hence the Northumberland flag sticker you see on this uke) written by my grandma, Mary Wade, at some point in the 1980s (or maybe even earlier? Not sure).

She taught herself to play accordion and piano and used to enjoy writing songs and poems. Throughout the 1980s and 90s she used to entertain the residents of local care homes, singing songs, tellings jokes and reciting poems. In 1990 she self-published a book of them, when it was a bit harder to do that than uploading to Amazon, and I remember it selling pretty well. I couldn't find my copy, but a few weeks ago I happened to find one second hand on Amazon (signed too!) so of course I had to get it. So in theory I now have two copies...

She died in 2007, aged 88, and my mum read this (but didn't sing it) at her funeral. I've resisted any temptation to change the lyrics, though I might have taken a few liberties with the tune and arrangement. Perhaps you can imagine she's joining in on accordion when it comes in!



You can probably tell from the lyrics that she was quite religious. Also she had rather more love for the town than I do, although of course it has changed an awful lot over the last 100 years.

Ooh, another related story I just remembered: one time the local TV news were doing a segment on local accents and my grandma contacted them - she had a very strong Northumbrian accent - and ended up singing one of her songs on local TV. My mum was really embarrassed (I guess people are always embarrassed by their parents) but I thought it was great.

Here's the book of songs and poems: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Geordies-C...laugh+sing+book&qid=1618947494&s=books&sr=1-1

Incidentally, she also wrote a book about growing up as a miner's daughter, published in 1984: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Miner-Born...+the+miner+born&qid=1618947437&s=books&sr=1-1
 
Please excuse this brief interruption - my wrap for Season 478 has just been posted and Lynda’s will follow shortly thereafter. Thanks! :)
 
Been to gay Paree twice once as a teenager and once as an adult wasn't overly impressed.I suppose I'm not romantic enough.Loved the baguettes though.
 
Hello all, time for me to punch the clock. I am off to dream of Berlin, The Isle Of Skye, Bedlington in Northumberland and Paris (France, not Texas). Many thanks to today's contributors, Wim, Val, Edwin and Stanley. I am honored. Please read about Edwin's grandmother, who wrote the song he has submitted today, Bedlington Anthem. What a great person she must have been. Who knows? Maybe tomorrow I will wake up to find a song about Mexico, or Texas, or New Zealand, or Quebec City, or Peru, or Kathmandu... Pleasant dreams of all the beautiful places we know and love.
 
Hello, I am posing as Marc, since the UU site is not letting him have access currently. I’m looking forward to hearing his Texas/Mexico story, once he’s allowed back in...

She Never Spoke Spanish To Me
Butch Hancock


Some notes from Marc: "This song was written by Texas singer-songwriter Butch Hancock and popularized by Joe Ely (pronounced EEL-ee) Both were members of The Flatlanders, along with Jimmy Dale Gilmore. All were from Lubbock, TX - home of Buddy Holly. And, yes, I've been to Mexico and I've been to Lubbock. AND, I speak poquito Espa
 
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Last one from me Liz! My dad's work took us to San Diego in my early childhood and we'd often head up to LA at the weekends. Here is one of the more famous songs written about that city, although I'm guessing my experiences of the city differed somewhat to Anthony Kiedis'.

I hope you'll excuse the fact that I'm not John Frusciante so some of the licks and fills are missing

 
Why can I post with thi account and not the original one...???
Ahoy
There are a bunch of Icelandic songs that mention places that I have been, I just don't feel like translating things these days... so, I am doing my rendition of one of my favourite Tom Waits songs - a song that is named after the beautiful city of Copenhagen.
I have been to Koben a few times; the last time was back in ... 2005 or 2006 During that time I spent a few months travelling and skateboarding around Europe. I was planning to go to kongens Kobenhavn last year but those plans have been put on hold.
 
another homemade-y from me. this one is about the chalice well, next to glastonbury tor in somerset. i've been on quite a few holidays to the west country - somerset, devon, and cornwall. it's a lovely part of the world.

 
This is a translation (not by me ;)), into my native language (which is Dutch) of a Jacque Brel song about the City of Amsterdam. This is called "de Stad Amsterdam". I've been there for several reasons, one being that one of my brothers lives there.
 
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