It's often fun to look at historical anniversaries. "On this day" columns are common in newspapers and magazines, and I used to go to a pub quiz that always had an "On this day" round so we used to be sure to skim the wikipedia page of historical events before heading out. Not that it ever helped us win. Anyway, let's see if anything interesting happened this week in history, and maybe we can base a theme on a couple of them... scans wikipedia
So, here's the challenge for this week: bring us a song related to either of the above events. Handily, that's one related to one of my hobbies and one related to my job. To be explicit, that means:
What's that? It's also Bob Dylan's 80th birthday on Monday? Well I never. Given the "on this day" nature of the theme, we can't let that pass without marking it somehow can we? I'm in a bit of a phase of listening to lots of Dylan - a phase which started in about 1996 and doesn't seem to be ending any time soon. No doubt there are Dylan songs which fit the theme, but even so, as a special bonus sub-theme:
Originals and covers welcome. For covers especially, I'd love to hear a little bit about why you chose the song, even if you think it's obvious. Tenuous links to the topics are fine, as long as you can explain them! In case you're wondering how tenuous is acceptable, here's a Half Man Half Biscuit song about Ted Moult, a British farmer turned radio and TV personality who fronted an ad campaign for Everest Double Glazing in the 1980s:
This song will probably make no sense if you didn't see the adverts, or maybe even if you did.
I'm especially interested in hearing things that cover more than one of these categories at once. I don't think there's a Dylan song about climbing a mountain with the help of a GPS device, but I haven't heard so much of his recent work so I can't be certain about that.
Other details:
Please also remember to watch and comment on everyone else's videos! I think we all find that very motivating. So please check the...
PLAYLIST
I've also made a special Happy Birthday Bob playlist for the bonus theme songs.
Finally, don't forget that there's still another day or so to contribute some melisma for Bo-o-o-o-o-onesigh!
I think that's all - you have everything you need, you are artists, don't look back!
- Here's one: 29th May 1953 (68 years ago on Saturday) Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Mount Everest, becoming the first to make it there and back again.
- Ooh, here's a suitably nerdy one that appeals to me at least: 28th May 1936 (85 years ago on Friday) Alan Turing submits his paper "On Computable Numbers, With An Application to the Entcheidungsproblem" for publication. This is, essentially, the paper that sets up computer science as a field of research. If I can grossly oversimplify: Turing showed that some problems are fundamentally impossible for a computer to solve perfectly (like, for example, getting your wifi working, or posting to a web forum without posts being cut off) and computer science is about having a crack at them anyway.
So, here's the challenge for this week: bring us a song related to either of the above events. Handily, that's one related to one of my hobbies and one related to my job. To be explicit, that means:
- Anything about mountains, hills, climbing or even just going out for a walk in general, or related to Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.
- Anything about Alan Turing, his achievements, computers, machines or technology. And if it helps inspire you, "Entcheidungsproblem" means "decision problem".
What's that? It's also Bob Dylan's 80th birthday on Monday? Well I never. Given the "on this day" nature of the theme, we can't let that pass without marking it somehow can we? I'm in a bit of a phase of listening to lots of Dylan - a phase which started in about 1996 and doesn't seem to be ending any time soon. No doubt there are Dylan songs which fit the theme, but even so, as a special bonus sub-theme:
- In celebration of his birthday this week you can submit ONE free Bob Dylan song, any one you like, as long as you've either already contributed something that fits one of the other two categories, or it's Monday which is his actual birthday.
Originals and covers welcome. For covers especially, I'd love to hear a little bit about why you chose the song, even if you think it's obvious. Tenuous links to the topics are fine, as long as you can explain them! In case you're wondering how tenuous is acceptable, here's a Half Man Half Biscuit song about Ted Moult, a British farmer turned radio and TV personality who fronted an ad campaign for Everest Double Glazing in the 1980s:
This song will probably make no sense if you didn't see the adverts, or maybe even if you did.
I'm especially interested in hearing things that cover more than one of these categories at once. I don't think there's a Dylan song about climbing a mountain with the help of a GPS device, but I haven't heard so much of his recent work so I can't be certain about that.
Other details:
- Feel free to multitrack and collaborate as much as you like, as long as there's a prominent uke.
- Song limits: one per day please, just to help me be able to keep up (so that means you can have 8 in the week).
- There will be a prize, chosen based on whatever I find most entertaining, which may or may not have anything to do with ukulele playing. More on this later, though you probably shouldn't get too excited about it.
- The season starts at 00:00:00 Hawaii time on Sunday May 23rd, and ends at 23:59:59 Hawaii time on Sunday May 30th. Please only post songs recorded for this season during this week, and say in the video or its description that it's for Season 484. Although I'm sure all rules can be bent under special circumstances, if you ask nicely .
Please also remember to watch and comment on everyone else's videos! I think we all find that very motivating. So please check the...
PLAYLIST
I've also made a special Happy Birthday Bob playlist for the bonus theme songs.
Finally, don't forget that there's still another day or so to contribute some melisma for Bo-o-o-o-o-onesigh!
I think that's all - you have everything you need, you are artists, don't look back!
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