Forbidden Song on the Uke

ghostrdr

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So, apparently stairway to heaven is the forbidden song for guitar players.

See joke from Waynes World.



Are there any such songs for the ukulele?
 
Well probably Stairway to Heaven as well.......

Saw a video of a person a few years back at NAMM, don't know how staged is was but plenty of reps not happy with him playing Stairway to Heaven, on guitar of course.

Perhaps.......While my guitar gently weeps??????

Lots of great songs to play on the uke......why limit ones self to a select few. :p
 
The Best Ever Death Metal Band out of Denton . . .

Seriously though, imagine working at GC and having to listen to people play AC/DC badly All Day Long . . .
 
It’s funny, the first two songs that come to mind are: while my guitar gently weeps and Iz’s somewhere over the Rainbow which were two of the songs that motivated me to learn ukulele in the first place but I’m self conscious to play them because my playing is a pale imitation to the originals.
 
The song Riptide perhaps?
 
Iz's Somewhere Over The Rainbow/Wonderful World has the great ukulele playing, that wonderful voice of Iz's and the mangled lyrics to both songs.
What is unfortunate is that many of the folks who try to learn the song from Iz's version, don't quite get the ukulele right and never get the beautiful quality of his voice, but somehow manage to copy perfectly, the only thing that Iz really goofed up, the lyrics.
Please, if you're gonna try to learn this song, Google Yip Harburg's original beautiful poetic lyrics which make some sense, rather than using Iz's nonsense lyrics, which we forgive because of his beautiful voice.
Iz sang:
Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high
And the dreams that you dream of
Once in a lullaby, oh

Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly
And the dreams that you dream of
Dreams really do come true-ooh-ooh. . .


Yip wrote:
Somewhere over the rainbow,
Way up high
There's a land that I've heard of
Once in a lullaby.

Somewhere over the rainbow,
Skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream,
Really do come true. . .
 
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Many ukulele players get asked, jokingly, to play Tiptoe Through The Tulips, a beautiful song that, in the 1960s, Tiny Tim intentionally mangled for comedic effect.
 
My money says it'll eventually be bodysurfing.

Remember stairway to heaven is a great song and it's impressive to be able to play through it. That is one of it's main draws and why so many players want to learn to play it well.
 
My money says it'll eventually be bodysurfing.

Remember stairway to heaven is a great song and it's impressive to be able to play through it. That is one of it's main draws and why so many players want to learn to play it well.

I can see it being bodysurfing for sure. My wife still asks me to play it from time to time but I just can't bring myself to do it anymore. I need a multiple year hiatus from hearing or playing that song, haha
 
All good choices...how about Hawaii 5-0 theme?
 
If we all work together, we can make it the Bobs Burgers theme.
 
Tip Toe Through The Tulips Al Dublin & Joe Burke 1929

Intro: C / A / |D7 / G7 / |

[C] Tip toe to the [G7] window
By the [C] window,[C7] that is [F] where I'll [Fm] be
Come [C] tiptoe [A] through the [Dm] tulips [G7] with [C] me [A][D7][G7]

Oh, [C] tiptoe from the [G7] garden
By the [C] garden [C7] of the [F] willow [Fm] tree
Come and [C] tiptoe [A] through the [Dm] tulips [G7] with [C] me [F][C][C7]

Knee [F] deep in [Em] flowers we'll [A7] stray
We'll [Em] keep the [D7] showers a[G7]way

And if I [C] kiss you in the [G7] garden,
In the [C] moonlight [C7] will you [F] pardon [Fm] me?
And [C] tiptoe [A] through the [Dm] tulips [G7] with [C] me [A][D7][G7]


Try this straight, without camping it up with falsetto and vibrato.
(Sorry, I must've been thinking in guitar mode, since I put a C where the F should be in the bridge. It's fixed now.)
There must be a better chord for the second Em in the bridge.
 
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Tip Toe Through The Tulips Al Dublin & Joe Burke 1929

Intro: C / A / |D7 / G7 / |

[C] Tip toe to the [G7] window ......


That's actually only the chorus of the song. The song actually has two verses that, as is the case with many songs from that era (for example, Take Me Out To the Ball Game" as well as "God Bless America" and many other Irving Berlin songs), nobody plays anymore. Here's a link to a video of the song's debut in the 1929 film "Golddiggers of Broadway."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZMHJX4b9bU
 
I don't think ukers are self-conscious the same way insecure youth learning guitar are. The funny part about the forbidden riff thing is just that the guitar center workers are so tired of Eruption that they would hate it even if it was actually Eddie sitting over there playing it. It's just another way for people to act superior.
 
The Boomtown Rats "I Don't like Mondays" because someone once told me it could never be played on a ukulele.
 
Ukulele players seem self conscious by nature.
 
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