Season 612 - Sing Me Back Home / Gram Parsons

[Ila]

Christopher, thank you so much for hosting. Here's a little something from The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

 

[mikelz777]

This song's a two-fer! Dave Dudley had a hit with this song about a trucker happy to be going home. Gram Parsons did a cover version of this song on his live album. Six Days On The Road.

 

[Oldscruggsfan]

This song's a two-fer! Dave Dudley had a hit with this song about a trucker happy to be going home. Gram Parsons did a cover version of this song on his live album. Six Days On The Road.

One of my all time favorites! Thanks for posting, Scott. I considered posting a cover of the same tune for this season but yours is far better .

 

[Barbablanca]

Some people turn their homes into storage space for all kinds of junk. My protagonist is one of them. Meet Jim Willard who is convinced his trash will be useful.....one day.

This was influenced by a friend of mine who is an inveterate hoarder; an accident that took place when I was a kid in which my Mum took a leading role in helping out and by the country song: "Crash on the Highway" (one of my Dad's favourites).

Like any good country song, this one tells a story without necessarily moralising.

Hope you like:

 

[Oldscruggsfan]

Season 612 - Sing Me Back Home Thank you for another great SOTU theme, Chris!
Daddy Frank The Guitar Man by Merle Haggard
"[Bm]Home was just a camp along the high-[D]way. A [Bm]pickup bed was where we bedded [D]down. Don't ev-[G]er once remember going hun-[D]gry, but I re-[D]member ma-[G]ma cook-[D]in' [A]on the [D]ground.
"
On Day 4 of practicing, I finally realized that the intro is "Bonaparte's Retreat".
The Key of D chord progression (transitioning to G for the 2nd verse, then to Eb for the final chorus) was transcribed for uke by Darragh Egan of PlayUkulele.net.

 

[UkulAle]

Hi everyone, I won't hide a bit of emotion from you... my first time at the Season Of The Ukulele I chose a song by a Hawaiian musician, Jack Johnson, called Home... I hope you like it... Sorry for my English, I hope in the next few months to improve both in English and in the ukuleleHappy listening

 

[One Man And His Uke]

Thanks for hosting Christopher. This isn’t so much about coming home as having your home taken from you…..sorry for bringing the mood down. A CSNY one written by Neil Young from the American Dream album which I used to play ( I had it on cassette) til I nearly wore the tape out.

 

[captain-janeway]

Agree 100%
That concert lineup does not sound real! I can't even imagine!

Day on the Greens were amazing!! Look at these lineups
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_on_the_Green

 

[mikelz777]

Christopher, thank you so much for hosting. Here's a little something from The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

I'm a Rocky Horror fan and I've seen the movie many times. Considering that the movie is so campy and out there the song "I'm Going Home" is a real unexpected gem. It's touchingly emotional and Tim Curry's impactful and brilliant performance only made it much more so. It's my favorite performance in the movie and I never would have thought that this would be something that could work on a ukulele but you have shown me otherwise. Thank you for bringing it to the table!

 

[Yukio]

It's Friday night, soon to be midnight here in Central Europe.
The playlist was lagging for a while, but hopefully it is all up to date now.
Please let me know if I missed putting anybody on the list.
Keep these good tunes coming my way.
I thank you all!

 

[AlanDP]

A new original for this week. Nothing metaphorical in this one, it's literally about trying to get home. If you've ever navigated with google maps you'll know what a "blue highway" is.



An hour and a half from the west side of town
Through god-awful traffic that's slowed way down
Nothing but red all the way around
And I'm looking for that blue highway

Cars backed up, no end in sight
At least a mile ahead to the next traffic light
They call it a freeway, and that ain't right
Lord, give me some blue highway

Give me some blue highway
Where I can set that cruise control
Just give me some open road
Where I can let those four wheels roll

Two minutes faster if I go through town
Instead of taking the long way around
A little detour no one else has found
And I'm headed for that blue highway

Just one more traffic light
Where everybody else is going left or right
I'm going straight ahead and and I'm soon out of sight
Going down that blue highway

 

[TCK]

Did you know Merle Haggard died on his 79th Birthday? Lousy birthday for sure…
But I always loved Buck Owens more, until I met my buddy Buck. We hit it off immediately, shoot, must have been over 20 years ago now. Buck was larger than life, and he would show up at my house, take his seat (I built him a bench under our window because the couch was too soft) and we would talk all night. He was older than me and had a great mind for nearly anything. Politics, music, baseball. We would solve the problems of the world in the bottom of the ninth often. In summer, it was off to see our beloved local ball club, The Healdsburg PrunePackers or the SF Giants (also beloved), and then a BBQ at his house and lounging in the pool afterwards. And so many shows!!! I was more tapped in to music as it was coming out (Buck was older than I am) and he LOVED what was going on in Rockabilly, so off we went. Buck had quit drinking years ago so I always got to have a few beers and a great DD.
The one thing we never agreed on was who was the best artist country music ever had. Growing up, my dad played a lot of Buck Owens, so I of course said he was the best. Merle in the 70’s was really over-produced and to my ear just did not work. Well, Buck was not gonna lose this one, and brought over older Merle records…
I was an immediate convert.
Buck is gone now, but boy did he smile when I played the Hag on my uke.
I finally got to see him live in 2016 (Melissa bought me tickets for Feb. 16th and he passed April 6th of that year) and he was amazing…and surprisingly a hard core liberal.
Anyway- I bet I am the only Seasonista with a Merle Haggard tattoo (Mama Tried with all my childhood toys across my chest)…had to play a few songs here for Buck and Merle.

And one Gram played as well-

And thank you sir for the reason. Love these songs- hope I can get few more in before we wrap. EXCELLENT theme.

 

[Stoneyrun]

Hi everyone, I won't hide a bit of emotion from you... my first time at the Season Of The Ukulele I chose a song by a Hawaiian musician, Jack Johnson, called Home... I hope you like it... Sorry for my English, I hope in the next few months to improve both in English and in the ukuleleHappy listening

Per favore, non scusarti per il tuo inglese. Se potessimo imbottigliare l'atmosfera della tua canzone SOTU 612 e convincere i leader mondiali a berla, avremmo la pace nel mondo.

 

[hands_on_lanzon]

Thanks for hosting this week, Chris! I think I missed my first Season last week since I started in (I think) March, so I'm coming home to the Seasons!

I've also been traveling since 9/12, just got home to WA on Wed from SF, LA, and CDMX! My wife opted to stay in SF with her family for a while (i left my heart in San Francisco), so I felt the longing in this Death Cab for Cutie song a bit more than usual. I opted for the one take, as I'm trying to better prep for open mics in the future. Hope it fits the bill... it's 'Transatlanticism.'



Also hope your move goes well and all the best and good juju is going your way!

 

[wee_ginga_yin]

Walking my baby back home.

 

[bobjking]

Okay, a third and final one from me.
Here's a song written by Joyce Ann Allsop and originally recorded by Carl Butler & Pearl.
For me, the song will always be by Gram & Emmylou. It was the first song I ever heard by Gram Parsons, one afternoon on Andy Kershaw's radio show. I fell in love with it (and indeed Gram & Emmylou) straight away.
I reached out to Amanda on this one and asked her if she'd do me the honour of being Emmylou to my Gram and I'm happy to say she agreed! Thank you, Amanda! You did a fantastic job and it was an absolute pleasure to collab with you on this!

That chancer, Bobby 2 happened to pop round to borrow a cup of sugar so I got him to whip out a solo while he was doing...






x

 

[Barbablanca]

My second (and last) entry this week attempts to evoke the atmosphere of the "Barrio" in which I live in my home town of Villanova i La Geltrú (Catalunya) on a typical Sunday Morning. I am posting today because it is my daughter's 25th birthday today and we are going to be busy today and tomorrow with celebrations with friends and family.

The image is of the Church Square mentioned in the song. We can't see this square from our balcony, but we do see the rear view of the church from it.

 

[cua94]

I have been working on this song and it happens to fit with the theme as it talks about going home.

 

[mikelz777]

This was another cover by Gram Parsons originally recorded by the Louvin Brothers on their bluegrass gospel album, "Satan Is Real" which is somewhat of a classic in its own right.

"Charlie Louvin was grateful to Gram Parsons for helping to keep the Louvin Brothers' legacy alive, especially by introducing the duo's work to other artists. "I would have to thank Gram Parsons for introducing the Louvin Brothers sound to Emmylou [Harris]," he told No Depression magazine in 1996. "Emmylou tells me that Gram said, 'I've got something here I want you to hear.' And he played it, and Emmylou said, 'Who is that girl singin' the high part?' And he said, 'That's not a girl, that's Ira Louvin.' And she has been very kind to the Louvin Brothers music catalog; she cut about four of five of our songs.""
(I have to confess that I swore several times trying to get a decent take due to technical difficulties and other factors. )

 

[hendulele]

Good luck with the move, Christopher!

Here’s another one from “Sweetheart of the Rodeo.”