SOTU 603: Speed!

Thanks Wiggy! I'd not seen that, but my brother and I learned to fingerpick in the early sixties by slowing down Libba's Negro Folk Songs & Tunes LP from 33rpm to 16rpm which dropped it an octave so we didn't have to re-tune. I still play songs from that LP. Maggie and I did Freight Train and Shake Sugaree at an open mic the week Libba died in the summer of 1987.
Here's my favourite photo of Libba. I had it on my wall for a number of years.

View attachment 157841 View attachment 157843
One time I thought about doing a Elizabeth Cotton season and made a playlist of many of her song. Here it is if anyone is interested.

click the 3 horizontal bars to get all of the videos.
 
Hi Graham, I was going to update the thread with a few adjectives such as quick, rapid, sudden and swift, and nouns, e.g. haste and rush. I wouldn't want to discriminate against adverbs, so feel free to bring something with suddenly.
So if a song refers to someone running, is that enough? Or if a speed like “slow” is mentioned?
 
i've got my hawkulele persona on for this one ... it fits this week's theme although there's every chance the 'speed' in the title may well be of the pharmaceutical variety ...

 
The music really makes a difference, haha!
that music, Rob.......:unsure:

I like all slow animals. The sloth is probably my favourite.
Birds wise, the American Woodcock takes ages to get from one place to another, by feet or flying!
Have you all seen how it dance? It's awesome. Here is one grooving to Stayin' Alive.
They are pretty odd. Watching them in courtship flight is amazing. I haven't seen it in many years for some reason. Loved the video! Thanks!
 
I'm in the midst of some major house renovations, but I had to take a break from all that. I really needed some restorative ukulele time. Here's "Speed of Sound" by Coldplay, first released in 2005 (can it really be that long ago?).

My mic is packed safely away so I couldn't try any multitracking. This is a simple straight-from-the-iphone video.

 
So if a song refers to someone running, is that enough? Or if a speed like “slow” is mentioned?
'Slow' is fine, but just running to someone (or running a company or running in an election) isn't what I had in mind. Running can be used if it's in the context of a race (think marathon or 400m sprinting and so on).
That said, if there is a song in the thread already before I mentioned it here, I will include it on the playlist.
 
Sorry for the hands-off approach so far, I've not been able to comment on this thread and the daily entries. However, the playlist is up-to-date and I have enjoyed your brings so far.
I hope I have clarified that slow, unhurried, unrushed, moderate etc are all good as either part of the song title or lyrics, band/songwriter name. For those still looking for inspiration, I'll leave a few suggestions:
Gerry and the Pacemakers, Rush, REO Speedwagon, indeed, Taylor Swift, and a particular song by Deep Purple springs to mind as well.

Still 72 hours to go, so get practising!
 
This kinda happened by accident in a few ways. It's marginally slowed from the original from 134 to 112 bpm, but it does bring a new flavor to a song I've done once before (back in Week 95)....
 
According to my metronome app, I usually do this somewhere in the high 90s bpm, cut time. This version is in the high 50s bpm. Or you could look at it as about the same tempo but in 4/4 instead of cut time. I think it sounds pretty good this way.

 
It took my muse all week to come up with something more or less original for this theme. I had played with the idea of "Speed - the Drug"; Speeding down the highway (already done that with the band as "Thundering Down the Interstate"; the fast pace of life today, etc, but nothing really gelled.

Then, early this morning, I woke up alone (Carmen is visiting relatives) with the chorus almost intact in my mind. So I turned the light on, reached for my note pad and wrote the lyrics, then recorded an acapella demo to remember the tune on the Handy Recorder I keep by my bedside for just such an occasion. Then I went back to sleep for a couple of hours.

Anyway, I am getting this in under the wire. I hope it gets some listens, I enjoyed writing this one.

 

My husband and I agreed to play at the Grandparents’ Day party at the local rest home today, and the one song I could think of about grandparents also happened to have the line “everything is changing fast”, so here it is. I’ve been short on time this week, so I just had my youngest take the video as we played. There’s a lot of background noise, for which I apologize, and he never thought to turn the camera sideways to fit everyone in better. But if you watch, from time to time you see the elusive middle son, who has never made a SOTU appearance before, playing guitar.

Also, re: crying during songs, which came up on a thread recently, when I was practicing this one, the line “Did daddies really never go away” kept making me tear up, but I got over it. Then when I actually performed, “Did lovers really fall in love to stay?” suddenly and very unexpectedly almost got me.
 
Last edited:
Hi Sabine! 😊
This song, of course, starts with the line: “Wise men say only fools rush in…”
This is a collab with myself on voice and ukulele and our friend Jon with some additional instrumental layers that are just beautiful. 😊
Thank you for hosting! ✨🩷
 
Top Bottom