SOTU 605 - Gold In Them Hills

to opine that Ronald Eldon Sexsmith can't sing is clearly wrong in fact - incorrect - and is quite different to saying that his singing voice is displeasing to one's ear - not a lot of grace in saying his birth name is 'terrible' either - but i am pleased it ain't mine
just mho but generally i would say that i appreciate ron's music about as much as i appreciate the music of eurovision
it's a rare week where i don't thoroughly enjoy doing my seasons homework.... he doesn't look well (health wise) in a lot of his vids
i'm sure glad that he covered some of my fav songs
what i do appreciate is hosts bringing us thought provoking themes and exposing us to different musical experiences
thank you for hosting Joo
 
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Good day dear Seasons friends!
Today's comments on the latest videos

Barbablanca - Pappy's Zoetrope (original)
What a fascinating toy. And where does that name come from? I love these toys from the past. I also love that a cantaloupe appears in the lyrics, we call them rock melon. Some lovely images in the lyrics, laced with humour. Wonderful song about nostalgia, Berni. The RS song that sprang to mind about reminiscing is Galbraith Street from his debut album. Thanks so much for this sweet original!

mikelz777 - If Not For You ( Bob Dylan)
yeah, a nice change to hear some other songwriters. So nice to have you here with us, Scott. Welcome again to the Seasons! (last week was your debut, right?) A lovely song that I have not heard for a while. I actually never knew this was a Dylan song... Your vocal is endearing and soothing, and again, great strumming. Thanks Scott! (Ron has covered Hello In There, Sam Stone and Angel From Montgomery from Prine, just to share. :---))

DelGriff - Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye (Leonard Cohen)
Great production, Del!!! Wow, wasn't expecting the harmonies ....gorgeous! I love the note/chord you used at the start which gives a lower sound, and then you ended the song with that wistful sounding higher note. I think Cohen's songs are great for your style. Thanks for bringing us a wonderful production of this song!

Canada Jim - Someday Soon (Ian Tyson)
when i was a little kid I found those men looked very funny doing the Rodeo, also very violent. my brothers and I used to laugh at the men while I secretly pitied the animals. A treat to hear you play and sing this song for us Jim. I have never heard this before. The Someday Soon phrase is a good one!

Thanks Berni, Scott, Del and Jim for your songs that came in overnight for me.
Scott @mikelz777 , nice to see you joining in!

We have 3 more days to go. Keep the songs coming in.
Most importantly hope you all have fun playing whichever songs you choose to play!

Later!
 
got the song Material Girl stuck in my head after listening to Ron's cover so i looked up the lyrics and recorded it. I think this is song number 4 from me.

I abandoned the song after the first 2 verses...didn't realise it had more lyrics at the bottom...I was letting the autoscroll do its work....Another quick and dirty, impromptu cover.


A fun song to play!!!
Looking forward to more songs from you all. :---)
 
LimousinLil said:
Those Paddington "hard stares" are LETHAL! Better avoid John at all costs, Berni!
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i have never seen them before...I just looked up and watched them.....hahahahahaha. so cute. I give creepier versions to misbehaving students in my library all the time. You can get cross eyed from doing it too much.

Anyway, since the thread has gotten slightly quiet I thought I will share another quick and dirty take of a song Ron has covered.
Rob has shared this but another version won't hurt I reckon.
Don't Let Us Get Sick by Warren Zevon.
I played my new guitalele.


I just had a big bowl of noodles in soup (hot) before I recorded this and had sweat dripping down from my forehead stinging my eyes....
which made it look like i was crying...ANYWAY...I think I will stop posting now and wait for YOU ALL to post something. :D
 
Covered by Ron Sexsmith Louisiana 1927" is a 1974 song telling the story of the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 that left 700,000 people homeless in Louisiana and Mississippi.

Those that never learn from history are forced to repeat it.

Also touched upon is the callous response of the federal government, depicted here via a fictional visit from President Calvin Coolidge and then Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover, where Coolidge's reaction to the devastation is a detached statement to Hoover that, "ain't it a shame what the river has done to this poor cracker's land."

Fast forward to New Orleans and hurricane Katrina and who could have been more detached than President Bush. The song became identified with Hurricane Katrina in the public consciousness after being sung by Aaron Neville at NBC's "A Concert for Hurricane Relief", It seems that it is always pop stars to the rescue when government fails. The song's lament is of being battered once by nature and then again by a callous government.

Everything changes but nothing changes.

 
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Hi dear Seasons friends,

Today has been a bit quieter.
I posted 2 videos, a cover of Material Girl and another cover of Don't Let Us Get Sick.
Jon (mountain goat) joined us with another version, a heartbreaking version of Don't Let Us Get Sick.
Rob (wee_ginga_yin) shared his cover of a song I have not heard before -
Randy Newman's Louisiana 1927. I need to check out more of Newman's music.
Rob's rendition left me in tears.

Thank you Jon and Rob! Both of you are outstanding in what you do. It has been an honour to be sharing music with both of you.

Kev is gonna post the new theme in some hours from now....
BUT, we can carry on! 2 MORE DAYS TO THE END OF THIS SEASON! Keep the songs coming in!
 
Hey, Joo! (Hey, everybody!)

Sorry I've not been around much for a month or so. I really wanted to get something in for this season but Mr. Sexsmith is a bit of an unknown quantity to me. I have no idea why! He seems like just the sort of thing I'd love but I've never got around to listening to him.
I guess that's something I need to sort out ASAP...
Anyway, one thing that has become apparent whilst looking at the playlist and Ron's covers on YouTube is that he's clearly a big Zevon fan! I breathed a sigh of relief! Here's one I already knew so didn't have to learn, one take straight to phone, kitchen table...

 
Well I had to do at least one Sexsmith original. Unfortunately my mic was clipping throughout the performance. apologies for the audio quality on this one.



I first thought this might be based on a real carnival freak from the early 1900s but I couldn’t find any mention of one named Thumbelina so I expect this is based solely on the fairy tale character and not the circus performer Lavinia Warren who married another proportionate dwarf named Charles Stratton aka General Tom Thumb, but who knows? It’s a cool tune regardless.
 
Apologies again for posting back to back videos but I might not get a chance to post this later so here goes. Ron covered this super fun song by Harry Nilsson called “Good Old Desk”. I was thrilled to figure out the chords for this one and that it seemed to fit the sound of my Stuart Wailing baritone resonator uke so well. I used Yukios 2/4 metronome trick for this one also. Cheers all! I look forward to catching up and see what people have come up with this week. Thanks for the theme Joo!

 
Hi again, dear Seasons friends!
It is Sunday morning here, raining.

So good to find these entries here! Thank you R-M, Bobby (hey it's awesome you made it and brought us a great song!), and Andrew!

Here are the comments to their entries.

Renaissance-Man - Don't Let Us Get Sick (Warren Zevon)
Very beautiful, R-M. Thank you for playing this song for us!

bobjking - Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner (Warren Zevon)
Seasonista" tee(and in red🤩...is that a band?), untidy uke string ends, cool shades, a Warren Zevon song with an unforgettable title (what a song!) - I like every of these things. Thank you so much for bringing us a song, Bobby!!!

UkerDrew - Thumbelina Farewell (Ron Sexsmith)
This is drop dead gorgeous. Wonderful arrangement, and a stunning performance with beautiful vocal and playing, so good, that the clipping didn't really matter. I have not heard this song before, I listened to Ron's version before your cover, blown away by what you did here. Thank you so much Andrew for bringing us another Ron song!

UkerDrew - Good Old Desk ( Harry Nilsson)
Fun song, I love it! I have not heard it before, really love your cover here, Andrew! That metronome tick sounds so good for this. And, isn't Stuart Wailing a great name for a maker of resonator ukes? haha! I grinned when I read that.

WE HAVE AROUND 2 MORE DAYS TILL THE END OF THIS SEASON. Keep the songs coming in!

pabrizzer said:
View attachment 158608
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It is rare to see you share cartoons here, Brian, that's a good one!

I love seeing same songs brought by different people. Just because each one is so different!
It's a shame you can't get into Ron's songs, but we can't like everything. I am totally cool with that.
Thank you for bringing that beautiful cover of Randy Newman's He Gives Us All His Love and your fantastic original Good Spirited And Life Affirming song. Both were good-spirited and life affirming!
 
Flatbaroque said:
While a Paddington hard stare is harsh it may be preferable to a Liverpool Kiss.
Click to expand...
My gosh, I had to Google that - never heard of it - and a "Glascow" kiss would appear to be similar. Thank heavens John of the North will confine himself to a Paddington "hard stare" should he ever cross paths with Berni ... no doubt scathing, but far less blood involved!
 
I was certainly not trying to be mean spirited towards anyone with my poem. I was just expressing a personal opinion illustrating how one person's tofu is another's poison. 😘
 
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