Seasons of the Ukulele

A weekly song challenge for ukulele players - all welcome. Find out more here

Season 684 - Second Best

DelGriff

Barbablanca

Barbablanca I hope I will be able to host another week, now this one has been assigned.

Check the list and pick a week when you’re ready, Berni! 👍🏼

bobjking

UkeCan1 That's a good question…I guess the easiest thing would be number 2 where ever you are.

LimousinLil

YorkSteve Well, that's obviously Sandie Shaw but, like the shop assistant, I don't understand why this sleeve requires pride of place in your loo. (When I was a teenager, I decorated the walls of my bedroom with LP sleeves which I got from a local record shop. It has never occurred to me till now to wonder how these sleeves became separated from their contents … and what happened to the actual LPs. I suppose they must have been "demo" records … the shop had those booths where you could go in and listen before buying; great fun on a Saturday morning!) Actually, IS it Sandie Shaw … she appears to be wearing shoes?

Bystander

Thanks for stepping in at short notice Bob and all the best to Berni.

God Only Knows by The Beach Boys

DelGriff

LimousinLil

LimousinLil like the shop assistant, I don't understand why this sleeve requires pride of place in your loo.

Erm… number 2s? 😆

OneManAndHisPGUke

Sending my thoughts to you too Berni. Hopefully nothing too serious, as we get on in years we can get a bit forgetful. Anyway take care, you’re one of the good guys 👍

UkeCan1

Sheryl Crow's "All I Wanna Do" spent 6 weeks at Billboard's #2, and prominently mentions Santa Monica Blvd, which is tantalizingly close to Laurel Canyon and nearly intersects LC Blvd ... close but no cigar for a twofer.

So I mixed it with the Byrds' "All I Really Want to Do", which has a similar title and brings some Laurel Canyon cred.

This actually made it easier, because I have no idea how the verses go in the Sheryl Crow song ... but everybody knows the chorus, right?

("Girls Just Want to Have Fun" was also a #2 ... so this girl might have some fun later this week mashing that one up with this other girl Sheryl saying she just wants to have some fun. 😁)

LimousinLil

DelGriff Er, well, yes … I suppose there IS that!

LimousinLil

Hello, Bob … and thanks for stepping up! (And all best wishes to you, Berni!) I found this song on your very helpful Spotify playlist … apparently, it reached No.1 in the US, but only got to No.2 in the UK. I knew the song, but I've never heard of "The Teddy Bears", who had a hit with it. (Apologies … there is a weird sound at the start of the video as though there's a heavy breather lurking in the background - so far as I'm aware, there wasn't. And there's a bonus cat on the stairs again! But I didn't have time to re-record.)

bobjking

Back home early from work (they made me go in on Saturday which is frankly unacceptable) and caught up with all the songs so far. Playlist up and running and up to date!

Thank you everyone so far and, of course, big love to Berni! X

YorkSteve

LimousinLil I don't think it's Ms Shaw - just a model who probably adorned countless cheap album sleeves around that time. And as for the reason it hangs in the loo, maybe you (and anyone else puzzled) could google "Number twos".

YorkSteve

Here's one which only got to No2 in the UK. Probably the most words I have ever squeezed (excuse the pun) into under three minutes.

LimousinLil

YorkSteve Oh, OF COURSE … I was being excessively dim-witted!

AlanDP

Back around 1980 or so I was given a clock radio for my birthday, and it was the first time I had my own radio in my room and could listen to anything I wanted, so I started listening to this station, I think it was KLLS (in San Antonio) that played what they called "adult contemporary," I think. And man, they played a lot of Neil Diamond, lol. I think that was around the time that his remake of The Jazz Singer came out, which I've never seen. But I have seen Saving Silverman a couple of times, which he is in. Anyway, I found a couple of videos on youtube, one for the 70s and one for the 80s, which have 5-second or so clips of every #2 song from those decades, and this was in the 80s video.

dr_mitch

So, this song was originally released in 1965 by The Wild Ones. It never charted. But the Troggs' cover is the well-known version, and reached number 2 in the UK charts in 1966 (though number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US). And it's another really fun one.

UkeCan1

Yesterday's fun mashup owes its existence to that I didn't notice this perfect twofer till after.

"Sloop John B" was UK #2 (Billboard #3 - close enough) - for Laurel Canyon's Beach Boys.

This Les Barker parody is all about not settling for #2.

(Maybe "Sloop John A" coulda been #1?)

LimousinLil

Hello again, Bob! This was a No.2 hit in the UK for "Freddie and the Dreamers" in 1963. (Apparently, it made No.1 in the States when it was re-released there in 1965, and Freddie Garrity's very energetic performance inspired a dance called … "The Freddie"!

Barbablanca

After my disastrous start to the week, things have looked up somewhat.

Here is a song I was inspired to write by this season's theme.

I hope you like it

PS Thanks for all the good wishes… 😘😘😘

YorkSteve

Here's another one, this time from the mighty Chas & Dave, who made a career out of the cockney pub singalong genre. For all you chart addicts, it was kept off the top spot by "My Camera Never Lies" by Bucks Fizz.

Mezcalero

I was entirely out of pocket last week, I'm glad to see that Bernie is doing well! Thanks for hosting Bob, and I'm hoping to make time to join in this week ~

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