Seasons of the Ukulele

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

Season 694 - "P'ZAZZ!!!"

LimousinLil

Good evening (& etc), Dear Seasonistas! I bring you Season 694 … please watch the video. (It IS Saturday, isn't it? I've been thinking all day that it was Friday and half of me is still not convinced that it really is Saturday. My only excuse is that I've had a very quiet week and there was a Public Holiday, which, obviously, confused me … oh, dear!) Anyway …

PLAYLIST:

Mezcalero

thanks for hosting Val! This isn't an area of strength for me. I'm not really sure I understand what would fit. Does this list represent a good starting point?

https://www.broadwayworld.com/tampa/article/BWW-Exclusive-The-101-Greatest-SHOW-TUNES-from-1920-2020-20200319

LimousinLil

Mezcalero Oh, yes, Kev … absolutely! Basically, any song from the shows that you feel comfortable doing … and that you feel will cheer us all up!

Scribe

Mezcalero Thanks, Kev!!! This list is fantastic! So many songs to choose from.

LimousinLil

In case I've mystified everyone with my theme, here is another useful list of possible songs for the week https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Songs_from_musicals

UkeCan1

There's tons of great songs from musicals! Including many well known songs you might not even realize are from a musical. (Yankee Doodle Dandy, anyone?) You got this, everybody! Great theme, Val!

LimousinLil

UkeCan1 I'm a great fan of James Cagney, so if anyone wants to bring anything by George M. Cohan, that would be loverly!!! (P.S. I forgot to mention that songs from film musicals also fit this week's theme … thanks for reminding me, Wendy!)

UkeCan1

LimousinLil "Give My Regards to Broadway" is also from a George M musical!

UkeCan1

The only legitimate twofer. The Beatles did a well known cover of this love song from The Music Man, "Till There Was You".

Val herself already did it this week, so I guess that means she likes it!

johnpoole

Thanks for stepping up Val. Pretty sure you'll know this one. A Nightingale sang in Berkeley Square. Written by Manning Sherwin and Eric Moschwitz in 1940. First performed in London stage revue New Faces. First recording Vera Lynn also 1940.

LimousinLil

Oh, I issued a plea for help in putting up the Playlist, but I seem to have done it! (I was also asking what has happened to the thingy that allows you to change the colour of the text … I can't find it. Anyone … ???) Thanks so much to Wendy and John for starting us off in fine form!

dr_mitch

The song It's Only a Paper Moon is of course defined by its theatrical imagery. It first featured in an (apparently unsuccessful - I hadn't heard of it anyway, though that may not mean much) 1932 Broadway Play, The Great Magoo. It features in a Streetcar Named Desire. One of the early successful covers of it (1933) was by one of the all time great ukulele artists, Cliff Edwards.

AlanDP

There was a play in 1919 called The Gold Diggers. It was made into a silent film in 1923. In 1929 a "talkie" musical version was made called Gold Diggers of Broadway. This one was where the now famous "Tiptoe Thru the Tulips" was performed by Nick Lucas, who sang in a naturally high tenor that Tiny Tim later tried to emulate with his falsetto. It was made into a new musical with new songs in Gold Diggers of 1933. Then in 1935, a new one with a new plot was made as Gold Diggers of 1935. But let's face it: the "plot" was only a thin excuse to put on a bunch of musical numbers. This song was performed by Winifred Shaw, who started in vaudeville and went on to a very successful career in film. Warren and Dubin won an Academy Award for best original song for this song. P.S. This song has several key changes between D and G.

Bystander

LimousinLil

Have a good week Val, I’ve got a couple of breaks coming up, won’t be around for a while, all the best.

LimousinLil

Bystander Thanks, Graham … enjoy yourself!

AlanDP

Here's a link to some songbooks I have in PDF of songs from Broadway and film musicals.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/ur1unsb6pik22tx05xed8/AAEhJLOEYC8LsPvTwGC3yy8?rlkey=26i62yy2phu0egbvla6p4pqw2&dl=0

LimousinLil

AlanDP Many thanks for that link, Alan!

Mezcalero

Thanks for hosting Val, I've got a busy week ahead with teaching and Hula gigs, so I wanted to get one done. Here's a quick take on "Hello Dolly" Cheers ~

UkeCan1

I lied yesterday … I think this is also a perfectly legit twofer.

The Byrds covered this 1939 Vera Lynn hit, that was later made into a 1943 musical film, "We'll Meet Again", starring Vera and roughly based on her life. It's available free on YouTube, if you're obsessive like me.

UkeCan1

I usually avoid posting multiple videos on the same day, because then no one watches any of them. I actually recorded the Vera Lynn song last night, so I was already a day ahead … and then I immediately made another one for today. So F it … I can see where this week is going. I love show tunes and do them all the time, and I have a growing list for this week….

I promise to also keep up on watching and commenting on everyone else's. Looking forward to all of it!

Show tunes is a very broad category, so I decided to focus on show tunes about shows.

Here's a more recent one than any posted so far (you know - only 4 decades old instead of 6 or 8 or 10).

"Science Fiction / Double Feature" from The Rocky Horror Picture Show, famously sung by a pair of lips in the movie version - the opening (and closing) theme song that sets the scene.