Seasons of the Ukulele

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

Season 696 - Give That Uke A Break!

joo

Welcome to Season 696 of the Ukulele!

Please watch the animation I have made for this week's challenge! Big thanks to Jon for helping out with this!

The ukulele, of course, has to be the main or part of your entries.

UNLESS you are going to go ALL THE WAY this week. (you will know what I mean by ALL THE WAY when you watch the animation/video)

Start time of this Season is midnight of this Sunday, Hawaiian time, and ends next Sunday midnight, Hawaiian time.

Hope you will find this theme fun to perform!

Playlist is HERE.

Chris's Season is still on! Now, go and play him some more songs! I have recorded one myself but it was pretty horrible so I will try again later today.

See and hear you all soon!

johnpoole

Did you know when singing a capella tying a scarf tightly round one’s neck acts as a capo!…..according to Dodgypedia well known internet resource.

Edwin

Not this kind of break then. Phew 🙂. No Pete Townshend antics at the end of the video here…

UkeCan1

Ooh, this will be fun, Joo!

For anyone who, like me, thought a good place to start might be to look for songs that are already part a cappella, I could not for the life of me get web search to find them - no matter what I asked it listed only fully a-cappella songs. But ChatGPT did a bang-up job compiling a long list of them.

joo

johnpoole

i might NOT try that. But Betsy down the road has a scarf tied tightly around her neck all the time.

Now I know why.

joo

Edwin

oh no! Not that kind of breaks. noooooo!

Hm……anyone is welcome to (pretend to) break their own uke this week, if they want to.

(Now i think I should have made a drawing of some Pete Townshend antics at the end of my video….)

joo

UkeCan1

Lots of tin pan alley songs have intro verses that work perfectly as a cappella.

Ah. imagine how lovely to go from no uke to having the uke come on to accompany your voice….mmmm.

(and vice versa. maybe. LOL)

You might be surprised that ANY song can still work well (maybe better!) to have parts performed a cappella!

The a cappella part can be as short as the one demonstrated by Jon in the intro video. It is so short, it is like you are just using your strumming hand to scratch your nose for a few seconds!

joo

here is a song I chose to play for Chris's week, but I was too distracted by other things to do a proper cover. Did a comedy (another word for "things-gone-wrong") version on the bari but I thought to try to re-record a slightly more decent version. Just before Jon started filming me, I decided to do an a cappella part.

I am posting this earlier than the "official" start time because I want to show you how an a acappella part can (maybe) work for any song. I'm not sure if you think this works. I got into my clawhammer too abruptly from the a cappella part, I think. But yeah, it is another way to perform the song!

UkeCan1

New uke made her electrified debut at the open mic today - first one I've been to since January!

Songs 2 and 3 qualify as twofers, since I added an a cappella bit to each one. (I meant to do it for song 1 also, but I forgot. So that one's a non-Seasons bonus. 💃)

(I'm not posting it on 695 though, because I've already played these songs there, there's a 3-song limit, and I have a way better twofer planned for tomorrow.)

I stuck with relatively simple songs I've already played on this uke, because I really need a strap to be able to hold it securely and play it better, and I haven't had a chance to deal with that yet!

"Get Off My Spaghetti"

"Hound Dog"

"Girls Just Want to Have Fun"

Bystander

dr_mitch

Bystander

Oh, snap!

This theme is definitely outside my comfort zone, which I'm seeing as a good thing.

AlanDP

A song from 1904 with vocals only intro and last chorus. I wrote the harmony for this one, it's not in the original.

Ila

Hi, Joo! What a clever idea for a Season! Here's my contribution:

joo

Wendy brought a rousing, fun start with her 3 songs at Chapters Bookshop! She rocked the 8-string she won from Del's Season and held it and played it like she had played that uke all her life, standing there rocking it without a strap - impressive!!! If you had tried to play a tenor or baritone while standing up and gently dancing WITHOUT a strap before- you know that is not as easy as she had made it look. I love how she incorporated the acappella parts in -- they are brief and they are there and they worked! She even got the crowd to do it for the first song! Fantastic. Enjoyed that, Wendy! Thank you!

Graham's entry reminds me of the lovely sound of a river gently flowing. An atmospheric, lovely piece of recording. Also, Graham, your framing with the black background is great! Especially good for someone like me who loves to sticky beak at people's background furnishings. LOL. I like that you include the lyrics and chords too. Lovely a cappella intro. I knew you would make it sound good. A most lovely entry. Thank you!

If Graham's cover of Nowhere Man is like a river gently flowing, then Paul's version is like a pebble skipping on the stream of water. The sweet, bright tone of his gorgeous Golden Ukulele really brings out the uplifting, syncopated picking that Paul has mastered. His a cappella intro sounds very natural too! So glad you find this challenge a good one! Thanks so much Paul!

Confession time - I was looking forward to Alan bringing some barbershop quartet thingie when I thought of this theme and he smashed it in his entry! (of course!) It is so good it gave me goosebumps. Both the intro and the outro. Check that out, guys!!! It is sooooooooooo beautiful. Thank you so much, Alan!

Oh! and Ila! Ila Ila Ila. Your voice is built for acappella! Such a joy to see and hear you perform your entry with that cool little uke that sounds the opposite of how it looks -- HUGE! Really enjoyed your entry! Thank you so much!!

Great start to the Season!!! Thank you to all of you who have posted your songs! No limit, so post away!

Prize - I am thinking of something small. Not sure what yet, but when I know I will let you all know.

Later!

UkeCan1

Well, I've known for a long time that "I Will Always Love You" is really a Dolly Parton song (from 1973).

But I didn't know it in 1992, when Whitney Houston melted my heartstrings into a little puddle on the cinema floor, singing it from the very depths of her soul to Kevin Costner in "The Bodyguard", nor for the record 14 weeks it topped the charts, nor for a long time after that.

I also knew there was no way I could possibly pull off ***that ***song, so on I moved to easier pickings for 695.

But when, looking for ideas for this week, I was reminded that Whitney sang the entire first verse a cappella, I investigated. (Which I just learned was Kevin Costner's idea! The things you learn on the Seasons!)

Turns out if you drop the key(s) from A & B just four half steps to F & G, it's not only quite playable, but it's almost even singable by the very not Whitney Houston-y likes of me.

I did my best to capture as many of Whitney's soaring melismas as I felt I could credibly replicate.

Featuring the new 8-string, which still needs a strap … and a name!

redpaul1

I was trying to get this done in time for Chris's season - not sure if I managed it. Anyway, I did the first verse a capella, so maybe it fits this week's theme too.

chris667

OK, here's one. I've been singing it for a few years now but my band do this with an acapella section:

chris667

One more! I should be practicing bass now, but I have the uke out. And the uke always wins!

This has a spoken part, as Baloo was Phil Harris who was a genius talker. I might try another one of his this week if I get chance, but for now, here's a very quick version of Bare Necessities:

LimousinLil

Apologies for the interruption, Joo … just here to say that the Wrap for 694 has been posted.

UkeFoote

"Use Me", by Bill Withers, for concert ukulele and singing, overdubs of Ashbory Ubass and secondary vocals.

Thanks for hosting, Joo!