Now I taught the weeping willow how to cry,
And I showed the clouds how to cover up a clear blue sky.
And the tears that I cried for that woman are gonna flood you Big River.
Then I’m gonna sit right here until I die.
Back when I was an even worse guitar player than I am a uke player today, one of my favorite songs to play and also just one of my songs was "Big River" by the man in black. Not only do I think the above stanza has some of the greatest if not the greatest country lyrics of all time and the story of him following an elusive love interest down the Mississippi, but it has an awesome little guitar riff that is easy to play on baritones, guitars and low G standard Ukes. It is not at all easy to play on my uke, with the high G, which is why I ordered a low G string, which, last I checked is on a flight from mainland China.
Anyway in honor of this song and my low G string, this week's theme is "Big River"
Qualifying songs:
Any song with "river", "rivers" or the name of a river. Note: it is not sufficient to choose a song which has a name of a river but is not referring to the river. So "Four dead in Ohio" does not qualify but "on the banks of the O-hi-o" does. Also poker rivers don't count – we are talking about bodies of water here.
Any song with the word "Big" in the title
Any song written or performed by Johnny Cash
Rules:
No posting before Sunday, Nov 9 at 1200 am Hawaii time (10:00 am UTC)
Multitracking: Fine with the following qualifier, at the risk of ruffling feathers: Limit yourself to Ukelele and vocals.
Number of songs: Unlimited with the following qualifiers on your second through nth songs:
New folks: I joined six weeks or so ago and am the newest member so this is probably moot, but just in case...
Traditionally the host tells new users that they can play any song they like. Once again, at the risk of ruffling feathers, I am going to ask new users to stick to the topic. My reasoning is that if you find the group intriguing and something you would be interested in, you might as well stick with the theme.
Qualifier to the qualifier: Once you post your appropriately themed tune, you are allowed to do any one song of your choosing, that perhaps you are most proud of, or is otherwise a tune you want to share with a group that exemplifies who you are but post whatever you want.
Originals : Encouraged, but
no, you can't write a song and then throw "big" in the title.
As consolation you are allowed and even encouraged to write a parody of a Johnny Cash song. If you want to just parody the style, without actually focusing on a specific song, you must be convincing.
Songs must be submitted by midnight Monday Nov 17 am/ Sunday pm (10 am UTC Monday)
Playlist:
Hopefully, I did this right. Let me know if not. I kick it off with a recording of an outtake (off a Bob dylan bootleg album, for you twofer fans ). It features Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan and some guy named Chet Atkins on guitar. You have to click to the playlist though to see if I did things right.
Oh one last thing: I declare twofers to be eligible all season long. Yes I am probably ruffling feathers yet again, but that's how I roll. My reasoning is that I need more than one day to make a song performance-worthy.
