Seasons of the Ukulele

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

SOTU 736 - Bootleg Whisky, Champagne and Wine

dr_mitch

After the latest from Alan (about to be saved to the playlist), the drinks score is:

Wine 8 (3 in the form of champagne)

Whisk(e)y 8 (one in a Mint Julep)

Gin 3 (one in martini)

Beer 9 (one alcohol-free)

Vermouth 1 (in a martini)

Vodka 2 (one in a Bloody Mary)

Tequila 1

Booze and drinking in general 4 (in one case definitely moonshine spirits)

So wine, whisk(e)y, or beer could take it, and there's everything to play for. Thanks @joo @UkeCan1 (×2) @YorkSteve @Joko @OneManAndHisPGUke @CanadaJim @AlanDP (×3) @Threebird @BigKingVelour @potmo (x2) @Barbablanca @UkeFoote @DelGriff

Cheers everyone!

uke4ia

Doesn't seem like anyone's done rum yet, so here's "A Rum Tale" by Procol Harum, from 1973.

dr_mitch

@uke4ia adds a rum to bring the tally up to.

Wine 8 (3 in the form of champagne)

Whisk(e)y 8 (one in a Mint Julep)

Gin 3 (one in martini)

Beer 9 (one alcohol-free)

Vermouth 1 (in a martini)

Vodka 2 (one in a Bloody Mary)

Tequila 1

Rum 1

Unspecified/general 4

Keep them coming! The night is still young.

AlanDP

On occasions when cold weather coincides with no one having any possibility of having to drive anywhere, I will brew up some hot toddies, or maybe hot buttered rum or even hot buttered wine. The hot toddy is my favorite, though. Julie London recorded a version of this in which she doesn't sing any words, she just sings "doo-doot-n-doo-doot, doot-n-dooo" the whole time except for a guitar solo in the middle. It's really cool. I used ChordPulse once again to provide the bass & percussion.

Xamar25

Drinkin’ Problem by Midland 2017. There’s also a popular reggae/Hawaiian cover by Ekolu.

I wrote the title backwards on YouTube in probably a futile attempt to dodge the copyright bots that seem to be plaguing me.

i am not a drinker myself but I think the lyrics portray the psyche of the problem drinker with astute insight and empathy. A great country song in other words.

CanadaJim

JAMAICA FAREWELL - Lord Burgess

Ackee, rice, saltfish are nice
And the rum is fine any time of year

I learned this from a Harry Belafonte LP during the Great Folk Scare of the sixties

UkeCan1

Lots of drinking songs in musicals. Here's another - "To Life (L'Chaim)" from Fiddler on the Roof.

joo

Some Knockando whiskey for you!

A song from Michael Hurley which i tried playing with the clawhammer. I know it sounds better NOT to clawhammer it but i wanted to practise playing the riff with clawhammer, especially having it in between verses without sounding weird. I think i am definitely getting somewhere weird but positively so i hope. Bari is tuned 1 full step down. Included a couple failed attempts on the back deck on a bari tuned DGBE. Decided not to use the standard tuned one 'cause it sounded too "ringy" for me.

I just found out Knockando distillery is in Scotland. I thought it sounds very American, maybe 'cause Michael Hurley made it seem so.

What a cool name for a whiskey. No-one-can-do whiskey better than Knockando. And no-one-can-do online uke forums better than Seasons of the Uke. :--P

Ok! Enuf rambling! Here is some 5 mins of my attempts!!!

uke4ia

This is an original called "Orange Pineapple Juice" that I wrote for a beverages theme back in Season 308. The lyrics mention a screwdriver (a vodka cocktail), sloe gin, and vermouth. The lyrics are on the YouTube page. I didn't notice the first time around, but I didn't leave myself enough pauses to catch a breath on this song.

I already knew when I wrote the song (from the Sakuma "Treasury of Ukulele Chords") that you can play an Fmaj7 as 5500. While I was playing around with that chord, I discovered that 6600 is an F#m7. On the bridge, I'm going back and forth between those two chords.

uke4ia

This is "Twilight Alehouse", an early Genesis song that was regularly played live in those days, but never made it onto an album. It was eventually released in the UK only as the B-side of "I Know What I Like". I heard it on bootlegs for a couple of decades before it eventually showed up on a box set of the Peter Gabriel years. I guess what I'm saying is the song is obscure, and maybe only Berni will know it.

The title mentions ale, and the lyrics just mention wine. "I will now receive my comfort, conjured by the magic power of wine." Score it as you will.

UkeCan1

One verse and chorus of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" qualifies it for a twofer … and that was enough for me.

Written for the Union as a Civil War anthem by activist, abolitionist, suffragist, prolific writer, and proposer of Mother's Day Julia Ward Howe, it ties the wrath of God to the the violent vengeance of the war. The remaining verses only get "more so" as it goes along, so I quit while I was ahead.

"Trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored" = winemaking (736)

"Truth is marching on" = March (737)

The Wikipedia entry for "grapes of wrath" explains the ghastly wine metaphor as Christ pressing himself in the winepress, and his blood mixing with the wine. I've long wondered about that … and … well … now I know….

UkeFoote

Here's "Don't Know Why", by Norah Jones. Cheers, Paul!

bobjking

I think this is possibly my first twofer!

I did an Iron Maiden song a couple of weeks back and Graham commented, suggesting AC/DC next. Well, here you go.

It's pretty obvious how it fits this Season but imagine my surprise and joy when it turns out that Angus Young was born on March 31st!

Mostly on the baritone with Bobby 2 rocking up halfway through with the tenor.

CanadaJim

JUST THE WHISKEY TALKIN' - Joe Hall

I had the honour of playing on the same bill as the late Joe Hall a few times. Joe lived in Port Hope for a while and worked at drywalling and busking in front of the liquor store. He really should have been more famous than he was, but he had a devoted following.

UkeCan1

The only twofer I could find in the NJAMP Dropbox chord-lyric chart library has Monday in the title and mentions booze and a hangover. Only trouble, is it's by a not-well-known artist, outside that local (central New Jersey) area, who is no longer living, and I'd never heard it.

I couldn't find it or him via YouTube search. We are (were?) Facebook friends, so I went to his timeline, and - bingo! - many of Gary O'Neill's 1000+ songs that he wrote he recorded on video, and posted each one on YouTube and then FB. I followed one to his YouTube channel, and then scrolled way down until - second bingo! - I found "Cruel Monday Morning" … from February 2015!

I hope you'll watch Gary's first.

Here's my quickie cover, on a dark and gray Monday morning. My own hangover is not from booze but lack of sleep - I'm just off a long weekend of Zoom on Eastern Time (10:30pm to 10am Sat/Sun and Sun/Mon).

CanadaJim

I MUST BE DRINKIN' AGAIN - Thom Case
*
When I first met Lizard Thom Case he was living in Kingston, Ontario and writin' songs and jamming with anyone who wanted to jam with him. He now owns a bar in Nashville, Tennessee and I haven't seen him in at least a couple of decades. I emailed him to get the lyrics to a song of his called SATURDAY NIGHT HEAVER. When I explained why I wanted it he said that he had a pile of drinkin' songs and sent me a pile of lyrics. This is one of 'em.

potmo

"Red, Red Wine"

UB40

Champagne (Killer Queen Moet & Shandon)
Gin
vodka
beer x2
wine
whiskey (scotch and bourbon?)
rum

potmo

"Dear Doctor"

...I've been soaking up drink like a sponge..."

... She plied me with bourbon so sour for the dear doctor!

Dear doctor here is "Dear Doctor"

Champagne (Killer Queen Moet & Shandon)
Gin
vodka
beer x2
wine
whiskey (bourbon)
rum
generic drink

potmo

"Waiting Around to Die" – Townes Van Zandt

I tried to kill the pain,
bought some wine And hopped a train

Champagne (Killer Queen Moet & Shandon)
Gin
vodka
beer x 2
wine x 2
whiskey (bourbon)
rum
generic drink

Confirmed twofer.

OnlyUkeThatMatters

"Tennessee Rain" from Joe Strummer's Walker soundtrack starts off with a wish for drunkenness, and it delivers with a few options. Plus it's got a sweet tune…

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