Seasons of the Ukulele

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

SOTU 740 "THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM"

UkeFoote

"American Idiot", by Green Day., in a minor key. For concert ukulele with singing, overdubs of Ashbory Ubass and secondary vocal. I put it in the minor in honor of Dear Leader 47’s perverted proclivities.

Thanks for hosting, Val!

Nearsighted-Lemon-McKay

Here is one that my brother Randy wrote for Season 289. Val, you insinuated back then that you might try and rhyme some of these words.. any luck with that?

redpaul1

Quick one from Jesse Wells

UkeCan1

Here's a very recent protest song.

My YouTube friend Bruce W Nelson, aka Mangy Fetlocks, has been posting at least one new original anti-Orange song every single day since regime 1.

He did this one, with his adorable little granddaughter Sveta, aka Dusty Bottom, for No Kings Day 3.

It also mentions madness.

LimousinLil

Apologies for the late arrival here today … the Playlist is now up-to-date. (If I have somehow managed to omit you, then please let me know!) Are you feeling outraged - or merely slightly orange? Perhaps you are turning into an elephant? (I would show you my extensive elephant collection if this site would allow us to upload photos.) Please keep the songs coming, however despairing you might be feeling … I promise it will be cathartic.

redpaul1

The Marmalade Messiah

CanadaJim

LimousinLil We can post photos Val, but often they disappear over time.

I right click on the photo, then choose "Copy Image adresss". Then I click on the photo icon on my post and enter the address in the "Link" box and hit "Insert".

Xamar25

Thanks for hosting and for the delightful introductory video. This is a great theme for me since I have spent the past year playing at protests with a sidewalk ukulele band called Just Ukes. We are anywhere from 4 to 16 old ladies singing our hearts out for democracy.

I am trying out a little amplifier here because it can be very noisy at honk-and-waves and we’ve been killing our vocal chords. I think it makes it easier to hear the lyrics.

This song was inspired by “Bound to Lose” by Woody Guthrie. I updated the lyrics. Some of the SOLs ( Sweet Old Ladies) I sing with are too polite to call Mr T a facist.

Nearsighted-Lemon-McKay

This is more of an "anti-establishment" song. Written by Malvina Reynolds in 1962, it was popularized by Pete Seeger the next year. Little Boxes.

LimousinLil

CanadaJim Oh, that's interesting, Jim! Every time I've tried, it tells me there's an error and refuses to upload. (I like your elephant!)

Renaissance-Man

"Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley. While often seen as just a feel-good song, it was written during a time of significant political turmoil in Jamaica. It serves as a soft, rhythmic reassurance of peace and resilience. I'm too old, tired and broken for protest. I only want peace, for you, and me, and everyone.

I just finished recording this for you, when a friend said he'd like to have it for his theme too. I never had a two-for. This is serendipitous.

Threebird

If I was playing a song at a protest maybe I would sing a Christmas song?

'Christmas In Washington' by Steve Earle.

"This protest song from the alt-country troubadour’s 1997 album El Corazón was written in response to the 1996 election and the rise of liberal centrism. The song also longingly reflects on his deceased heroes: Woody Guthrie, Emma Goldman, Martin Luther King, and Joe Hill."

jon

Jim's great version of this ol Cliff Edwards song from Dumbo made me to wanna
have a go at it too. thanks @CanadaJim and for all your inspiration these many years

jon

and another fun elephant one -
this a lovely old clapping song i learnt from Ruth Crawford Seeger's
beautiful 1950 book, Animal Folk Songs for Children
from our walk this afternoon along Snug river and w/ joojoo singing along
"Jack, Can I Ride? (See the Elephant Jump the Fence)"

jon

and a final one from our walk today,
wonderful African-American spiritual i think i first heard on a Pete Seeger rekkid
"Go Down Moses"

LimousinLil

And "Bonjour" from a REALLY sunny France … gorgeous day here! Thank you to Cody, Threebird and Jon, who came in "overnight". The Playlist is "mis-a-jour", but, again, if I have inadvertently left you out, please let me know and I will update forthwith. Hoping for more protests today - never has there been more to protest about - or, alternatively, bring me your inner madness, orange-ness (???) or feel free to flaunt your pachydermal affiliations! (Actually, I have just found out that "pachydermal" means being of thick skin … I always assumed it was just a description of elephants; who knew? Well, I didn't!)

LimousinLil

And thanks to our splendid Host! I think this was the first protest song that occurred to me for this week's theme. I have also cleverly managed to embrace the other aspects of the theme in that orange and elephants are also included in the video (not quite sure where the camel came from) and, well … I AM mad!

Nearsighted-Lemon-McKay

Here is a little Beatles for the season. I decided to go with more of the White Album version of the song (without the doo-wop backgrounds) instead of the single version. Revolution.

redpaul1

redpaul1 @LimousinLil can you add this to the playlist, please, Val?

Barbablanca

I was desperately seeking a "protest" song of mine that I hadn't already uploaded, but couldn't find one. So I decided to write one.

I am convinced that behind all the political chaos we have witnessed in recent years is one factor - the abandonment of the need to provide verifiable facts when making public and political claims. In other words, the so-called "post truth" society.

Trump is the absolute master of this. He is the embodiment of "double think" he can send conflicting tweets out over several hours in which opposing claims are both presented as truths. He can invent reality ("I am conversing with Iran, they are begging me for peace", etc) while ignoring any aspect of true reality that doesn't suit his mood at the time. The world didn't used to work like that! But it seems it does now.

Anyway…. rant over…, I hope you like the song:

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