Seasons of the Ukulele

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

SOTU 740 "THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM"

LimousinLil

redpaul1 So sorry, Paul! And that's a very clever re-working … I LOVE marmalade but not in its "Messiah" incarnation. You are now on the list … I think it must have been that awful photo that made me skirt over your splendid contribution!

joo

Thanks for hosting Val!

This is not an entry. It is a protest song i made for a previous season (around November 2016). I made some cartoons and improvised an instrumental over. I thought of this when i saw your theme. Sometimes, maybe smelling the flowers helps. I might record a new song for this week.

DelGriff

Thanks for hosting, Val! 🙂

I was a huge Madness fan back in the day - and I’m going to a Madness gig in Canterbury in the summer with my brothers - can’t wait!

Baritone uke with some synth additions and vocal harmonies.

It Must Be Love - Madness cover (SOTU 740)

CanadaJim

WHAT AN IDIOT HE IS - Bob Snider

Bob wrote this before the turn of the century, so I'm not sure who he wrote it about, but I know who I'm singing about. I made a few (very few) mods.

jon

one from our walk this morning
"Oh Freedom"

and a random impromptu one from yesterday afternoon when we were sitting on the
beach watching the world go by - i stumbled on an old favourite pocket size
songbook yesterday called "THE LITTLE BLACK (FOLKSONG) BOOK" and full of
traditionals and spirituals. lovely ol book, been a source of inspiration for 20+ years and just held together
w/ a bunch of sticky tape now
"Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier"

LimousinLil

And good morning (or whatever time it is with you) from deepest France, where the sun is again shining. Thanks Joo, for reminding us to smell the flowers and appreciate our pets … this is, indeed, beneficial in these ultra-troubling times. (Having said which, I have just been severely bitten by Seamus the Cat whilst trying to remove a tick from his back in the dark … not a wise move!) Del, I love this Madness song and your arrangement is superb. Thanks for your perceptive song, Jim … I have absolutely no idea who you might be referring to! And, Jon, great to have two more songs from you … and great to see you back here; all that walking and nature-observing must be good for the soul. Please keep those songs coming … quite apart from protest songs, we are doing very well in the elephant department; trumpety-trump!

Nearsighted-Lemon-McKay

Like the song Threebird posted a few days ago, I'd like to say "Come back Woody Guthrie". I posted one of his songs a couple weeks ago… this season would have been a good place for it, but I decided to do this one. This is kind of an unusual "protest song" in that, while it was written during war time, it is not anti-war, it encourages people to stay involved. Tear the Fascists Down!

Xamar25

My Friend Alex—inspired by “Joe Hill” by Alfred Hayes.

Joe Hill was a labor organizer in the early part of the 20th century who was allegedly framed on a murder charge and executed by a firing squad in Salt Lake City.

Joan Baez recorded a beautiful version of Joe Hill which I listened to all the time when I was a child. My version honors Alex Pretti, murdered by Border Patrol at a protest in Minneapolis last January, when he tried to prevent agents from spraying a woman with pepper spray.

joo

hi again, Val!

About 16 years ago, a song called Elephant Town by a little girl named Tia became a uke classic. Tia played it on the uke and she fretted it 0004. (at first, I thought it was a C chord, but C is played 0003). Some folks who covered her song kept it true to how she played it, many adapted it and changed the chord, added embellishments, different strum patterns, etc.. I tried to look for all the covers on YT and made a playlist for them. You can see the playlist here.

This is my cover of Tia's Elephant Town. I played it as 0004 on my uke and belted out the words like how Tia had done. Her original is no longer on YouTube. I wish you could see it. I pointed my phone at a little acrylic painting I made as I played and sang because it has an ORANGE ELEPHANT and 2 people with ukes!

Check out Seasonista Rob's Elephant Town in Finnish!!!

LYRICS:

Elephant town, elephant town, elephant town, elephant town!

Elephant town, elephant town, elephant town!

That's it.

(I guess you can call this a protest song too!)

DelGriff

Excuse the interruption - I’ve just posted the wrap for Season 739 - Better Together.

It’s here.

Thank you! :-)

CanadaJim

COMPLICITY - Bernie Martin

This is the first song I ever heard of Bernie's. He played it for me when I first visited his home. We lost Bernie 3 decades ago and we still miss him.

Here's a photo of The Piper's Hut after a St. Patrick's Day Gig. We went to our favourite pub, The Beamish House and finished the night playing for free beers.
Bernie is the fiddle player at the left with Maggie standing with the bodhran, me on mandolin, Ted Staunton on guitar, Zeke Mazurek on fiddle and Jennifer MacIntyre on harp. Bernie was the founder and leader of this group.
Charldene has had a meal in this pub.

LimousinLil

Saturday morning here … and the sun is STILL shining! Big thanks to Tamar, Joo (and, by proxy, Rob) and Jim who came in "overnight" bringing more protest - that's a powerful song, Tamar - and even more elephants … even an orange one! Please keep those songs coming today … we need to protest and we need elephants!

LimousinLil

And to get you in the mood, Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey tell it like it is …

Nearsighted-Lemon-McKay

So, I was looking over that list of protest songs Val provided and I saw a song there that I in no way ever thought of as a "protest song", it was just one of those silly, campy 1960's novelty songs. Then I did a bit of research, and found that Pete Seeger had recorded it, too, but adding a verse about LBJ… turning it into a protest song. So I thought, hey, I could do that, too… update it a bit. So here is, Beans In My Ears (2026)

Xamar25

I am Willing by Holly Near.

Although this song was written in 2008, it feels as if it was written for resisting the 47th President. I think Holly Near probably thinks so too because it was one of the half a dozen songs she chose to sing at a recent performance I was fortunate to see.

jon

another elephant in the room!
a Tom Morgan song that i've always loved, from my favourite Australian band Smudge
"Tenderfoot" from their 1994 album Hot Smoke and Sassafras

UkeCan1

Sunday twofer: Steve Earle, "Jerusalem"

"Maybe I'm only dreaming, maybe I'm just a fool."

LimousinLil

And thanks Y'All … Jon for a great Smudge song and Wendy for one of her excellent "twofers." Was the site just down or was it me? I know it's Sunday, but we have no days of peace at the moment, so please keep those protests coming!

DelGriff

LimousinLil

LimousinLil Was the site just down or was it me?

Yes - it was down for a few hours this morning - presumably for updates. All good now though. 👍🏼

Nearsighted-Lemon-McKay

Here is an original I wrote a while back that makes a good twofer. The story of the people who believe anything they see on the internet. It is nice that they like to wear colorful caps, because it makes it much easier to avoid them… kind of like poisonous snakes.

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