Seasons of the Ukulele

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

Week 745 - Let's Pick it up a bit - ACCELERANDO

Joko

I remember the first time I ever played an instrument in front of an audience. I was in the 4th grade, and I was one of two kids the music teacher handed tambourines to bang on, eventually ending up in a school concert. The specific song I tambourined to had some lyrics that I still recall: "Gypsy dancers start to sway, by the campfire gleaming…"

More significantly, the song was accelerando, meaning that the tempo speeds up as the song goes along. It's written that way. I tend to do that naturally. To this day, tempo consistency is a weakness of mine. So the main theme this week is: PLAY LIKE ME. Play a song that uses accelerando - either because it's written that way or you are purposefully playing it that way.

Option 1.5 - Songs that use different tempos or change time signatures at different points in the song…

To give you additional options, I found out just now that the song my 4th grade choir sung was …

traditional folk song "Gypsy Davy," a Child Ballad with roots in British, Scottish, and American music that tells the story of a wife who runs away with a group of gypsies. The specific, frequently covered verse mentions a campfire and a big guitar, often performed by artists such as Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger

Option 2: Sing a song that mentions gypsies.

PLAYLIST

NO LIMITS

redpaul1

There's a certain Clash number that, according to then drummer, Topper Headon, speeds up as it goes along (though "the human drum machine's" sense of timing is so acute, us mere mortals would hardly notice). I'm sure Ralf's already got that one in mind to cover for this week, so I'll leave him to reveal which number I'm talking about.

However, and this is the point of thus anecdote (in case you were wondering), it was the reply to Topper's observation from their producer, the late, great Guy Stevens, that became legendary: “All great rock n roll speeds up!”

Joko

CORRECTION

Okay, now that I've actually listened to Gypsy Davy, I can say for certain the song we sang in the 4th grade was NOT that song. The POV of that song is that of a hard-working man whose wife has run off with passing gypsies. It woud be weird to ask 9 year-olds to sing that.

Joko

A little more research about the song I mentioned in the OP points me to: "The Gypsy Camp" (or sometimes arranged in 1970s school music books as "Gypsy Dancers" or "The Gypsy Campfire").

There are a few beginner piano tutorials for this song on YouTube, no choir arrangements that I can find. It sounded like Hava Nagila (sic?)

UkeCan1

Joko The lyrics you quoted fit the meter of "Gypsy Davy" - maybe it was a child-friendly re-lyriced version you sang?

UkeCan1

I've done the obvious twofer.

"Pinball Wizard" accelerando

As it was clearly meant to be done.

DelGriff

Interesting theme - thanks, Joko!

So, the song I have in mind doesn’t accelerate throughout, but the tempo increases for the choruses and decreases for the verses. Would this be acceptable? 🤔

Joko

Del - Yes! I've gone ahead and ammended the OP to add an option 1.5.

redpaul1

Joko The most famous example of a tune with two different time signatures being Fairytale of New York. (4/4, 6/8)

AlanDP

This is a "gypsy" song where I speed up a little in the middle and then slow down again toward the end.

potmo

i guess i have a twofer. It certainly speeds up and so I am going to say i did it on purpose

johnpoole

Thanks Joko. Gypsy option. I googled songs with Gypsy in the lyrics. Then I looked for interesting titles. I found " You're a Wolf". I though that was worth a look. I liked it. By the band Sea Wolf.

Joko

Here's an orginal that was written first for 743, but not completed or recorded at the time.
Be glad I didn't make it "Table Tennis Week", because I doubt there are many other songs on that theme . Here's one.

joo

Thanks for hosting, Joko!

And congrats on your ping pong achievement! Jon and i love ping pong too.

Here's our version of This Old Man with some accelerando. A rough and messy take. That's how we roll.

UkeCan1

I have a last-minute Monday twofer coming that I've been working on all week ….

In "Piddle, Twiddle, and Resolve / Till Then" from one of my favorite musicals, 1776, John Adams complains about Congress - first to God, then in letters to his beloved wife Abigail - a subject to which we can all relate 250 years later.

The "pins" argument between John and Abigail made me want to do it for 744.

With it's many tempo changes, it's also a fun fit for 745.

This song has come to mind for several Seasons over the years, but there are no chords online, so I had to work them out myself. At long last I have finally done it.

For decades, every time I drove from New Jersey to Boston, this song would play on continuous loop in my head the entire last hour of the trip, from the first sign on the Massachusetts Turnpike listing the miles to Framingham and Boston.

jon

thank you for this week mate!
i'm playing a traditional folk song that song has countless variations in titles, lyrics, tempo and melodies
this version i do on the uke is probably more based on Pete Seeger's than anyone elses,
abut which i further twisted up myself and did my own way -
such is the good ol' folk process like Chinese whispers 🙂
(i'm currently reading Peggy Seeger's memoir, First Time Ever and i think she would be
suitably horrified at what i've done so don't anyone show her this lol)
"The Gypsy Davy"

jon

another ripper ol traditional about a gypsy,
a very different feel to this one though, though the verses and story are nigh on the same
another one of the many variations of the song i played this morning
"The Raggle Taggle Gypsy"

Joko

How is it there is a
**the jon and joojoo channel and I'm just now noticinig? It's only got 8 subscribers. My fellow Seasonistas - stop over at their new channel and do the subscribe thing..

@thejonandjoojoochannel**

jon

practicing a Suzanne Vega song before dinner
"Gypsy"

Nearsighted-Lemon-McKay

Joko 9