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

Barbablanca

My original written for this week varies the pace at a moment of crisis and its sequel. It is also about a gypsy woman my Mum was eternally grateful to - without whom I wouldn't be here.

I hope you like:

PS the photo shows blond me as a baby, my Dad (aged 32 here) and my Mum aged 22- the fashions back then made them look so much older, didn't they?

joo

I am going for the Gypsy wander here. I got my bari uke tuned to open D (D, F#, A, D) and I knew beforehand I was gonna play a few chords and with the words in front of me I sort of improvised as I went. This was the 4th take so I can't count this as a true improv. I went for all the words that suggest or are (roughly) associated to the ways of a gypsy.

A is for Amble

B is for Bramble

C is for Cursory

D is Deviate

E is for Erratic

F is Floating

G is for Gallivanting

H is Hoboing

I is Itinerant

J is for Jaunt

K is for Kite

L for Loiter

M for Meander

N for Nomad

O for Obambulate

P for Pottering

Q for Quest

R for Roam

S for Stray

T for Troubadour

U for Undulate

V for Vagabond

W for Wayfaring

X for EXploring

Y for Yonder

Z for Zephyr

Thanks for hosting, Joko!

Oh, to make the video I superimposed the enchanting music box from Jon's mother. It really captivated me. Have not opened it for a long time. I like the idea of something so evocative of another time period, something domestic or familial with the couples waltzing - to the words that suggest something nomadic. I noticed that, when I was singing and playing this song, that I felt rather happy. I think the idea of being able to travel, to wander, or even to stray is a very appealing one. What is happier than to know that in our short life on earth, for those of us who are lucky, that we can have a choice to create a life that we want?

(I was amused by the idea of a wayfaring gypsy exploring a yonder zephyr)

Joko

So many deep and meaningful songs this week. Global wave of contemplation blowing in from the asteroid belt perhaps.

Sth happened at the Table Tennis club yesterday I gotta share. I'm in the midst of one of my twice-weekly lessons with a coach, and one of the guys at the next table starts singing under his breath a familiar melody, "MandaLAY MandaLay…"
Hey that's my song! My recording of it went a little viral locally on TikTok. So I start singing along with him "… you let me play my ukulele" It's a cool feeling when you hear someone else singing your* song.

I listened to it last night, and with its unintended accelerando and its status as a non-SOTU recording means I feel okay sharing it here… Besides, its my 56th birthday today.

*melody borrowed from a tune called "Chardonnay" by a Welsh singer , Cerys Matthews

Nearsighted-Lemon-McKay

When I saw this season's criteria, this was the first song I thought of… The Playmates' "Beep Beep"

jon

fantastic song by Canadian singer-songwriter, Shannon Lyon
i've got a few of his albums and they're all great.
this one is from his debut album, Wandered (2003) and i made the video
from some random films i've taken mostly over the last month or two
"Yellow"

joo

Singing, skipping, accelerating, playing!

Jon played this on our morning walk today. Then both of us did a little dancing.

dr_mitch

Okay, time for me to experiment with deliberate accelerando, which as for Joko is usually accidental for me. Here's a song for hot summer days - Summer in the City.

dr_mitch

And another from me - there are lots of time signature changes in Beatles songs - for instance, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds is 3/4 in the verses and 4/4 in the chorus. Here Comes the Sun is less stark - the time signature is mainly 4/4, but goes absolutely wild in the bridge.

AlanDP

Another old "gypsy" song. I did the intro slow and then picked it up a little in the chorus.

DelGriff

Thanks for hosting, Joko! 🙂

This isn’t the song I was originally planning to do this week - in the end I went for the ‘gypsy’ option. This is the second time I’ve done this one for a Season - it’s hilarious. Ricky Gervais, an accomplished musician and songwriter as well as an all-round comedy genius, wrote it for the spin-off film from The Office called David Brent: Life On The Road.

A rare outing for my Natasha Comet concert uke (an absolute bargain from Temu), with some synth bass, piano, shimmering bells, a homemade drum track and some vocal harmonies too.

Lady Gypsy - David Brent / Ricky Gervais cover (SOTU 745)

joo

this traditional is fun to play and sing and perfect for some ACCELERANDO!!!

here goes!

I use my old digicam to film this and the CCD sensor of these old cameras have magenta vertical lines when the sunlight is super bright, IF you are wondering what those cool looking effects are in the video. haha. Not intentional. Also, I used this little whistle and a rhythm ring to complete my Saturday music making endeavour!

joo

Here's a very short version of Shortnin' Bread, clawhammered and accelerated as we clawed on.

LimousinLil

Greetings, Joko, and thanks for hosting! Apologies for making a rather belated entry, but I have had a cold for a couple of weeks now and I think it has morphed into hay fever … or, in any case, it hasn't gone away; which means that my singing is even worse than usual! Since Jon has already done the only gypsy song I know - and which I can remember as a staple of "Singing Together" (a BBC radio series for schools in which my school partook many moons ago) - I decided to go for the change in tempo option. Apparently, The Beatles were past-masters at changing the time-signatures in their songs - there are four different ones in this song, although that might not be immediately discernible in my version!

redpaul1

Thought I'd give myself a challenge. Went for the 'gypsy' option. Easy to play, difficult to pull off. You be the judge.

redpaul1

DelGriff When I was in charge of running events at ULU, Ricky Gervais was our receptionist, along with his partner Jane Fallon, We put him on a couple of times. Used to perform in a biker jacket and black leggings - very '80s. Eventually, he rose to be our Ents Officer, i.e., booking the bands.

We lost touch after I gave up rock'n'roll to go work for the UN in NYC. The very last time we met, he was crossing in front of me as I crossed in front of me as was waiting at a red light. "Ricky Gervais! As I live & breathe! What are you up to these days?" "Oh!" said he. "I'm doing a bit of writing now."

That 'bit of writing', of course, eventually became "The Office."

jon

we did an impromptu version of "Say, Darlin, Say" (accelerando!) on our walk this afternoon
around Snug River and Snug Beach and i put together this lil' video from some random films i took along the way
after 3 days of low skies and misty rain it was lovely to see the sun 🙂

UkeCan1

I spent a delightful afternoon with my friend Nina today at Colleges Crossing park, lunching, walking, and uking.

I was working on this song this morning for the gypsy theme … after it infected me all day yesterday with its singsong-y chorus. While I was working it out, Nina called to suggest our spontaneous outing, so we did it together.

In it, "one night the lights go dim", which is a perfect fit for my proposed 746 theme, based on Jon's prediction, though it may have nothing to do with yours, when you return to us, Joko, which I hope will be soon!

I always assumed it was called "Sweet Gypsy Rose" … but, no - it is known by the far clunkier title:

"Say, Has Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose" by Tony Orlando and Dawn

UkeCan1

We also did an abbreviated version of this other song with an unnecessarily long title, accelerando:

I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) by The Proclaimers

You might argue that getting drunk and havering are things you might do when the power goes out … or even walking a thousand miles, or falling down at the door (because you can't see in the dark?), and that this is therefore also a twofer … but I'm already running a one-woman show over at the usurper 746 that no one asked me to create … so I'll just leave this here.

(Except I posted it there instead by accident … so now I guess I AM arguing that….)

OnlyUkeThatMatters

This past May Day, I heard a group of young immigration justice activists sing folk classic "Bella ciao." So inspiring to hear young people sing with passion for justice - and they performed the song as an accelerando!

While my Italian isn't good enough to avoid mispronunciations and misreadings of the lyrics, I still had to attempt a ukulele version for my Seasonista comrades!

Bella ciao!

redpaul1

Stamattina mi sono alzato.

O, bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao!

Stamattina mi sono alzato,

Ho trovato l'invassor’.

O partigianno, portami via.

O, bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao!

O, partigiano portami via.

Che mi sento di morir’.

Se io muoio da partigianno.

O, bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao!

Se io muoio da partigianno

Se mi devi seppellir’.

Seppellire lassù in montagna.

O, bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao!

Seppellire lassù in montagna

Sotto l'ombra di un bel fior’.

E le genti che passerano

O, bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao!

Le genti che passeranno

Diranno: <<Che bel fior'!>>

Questo il fiore del partigiano

O, bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao!

Questo il fiore del partigiano

Morte por la libertà!

E era rossa, la sua bandiera.

O, bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao!

Era rossa, la sua bandiera,

La bandiera della voi!

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