Seasons of the Ukulele

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

Season 749 - K.I.S.S ( Keep it simple Seasonistas)

potmo

Killer Queen – Queen

This may be my all time favorite pop tune which I think is a fair categorization (I probably have 50 all time favorites but... ) anyway you only have to wait one word. This is my Del.. er Blast from the past! submission

Barbablanca

Here is my contribution. I don't know whether it's the stifling heat, or not, but I have been going through a tough time mentally lately. This song was my therapy. I don't feel so strongly now about the concerns I had before I wrote it.
Songwriting is cheaper than psychiatrists! 😉

Here is my new song- "A Simple Choice?" Hope you like it.

CanadaJim

KISSING IS A CRIME - The Carter Family
I learned this song from a Cathy Fink & Duck Donald LP.
Our host, John, has challenged us to play a song on our cheapest ukes. This banjolele cost me $12, but I spent another $100 having a new neck built.
The thumbnail and the photo of the headstock were pre-new neck.

DesertPavement

This week I know three things to be true:

Our most gracious host does not mind hearing some covers of the Fab Four.
This particular Beatles song contains the word “nasty” in the lyrics (twice!).
Ghana absolutely should have been awarded a penalty in the 79’ of their match against England earlier in the week.

Anyway, thanks for Hosting John. Glad I could drop in this week.

CanadaJim

Filipino ukuleles made from coconut shells are commonly known as Cocoleles. They were first made in Manila during the early 1900s and remain popular as unique handcrafted folk instruments. This one was a gift from my son, Darcy and daughter-in-law Loni.
The photo is of Darcy playing an acoustic bass and Loni's mom, Bini, playing my cocolele in the shop in the Philippines where they bought it.
**

The action is pretty bad and makes it mostly a wall hanger, but for John's Season, I decided to try playing it with a slide.

Here's What Makes The Blues So Easy.
I hope that "Easy" is a synonym for "Simple".

jon

this beater uke has definitely been my most beaten, most played and well loved since joo bought it for
me in March last year. i talk a bit about it at the end
"Learning To Live Again", the song mentions a 'kiss on the cheek'
i really need another couple of weeks to show off all our beater ukes lol cause we must have 20+ of them now;
old blue stencilled harmony from the 50s, a plastic macaferri 'islander' from the same period, an all plastic banjo uke from again, the 50s w/ a weird racist art print on the head and all joo's other painted ones
and others and so it goes on like this…they are really the only instruments i ever play any more 🙂

johnpoole

Here's another old original on the Motu Sopranino. Has "kiss" in the lyrics. One of the better ones I've scribbled I think.

"Best Western Motel Saturday Night'. Thanks again John for the week!

joo

Hope you are not sick of seeing and hearing me, John.

I told Alan @AlanDP i would record something with my 2 CB Sky ukes after seeing his, so I did that first thing this morning.

The uke in my first video here is the same as Alan's, I think. Mine is a pink one with (ugly) palm leaves and flamingoes, which i painted over.

Alan tuned his to Eflat tuning which sounded so good. Mine has aquila strings on which i feel the uke can't handle, so i have tuned it all the way down, and in an alternate tuning of E B Eb F#. (thanks to @Edwin for the book on alternate tunings)

I play a poem set to music by our veteran Seasonista Alan Thornton. You can listen to his version in the link i attached on YouTube.

The poem has the line "and this is the wonder that is keeping the stars apart"

The second CB Sky uke has weird fret and string spacing. I hardly play this uke and when i started recording i realised i had problems fretting D.

I play a sweet original by Alan @AlanDP ! You can watch his original in the link i attached on YouTube.

The song has a line "and when the sign says OK GO I kissed her with all my might"

OneManAndHisPGUke

Good morning Seasonistas from a much cooler and now wetter (we had a thunder storm a few hours ago which scared our poor wee doggy but she’s fine now) West Yorkshire. Hope you are all well wherever you are, especially Berni and Val in those crazy hot conditions in Europe.

So, anyway, a bunch of great songs have come in overnight, I even managed to do one myself, but let’s take a look at what we’ve got.

Potmo blasted from the past with an excellent cover of Killer Queen.

Then Berni exorcised a few demons via the power of songwriting. Art is great therapy, and played on a really cool green pineapple uke I don’t think I’ve seen Berni use before.

Jim brought a nice bit of Carter Family on a $12 banjo uke that had been given a new lease of life, then he played some slide blues on a cocolele which may be the ugliest duckling of a uke we’ve seen all week! (Sorry Jim).

Sandwiched between Jim’s songs was Andy’s superb take on I’m Looking Through You, on a nice plastic Waterman uke, and Andy you are so right, Beatles covers are definitely right up my street. First song ( I think) to feature Nasty in the lyrics too! When you come to think of it, we could have had songs by The Rutles this week, written as they were by Ron Nasty. Any takers?

Jon in Tasmania by the Sea played a song via Garth Brooks on a beautifully tattooed Mahalo beater uke that proudly bears the scars of much use in Jon’s skilled hands.

Southern John really blew me away with his original “Best Western Motel Saturday Night”, a really really great song, even by his high standards.

And Joo, who I am most definitely NOT sick and tired of hearing, brought a great little original written by Alan Peschke. Songs don’t have to be complicated to be great. And also an e e cummings poem as set to music by another Alan for whom we have to thank for the extremely useful Thornton Rule.

Keep them coming folks on your cheapest, ugliest, nastiest ukes. It’s a feast for the eyes and the ears 👍

Edit: Andy’s was not the first song to feature Nasty in the lyrics, that honour goes to Joo. I was looking at a great song yesterday entitled Nasty…but I don’t think I will get time to do it. When I was looking at it I was wondering whose ball park it might be in? There is one Seasonista who might do it…? But I’m not going to second guess anyone just yet.

UkeCan1

OneManAndHisPGUke When you come to think of it, we could have had songs by The Rutles this week, written as they were by Ron Nasty. Any takers?

Rutles, you say? First thing I thought of for this theme actually, but now that's it's a request of sorts….

"Hold My Hand" on my gift uke from the local free library … which really could use some upgraded strings. She's an otherwise decent little plastic uke.

As you'll discover at the end (and probably from my rendition), it's been a very few decades since I've seen the Rutles.

OneManAndHisPGUke

Well after that brilliant take from Wendy it only seems right we should have a bit more Ron Nasty, I’d forgot I did this one way way back when we were at the other place for Season 307. It’s seems I had a bit of a cold that day. Here’s my blast from the past. “I Must Be In Love” by The Rutles….

uke4ia

"Keep Your Distance" by Richard Thompson

I've never bought any real cheapo ukes. This is my old concert Fluke. I gave it to my daughter when she went to college in 2013, but she never ended up learning to play it, and when she graduated and moved into an apartment, it stayed here in this house. I've used it in a couple of videos in the last few years, and I think I changed the strings then, but I can't swear these aren't the strings I put on it in 2013.

uke4ia

This is my Blast from the Past. From Season 330, this is "Someone Keeps Moving My Chair" by They Might Be Giants.

UkeCan1

"Sealed With a Kiss" - Bobby Vinton

On Chili, my Mainland Chili Pepper Uke. I paid the adult price of USD35; kids paid 25 for theirs.

I have four ukuleles that I paid no money for - one Seasons prize, the one from yesterday from the local street library, and two bought with Sam Ash gift certificates, from back when I used to earn $10 in Ash bucks playing their open mic every Wednesday. (I actually bought four that way, but only two made the move to Australia with me.) This is the least expensive uke I've bought with actual money.

UkeCan1

Blast from the past:

Here's the entire back story of my Chili Pepper Uke and her purchase, in song.

I did teach the song to Niall and Lucas at OUC, where we performed it on our three Chili Pepper Ukes, and it was a huge hit … and the first public performance for both boys, who were 7 and 10 at the time. But sadly the video failed, so I don't have that one.

OneManAndHisPGUke

Good morning Seasonistas, hope you are all fine and dandy. A few more lovely tunes came in overnight and today. Wendy has been busy with first of all a superb take on a song written by the late great Neil Innes, in the guise of Ron Nasty of The Rutles, and played on a cool plastic uke. There’s been quite a few excellent plastic ukes used this Season, it puts me in mind of that great exchange in The Graduate where Mr McGuire takes Benjamin Braddock to one side to tell him “Just one word……..plastics…” , wise words Mr McGuire, wise words. Wendy also played on her beloved Chilli Pepper uke (as designed by the marvellously named Captain Lovehandles) the classic Sealed With A Kiss, and as a bonus she posted a blast from the past vid telling the story of how she came by this lovely uke, and sang the Chiili Pepper uke song.

Jim brought a wonderful Richard Thompson song, Keep Your Distance, off Rumour and Sigh. He played this on a Magic Fluke, which may not be a cheap uke, but Jim explained it was the cheapest he owned. I do like those Flukes, I have a Flea concert, which is a great little uke, but I wouldn’t say no to a Fluke. Jim’s blast song was a They Might Be Giants off Flood, Somebody Keeps Moving My Chair, featuring Jim’s chair not being there when he needs it, that’s what I call going the extra mile for a song.

Still plenty of time to bring songs on your cheap nasty, or relatively cheap ( see Jim above) ukes.

hands_on_lanzon

thanks for hosting this awesome Season, John! it's been a while since i've sat in a couple straight sessions to experience the Seasons in playlist form… there's a magic to it that I had missed. it's always inspiring!

I wanted to complete that task before jumping into the mix with this recently acquired vintage plastic Flamingo uke.

I also have the same Waterman that Andy used, but I feel like this one may be unofficially/historically cheaper, although the vintage price might be greater than a new waterman these days. I alsp shared the pic so Joo could see the art in the back of the video without having to try and look around my chubbiness. 😅

here's is my version or Holding Back the Years by Simply Red. love when a Seasons theme brings me to learn some random song I would never think of trying on my own!

as I was learning this song, I was sort of thinking of life and how things transpire and lessons learned and this and that and just want to share that SOTU is among the coolest and most inspirational things i've been a part of. i'm appreciative of the folks here and the Seasons spirit!

OneManAndHisPGUke

Thank you for joining us Chris, and oh my, that uke! I need to look and see if I can grab hold of a vintage plastic uke before too long. Thanks everyone who has taken part so far. I will be at work all day tomorrow so I won’t check in again until tomorrow night. In the meantime, you know what to do!

potmo

"12XU" – Wire

... the music of “1 2 X U” was composed by vocalist Colin Newman as a conceptual experiment of sorts – specifically, in response to the question: “What would a song sound like if it had no real music in it?”
I believe I capture the spirit heh.

Nearsighted-Lemon-McKay

On the opposite end of this season, my dream uke would be a Harmony Roy Smeck Vita ukulele. They are gorgeous and sound great. If I ever do own one, I'm sure it will be my most expensive uke. But, getting back to this season, on the other end of the spectrum is a ukulele with a similar name, and that would be the Harmony Roy Smeck soprano uke. Now, this isn't a "nasty" uke, but it lacks, well, personality and character. It is like vanilla pudding… nothing really wrong with it, but also not much to get excited about. Cost me around 15 bucks, about what it is worth. The song here is Bare Necessities from The Jungle Book. <

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