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)

jon

an old song w/ maybe my favourite of the ukes joojoo has painted, well, my favourite today
it started life as a fugly Eddy Finn concert and somehow became a butterfly…
"It's Been a Long, Long Time"

and one w/ the uke you mentioned you liked the look of that i used in the latest
season prediction clip, John…thought i'd give her a run to show you
a 1950s Harmony blue-stencilled soprano and yet another plastic fretboard!
"Free Little Bird"

joo

hands_on_lanzon AWESOME TO SEE YOU, CHRIS!!!!

Barbablanca

I forgot to give some background on that KIWI uke I used on my song.

In my collection of Ukes, I hadn't got a pineapple shaped one. I wasn't sure I needed one either. But then I played one in a shop and was impressed by the deeper sound of that body compared with a standard soprano. However, that Pineapple was a bit expensive so I put the idea on the back burner.

Then one day Gear4Music was having a sale and that included a KIWI patterned pineapple uke. Now I am not keen on the fruit itself, so I nearly passed on the offer. But the price was only €15 (I think they may have had a surplus of unsold KIWIS) so I thought "what the heck" and bought it.

I was not that impressed initially as the stock strings took weeks to settle in and I was reluctant to put a decent set on until I heard whether it would eventually settle down. It did and I liked the sound. I think I may have recorded a couple of songs on it, then hung it on the wall and forgot it until this season. It is definitely my cheapest and was the nastiest (might still qualify for that since it still has the stock strings and despite being better than when it arrived, you still need to retune every other song).

It was also the perfect uke for this song as I was feeling so down when I wrote it. I've bounced back a bit since then. It helped that some musician friends from England have been here for the last few days and we had a great jam along with some local musicians last night.

So, hearing it again, I reckon it is time to put a decent set of strings on it and let it truly join the family instead of hanging around for the scraps off the table! 😎 Onwards and upwards! Pax et bonem!

UkeCan1

A twofer: "free" / "keep".

"The Stars and Stripes Forever" by John Philip Sousa

I think it's time we take back our nation and our flag.

Additional lyrics included, no extra charge.

On my Flea, Tiki Uki, because she is 100% American made, born in the Magic Fluke factory, Sheffield, Massachusetts, a wonderful place to visit.

I say she's the first ukulele I ever bought, and it's kind of true, but also not. In fact hours before I bought her for $150 from the organizer of the inaugural New Jersey Uke Festival, I first bought an American flag-decorated uke for $40 from the vendor area at the lunch break. Twenty minutes into the next workshop my whole body was hurting and I wasn't having fun anymore. So I promptly returned the flag uke, and later that afternoon bought my Flea.

So technically the first uke I ever bought looked like an American flag … and would have qualified in spades for this week.

Tiki is neither cheap nor nasty (though the friction tuners have always been a pain on the butt), but $150 with a nice padded gig bag was an excellent price for a Flea, so you could say I got her cheap.

Though not as cheap as that godawful flag uke.

potmo

Bad Moon Rising – Credence Clearwater Revival

Thought I spare poor John any more torment and went with something a bit more standard but still nice and short. You do have to wait til the very end for the qualifier but I will spare you... "... Looks like we're in for nasty weather...

OneManAndHisPGUke

Good evening (for a change) Seasonistas. I am now caught up with the wonderful music you have continued to bring. But I’m not long in from work so in my exhausted state I’ll bid you all good night and hopefully wake up to a few more brilliant Seasons tunes. Nighty night folks.

potmo

Statue of Liberty – XTC Sunday Twofer

...I leaned right over to kiss your stoney book...

OnlyUkeThatMatters

Sal's Makala Dolphin is the cheapest ukulele at our house, though it sounds sweet rather than nasty.

And I had to play "Cheapskates" from the Clash's Give 'Em Enough Rope as simply as possible on it!

OneManAndHisPGUke

I believe there is still an hour left of Sunday in Hawaii, so a very quick one from me. While I’m not really a football fan, I was brought up in a household of mostly Birmingham City FC ,aka The Blues, fans ( or Bluenoses as they are known) so I have no excuse for not knowing this song, written by Sir Harry Lauder. This is the anthem of the Blues, just as You’ll Never Walk Alone is to Liverpool. My quick cover of Keep Right On To The End Of The Road played on my first ever uke, a Freshman. It doesn’t sound too shabby either.

UkeCan1

Here’s another “keep” + “free” twofer, hopefully less controversial than yesterday’s:

“Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” by BJ Thomas

Oops - I meant to change to a different uke for you. This one, Epi Leadshredder, my Les Paul Epiphone acoustic-electric is my go-to uke, for daily use and playing out, and is one of the four I “bought” with my Sam Ash gift certificates. They retail for about US$100, which is still a really good deal.

MsBean

A Christmas or winter song, Come All Ye Shepherds, in an arrangement by Wilfried Welti:

https://www.ukulele-arts.com/?lang=en

MsBean

And another one from the same book by Wilfried Welti

https://www.ukulele-arts.com/?lang=en

OneManAndHisPGUke

And with Sabine’s two lovely quick and simple tunes, I declare Season 749 officially closed. Yes I know it closed hours ago but I’ve had a busy day. We ended up with 52 songs on the playlist, which, even allowing for a few blasts from the past, I’m still really chuffed about. The great entries we had since I last did a summing up, well, Potmo has shown what fine taste in music he has by covering two fantastic bands that came to prominence in the post-punk years, Wire, and XTC. Marvellous stuff!

Hands On Chris covered Simply red on a drop dead gorgeous plastic Flamingo uke…..seriously, I had a real bad case of uke envy this week.

Nearsighted Lemon looked under the rocks and plants but as far as I’m aware didn’t eat any of the fancy ants. And all on a lovely Roy Smeck Harmony uke. We all know who Roy Smeck is right? Like the Django/Hendrix/EVH of uke.

Jon brought two more lovely songs, one a classic, one more traditional folk-y, on a lovely Joo painted uke, and on his blue Harmony, a delicious little vintage baby.

Wendy brought another two, too! The Stars and Stripes on her Flea, and a bit of classic Bacharach and David. Who doesn’t love Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid? The first to spot the connection between this post and an earlier post of mine on the thread will win a CD. I’ve just decided.

Ralf got out his Makala Dolphin ( what fab little ukes they are) to bring us his beloved Clash, and

Sabine, as is traditional closed out Season 749 with a couple of short but very very sweet fingerpicked tunes.

Thank you all, it’s been a real blast as usual. How great that Seasons has kept going in spite of everything. I was hoping I might lure @DelGriff away from his synths and drum machines just for this week, I thought there must be a Depeche Mode song that fits the bill, but it wasn’t to be sadly…..maybe next time Del 😉

I will post a wrap hopefully before the week is out and there will be a prize or two. Catch you all later you lovely lot.

UkeCan1

OneManAndHisPGUke Wendy brought another two, too! The Stars and Stripes on her Flea, and a bit of classic Bacharach and David. Who doesn’t love Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid? The first to spot the connection between this post and an earlier post of mine on the thread will win a CD. I’ve just decided.

The Rutles song you played on a Flea?

OneManAndHisPGUke

UkeCan1 The Rutles song you played on a Flea?

Nope Wendy. But keep guessing….I’m trying to think of a clue that won’t just give it away….

LimousinLil

Many thanks for the week, John … 'twas fun!

CanadaJim

Thanks John, a fun season. It gave me an excuse to get out those never-used ukes and give them an excuse for being in the house.

joo

OneManAndHisPGUke The first to spot the connection between this post and an earlier post of mine on the thread will win a CD.

Is it The Graduate connection?

As in we have all "graduated" from this cheap uke Season, Lol.

joo

Thanks for the fun Season, John!!!

OneManAndHisPGUke

joo Is it The Graduate connection?

As in we have all "graduated" from this cheap uke Season, Lol.

Ooh, that is so nearly there! 50% right even.

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