Seasons of the Ukulele

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

Season 758 - History

Nearsighted-Lemon-McKay

Here is one about a historical figure, although while the story in the song isn't quite historically accurate, it is probably as true as the legends about her. Peter and Gordon's Lady Godiva

jon

thank you for this week Mitch!
a song from the Maple Leaf Champions Jug Band's self-titled LP from 2011
the real history of this song is a dubious one and has been swept under the carpet for many years,
but it all started when Jim's wife Maggie packed her cucumber sandwiches and a thermos of tea and went out to an evening meeting with her Rotary club ladies...
evidently, men of a certain personality type should not be left to their own devices lol
"The Dozen Pub (12 Bar) Blues"

potmo

"The Ballad of "Charles Whitman" Kinky Friedman

All about one of the early mass shootings back before it was cool. I have some details in the youtube description. I found the details of the story to be pretty compelling in a weird way. It reads like a crime drama where you would say it was too unrealistic to be true.

johnpoole

My blast from the past. A companion piece to the Joan of Arc Leonard Cohen song I posted earlier. This is an original I wrote for season 406. Right of Reply. It was a Berni theme I think about having a reaction to something. I wrote this from the point of view of Catherine of Arc. Joan did have a sister Catherine. I made her Joan’s younger sister which is somewhat debatable. She may have been older. Anyway I was happy with this one. “ Catherine of Arc”.

jon

a Dick Blakesleee song from 1948 and one of my very favourite songs
i love the gentle nature of its social protest and the post-war idealism and just the universal theme of our common humanity. i learnt it from a Pete Seeger album.
it references four historical events
"Passing Through"

LimousinLil

And hello, yet again, Paul! This is my blast from the past. Apparently, there WAS a King Macbeth in the 11th Century and he DID kill Duncan, but on the battlefield, not as described in Shakespeare's "Scottish Play", which he wrote to please King James First, who was from Scotland and had an interest in witchcraft. I'm not quite sure where the poor, deluded, murderous Lady M fitted into the original story … but, in my version, her evil past is catching up with her.

YorkSteve

In 1990 the British group The Farm took the lyrics of one of their songs "No Man's Land", about the 1914 Christmas truce in the trenches, and sang them over the chords of Pachelbel's Canon. They added some beats, and the result was "Altogether Now", released in November 1990. I have taken the beats away again.

Barbablanca

Here's my second. It's a simplified explanation of why the Republic lost the war against the Fascist rebels led by Franco who overthrew a democratically elected government after a three year war.

For more details see the description on YouTube

PS The lass in this picture looks just like my wife Carmen did at her age!

DelGriff

Here’s my blast from the past. Not the one I originally posted and removed - this one is, I think, a much better fit. Lots of historical (and even biblical) references here - some more recent and some ancient.

I was particularly pleased with my vocal on this one - Michael Stipe’s one of my favourite singers, so I was rather daunted when I attempted it. Then a few weeks later I had a nasty bout of laryngitis, and I don’t think my voice has ever recovered to anywhere near the same level. 😢😢😢

Man On The Moon (SOTU 621) - R.E.M. cover

Threebird

Here is a repost of an older song that fits the theme this Season, 'Nebraska' by Bruce Springsteen. For whatever reason, I like to try and play it a little more upbeat than it should be, like the storyteller is reminiscing about the good ol' days.

"The opening track, "Nebraska", tells the story of the killer Charles Starkweather,[99]^ who murdered ten people from 1957 to 1958 in Nebraska and Wyoming while traveling with his 14-year-old girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate.[n]^ After his capture, Starkweather is sentenced to death by electric chair. In the song's lyrics, the killer remains unrepentant, blaming his actions on the "meanness" of the world.[o][18][124]^ Springsteen wrote the song after watching Badlands, a film inspired by the couple,[104]^ and reading the Ninette Beaver book Caril (1974).[124][127]^ The song is sung from a first-person perspective; Springsteen said in 2005 that "everyone knows what it is like to be condemned".[127]^The song's music was described by Rolling Stone's Steve Pond as "gentle" and "soothing".[99]^"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebraska_(album)

dr_mitch

That's me up to date. Thanks folks for bringing me such a varied collection of interesting songs. I'm really enjoying the music.

As I've said before and hope to again, hosting is a huge pleasure!

Xamar25

Well of course I couldn’t resist this topic! Here’s a live performance of Bound to Lose, my take on Woody Guthrie’s song “All You Facists Bound to Lose” by our sidewalk ukulele protest band “Just Ukes”.

The big excitement is, I was able to put lyrics in because my brother keeps saying he can’t hear them.

Lyrics include the phrase

“Here’s a history lesson..”

I am hoping to upload my version of “Little Flame” with lyrics but I may not have time…I didn’t realize how long it would take to learn how to close caption.

AlanDP

Here's my song from the past. Jon's song about the Galveston hurricane reminded me of it. I think the one he did and this one are two different versions of the same song. From 7 years ago.

jon

another Titanic song, different to the one Jim did earlier in the week
"The Titanic (It Was Sad When That Great Ship Went Down)"

jon

a song from 1946 by Bob and Adrienne Claibourne,
that rails against the infamous US Mississippi Senator, Theodore G Bilbo (1877-1947), his overt racism, and argues for the common humanity of all people irrespective of race. obviously a song that had legs, given these times of widespread anti-immigrationist views in western politics. i particularly love the line: 'another thing, Bilbo, might be news to you - the first Mr Bilbo was a foreigner too!'
i added a few Australia-centric lines of my own to the song that reference 2 significant dates in Australian history:
1788, year of British landing
and 1991, the landmark passing of the Anti-Discrimination Act in Federal parliament
thanks Mitch!
"Listen, Mr Bilbo"

Barbablanca

Here is my third (and probably last) entry for SOTU 758

It outlines the fate of three female scientist that History tried hard to forget, because it thratened the men most associated with the women's discoveries.

Off to listen to more submissions from Seasonistes!

UkeCan1

potmo Interesting. I guess Edwin gave us carte blanche pretty much and I am assuming you are referring to American Pie, which would lead to a song which doesn't only not mention a plane or a flight by name, certainly refers to a plane which was indeed flying before it crashed – a new level of thorton! I was actually thinking about doing the song in some kind of abridged manner but I didn't even think about it in the context of a twofer.

Sorry, I've been AWOL since I posted that. "American Pie" is ABOUT a historic plane crash - not Thornton-y at all, I wouldn't think. It's very much about the potential danger of flying in a plane. It struck me as the obvious twofer.

Xamar25

The Little Flame

(With my dear partner Paul on backup vocals).

I stole a big part of this song, including the concept from Carsie Blanton’s song by the same name. I learned it for SOTU 753 and played it with my brother and my nephew Noah.

Like Carsie I believe that, although our actions in resistance may, at times, seem puny, they are part of a bigger story, part of a struggle that spans space, time and generations.

My problem with Carsie’s song is that many of her heroes were violent revolutionaries who thought their ideals justified killing people.

I firmly believe violence is a dead end and will never bring the brighter future Carsie and I both dream of.

So I changed some of the verses to commemorate the mass nonviolent movements that inspire me so much—ordinary folks who rose up together and courageously put their lives on the line for freedom.

Sorry, I didn’t have time to caption but here are my lyrics

*****

The Little Flame

Cotton fields, olive trees

Bulldozers, a trail of tears

Broken treaties, dreams deprived

Let’s keep our little flame alive

Ford the river, cross the sea

A slave, a rat, a refugee

Swimming hard against the tide

Keep the little flame alive

(Chorus)

A hundred years, a hundred more

It’s our time now to take the torch

And even if we don't survive

We keep the little flame alive

Gloved fists pounding on the door

They hid beneath our kitchen floor

A secret whispered by the wives

Kept the little flame alive

The Disappeared, the days of dread

White kerchiefs worn upon their heads

Madres marching side by side

brought the little flame to life

(Chorus)

Mahatma striding to the sea

Facing down the king’s army

People came from far and wide

To see that little flame of light

Jimmie, Andy, Micky, James

Montgomery, Selma, Birmingham

Marches, sit-ins, freedom rides

Oh that little flame grew bright

(Chorus)

The night before they gunned him down

A prophet spoke in Memphis town

Said we’ll get there people, don’t you cry

But keep the little flame alive

Warsaw, Tulsa, Wounded Knee

They buried us, but we were seeds

Singing from the grave, we rise

To keep the little flame alive

(Chorus)

UkeCan1

Charldene came to the Zoom open mic this morning as "Carl Dean", in honor of Dolly Parton's husband of nearly 60 years, reminding me that I had written this "Jolene" pastiche three years ago during Dolly Season (590).

While it mentions non-musician husband Carl many times, it also name checks the artist herself, who died Tuesday, making it the perfect twofer.

"Carl Dean" (pastiche of "Jolene") by Dolly Parton and me

joo

Thanks for hosting, Paul.

Here's a story i wanna share. I thought it was so special.

A metal detectorist in Darwin found 2 WWll identification discs that belonged to Leslie Archer, my neighbour Dave's father. The Darwin man managed to get in touch with Dave's son and surprised Dave with a beautifully framed memento of the discovery.

The story was published on the Kingborough Chronicle, a local paper, dated 18 August, 2026. Dave who served in the army himself started setting up an army musuem in a spare room in his home a few years ago. Jon and i are blown away by Dave's extensive collection of military memorabilia. Dave also has many fascinating stories from his childhood and younger days that he often shares with us. He is a man deeply interested in heritage and history, and you can imagine how moved he must have been to receive his father's WWll discs which must have been buried in the Darwin soil for more than 80 years.

I love the story very much, so i want to share it. It was so lovely what the metal detector guy did. Beautiful gesture to frame the discs to give Dave.

I used images of photos from the article and made this impromptu recording in order to share this story.

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