Seasons of the Ukulele

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

SOTU 675 -- "All That Glitters"

Ila

Welcome, Seasonistas, to Season 675!

If you are new here: If you’ve never participated in the Seasons of the Ukulele before, well, first and foremost, WELCOME. Your level of experience playing the ukulele does not matter to participate here. I’m living proof. (My first time participating was with about a whopping six weeks of experience.) We’re just here to have some fun and enjoy some cool music, and because you’re new here, you may play ANYTHING YOU LIKE for your first submission. You’ll find the people here to be friendly, warm, supportive, and fun.

If you are a seasoned Seasonista, here are the parameters for this week.

This is going to be a rich week, where we perform songs that are about, or mention, gold. The gold does not have to be metallic; for instance, it might be the color of someone’s hair or a field of grain. The actual word, “gold,” must appear in the song. Any variation of the word “gold” will suffice, such as “golden.” And if you're even thinking about submitting "Stairway to Heaven," the answer is YES, PLEASE!!! I'd love to hear your interpretation of that rock classic.

· The uke should be prominently featured.

· The video must be recorded specifically for this week and specify it is for SOTU 675. (The usual exceptions apply.)

· In keeping with tradition here, please limit your submissions to the usual Hawaiian times. If you submit your video outside these times, you will be flogged with a wet noodle.

· This week, please limit yourself to no more than three entries.

· Original songs are always welcome. If you do choose to submit an original song, please post the lyrics so we can all read them whilst you croon.

· I welcome entries from all over this great big blue marble we inhabit! The more the merrier, people! Please do invite others to join in. All are welcome.

I will select a winner and the prize will be a token little something that is uke themed and can be shipped internationally with ease.

The YouTube playlist is .

Oh, and please do not forget that Season 674 is still in play! Continue to show some love to our dear Val!!!

Have fun!

LimousinLil

Aargh … a wet noodle!!! Actually, I need some love because I've just sliced my thumb open with the bread knife. That's an interesting theme, Ila … I shall bring something as soon as I am able to play again!

Ila

LimousinLil Heal fast, Val!

Renaissance-Man

IIA said: And if you're even thinking about submitting "Stairway to Heaven," the answer is YES, PLEASE!!! I'd love to hear your interpretation of that rock classic.

I'll play it if I can still remember it from my rocker days. There's recorder parts too, but I've never played those before. My current medical protocol tires me out, and I have zero concentration abilities. If it shows up, it will be sloppy

Okay, I just picked up a uke, hit record, and tried the intro. I would be able to put something together, but in case I don't return, here's me trying to remember

Ila

Renaissance-Man

Awesome. I'm excited!

Mezcalero

Hi Ila, great theme, and thanks for hosting! I see Renaissance man beat me to this, but has anyone ever done Stairway to Heaven on the Seasons? 🙂

Ila

Mezcalero Actually, I'm hoping everybody will!

pabrizzer

a paoriginal from a couple of years ago which i've redone before

seems to have had a few different names but it does mention gold -

that's what i've been told

lyrics in youtube description

redpaul1

Ila Australian viewers will remember a comedy chat show called The Money Or The Gun in which every guest had to bring their own version of 'Stairway to H.' They put them all out on an album called Stairways To Heaven. Particular highlights for me were the versions by The Australian Doors and by the Beatnix (it of course also includes a version by the now-disgraced Rolf Harris, but we won't go into that). Well worth a listen

DelGriff

Apologies for the interruption, but there now follows an urgent…

HOST APPEAL

Hi everyone - the list is looking a little sparse! If you haven’t hosted in a while, or if you fancy signing up for the first time (it’s easier than it looks and a lot of fun - honest!), then please do so now. Pick a week from the list in the first post of the appropriate thread (I’ll be adding more dates later), claim your week by replying at the end of that thread, and you’re in.

Thanks! :-)

redpaul1

redpaul1 Ila

There's another 24 versions. Full playlist here.

Bystander

Thanks for hosting Ila, a quick, laidback take on Neil Young's Heart Of Gold from his classic 1972 album Harvest.

Renaissance-Man

Mezcalero Please, go ahead, Kevin. I decided that I won't be doing a song here anyway.

CanadaJim

GOLD - John Stewart

John Stewart gained fame as the second banjo player in the Kingston Trio, having replaced Dave Guard.
After leaving the Kingston Trio, he had a hit with this song. It was played on the radio a lot when my kids were 3 or 4, and, having been taught the proper care of musical instruments, they would always say something like, "You shouldn't throw a guitar, should you Papa. You should place it carefully in your car."

UkeCan1

Haha, well, here's the other Neil Young song with "Gold" in the title:

Today was the 2025 post-summer-vacation return of the Chapters open mic … so you get two twofers from me (plus two songs from the previous Seasons).

Neil Young's "After the Gold Rush" and "Please Come to Boston" by Dave Loggins are both about finding one's way home, and one has "gold" in the title, the other in the lyrics.

I got a bit choked up in the middle of singing about living forever in LA. 😥

(Also, note to self: Singing against the British Empire doesn't go over well in semi-rural Queensland.)

CanadaJim

Parkette - Bob Snider

I just thought of this song as I was posting the last one. Since my favourite Bob Snider song is called Sittin' In The Kitchen, I decided to go into the kitchen to record this. It contains the lines,
And nearly every day all my friends and I would play
Digging holes and finding GOLD among the rocks
making it eligible for this Season. I've used up two of my three submissions on the first day.

LimousinLil

Hello, Ila … and thank you for hosting! I bring you an unnecessarily mauve and melodramatic version of a song which is actually relatively cheerful when sung by the inimitable Mr. Dean Martin. (P.S. I found that my left thumb is virtually redundant when playing the uke, so, once I'd stemmed the flow of blood, I was good to go!)

AlanDP

A song from Stevie Nicks' first solo album in 1981.

Joko

As I've done before, I misnumbered my entry. It's for 675, Golden SLumbers. Although with its poignant lyrics, it could have fit with the "lost on the way home" of 674 just as well.

Having fun with AI-generated backgrounds for the greenscreen….

After last night's open mic, I was a little concerned about volume, so I wore a really loud shirt. 🇦

Mezcalero

DelGriff Weekly participation seems quite down as well! I imagine it can feel a bit lonely when so few people post videos?

That said, I imagine it will also make it easier to keep up. In the past, I remember seasons having upwards of a 100 videos.

I'm going to do my best to help keep this going, so I'll go and pick a date, but I sure hope we don't get to a point where the host feels participation is so low