Another song added to my Cliff Edwards Project folder, this one a very catchy Irving Berlin number also performed by Doris Day and many others. Unfortunately, the 1927 original includes some racially offensive lyrics, and later versions changed those to terms which didn't age as well as they might have hoped, so I've had to make a couple of very small tweaks. For that reason I'm not linking to Cliff's performance.
I restringed it and tied some thinner nylon cord as frets, like you would tie gut frets on lutes. They're roo sliperry to stay in place but I think it's starting to sound more palatable and I can play chords now!
(Tuning is mandolin's GDEA)
The wind today
Is strong and relentless
Throws dust in the air
Blows trash against fences
Puts grit in your teeth
And deadens your senses
The wind today
Is strong and relentless
Hold on
When the wind blows like that
Hold on
You better hold on to your hat
In today's video, I'm taking a look at two dances from Thoinot Arbeau's Orchésographie: the Bransle de la Torche and the Gavotte. I've arranged the two dances as a medley for ukuleles and classical guitar.
After trying unsuccessfully to find the sheet music for this tune over several years, yesterday I spotted it on a university archive: music from 1928 entered the public domain in America this year, so many of these wonderful collections have been able to allow access to songs like this one. And it includes ukulele chords!
It's not much remembered today, so here's a performance by Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians:
The album I played on is out! 165 of us in total, playing ukulele and singing... no, don't worry, it doesn't sound anything like what you might expect from that description!
Ech, niełatwo jest wracać do ukulele, zwłaszcza, gdy nigdy się dobrze nie grało. Z jednej strony podoba mi się, że brzmienia Siouxsie and The Banshees nie da się sprowadzić do Em + Am + C + G/D (niepotrzebne skreślić), z drugiej... łat de fakt, co to za taby, czemu wszystko na barach, co to jest Bb7sus4??? 😅 #ukulele#muzyka@postpunk
Some more music for you - I was one of about 100 ukulele players on James Hill's #UkeHeads. The album comes out Friday, and there's a single out today with a video premiering in about ten minutes here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eLr2uEE2JY
Determined to get something done today, however minor, after long covid saw me sleeping the morning away, so I've typed up another sheet for my Cliff Edwards project.
Lots of chords, as was the fashion back then, but not difficult to see where a few can be dropped; and it's not too bad to play through as it stands, in part because of the moderate tempo. Here's a link to Cliff performing it:
“Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you?”
(I've seen "ukalele" and "ukelele" in print before, but this is a new one to me. Saves on printers' ink, I suppose. The picture was posted on the Ukulele Underground forum by Jerryc41 earlier today and I'm pinching it).
I'm not suggesting that search engines are getting less useful (search engines are absolutely getting less useful), but when I was looking up something about ADF#B ukulele tuning I was directed to a publication about "Ár nDraíocht Féin (ADF), an international fellowship devoted to creating a public tradition of Neopagan Druidry"…