We were out in the countryside with friends one day a few years ago. I can't now remember where we'd been, but on the way home I realised that we would soon be passing close to a place I used to go to with my father when I was a child. Dad enjoyed fishing - coarse fishing, that is fishing for freshwater fish that are not game fish... roach, dace, tench, perch.... and he would take any chance to go fishing in the summer to lakes and particularly on the River Severn. I realised that day that we would be going past Atcham, a hamlet on the Severn... it had been one of Dad's favourite fishing spots, and I used to love to go along. I learned the names of the fish that he caught, but most of all I loved to just potter and play along the river bank, looking at the flowers, the dragonflies and the butterflies, enjoying the sun and the air and the country sounds.
I wanted to see it again - to see that riverbank by the old stone bridge, for the first time in fifty years. Long-Suffering-Husband and our friends waited for me in the local hostelry while I walked across the bridge and down to the riverside. I walked along the river bank, saw what had changed, what had stayed the same. It was a very profound and unsettling experience that I was not prepared for. Although the grass had grown very long on that riverside meadow, and the bushes at the edge of the bank were larger, seeming not to have been cut back recently, that riverbank and the views around it seemed at the same time to be unchanged, it was like being taken back in an instant to my childhood - it was as if, if I had turned round suddenly I could have seen my Dad sitting by the river, quietly watching his float, waiting for a bite. It actually literally took my breath away. When I rejoined the others I couldn't speak, could hardly breathe, and I admit the tears flowed. Dad was gone too young, in his fifties, a victim of cancer. When he died I was still in my teens.
How precious those simple days of childhood were.
Last autumn I started to write a song in tribute to Dad, and to those special times together. I left it unfinished until a couple of months ago, when I managed to complete it.
The plan for yesterday was to go to this month's meeting of the Stourbridge Branch of the GFS, the George Formby Society. The weather was gorgeous so we decided to take another trip to the Severn before going from there straight to the meeting. So we went to Arley, a real quiet beauty spot on the river between Bewdley and Bridgnorth, and another one of Dad's favoured fishing places. It was heavenly... no traffic noise, just the sound of splashing of the shallow waters over the stones in the river, breeze in the trees, birds calling, and the quiet chatter of some people fishing just the other side of some bushes on the riverbank. We sat there quietly, drinking in the tranquillity for about half an hour. I said to LHS, "I think I'll sing my fishing song at the meeting tonight...."
And I did. First time I've sung it for an audience - I think they liked it!
So here it is, my song for Dad... video'd just after I finished writing it.
Thanks for dropping in! Do drop in again!
(You might notice that this is on a new YouTube channel that I've started just for my own songs. There's only a few on there right now, I'll be adding more of my songs as time goes on....)
December made me pick myself up by the bootstraps, it always does. Busy, busy. No time to be sad or to dwell on sad things.
Christmas week with our grown-up children - totally delightful! So many blessings to count, fully mindful that many are not so lucky.
Ukulele gifts - oh yes! A "proper" metronome, as requested, from LSH, and earrings like musical notes; a funny ukulele mug among the gifts from our daughter, I should post photos but I'm not THAT organised at the moment!
And there was another very special gift that just kept growing - in the days leading up to Christmas I had a message from one of my friends among the Seasonistas of the Ukulele Underground Forum - Linda, "lelouden", wanted to video a cover of the carol I wrote two years ago, "Tread Softly To The Stable"... for Season 253 of the Ukulele. I was thrilled that someone liked it enough to want to cover it... Linda sings and plays beautifully and does the most gorgeous videos; I couldn't wait to watch it. I hadn't had time to take part that week myself, and when I checked the Season playlist I was astounded and bowled over to find that Linda had not been the first to do my song! It was Steve in York (Steve Phillips) who had done it first. And altogether, over these last few days, six Seasonistas have covered my carol!
To think that so many like it enough to do this made me feel quite dizzy! It's quite a compliment and very humbling. And I have to say it's a lovely feeling! Brian in Australia (pabrizzer) has done three beautiful videos of it now, all different, though he seems to make a point of always wearing the same shirt and hat to do it! One in 2014 when I first wrote it, one last year and again last week. How much I appreciate his support for that song I do hope he knows!
Well - a version from Steve in the English north-west, from Linda in the west of the USA; Linda on the eastern seaboard of USA; Alan in Texas, USA; (two versions!) Brian in Australia and Wim in Holland! Please forgive me for raving but I am, as we say here, "chuffed to death!" Yes that's a great thing to be! How kind and generous they all are to share this!
One thought that kept going through my mind was that I'd never done a video of it myself that I was happy with. The 2014 one was rushed, hurried, done on Christmas Eve waiting for the family to arrive, and I forgot that I'd written a fourth verse. I thought it high time that I did it again, my best effort for now. So last night I did that. I've made a ">playlist of the different performances of it, my new one is at the top. It's really interesting to listen to the different versions because no two are the same; everyone brings their own interpretation and puts something of themselves into it, and the melody varies slightly as well. My friend Alan Thornton ("decaturcomp") in Atlanta did a beautiful version two years ago and of course I have included that!
As the year draws to a close, this is a brilliant way to end the year for me. Heartfelt thanks to my friends in the Seasons of the Ukulele, and wishing them and all of you a happy, healthy and Ukafrolicking 2017!
Thanks everyone for dropping in, this time and all times - and see you next year!
I can't believe it's so long since I've posted. Two and a half months... well, it has been an eventful two and a half months. And it's definitely time I wrote something on here!
The day I last posted, LSH and I jetted off for a dose of Mediterranean sunshine before winter set in, so that was over a week that I wasn't around. Little Blue Uke accompanied me to a beautiful Greek island, where the ambience around the hotel was so peaceful that I didn't DARE play my uke outdoors! Seriously! But I did play it, in the privacy of our room; there's nothing quite like playing a uke to help you relax and divert the mind away from troublesome trends of thought.
Once back home I peeked in at the Ukulele Underground Forum from time to time, and in the Seasons of the Ukulele contest at Halloween the theme was songs about candy - think trick or treat! Here's my original song that I wrote for that, "Come and Share Candy Kisses"
I hope you like it!
Just a few days after I wrote that song, we had a bereavement. My only brother lost a long battle for his life. Although he had been very, very sick for a long time, and the end was expected, it still came very hard. I haven't felt any real enthusiasm for doing anything since then, and that includes playing ukulele, I have to confess; for the first time in years it's been just too easy to leave my ukes alone. And this blog, I'm afraid. But I know this loss of appetite for life is a normal part of grief and loss, and I know it will get better with time. Indeed, the fact that I'm sitting here writing this now is a step forward.
The November convention of the George Formby Society took place just two weeks after we lost my brother. I was still feeling very raw - but we went, and because of the fantastic people there, I enjoyed it, it did me good. And I was busy. Together with my good pal Kate Howard, I was a concert organiser for the Sunday afternoon. That was a first for me! Although that was less than a month ago, it feels that it was rather longer than that and the weekend seemed to go by in a bit of a blur. I think life gets like that when your mind is reeling from unpleasant events. What I really remember is the warmth of the people around me. That counts for an awful lot when you're hurting. Did I take photos? I can't remember. Possibly not. But I will scrounge some and put them here for you just as soon as I can.
And because I prefer to write blog posts that are not over-long, I'll leave it at that for now.
And I will try to post again before too long!
Perhaps next time I'll tell you some news about my Kiwaya KTS-4! Yes, that's what I'll do. Watch this space!
I call my song-writing efforts "catching fairies"... it was interesting last night to hear Barry Gibb talking live on BBC's "One Show" about his songs, how he would have a snippet come to him in the middle of the night and have to get up and hunt for his voice recorder to get it down... I had to smile because that's exactly how it is for me. A snippet of words and tune and if I don't catch it and hold it, there and then, and record it somehow, like a dream it's gone in no time. Just a whisp. A fairy.
Now I'm no Barry Gibb, but only yesterday morning I tried to count up the fairies... the snippets on my phone, (15) the snippets on my computer (24) and far too many to count in weird places through my song notebook. I thought to myself, there are too many of theses barely-started songs - the next one that comes I'm going to pin down today... and I did.
What set me off was an photo of myself that my husband, my LSH took when I was still in my teens, late 60's... I hadn't seen this pic for such a long time, it was on a slide, not a print - and it set me off with wistful thoughts, how it felt to be young with hopefully, a lifetime in front of you.
Here's the song, I hope you like it... I was singing a little quietly, I think.
It's so long since John Bianchi posted a uke video that I really was afraid that perhaps he wasn't playing any more - too busy blowing his trumpet with a band! Well, clarinet and saxophone, actually! Multi-talented! So to see this video of John singing one of his original songs with his vintage Martin was a lovely and very welcome surprise. And it's a corker of a song! I enjoyed it so much, I watched it twice over right away.
John excels at the songs of the 20's, 30's and 40's, he plays these songs so well and his voice is perfectly suited - I've been posting his videos on here for as long as I've been writing this blog - very nearly four years! His playing, on banjo-uke as well as wooden uke, has been an inspiration to me from the word "go".
Now of course - this is an original song which takes its style from and pays great tribute to those old songs from way-back-when.... and you know what? I think it's every bit as good. It deserves to be played all over the place! I do believe he has a few more like this in the pipe-line - and I can't wait to hear them!
On the 1st of January last year I posted a new year song I had written for my husband. Well, this time of year seems to be the time that I find it easiest to write - and yesterday I wrote a new year song for the friends who made us so welcome in Hawaii back in May.
So this is for Greg Wilson, and his good friend, my good friend, who would rather remain incognito! Here it is.... My goodness, I do wish I could sing it rather better. However, it came from the heart. I hope you like it.
(Played on my DJ Morgan spruce and maple soprano. When Barry Maz of Gotaukulele blog last mentioned one of these, he called it "sublime".)
There you go. As always, I feel and fear that the melody has come from somewhere else. If you know where, please do tell!
Thanks for dropping in... I'm enjoying writing my songs and I have one or two more to share with you. I've also got used to the way of working on them that seems to work for me - and I'll be telling you about that shortly, too. Thanks for your interest - I really do appreciate your company on here!
Talking about writing original songs on ukulele, here's one just written by Rachel E Manke, one of my favourite ukulele artistes! A three chord song - always a treat to learn and play - I IV V7... (or here, G, C, D7)
I love the sentiment there - if anyone understands just what matters in this life, Rachel does! And she knows how to put it over - with confidence and great style! Search the tag cloud at the bottom for more posts on Rachel... she's the bees' knees....
December, as always, has been hectic, and will continue to be so right up to Christmas. It’s always the same; in October I start to get the miseries because summer has gone and we are into the long, dark fall into winter; November sees me cleaning windows and glass to try and make them sparkle and lighting candles to try to displace the murk - and I start to do small Christmassy tasks like buying cards, then December arrives and all is chaos – just too busy to be the slightest bit grumpy. And much activity has been uke or music-related. I don’t really know where to start, to tell you all about it!
I know…. One lovely thing was that in November LSH (Long-Suffering-Husband) and I went to see the wonderful folk-rock band Steeleye Span in concert. Maddy Prior, my personal goddess of song was front of house afterwards, and as Maddy remembers everyone who has ever been to her singing workshops at Stones Barn in the Scottish borders, she greeted me warmly, and - wait for it - I told her how pleased I was to see her playing a ukulele in one the band’s numbers! This is new, this really new! Maddy said that, yes, the uke is just great for song-writing…
Well, I discovered that myself, about eighteen months ago, when I was inspired by my friend’s daughter’s beautiful wedding in Scotland, and wrote a song about it. My next attempts were for a competition on the Ukulele Underground, “Write a Christmas song…” I wrote two songs, a novelty song about snowmen and a carol. I was thrilled to bits when the carol won – what a Christmas present! The lovely man in Australia who hosted the competition did his own video of my carol, a version I really love – he does it so much better than I do… there’s a link to it on the page “My own songs”.
And that brings me to the thing that has made my day, that moved me and made me weep this morning. I had a message on my own video of the carol, “Tread Softly To The Stable”, a kind soul saying he liked it and would use it with his uke group next year – and that he had seen it because of the version posted by “pabrizzer” on the Ukulele Underground today… now, it was pabrizzer in Australia who held that competition and chose my carol, and he has indeed recorded another version of it accompanied by beautiful cello and a lovely vocal by members of his family, which I’m sharing here. I feel so honoured and moved by this and it made me cry. So I have to, just have to, share it with you…..
You know, I would never have written this song if it were not for the ukulele... the reasons for this will make a good subject for more posts!
Thank you for dropping in, thanks for reading, thanks for watching, I appreciate your company. Please come back, I'll be here soon.
Here's a singer/songwriter with immense talent, and I'm thrilled to be posting this on here today. Paul Culkin from York. That's York, England, not New York, US! He has a way with a lyric that's inspired, and has written some of the funniest songs I've ever heard... can play a uke, too! I tell you from experience, he holds an audience in the palm of his hand. Here he is with his new Martin, and a new song. In case you're wondering, as I was, whether this is about a particular artist, it isn't.... but there were quite a few of these around in the "glam rock" era. Please enjoy.....
I'm hoping this will prove to be the first of a flush of new songs from Paul - it's wonderful stuff - this may be the first Paul Culkin song to appear on here, but I promise it won't be the last!
It's funny, I'd been thinking, these last couple of days, that we hadn't seen a new video by John Bianchi of New York for quite a little while - it even went through my mind that maybe he wasn't playing ukulele so much these days, there are other instruments, after all.... then this morning this popped up. And I have to share it while the holiday season is still with us. What a joy! It's his original song, written last year... boy, would I be proud if I had written this! Full of wit. Please enjoy - The Holiday Creep, by John Bianchi, one of my very, very favourite singers and players - and songwriters!
About six months ago, dear readers, I was moved to write a song. My first song. I'd been toying with the idea for a while but never tied anything up. I've kept that first song an unlisted video, it isn't public - but I did resolve to write more. The spur to do it came in November, when one of the great Seasonistas of the Ukulele Underground, "Pabrizzer" decided to hold a Christmas season songwriting competition. I banged in an entry, and with all the creative juices flowing I wrote another song the next day, a traditional carol - but didn't get time to do an entry video until Christmas Eve. I did a hurried video and entered it - and on Christmas Day Pabrizzer announced that my carol was the winner! I was over the moon, so elated - it's true that success is its own reward, but I am looking forward to my prize arriving in the post! Pabrizzer said some lovely things about my carol and did a lovely cover of it, I was so thrilled... please watch that, you can find it here... My lovely family Christmas was made even more special, and I'll never forget it. Thank you Brian!
New Year Love Song is my latest. Dedicated to LSH (Long Suffering Husband) and to all Long Suffering Husbands and Wives, partners of ukulele players everywhere! Not a perfect performance - concentrating on the fingerpicking, voice not loud enough - and if you think you spot a line of melody or lyric that you've heard somewhere else, please tell me - because these things go in unconsciously, you just never know. But I enjoyed writing these songs - and working out the right chords to play is awfully good for practising playing by ear!
I hope you enjoy it....
Thanks for dropping in - I'll try to do some more catching up very soon!
Time, time, time, never enough of it, so much to tell you about, I feel like the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland... but I just had to make time amid all the Christmas preparations to share this video with you. Zoë Bestel is a young up-and-coming singer-songwriter from the north of England who is now rapidly making a name for herself on the ukulele scene. I've just looked up when I first posted about Zoë here, and it was 17th October 2012, when she was still at school. She has continued to rise and shine, making her big uke festival debut at the Great Northern Ukulele Festival in Huddersfield in September this year.
Her latest song dropped into my inbox the other day - everything about this video stopped me in my tracks and I had to immediately watch and listen again. She has the most gorgeous voice. Add to that the talent of her own writing and the lovely north of England winter footage..... well, watch it for yourself. I think Zoë Bestel is going a long way......
Thanks for dropping in! So many things to tell you... I'll try to get back to you soon!
I don't know why, but it always gives me huge pleasure to hear an original song or instrumental played on a ukulele by the composer. I think perhaps part of it is the feeling that the ukulele itself is part of the inspiration, the instrument is such a joy to play.... and I think the very nature of it just brings out the whole musician in us.
And here's another.... this song, written and sung here by Doug Frink, has a definite jazzy vibe about it to me. The chords are certainly jazz chords, and the song includes quite a few of those diminished chords that give such a 30's sound. I love it. Dedicated to his wife - that's the way to do it!
I asked Doug to tell me about himself and the song. He writes:
"Although I've been an amateur musician most of my life, I started getting serious about the ukulele about 5 years ago after taking it along on a backpacking trip to Yosemite. My brother-in-law brought a small guitar, and we had some great fireside jams, and I decided to really learn to play. Along the way I discovered Ukulele Underground, and started writing songs and posting videos to YouTube, it's really been great fun.
This particular song developed one day when I was just noodling around. That descending progression seemed to just sort of fall into place, and I had most of the tune worked out in about half an hour. It reminded me of something from the 30s or 40s, so I added some old cultural references into the lyrics, and what could be more retro than a song about being in love? I forget how the tap dancing and baseball bat sound effects came to me, but they do seem to add to the fun."
I wish I could do that... one of these days, maybe I'll try....
Here it is - the song, the Three Mermaids instrumental, now with words, written by Ganga Karmoka, and inspired by a Moore Bettah uke, crafted by the luthier Chuck Moore in Hawaii - a uke with mermaids swimming down the fingerboard... for pics and more info, see the post I did on Ganga's instrumental, a few days ago.
In Greek mythology, the sirens were three sea nymphs who lured sailors to their deaths on the rocks. To me, Ganga's singing in this song is so evocative of that...
How I wish I had a half-decent voice...
Oh - and in this video Ganga is playing her new (new to her) Moore Bettah tenor.
We have some first-class luthiers of the ukulele in the UK also... watch this space!
"Be yourself and live your dreams!" This excellent advice is the mantra of a young up-and-coming singer/songwriter called Zoë Bestel, from the north of England. I watched this video of her live performance of her song "Butterflies" in Glasgow, and knew I just had to share it with you. It's hard to believe that Zoë is still only fourteen! With her beautiful voice and her gift for songwriting, she should go far - read more about her and see more videos on her own blog here.
I have great admiration for anyone who can write their own songs - and play them. Well, meet Michelle Carter, of Yorkshire. She got a ukulele for her 30th birthday and has fallen in love with playing - and song-writing.
She writes "I've just been messing about with writing songs to try and make my husband laugh.... I'm currently writing up my PhD so playing the ukulele is a brilliant way to engage a different part of my brain when I've just lost the plot looking at statistics all day, it's also an excellent way to procrastinate when I can't be bothered to write anything!"
A girl after my own heart, there, then!
She says that this song was inspired by a story in the Yorkshire Evening Post (online) about a horse that was found living in a terraced house in Armley in Leeds. "Not to be confused with other horse related songs such as "wild horses", "crazy horses" and "my lovely horse"."
Michelle has posted three of her songs on Youtube. There is something in her style and way with words that reminds me of Victoria Wood and of Jake Thackray..... remember him? The great American songwriter, too - Tom Lehrer. Listen to her songs, and see what you think.....
I asked Michelle how she went about writing her songs. This is what she said:
"I have no idea how I wrote the songs to be honest usually just strumming and messing around. So with urban horse, I’d had the idea that this could be an amusing concept and then I started strumming some chords that sounded good together and the lyrics came after that. I had an idea for a new song the other day and wrote some notes but I found it impossible to write anything without strumming the chords first. The song about washing up came after my husband James and I were watching Jamie Oliver’s 30 minute meals and he turned to me completely seriously and said “I bet he doesn’t do his own washing up” and it just really made me laugh, because he looked like he was really troubled by that thought. So for me it goes idea, chords and then lyrics last."
