SOTU 554 "Swayin' to the tempo of a squeezebox melody" Songs About Instruments

[Ms Bean]

Those put me in mind of something I never knew the existence of until a few years ago, the Nykelharpa. Wish I had more hours in the day to write a song about one of those

Look what popped up in my recommendations earlier this week, and yes, I also tooled with the idea of writing something to get it on the playlist (and again, no time). So, there is a cheap taster option for the DIY type, or a slightly more expensive kit to assenble (IKEA style).

So, I can't post the YouTube in this thread, but you can search for it on YouTube:
Emilie Waldken The cheapest nyckelharpa sounds... how?

 

[joo]

A Collab with Laurie (LSamuels)!
I was raining. I played my ebony baritone ukulele and sang this song by Kimya Dawson. Laurie added harmonies over. I made the drawings in a cold room that smelled of disinfectant. When I looked in the mirror later, I saw an eyelash on my face.

When you get older your body will grow hair
On your legs, your arm pits and even down there
Some people shave theirs off but I let mine grow
Because I'm an animal, because I'm an animal

Cats and dogs and bunnies and frogs
And donkeys and monkeys and possums and skunkies
And turtles and hippos and bears and horses
And people like you and me and tortoises

Sit out in the cold and I sing songs
That hair on my legs is like wearing long junks
I wish that there was hair on my hands and my arms
'Cause I can't wear gloves when I play guitar
No, I can't wear gloves when I play guitar

When you get older your body will grow hair
On your legs, your arm pits and even down there
Some people shave theirs off but I let mine grow
Because I'm an animal and I like being natural
And I don't care about what's fashionable
Because I'm an animal
Because I'm an animal
Because I'm an animal


Thank you, Laurie, for the beautiful harmonies. They brightened up the song!

 

[pabrizzer]

another for the harp
paoriginal

 

[LSamuels]

A Collab with Laurie (LSamuels)!
I was raining. I played my ebony baritone ukulele and sang this song by Kimya Dawson. Laurie added harmonies over. I made the drawings in a cold room that smelled of disinfectant. When I looked in the mirror later, I saw an eyelash on my face.

When you get older your body will grow hair
On your legs, your arm pits and even down there
Some people shave theirs off but I let mine grow
Because I'm an animal, because I'm an animal

Cats and dogs and bunnies and frogs
And donkeys and monkeys and possums and skunkies
And turtles and hippos and bears and horses
And people like you and me and tortoises

Sit out in the cold and I sing songs
That hair on my legs is like wearing long junks
I wish that there was hair on my hands and my arms
'Cause I can't wear gloves when I play guitar
No, I can't wear gloves when I play guitar

When you get older your body will grow hair
On your legs, your arm pits and even down there
Some people shave theirs off but I let mine grow
Because I'm an animal and I like being natural
And I don't care about what's fashionable
Because I'm an animal
Because I'm an animal
Because I'm an animal


Thank you, Laurie, for the beautiful harmonies. They brightened up the song!

Many thanks to Jim for hosting and to Joo for inviting me to collaborate on this delightful song! I'm sorry I haven't been around much lately--- I miss you all!

 

[haberkow]

Add one more for the guitar!

This is a John Hiatt tune, and I watched a clip from one of his concerts with where he said that he was inspired by seeing a video where a musician threw his bass up in the air and, when it came down, it hit him in the head. Crazy. I would have guessed the song was inspired by Pete Townsend, but who's gonna doubt the author?

Anyway, apologies if my uke is going out of tune by the end of the video. I was mucking about with this song this morning and broke my D-string. I restrung but figured I'd let the strings stretch for a couple of days (and probably not contribute this season). But then I ended up at a local beer garden trying their Oktoberfest offer when John Hiatt came over the speakers. So, really, I had no choice...

 

[Canada Jim]

Jug Band Music - learned from the singing of Geoff Muldaur.


Cannon's Jug Stompers

I put my hand on my good gal's knee, she said,
"If you can't play the jug, then you can't play with me."

​

 

[Canada Jim]

Thursday submissions
-I had never heard Drew (UkerDrew) before today, but his Acoustic Guitar submission was super (even though it now makes guitar share the lead with ukulele).
-Brian's paoriginal Tenor Uke put the uke back in the lead.
-Mark gave us a lovely version of Meredith Willson's song from his 1957 play The Music Man, Till There Was You which gave us bells.
-Brian has given us a cool Sopranino Ukulele Blues.
-Rob gave us a unique interpretation of an old favourite with Not Quite Jingle Bells.
-Bob and Paul's duet on Spanish Guitar was great.
-John gave us an original in Chuck Mangione’s Flugelhorn.
-Val's song, I Love A Piano, also made mention of a clarinet, trombone and fiddle.
-John brought the mournful Townes song Marie to us with a verse about the mouth harp. (We differ in what we think Townes meant by "mouth harp".)
-Brian's Bari & Didge in D brought us a sample of didgeridoo.
-Rob's I Got Tanpura Rhythm brings us another weird and wonderful instrument.
-RedPaul gave us two instruments, guitars and trumpets, in When You Walk In The Room.
-Joo and Laurie did a beautiful duet on We're All Animals, wonderfully illustrated by Joo.
-Joo gave us a cool song about her shadow - My Shadow Is A Sloth On Steroids.
-Another neat paoriginal from Brian with Happy Land In The Sky.
-Haberkow has given us a cool rendition of John Hiatt's Perfectly Good Guitar. I agree with the sentiments expressed in the lyrics.
-I added a song with a jug called Jug Band Music.


That brings the score up to:
-Guitars - 13
-Ukuleles - 11
-Piano - 8
-Fiddle -5
-Trumpet - 5
-Drum -4
-Bagpipes - 3
-Banjo - 3
-Harp - 3
-Dulcimer -2
-Zither -2
-Bells - 2
-Clarinet -2
-Trombone -2
-Kazoo - 1
-Dan moi - 1
-Ondes martenot - 1
-Coronet -1
-Cello -1
-Bassoon -1
-Flute -1
-Euphonium -1
-Accordion - 1
-Whistle - 1
-Gong - 1
-Glockenspiel- 1
-Tambourine - 1
-Flugelhorn - 1
-Mouth harp - 1
-Didgeridoo - 1
-Tanpura - 1
-Taishogoto - 1
-Jug - 1


Please let me know if I've missed putting a video on the Play List.

 

[mountain goat]

thank you for this week, Jim!
here's another fun one for you,
lovely ol tune i first learnt many years ago from a
Ruth Crawford Seeger songbook for children.
here we have fiddlers, pipers, drummers, harpers
(and dancers). cheers mate

 

[wee_ginga_yin]

Ripping the pages from a telephone book for percusive effect... Oh and also a burning violin is mentioned. I don't think I will ever become a virtuoso phone book ripping percussionist.

 

[pabrizzer]

this one has flute violin banjo and bones
trad australian song

 

[wee_ginga_yin]

My performace of "When the roll is called up yonder" is stuck at 666 views... this has to be some cosmic joke played by Youtube. Reference is made to the trumpet of the Lord when Gabriel blows his horn to usher in the end times.

Today I just heard from Andrew Morse that Kelly Jo Phelps had peacefully passed away in his sleep at the age of 62. I saw him play at the Corn Exchange in Cambridge, and the whole audience was captivated by his slide guitar playing... he was so talented and had a remarkable soulful voice. Here is his rendition of The Roll... and perhaps a fitting epitaph for an excellent musician that brought joy and wonder and chills to the back of your neck with his unsurpassed musical skills.

 

[wee_ginga_yin]

The song is used to introduce the Quare Fellow play, a story about the occurrences in a prison (in real life Mountjoy Prison where Behan had once been lodged) the day a convict is set to be executed. The triangle in the title refers to the large metal triangle which was beaten daily in Mountjoy Prison to waken the inmates ("The Auld Triangle goes Jingle Jangle"). The triangle still hangs in the prison at the centre where the wings meet on a metal gate. It is no longer used, though the hammer to beat it is mounted beside it. In the original play by Brendan Behan, the song is written as the "old triangle" not "auld triangle".

 

[mountain goat]

Today I just heard from Andrew Morse that Kelly Jo Phelps had peacefully passed away in his sleep at the age of 62. I saw him play at the Corn Exchange in Cambridge, and the whole audience was captivated by his slide guitar playing... he was so talented and had a remarkable soulful voice. Here is his rendition of The Roll... and perhaps a fitting epitaph for an excellent musician that brought joy and wonder and chills to the back of your neck with his unsurpassed musical skills.

i have been a big fan of Kelly Joe Phelps these many years.
very sad to read this.
each death we read about is one closer to our time
but all the while we keep looking forward.

 

[joo]

So I made Jon play this with me today. He did it impromptu as usual. (Thanks so much, Jon!)

I Love a Ukulele (of course!), written in 1930 by A. Fields and F. Hall.

Jon played ukulele(of course!) and sang.
Joo sang harmonies and made the cartoons. And, she also played some exquisite toy hammer.
(it is a little plastic hammer thing that makes a slightly annoying sound when you shake it. The art of playing this instrument is to shake it with the right amount of force(?) to create the least annoying squeak. Also, there is a delay between shaking movement to squeak being made, so it really takes a master to play this in time to any song. Perhaps this object can be added to the list of instruments, Jim...)

 

[hendulele]

I now proclaim John Fogerty the greatest unintentional writer of ukulele songs in the post-WWII era.
Excellent theme, Jim!

Had to change mouth instruments mid-break.

 

[Canada Jim]

I was saddened to hear of Kelly Joe Phelps' passing. It's always tragic to hear of the loss of another great talent, but this deserves a thread of its own.

 

[Oldscruggsfan]

SOTU 554 - Tunes about musical instruments
Thanks, JimYates, for coming up with this very fun category and thank you, Jon (mountaingoat), for the unceasing encouragement and long- distance camaraderie!
MANDOLIN RAIN by Bruce Hornsby & John Hornsby, first released on the vinyl album "That's The Way It Is" in 1986.
Though my cover is an instrumental only solo, the Hornsby's lyrics refer to a whole pile of instruments. Aside, of course, from the title mandolin, there is the odd combo of "banjo" and "wind" (opportunity for scatological humor there) and "bluegrass band". The latter is a catch-all for guitar, doghouse bass, fiddle, Dobro (resonator guitar), washboard, jug, spoons, an occasional bodhran (Irish frame drum), harmonica and jaw harp.
My cover is musically awful, so I won't pretend otherwise by typing, "enjoy". "Endure" is the proper term .
Cheers!

 

[One Man And His Uke]

Today I just heard from Andrew Morse that Kelly Jo Phelps had peacefully passed away in his sleep at the age of 62. I saw him play at the Corn Exchange in Cambridge, and the whole audience was captivated by his slide guitar playing... he was so talented and had a remarkable soulful voice. Here is his rendition of The Roll... and perhaps a fitting epitaph for an excellent musician that brought joy and wonder and chills to the back of your neck with his unsurpassed musical skills.

I was lucky enough to see Kelly Joe at the Irish centre in Leeds, must have been 15-20 years ago now. Just him, his guitar and that wonderful voice of his. Didn’t know he died way back in June. RIP Kelly Joe

 

[Oldscruggsfan]

I was saddened to hear of Kelly Joe Phelps' passing. It's always tragic to hear of the loss of another great talent, but this deserves a thread of its own.

Jim, I agree and your post brings a question to mind. Several years ago bluegrass artist Tim O'Brien wrote a wonderful tune named "Kelly Joe's Shoes" in which he referred to a set of high top sneakers. Any idea whether he was referring to the late Mr. Phelps?

 

[Canada Jim]

Jim, I agree and your post brings a question to mind. Several years ago bluegrass artist Tim O'Brien wrote a wonderful tune named "Kelly Joe's Shoes" in which he referred to a set of high top sneakers. Any idea whether he was referring to the late Mr. Phelps?

I wouldn't doubt it. Here's a comment from Tim O'Brien: "When I heard Kelly Joe the first time, I was amazed how it all made so much sense. His music is a wide world with three hundred and sixty degrees of influence.... Kelly Joe is a musical slight of hand master. He pulls world wide sounds out of his guitar."