Simple instruments yet complex rhythms from two street performers of the late 1920s. Carl Scott and Eddie Thomas demonstrate that all you need is a ukulele and some household items to make exciting music. Bit hard to do this with a modern coffee pot and washboards are not easy to find these days. But with a bit of imagination you can make music using all kinds of ordinary items without lot’s of expensive technology.
Ukulele songs about ukuleles. This is a great genre for groups so I thought I’d have a look on the net to see how many I could find. There are a number of songs from the 1920’s and 30s but not so many from later periods, unless they are just unrecorded, unavailable on the net or only found in ukulele music books.
From the early days of the uke, some of the songs mentioned on the Ukulele Hunt website (Ukulele Songs) are Ukulele Moon and Ukulele Island, but I could not find them in cyberspace. Pity, they sounded interesting.
One of the most famous songs from the early period that is still madly popular is of course Ukulele Lady. A great live version by Bette Midler (not the distorted video version) has disappeared from YouTube but here is a fun one by the Muppets.
Amusing songs about the ukulele were performed by those stalwarts of the 30s and 40s, George Formby and Cliff Edwards.
Here’s George doing With My Little Ukulele In My Hand from the movie Off The Dole (1935)
Another funny song is I Did It With My Little Ukulele sung be Cliff “Ukulele Ike” Edwards in the 1933 movie Take A Chance. It contains a typical flash back sequence of the period with stereotypical cannibals and hula dancers.
Recent songs about the ukulele are harder to find. There are plenty of new songs written for the ukulele, like Charlie Roe’s Ukulele Song and Vance Joy’s Riptide, but these do not refer to the ukulele in the lyrics.
A good one I did find is Ukulele Central written and performed by Fairport Convention in 2010. It gives a short hilarious history of the ukulele.
Most ukulele players by now would have heard the fabulous Amanda Palmer’s Ukulele Anthem. Here she is performing it outside the Sydney Opera House.
Another fairly recent song is A Ukulele and You by Jim Berloff (2005), one of the compilers of The Daily Ukulele and other song books. Here is a version performed by Ukester Brown:
If you wanted, it would be relatively easy to adapt a song yourself or you could write an original song about ukuleles.
I am sure that there must be more ukulele songs about the ukulele out there so have a look around. It really does take you on a small journey into the history of the uke.
After a bout of antarctic weather, Cold and Flu season has struck in Melbourne. We need some ukulele fun to cheer us up as we sneeze and cough. Here’s that lovely little Japanese band, U900 to make us smile and forget the winter aches and pains.
To relieve post Federal Election blues in Oz, here is fun video from our neighbours in New Zealand, the delightful Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra.
Now the Easter break is upon us it is time to get in the holiday spirit and kick back, relax and play your ukulele. Gracie Allen had the right idea in the 1939 movie Honolulu. In this clip she is playing her ukulele and singing the song “Honolulu” to Eleanor Powell. It then gets really crazy and they go “tapping” all over the deck. So Hollywood but great fun.
Play your ukulele on Monday the 14th March to celebrate the Labour Day Holiday in Victoria.
We have the Eight Hour Movement of 1856 to thank for introducing the eight hour day to Victoria. The group advocated 8 hours of work, 8 hours of recreation and 8 hours of rest. So let us celebrate those 8 hours of recreation that gives us the time and energy to play our ukuleles.
In 2015 a happy ukulele song really brightened up the morning journey to work for these commuters in Perth, Australia. What a great way to start the working day.
It’s still summer here in Melbourne and in places where it is winter, you have the summer to look forward to.
baysideukes.com 