Flight of the Conchords - Mermaids
August 14, 2007 · Print This Article
Flight of the Conchords - Mermaids (Chords)
I woke up this morning to an excited email from Uke Hunt’s official FotC correspondent Jenny Flame telling me that last Sunday’s episode featured a ukulele song. I immediately dashed over to YouTube, stole the lyrics and started working out the chords.
After Jemaine’s appearance with a ukulele earlier in the series, it was the turn of Bret “Bret Bret” McKenzie (also of the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra) to strum the uke. Although he didn’t bother playing the uke with his left hand (I assume it’s a parody of something).
Once you get passed the intro, the song itself only has two chords. The chords have names that sound like a chemical compound but don’t let that put you of. To play a Bm7, you bar your finger across all the strings at the second fret - make sure your thumb is behind the fingerboard to give you something to press against. The Amaj7 is like a normal A chord but with the g string played at the first rather than second fret.
Once you’ve got that chord change down, the only challenge is singing the song without bursting out laughing.
Thank you!!!! I still prefer the version of this song that they perform on their Folk the World album — lots of fishy puns — but I was thrilled when I heard this uke version and was going to attempt to figure it out myself. You saved me a lot of headache!
Bret has also appeared at NYC’s Ukulele Cabaret!
http://www.ukulelecabaret.com/tenguitars
Oh, excellent stuff. I saw the show last night and wondered when you would hear about the uke appearance–pretty impressive turnaround time. (Is that a stray D in the chord listing?) Also nice to see Bret at the Cabaret; Ten Guitars is a New Zealand campfire standard.
There’s also a performance of Blue Smoke and Haere Mai, along with Ten Guitars, at Ukulele Disco: http://www.ukuleledisco.com/haeremai2
Indigo: There’s a time and a plaice for fish puns and I won’t have them on this blog. They give me a haddock.
Mike: Thanks for pointing out the balls up.
Retrovertigo: Thanks for the vids.
right when i saw this episode i was hoping you would figure it out! i love uke hunt… i love it. love. so much love.
Ha ha. Thanks Joe.
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Could you also do “If you’re into it” from Flight of the Conchords? It’s a great and funny song and simple. The only chords they use are A & C, but the strumming is quite complex for a beginner like me though…