George Formby – Why Don’t Women Like Me?
May 26, 2008
George Formby – Why Don\’t Women Like Me? (Chords)
There must be something about the 26th May. Today is the birthday of Mike Dickison, Gary from Ukulelia and Mark Occhionero. Happy Birthday, guys!
It also happens to be the birthday of George Formby. For those of an American persuasion, George Formby is the UK’s version of Tiny Tim: gormless, surprisingly popular and synonymous with the ukulele. Like with Tiny Tim in the US, UK ukulelists get sick of George Formby references whenever the subject of the uke comes up. But looking on the bright side, unlike Tiny Tim, George Formby had some serious uke skills. Most of his songs have a serious solo and it’s well worth any uke player picking up some of his techniques. I quick often skip ahead to the solo when one of his tracks is on; they’re full of interesting syncopations. Matthew Richards has a very well explained tutorial on how to play George Formby’s split stroke here.
George Formby is almost exclusively associated with the banjo ukulele, but he was no stranger to the wooden ukulele. As proved by the clip of Why Don’t Women Like Me?.
Why Don’t Women Like Me? is one of my favourite Formby songs; mostly because it namechecks Lady William Hamilton. You don’t get that with Natasha Beddingfield.
It’s the version in the video, shorter than the recorded version, that I’ve written up in the chords. The first thing to notice is that he’s in D-tuning (which he used pretty much exclusively). If you prefer, you can stay in C-tuning and use the chord shapes that you’re familiar with. Other than that, the chords are pretty straight forward.
The most important thing to remember when playing Formby: don’t come in too early with your grin.
Probably because you’re singing during tea-break George.
Really? I thought all the girls were hot for tea break singers.
Only diet coke breaks unfortunately:(
Andy: I’ve just finished watching the last episode in the first series of The Wire. Excellent stuff. Thanks again.
Now down to work on Down in a Hole.
Oh, Down in a Hole would be marvelous!
@al
brilliant stuff :)
I was going to suggest Down in a Hole a while ag, but i thought the significance would be lost on you at the time.
(I dont know if you know, but a different cover version of the song is used for each of the 4 series)
The significance might have been lost on me but I would have done it. I love the Blind Boys of Alabama. I guessed that they’d have new versions for each when I heard the Tom Waits version at the start.