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It’s quite possible that my biggest musical influence is Bagpuss. I was completely insane for Bagpuss when I was little – particularly the music. Songs in general had a really big emotional impact on me as a kid. I had to ban my mum from singing the Spaghetti variant of On Top of Old Smokey because it would make me cry. I couldn’t work out why I cared that a meatball had rolled off a table and it wasn’t until years later than I figured out that it wasn’t the lyrics making me feel sad but the music. Which is a roundabout way of saying that I was massively influenced by the music I heard as a kid and I still love the music in Bagpuss (provided by Sandra Kerr and John Faulkner).
So I was sad to hear, on my birthday, of the death of Bagpuss creator Oliver Postgate. If you’ve no idea who he was, check out Charlie Brooker’s tribute to him. He was such a gent even Russell Brand acted semi-respectfully in his presence. So I’m paying respect to him in the only way I know how: via the medium of ukulele tabs.
It’s a really simple little tune to play. Despite the strumming directions, I’m actually fingerpicking and doing fake strums (picking each string in sequence to sound like a strum) to accentuate the melody notes on the A string. You could just use normal strums but I’d recommend using your thumb to give it a warmer sound.
I am the right age and nationality to fully appreciate this – thanks :D
I was also a huge bagpus fan as a kid. My house is littered with bagpus videos &dvds as at least one member of family buys me all the episodes for christmas each year
How about some trumpton/camberwick green next? – I reckon theres some groovy finger picking to be had ;)