Cory McAbee (Stingray Sam) – Lullaby Song (Chords)

Cory McAbee – Lullaby Song (Chords)

Here’s a thing. I detest musicals. I would rather have my testicles violently assaulted with a rusty hacksaw than sit through five minutes of Mamma Mia, or Sound of Music or Grease (and everyone who says I enjoy having my testicles violently assaulted with a rusty hacksaw is lying). Yet three of my all time favourite films are musicals (American Astronaut, Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? and now Stingray Sam).

Stingray Sam is the follow-up to American Astronaut but only in the sense that they share the same space-cowboy musical setting. You don’t need to know the story of American Astronaut to watch Stingray Sam. And Stingray Sam is probably the better starting point. It’s not quite so idiosyncratic.

Not that it’s without idiosyncrasies. For starters, it’s made to be watched on computers, iphones, toasters etc. It’s divided into six short parts each with its own song. And two of those songs are uke songs (which gives me an excuse to blather on about it). You can Episode 1 on the site. And I recommend you do so. Partly because it’s brilliant and partly so you know what I’m talking about when I say, “You got olive juice on my asking stick.”

You can also listen to the first of the ukulele tracks, Lullaby Song. The song is played in D-tuning and, befitting of a lullaby, it’s pretty simple. The only chords are D, D7 and G. The only exception is a discordant part in the loud, unlullaby-like instrumental section.

Suggested Strumming

For the verses you do half strums. So you strum the G and C strings together. Then you strum the E and A strings (all down strums). In between verses, he’s doing all full down strums.

Buy Stingray Sam

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19 Comments

  1. J-Hob September 28th, 2009 10:10 am

    I fellow musicals detester, we should form a society!

    Although I do like Spinal Tap, which you could argue was a musical. maybe.

  2. Donnie Bubbles September 28th, 2009 3:25 pm

    Sweet! How about “Hey Boy” from The American Astronaut for slide ukulele if you are in a McAbee tabbing mood?

    ps – I figure every “musical hater” can name at least three musicals they like…

  3. Mary Allison September 29th, 2009 2:51 am

    Thank you for posting this! I haven’t seen Stingray Sam yet, but I absolutely fell in love with The American Astronaut when I saw it a couple of months ago.

    I second Donnie Bubbles–“Hey Boy” might be fun on ukulele!

  4. LonnaB September 29th, 2009 5:46 pm

    I’ve got to agree with you about the musicals.

    Never makes sense to me- I don’t break out in song and dance in the middle of my day.

    Though I guess maybe I should.

  5. Woodshed September 29th, 2009 9:15 pm

    J-Hob: Spinal Tap definitely counts. That makes four.

    Donnie: I might give it a try.

    Mary: You have to check out Stingray Sam when you get the chance.

    Lonna: My life would definitely be more interesting if I broke into song occasionally.

  6. Kid Keane March 5th, 2010 4:20 am

    What about the “Peg Legged Father”? Could you tab that one up? God, it’s amazing. Thanks, I adore this site!

  7. Woodshed March 11th, 2010 10:40 pm

    Kid Keane: I do have it mostly written up. May well stick it on the blog at some point.

  8. Hookeye May 22nd, 2010 7:13 pm

    Great movie, great songs. Thanks for “Lullaby”! I want to second the request for “Peg-legged Father”.

    (I too adore this site)

  9. Woodshed May 24th, 2010 2:11 pm

    Hookeye: Thanks.

  10. Stephen May 26th, 2010 1:43 am

    I like musicals. Especially “The Music Man” and “Mary Poppins”.

  11. Stephen May 27th, 2010 4:40 am

    I forgot to mention in my message above… This is a great song! Thanks for posting!

  12. Woodshed May 27th, 2010 8:49 am

    Stephen: Those are the sort of musicals I can’t stand.

  13. MickeyMarie September 19th, 2010 2:09 am

    Very sweet…Now I can sing this to my grand-babies!!! Thank you. Thank you

  14. Woodshed September 20th, 2010 10:11 pm

    MickeyMarie: Your grand-babies are going to grow up to be awesome.

  15. sailbboats January 7th, 2011 3:16 pm

    I am glad to see some fans of Coreys work! I’ve liked everything I’ve seen by him.

    I am in the same musical hating boat though…
    except Once…which is a semi musical kinda.

  16. Woodshed January 16th, 2011 11:42 am

    sailbboats: I think Once is nice.

  17. Clare September 29th, 2011 12:58 pm

    Hi, I love this song, how do you do strum the bit thats very un-lullabyish ?

  18. brittain September 13th, 2013 1:59 am

    This is great! Love this guy!!!

  19. Woodshed September 13th, 2013 10:52 am

    brittain: Me too!

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