Aug/25/09
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Katzenjammer – Cherry Pie (Chords)

Katzenjammer – Cherry Pie (PDF)

That settles it, I am moving to Norway.

Judging by the new songs that are showing up, Katzenjammer’s next album is going to be a killer. I’ve been waiting for a decent recording of this song to show up for a while. Although the clarity hasn’t helped my lyric transcribing skills any. And it doesn’t help that my cherry pie cooking knowledge isn’t up to much either. So, as always when I work them out myself, the lyrics are incomplete and not to be trusted.

The song kicks off with a nice little chord trick which has chromatic ascending notes on the C string. Then it’s barre chords moving up the neck. At one point in the song she does use the open chord shapes for C and D. So you could do that if you prefer.

There’s a ukulele solo in this version of the song – but it’s too quite to figure out what’s actually going on.

I suppose it’s only appropriate that a song about food ends with a scat verse. The chords in brackets are passing chords (so just use one strum to play them).

They also did Ain’t No Thang in the session. Which is a song I can’t get enough of.

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45 Comments

  1. todd August 25th, 2009 6:14 pm

    when you first posted their video a few weeks (months?…can’t remember) ago…

    i about fell out of my chair…..the boat video….amazing stuff….

    cheers,

    todd

  2. Armelle August 25th, 2009 8:30 pm

    Brilliant ! I love Katzenjammer. Very glad you did the chords for this song!
    I’ve tried to figure out what came after pinch too… but it’s really difficult to make out what they are saying. I bet there’s a hot spot at 0:34 on the video YouTube Insight now :)
    I’ll see if my Norwegian cookbook can help ;)

  3. Woodshed August 25th, 2009 10:10 pm

    todd: That song is incredible. It’s officially the most listened to song on my iPod.

    Armelle: Glad I’m not the only one struggling with that bit.

  4. ronhale August 25th, 2009 10:41 pm

    Humbleuker Jeff, uses this video with its three-stringed domra & bass balalaika, as an excuse to send people to Three-string Guitars – Primal Americana (www.3-string-guitar.com). The site specializes in 3-string cigar box amplified guitars, which I never even knew existed until last night, but am now a fan of. Videos onsite to convert the wary who still think a guitar, especially blues slide guitar, needs six strings.

    Dug a little bit deeper into one of the videos & found one with Marcy Marxer demonstrating a prototype of a cello banjo. Not sure I like the sound, but I did like the sound of her 6-string amplified cigar box guitar on a different video.

  5. Paul August 25th, 2009 11:35 pm

    0:34
    pinch in a min?
    pinch in a ming?
    pinch o’ nutmeg?
    Damned if I know. Great song though, love it.

  6. George Stone August 26th, 2009 8:16 am

    AWESOME!!!!
    This vocal harmony with the ukuleles fit so so well.
    Make me think I’m in a night club in 1920 with lot of gangsters and tobacco girls. Nice dream, I will buy them album.
    Great,
    And of course you Al Wood, the nº1 Ukulele Tabber
    GS

  7. Woodshed August 26th, 2009 8:25 am

    ronhale: Seasick Steve does some great things with a 3-string guitar. Perhaps 4 strings is wildly excessive.

    Paul: Must be some obscure Norwegian ingredient.

    George: Thanks. The album is a bit of a mixed bag (this one’s not on it) but it’s definitely very adventurous and a lot of fun.

  8. Fake Name Stevie August 26th, 2009 9:34 am

    What is it with ukulele music and mindlessly inane lyrics? It’s like a nightmarish flashback to primary school singalongs.

    That Shelley O’brien album you posted about on Monday for example:

    “You’re making pancakes in your underwear
    Tossing them so they flip through the air.
    We’ll eat in the backyard
    Where the sky opens wi-ide.
    You, me and the birds
    Sharing breakfast outside.”

    I mean, really? It must be some kind of sick joke. I just has to be. I could fart a better lyric than that.

    Compare O’Brien’s album or this bloody baking song to something like Sophie Madeline or Kate Micucci’s albums and they’re not in the same league. They’re not even close. Giving a pretty girl a ukulele and some talent does not necessarily mean that she has anything even remotely interesting to sing about.

  9. byjimini August 26th, 2009 10:15 am

    Fantastic! They just look like they want to have fun, which is the most important thing for a band to have IMO. Glad to hear of a new album, was frightened these lot would disappear overnight.

  10. Woodshed August 26th, 2009 10:19 am

    Stevie: I disagree. I think there should be more songs about day-to-day stuff. I love the old traditional songs about threshing machines and pegging awls. Besides, like those songs, this one is entirely about sex.

    byjimini: They certainly seem to have enough ideas to keep them going for quite a while.

  11. byjimini August 26th, 2009 10:33 am

    Stevie: You can give talent?

  12. todd August 26th, 2009 2:22 pm

    ‘Stevie: I disagree. I think there should be more songs about day-to-day stuff. I love the old traditional songs about threshing machines and pegging awls…’ -woodshed

    ha! preach!…..

    songsmith’s have their place…(steve earle, buddy miller, and a whole lot of others)

    but come on…what about melody, simplicity, and a lifting up of what some would deem ‘mundane’ or even ‘silly’ that has it’s place for sure….

    although ‘farting’ a better lyric would be classic…..

    and what’s wrong with ‘primary school sing alongs?’ ;)

    have fun,

    todd

  13. Iain August 26th, 2009 9:04 pm

    I salute your braveness Steve. However, pretty ladies singing about pud is what the world needs. You must realise this!

  14. Mary Allison August 27th, 2009 2:27 pm

    I don’t think that just because this song seems simple on the outside it doesn’t have any worth. If you didn’t bob your head and find yourself humming this later, I wonder if you have any fun left in you!
    Even though this isn’t one of my favorite songs, it was cute, for sure, and seemed to be a blast to play.

  15. Nick Bardy-Chivor August 27th, 2009 9:04 pm

    A huge…mungous slice of Bliss…say no more…

  16. Joseph Hoh August 28th, 2009 8:02 am

    Hey Al,
    You might want to know that the PDF is missing a few things.

    Bbm chord shape is missing
    Let you belly say when > your

    Many thanks for putting this together. I am going to get a few folks together to play this.

  17. Iverrrrrrr August 28th, 2009 3:02 pm

    I’m Norwegian, but I have absolutely NO clue about what that “pinch” is of xD So I think we can rule out the chances of it being some norwegian ingredient.

    Woodshed: if you want to move here, please do! You will be a great asset to the non-existant ukulele community of Norway :D

  18. cardboardfrog August 28th, 2009 6:02 pm

    i like listening to katzenjammer almost as much as i like watching them and thats a LOT,
    good work on the chords Woodshed,
    perhaps they just couldn’t think of a word to put in there?
    also is the blonde playing a bouzoki, a tenor guitar or a balalaika?

  19. Woodshed August 29th, 2009 10:19 am

    Mary Allison: I agree. The world needs fun songs.

    Joseph: Thanks for pointing it out.

    Iverrrrrr: Norway is definitely tempting. I hope Katzenjammer start a Norwegian uke craze.

    cbf: It’s a domra.

  20. Ringo Zeitgeist September 24th, 2009 5:08 am

    I couldn’t figure out the “pinch” either, so I emailed Katzenjammer directly. It’s cinnamon!

  21. Woodshed September 24th, 2009 9:47 am

    Ringo: Thanks. It still doesn’t sound like that!

  22. byjimini February 6th, 2010 9:28 pm

    Am I the only one who thinks Katzenjammer should be throwing stuff out to get noticed more? A CD full of the oddities they throw into live shows would generate some revenue, plus you can’t buy Demon Kitty Rag anywhere in the UK, online or off, and yet it’s plastered across their site and MySpace page.

    Vry frustrating. No wonder piracy is rife in the industry when they won’t let you give them money.

  23. Woodshed February 7th, 2010 12:20 pm

    byjimini: I certainly wouldn’t object to them releasing more stuff either.

  24. the maker/the baker March 20th, 2010 5:32 pm

    Hi folks!
    Really cool to read this.
    I wrote the song, and am more than flattered by the compliments:)
    It is cinnamon. A good pinch cinnamon:)
    And it has no deeper meaning than that I was thinking about cake the whole time while writing the song. Some songs need to be simple. It makes the more complicated ones even more interesting. And yes, it will be on our next album.

    cheers! And thanks again:)

    m.

  25. Woodshed March 26th, 2010 9:58 am

    Marianne: Thanks for clearing up the confusion.

  26. the maker/the baker March 28th, 2010 2:10 am

    no worries!
    enjoy your meal:)

  27. Le[NO]re May 7th, 2010 12:29 pm

    I went to their consert once and that was the best shit I ever attended too, and ive been to alot of concerts. I have never had so much fun then i had on Katzenjammer=)<3

  28. Le[NO]re May 7th, 2010 12:34 pm

    and Iverrr: ukulele is definately getting more popular in Norway, I go to music school and more and more want that little beautiful instrument=) im bying one myself!

  29. Ruth May 28th, 2010 7:43 am

    Hello there,

    Please can you put the entire songtext online? Im so curious about some things I cant understand…like ” good twisting…..laley? When you add the yolk of an egg?” and then the bridge-part, I cant understand that also very well. I love the song and would really like to sing along with it!

    Love,
    Ruth

  30. the maker/the baker July 14th, 2010 12:24 am

    4 cups of cherries or more
    Maybe five just to be sure
    1 cup of sugar or more if the berries are sour
    Let your belly say when
    when you put in
    A good pinch cinnamon

    Groovin´, twistin´your leg
    when you add the yoke of an egg
    Crumble some butter with 4 small cups of flour
    And in the wink of an hour
    If you’re lucky you’ll try
    My great grannys cherry pie

    Well listen, once back in 1865
    my great granny made her very first cherry pie
    and it’s been doing wonders
    ever since she spread her lovin´crumbles
    She mended broken harts and
    won every price in the local country marked
    she was the sweetest thing
    invited everybody in to share
    tender love and care
    and some pie here and there

    sing along, Ruth!

  31. SuperFog July 22nd, 2010 11:28 pm

    My girlfriend was the one who introduced me to Katzenjammer, and when we were looking through songs I should learn on Ukehunt, we discovered this one. And so now, I plan to learn it, so I can play it for her on her birthday! YAY! Cherry Pie! … Maybe she’ll make me some for my effort? :D

  32. Woodshed July 24th, 2010 6:25 pm

    SuperFog: What a lucky girl. “Happy birthday. Now make me a pie.”

  33. Chatty Maddie December 7th, 2010 5:36 am

    Hi Woodshed,

    Thank you so much for this post!! And Marianne, thank you for chiming in with the lyrics, we wouldn’t have ever figured out that line either. ;)

    I was wondering if by chance, you may have worked out the chords for Katzenjammer’s other ukulele based tune, “Shepherds Song”? If so, any help figuring them out would be greatly appreciated!

  34. Woodshed December 7th, 2010 7:17 pm

    Chatty Maddie: Thanks for the kind words. I might well do that one at some point but I haven’t heard a really good quality recording of it yet.

  35. Chatty Maddie December 8th, 2010 3:12 am

    Thank you for the quick reply!! If you’ve not yet seen these links, you might enjoy them and both have great, clear recordings of entire concerts, including “Shepherds Song”. First one is just audio tracks, the 2nd is video and it is FANTASTIC!

    http://www.filez.st/file.php?id=MTAyMzM4NA==

    http://www.wdr.de/tv/rockpalast/extra/videos/2010/0225/katzenjammer.jsp

    Hopefully both this song and “Cherry Pie” will be on the new album. I can hardly stand the wait!!!

  36. Ruth February 24th, 2011 11:47 am

    @maker/baker: thank you!

    Now I also know how to bake the pie ;)

  37. Arnór Bogason January 22nd, 2012 2:47 pm

    Video missing :(

  38. Kat February 3rd, 2012 1:18 am

    I have had my ukulele for 6 days and I have played it so much, I’m almost able to keep up with this song! I have practiced 3 hours almost every day and I love it!

  39. Sam March 14th, 2012 9:42 pm

    i say your missing ingredient is “a good pinch cinnamon”

  40. Abbigail April 21st, 2012 12:45 am

    Pinch of Cinnomin

  41. Pen April 8th, 2013 10:50 am

    This is a fab song, thanks. I also love the shepherd’s song. I don’t suppose anyone has worked the chords out for this? – can’t find them anywhere. Been trying to work them out. Some parts of the song are proving tricky.

  42. Olivia November 30th, 2013 3:56 pm

    Hello! Do you take requests? Ive been looking for Katzenjammer´s Shepherd´s song for a while… is there any chance?

  43. jay March 30th, 2014 9:36 pm

    What is the strum pattern for this?

  44. Woodshed March 31st, 2014 6:54 am

    jay: It’s worth practicing coming up with your own strumming patterns. Here’s a couple of posts that should help:

    http://ukulelehunt.com/2008/10/22/ukulele-strumming/
    http://ukulelehunt.com/2011/06/29/ukulele-strumming-patterns/

  45. Rubyblue January 26th, 2015 1:07 pm

    Thank you!! I love this group. Unknown in the UK sadly… but I’m trying to turn people on to them and their delicious music.

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