Neil Hannon and Joby Talbot – So Long And Thanks For All The Fish (Chords)
This has the longest chord list of any song I’ve done. That’s thanks to a key change, a choromatic middle section, some essential inversions and lashings of jazziness.
I wrote it up at the behest of Ukulelezo. She, quite sensibly, simplified it for her version by ditching the key change and the instrumental section.
Twiddly Bits
The intro sounds a bit daft on the ukulele, but – hey – it’s a daft song anyway.
The Leftover Cuties hit it big when Game Called Life was used as the theme tune to The Big C. Last week they released their debut album Place to Go (which they kindly sent me). If you liked Game Called Life, I highly recommend you pick it up. It’s the same winning combination of instant pop melodies and jazzy setting.
My favourite aspect of the album is how comfortably the ukulele sits in the band. All the tracks on the album feature backing of the classic ukulele-upright bass pairing (along with occasional other uke-friendly instruments: brass, accordion and a smattering of stylophone). I think we’re all familiar with records that announce, “Hey, look at me, I’m playing this on a ukulele,” but here it’s used much more naturally and, therefore, pleasingly.
They’re giving away the albums title track. Grab it on this doodad or on their website:
Ukulele Cutie, Austin Nicholsen generously agreed to field a few of my questions:
How did you first get into playing the ukulele? And what made you stick with it?
I had recently purchased an upright bass and thought it would be silly to pick up the smallest string instrument at that point. I thought violin, ukulele…. ukulele it is! I walked around with it for a few days playing and trying make it sound like it was remotely in tune. Then i realized, this thing is beat. Years went by and I picked it up again and that is when it really started to resonate with me. Success! The ukulele is AWESOME! Looking back at my first encounters with the uke i realized i wasn’t ready for the awesome power of this wonderful little instrument yet.
How did you go about building a band around the ukulele? What did you have to consider?
I showed up at my good friend Shirli’s house in the middle of the night with the ukulele. I guess she had never seen one before then and didn’t know what to make of it. I don’t think she even thought it was a real instrument. Anyhow I started playing a chord progression I had been strumming on and Shirli pulled out a napkin that she had earlier wrote some lyrics on while she was working. We recorded a rough demo the next day and then it was buried for a couple of years. Little did we know that this was the beginning of something far greater than we could ever conceive at the time.
Years later Shirli stumbled across that little demo and felt something special within that little song “Game Called Life”. She played it for some friends and family and the reviews came flooding in, people wanted more of this magic. We did some more bootleg demos and people were stoked! Shortly following the band name came and we were off and running. It was time for this little seed to grow. We decided it was time for higher quality recordings. We met with a great man named Ryan Hewitt who recorded and produced our EP and he said you’re going to need drums if you want to sell records. One man came to my mind for this musical adventure, Stuart Johnson. One of the greatest and most musical drummers in the world without a doubt.
Next came the proper low end bass player, Ryan Feves. A great man who in my mind is a world class bassists, amazing feel and tone that warms your insides. The family kept growing, it took a bit before we found the missing piece but it was worth the wait. Mike Bolger, what can’t the guy do. I mean really, he plays piano, accordion, all brass and who knows what else. But get this he can play them at the same time, that’s right piano in left hand, trumpet in right. I believe this guy has been on a million recordings, maybe more. Oh yeah and he really smokes a mean BBQ, grille master extraordinaire! No consideration when it all started because the uke was the foundation.
What’s in your ukulele collection? Any favourites?
My main uke is an old Kamaka pineapple uke, my guess is 1930 or 31, # 5416 9 – maybe someone out there can help determine the year. I hold this uke near and dear to my heart, I have picked up few ukes that can even come close to the tonal quality.
Also have a label free soprano uke with great tone but chunky fretts, still cool though. And an old soprano supertone from Sears Roebuck and Co. from maybe the 40’s, very fragile little mahogany uke with a cheerful tone. A cookie tin uke that i frankensteined together using a banjolele neck that would never ever stay in tune no matter what and a holiday cookie tin with a wreath on it. An old May bell banjolele from the early 1930’s. A Cigar box uke that I ripped the neck off my first label free Chinese uke for, kind-of dead sounding. A Tahitian uke with fishing line for strings ( a bit bitty ) and last but not least, also not really a ukelele, an old Wurlitzer Tiple made by C.F. Martin from the late 20’s.
The pineapple takes the cake!!!!! Every time
As well as a love of ukes, we’re both enthusiastic cap wearers. What do you look for a good cap?
Comfort and versatility.
What can we expect to hear from the Leftover Cuties in the future?
Who knows what’s in store for us, the sky’s the limit! I am pushing for some remixes on this album. Also there is a lot of great new material on the burner already!
And an entirely selfish question: any plans to visit the UK?
Absolutely!!!!! Some day for sure – hopefully soon.
Videos this week include the new one from Eddie Vedder, podcast star Helen Arney (you can download this song and a couple of others on Bandcamp for free if you make it before it runs out), Lemos and a houseful of buddies, auto-erotica from Garfunkel and Oates and plenty more besides.
After last week’s Window Shopping post I got a few complaints about the insane prices of the ukuleles featured. Looking solely at ukuleles I’m too poor to afford is the only way to ensure I don’t end up buying one. But this week I put my wallet in peril for you and look at what I’d buy at the lower end of the market.
Under $25: I’d have to go with a Pink Mahalo U-30 and hope I got a good one. Yes, pink. I need a uke that’s going to match this shirt. But I’d be tempted by: A Practical Method for Self Instruction on The Ukulele by N.B. Bailey. I love old ukulele instruction books.
Under $50: I don’t own a pineapple ukulele so I’d go with a Makala Pineapple. But I’d be tempted by: The Wolfelele.
Under $75: If I didn’t already have a Mahalo Les Paul, I’d definitely be getting one of those. Otherwise, perhaps an old Harmony. But I’d be tempted by: A ukulele teapot with intestine handle.
Under $100: The sensible choice would be Kala Mahogany Concert. But the Plaid Kala Ukadelic to garish-up my collection nicely. But I’d be tempted by: This adorable pair of beaten up banjoleles that I’d never get round to having fixed up.
Under $150: It would have to be an Ohana Vita uke in tribute to Roy Smeck. But I’d be tempted by: This Soul Cat cigar box ukulele.
Leave your suggestions/shopping list in the comments.
A flurry of F-words, gaffes and misinformation as the British media has gone on one of their ‘the ukulele is making a comeback’ kicks (as they’ve done a couple a times a year for the last five years). A selection of the goings-on:
180 music shops were surveyed with 42 per cent saying the ukulele had seen the biggest rise in popularity in the last year. 31 per cent stated that keyboards had seen the largest growth, and 16 per cent for acoustic guitars.
Angry Birds might be annoyingly addictive and sometimes annoyingly annoying, but the theme music is outstanding. It’s one of two games I play and don’t turn the music off for (the other is Pizza Boy).
For my version, I did mess around with things a bit. The intro section is picked with a bit of running man picking (alternating index and middle). The main section is mostly played with the thumb flicking down on the g and C and the index finger flicking up (which a few strums thrown in). In the final section, Thumb on g, index on E and middle finger on A.
Lead Sheet
Here’s just the basic melody and it’s a bit more faithful to the original. So you can play it simply as it is or arrange your own version around it.
The May 2011 edition of the podcast is here. Helen Arney very kindly took time out of her tour with the Uncaged Monkeys to have a hilarious chinwag with Bossarocker and play a few songs. As well as that there’s a bumper crop of songs.
You can get the latest Uke Hunt podcast delivered straight to you by:
Jonathan Coulton and GLaDOS – Want You Gone (Chords)
Site update: I moved the site to a new host over the weekend which is why you may not have been able to get on it. Hopefully, things have shaken out now. If you’re reading this by email or feedreader and can’t get on the site please do send me an email at ukulelehunt@gmail.com. Or if you notice anything else that’s wonky. Thanks!
Portal 1 is easily the best satire of working for a large corporation with all the jumping through hoops, monitoring, lies and promises of far off rewards. It’s a shame games rarely go for satire because they’re one of the best mediums for it.
Portal 2 does a similar job by making us forget everything we learn in Portal 1 and make us put power in the hands of one being and hope that this time everything will be cool. Replicating the hope-over-experience of countries who sell arms to non-democratic countries and organisations again and again and again and again and again each time saying, “You better turn out to be pretty cool or I’m going to be pissed.” I could easily go on and on about the game but I should move on to the song.
No ukulele this time and it doesn’t transfer entirely happily. But you can still make a good fist of it.
I think the riff sounds better on uke if you include the chords with it (shown in the chord chart). That beefs it up a bit and means you can play it an octave lower. You can strum this for the first chord in the riff:
In the chorus you can just switch between the usual F# and B chord shapes, but the ones shown keep the ascending sound. Either way, you can use this strumming pattern:
It’s a shame I never got to see the Asylum Street Spankers live before they split up. They were one hell of a band. Two video this week from their trio of final shows; one with Pops Bayless on uke duties and the other with Christina Marrs.
Quick warning: I’m going to try to move the site this weekend (if I get the courage) so it will be down for some time. I’m not sure how long. Last time I tried it was a bit of a disaster.
Martin, being a very generous company, allowed employees near retirement to come in on their days off and build an instrument of their own choosing. While it was a bit stingy not to let them do it in their work-hours, it has produced a healthy number of collectable ukuleles. This week there’s this 1947 Spruce-top Martin Tenor. It’s being sold by Ukulelefriend so the description is well worth a read (just don’t look at the price).
With all the hype surrounding Eddie Vedder’s uke album, I hope some will spillover onto his luthier of choice: Eric DeVine. Who makes handsome ukuleles like this.
I think this ukulele is too camp to have been made in ‘late 1800’s to early 1900’s’.
