Man alive this one is a toughy. I’ve had a few failed attempts at getting this to work on the ukulele. But I persisted because it’s a beautiful song. And I’ve finally got a version I’m pleased with.
The difficulty with playing this on the ukulele is that the bass part is so important. To get that and the ringing notes I’ve had to transpose them into the same octave. Which adds another layer of difficulty because you have to give these notes an extra little umph to emphasize them.
I’m a big fan of Shigeto’s playing. He was the first person I ever interviewed for the blog. He’s just released his debut CD Roots Trip which contains spirited uke versions of traditional Hawaiian songs, classical music and traditional tunes. You can check out more of his older demos here.
It’s one of the greatest songs of all time Theme from Sparta FC is most famous for its use as the backing music for the BBC’s Final Score. Which lead to Mark E Smith reading out the football results. “Tottenham Hostpur postponed. West Ham United one h.”
The original riff is played on the E and B strings of the guitar. So I’ve had to tune the C string down one fret to B to fit it on the uke. But other than that it works pretty well. Here’s the intro followed by the riff.
UPDATE: A massive thanks to Dylan for alerting me to the existence of this recording of The Fall doing Who Makes the Nazis? for a Peel Session. ON A FREAKIN’ UKULELE! A very out of tune ukulele.
In a rare occurrence, the best video I came across this week doesn’t have a uke in – although I’ve read the band has a uke song. Despite that, Katzenjammer’s skiffle-tastic Ain’t No Thang is probably the best thing that has ever happened to my ears and eyes simultaneously. There are a million things I love about it and I’m very tempted to list them all. The song includes a bass balalaika solo. But that wouldn’t even top the list. I have to make it the featured video even if it is ukeless. I just wish their whole album was that raw.
Once you’ve watched that a few dozen times, this week’s UkeTube includes Izumi (who I’m 100% sure I subscribed to but somehow missed her stuff and had to be reminded by KDUS – to make up for it I included her twice), one of Jake Wildwood’s finest songs, Krouk blasting out the Smeckisms and plenty more.
The UOGB provide a tutorial for playing Ode to Joy. Which you can play along with them at the Proms. They were plugging it on Radio 4’s Today (listen again here – starts about 1:41) along with Kathy Clugston.
Darren Hayman (Hefner) – Greedy, Ugly People (Chords)
Not a Fall song. But there is a very tenuous connection.
I was very joyed when I stumbled across this video. Not just because it’s my favourite Hefner song played on the ukulele. But also because it was put up by Spoilt Victorian Child which was, back in the day, the best MP3 blog around. Without it I wouldn’t have started my first MP3 blog. And without that, I wouldn’t be blogging here.
Spoilt Victorian Child was named after a Fall song. But you knew that.
Jemsite has been doing a series called 10 Things I Wish I’d Known About Guitars (Before I Bought One) and I know a good idea when I steal one. The concept: if you could hop into your DeLorean, whack it up to 88 mph and visit yourself when you were buying your first instrument, what advice would you give?
In about 50 years’ time I imagine myself sitting in a comfy chair and my grandkids scurrying up to me in their space-pyjamas and asking, “Granddad, what was life like before the internet?” And I’ll say, “Put down your hoverboards, jump up on my knee and I’ll tell you.” Then I’ll twirl my mustachios wistfully and reply, “It was FUCKIN’ AWFUL!”
Back when I got my first ukulele – during my teenage guitar obsession – there were no internets, YouTubes or blogs to teach a boy anything. I didn’t know anyone who played ukulele. I’d heard George Formby and one other song with a ukulele once. I didn’t have a clue. As a result, it took me many years to see the potential of the uke. So here’s what I’d tell the fat, ugly, stupid, teenage me as he wandered into Bakewell Music Shop to buy a ukulele.
1. The strings don’t go fattest to thinnest.
Just to prove how ignorant I was, I actually tried restringing it the ‘right’ way. It didn’t occur to me that the people who made it might have had a better idea of how to string it than I did. I did have a book. But it was a very slim, old one. I either didn’t read it or it failed to mention this fairly important detail.
2. Good ukuleles exist. Your local music shop doesn’t have one.
Bakewell is famous for it’s tarts (and they are exceeding good). It’s not famous as a centre of outstanding luthiery. The uke I bought was complete junk. I didn’t even know there were better ukes. I think this is the main reason I rarely played the uke for many years.
Message to me: buy a Martin ukulele or six. They might seem expensive now but you ain’t seen nothing yet.
3. Good ukulele strings exist. Your local music shop doesn’t have them.
The same goes for the strings. In fact, I don’t remember them selling strings at all. I don’t know where I would have been able buy good strings. God, I love you, internet. I’m going to miss you come the post-apocalyptic Mad-Max world.
4. Tighten the screws. It might stay in tune.
I think I did eventually work this one out myself. But only many months after giving up on ever getting it to stay in tune.
5. Ukuleles are not little guitars.
I started figuring this one out pretty quickly. After trying to strum it with a plectrum for 3 minutes I realised that clearly wasn’t the way to go. It took me much longer to figure out that the high-G string could be a help rather than a hindrance (partly because it took me a while to figure out it was a high-G string).
6. Eventually, you won’t want to play the guitar any more.
Actually, I might gloss over this fact lest it puts me off picking it up in the first place.
7. Fewer strings means harder, not easier.
Not entirely true, I know. But it is more of challenge to play difficult pieces on the uke. And more rewarding.
8. Don’t steal plutonium from the Libyans.
9. In about 15 years time ukuleles are going to be the coolest thing in the world and you’re going to be writing about them every day. You should practice more.
There’s no getting round the fact I’m a mediocre player. It might be the fact that I’m not naturally musically talented. But more practice certainly couldn’t harm.
10. You like her. She likes you. Just ask her out you useless, spotty idiot. And sell your sister to organ harvesters and put the money into Google and Microsoft.
No, it’s nothing to do with ukuleles. But if I’m time traveling here, I’m not going to spend all ten on ukuleles.
What do you wish you’d known about ukuleles before you bought one?
Man, those Indie Gods are vengeful. A few hours after the I’m Yours tabs went up, I was laying on the floor unconscious. Long story short: “Hmm, that hurt rather a lot.” – “Now, what am I doing on the floor?” – ambulance – hospital (I’m leaving out the details in the hope you’ll conclude I was doing something sexy and dangerous). In the end, the Indie Gods were merciful and I’m completely fine now. But they have spoken and I promise never again to post anything people might want to play. So here’s a bit of The Mighty Fall.
Intro
For the intro I’m picking the E string with my index finger and A string with my middle finger.
Verse
This bit doesn’t work too well – it’s a little too wimpy.
For this section I switch my thumb to the E string and index finger to the A string.
Chorus
This is the bit that has seen me wandering around the flat shouting, ” ‘ow I wrote Elastic Man, ‘ow I wrote Elastic Man…”
Can anyone answer me this: Did Frank Sidebottom play the ukulele or did the blow to the head cause some damage the doctors didn’t pick up on?
This post originally contained this: “Elastic Man has been covered by comedian ukulelists Frank Skinner and Frank Sidebottom. You know it was, it really was.” Which contains my favourite type of cultural reference i.e. one only about three people would get. In my mind’s eye I always see Sidebottom with a banjo-uke but there’s very scant evidence on the internets that he played one.
UPDATE: I wasn’t imagining it. Here’s a video of Frank Sidebottom with a banjolele.
Now I’m in Derby I officially have some hometown ukulele heroes. The Re-entrants are a ukulele cover duo who have been cause a stir with their live performances across the country and have recently released their debut album Uke Man versus The Strummer. I caught up with Phil and Ian for some routine interrogation.
You’re both songwriters, what made you decide to become a cover band? Are you ever going to do your own songs?
Phil:It was unintentional – we met on the ukulele cosmos forum, realised we lived close to each other and got together for a jam. We both picked some songs so we’d have something to play, and realised our lists were very similar. After one meeting we realised we had something. The Re-entrants are now reasonably well known for what we do, so it’s unlikely we’ll add originals to the set. It’s easy to be snobby about being an ‘artist’ and not demeaning yourself by doing covers, which is nonsense. A good song is a good song, whoever wrote it, and people like listening to people playing good songs. Ian has a brilliant line, “We play other peoples material on a small 4 stringed instrument, which is also the job description of the principle violinist of the Berlin Philharmonic”.
Plus doing covers has introduced us to the novel idea of getting paid for playing, and we’re actually managing to make a meagre living playing uke!
Ian:Arranging cover versions takes a different set of skills to writing original material; there’s less room to say: ‘That’ll do,’ because people are already familiar with the song: I think a well-arranged cover is a creative challenge equal to writing original stuff. In many ways it’s more difficult, and certainly more rigidly structured. There’s nowhere to hide; everyone already knows how it’s supposed to sound.
I still write my own songs, and I would like to perform them at some point, but it isn’t appropriate for The Re-entrants. The audience has certain expectations, and you put so much of yourself into writing that a chant of ‘Britney! Motorhead!’ would be dispiriting. We’d all be disappointed then.
Phil and I both write, but our style is very different. We’ve never tried writing together, and I doubt we would; the emphasis on what we do is on fun, and I think we both like it that way.
How do you get the right balance between the humour in your music and the serious musicianship that goes into what you do?
Ian:The balance between fun and musicianship just seems to happen organically. We never go for comic effect; we try very hard to recreate the original track as thoroughly as we can within the limitations of the arrangement. Even the vocal ‘impersonations’ aren’t really comic impressions – sometimes the vocal style is part of the identity of the song, so you have to get it as right as you can. It isn’t just about the ukuleles – they are just one aspect of the overall thing.
Phil:There was never any humour intended, we simply wanted to play the songs well. I think more humour comes from the fact we are two bald men both rapidly approaching middle age, singing songs you wouldn’t expect, like Britney or Madonna. That’d be just as funny with guitars. There is also humour derived from the fact that people don’t expect us to do a good job because of the reputation of the uke as a comedy instrument. We often get told “I thought it was going to be rubbish, but…” People laugh when they hear us throw in the brass part or lead guitar part, or a rap, because they are surprised at the fact we’ve put in the details, and there is something inherently funny about a screaming, high, bent note played on a uke, complete with rock and roll grimace (or indeed a fat, white bloke rapping!).
We both like to have a laugh on stage, which is something we’ve always done even before the uke came along. We aim to be entertaining. As for musicianship, we rehearse every week and gig 5 to 10 times a month, and we are very comfortable on stage as we’ve both been performing for over 20 years. We always wanted to be gig-ready all the time and we’re at the point now where we can do a 2 hour show at the drop of a hat, all from memory, without a second thought. It’s a nice place to be, as you can actually concentrate on enjoying the gig rather than panicking about what you’re playing.
What makes for a good ukulele cover?
Ian:It’s all about that challenge for me. I deliberately go for songs that have some quality that is incredibly difficult to reproduce – whether they are massively long or complicated arrangements, have iconic hooks or solos that must be note-perfect or difficult, idiosyncratic vocals.
Phil:We don’t really think in terms of ‘ukulele cover’. If it’s a good song, well played, it’ll work. That said we do have a few ‘rules’. Firstly it has to be a song recognisable to anyone in our audience. Most of the people we play to are not uke aficionados; they are people out for a good night’s entertainment and expect to be able to sing along! Secondly, if a song on the radio screams out ‘uke cover’ to us, we probably won’t do it. If we think ‘how the hell could we do that?’, then we’ll try and find a way of doing it. The arranging is at least 50% of the act. It’s fun to find songs that have lots of parts, potential for vocal harmonies, etc. We endeavour to make our covers as true to the original as possible – part of the experience is that, as the screaming guitar solo or whatever approaches, the audience will start to think ‘hang on, I know what’s comes next on the record’ (you can actually see it on there faces!), ‘are they going to try and pull that off? Blimey, they have!’
What’s in your uke collection?
Phil: I have a Pete Howlett concert Uklectic (a solid body electric), a Pono mahogany concert with a pickup, a Rob Collins triangle soprano uke in walnut with a pickup (the twin of Ian’s), a Ken Timms mahogany soprano, and two ukes by Simon Bush, an ash soprano and a cherry concert. I’m very much on a UK builders trip at the moment!
We don’t have loads, because, as a working band we feel our instruments should earn their keep. However, we also allow ourselves the luxury of a new uke we want, rather than need, every so often! Since we got together two years ago we’ve had a ridiculous amount of instruments pass through our hands, more than 50 between us.
Ian:I love sopranos, and part of the appeal is the extra difficulties they bring into it; all my ukes are sopranos. On stage, I play a matching pair of Applauses; acoustically, I have a Kiwaya KTS-7 that I adore. I also have a Fin-der plastic uke which has a lovely plunky sound, as well as an old no-name banjo uke with my face painted on the skin! How vain is that? Recently I’ve acquired a couple of handmade UK luthier-built instruments, both of which are lovely: I have the Simon Bush Sopramericano, which I was initially loaned to review, and which I couldn’t part with; I’ve also just got one of a pair of Rob Collins triangle ukes which were built specifically for the Re-entrants. That was a fantastic experience, adding our own specifications to a build. They are great ukes.
What advice would you give to new uke players?
Ian:To new ukers, my main piece of advice is not to worry too much about the fingers – the most important body part to a player is the ear. Listen, listen, listen, play, play, play.
Phil: Have fun. Work hard at it, and you’ll get more out of it. Play with other people. Get the best uke you can afford. Oh, and the secret is in the right hand, not the left…
You’re appearing at the London Uke Festival. What can we expect to hear from you?
Ah, that would be telling! We never introduce songs, so that the audience can have a bit of a ‘pop quiz’ and try and guess from the intro. We’ve done nearly 100 gigs and always played ‘…Hit Me Baby One More Time’, so it’s unlikely we’ll break that tradition! We don’t do many gigs to uke players, maybe only 3 or 4 a year, so we’ll probably try and pick songs unlikely to be played by anyone else there. Sadly, we won’t be around for the record attempt, as we have another gig 150 miles away in the evening!
Any closing remarks?
Phil: I also think it’s worth mentioning that you can over-intellectualise this sort of thing. People do it with the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain all the time. The’ irony’ angle (we hate that. There’s never been anything ironic about what we do), the ‘reflection of / reaction to popular culture’ angle, the ‘cute/ quirky/ twee’ angle. Most of it is nonsense and related much more to the media’s inability to avoid cliché and pigeon-holing. We love what we do, we enjoy playing and we’re getting lots of great gigs and even being asked for autographs (!), but we never forget that we are just a couple of blokes playing the ukulele. We mentioned ‘rules’ earlier on, but rule number one when we first got together was ‘no egos’ and it’s served us well!
