What a joy it’s been to see Lizzo getting the attention she deserves this year. For a long time, pop music has been dominated by singers reaching back to Aretha Franklin for and extrapolating endless vocal curlicues. Whereas Lizzo has gone for the real meat and taken Franklin’s powerful emotional directness. Never more powerfully than on Cuz I Love You‘s title track which takes the old blues-wailer format and updates it wit and style.
The song is heavy on chromatic chord changes. So much so that it contains every major chord except A. In case all of that is a bit much for you, I’ve written up a simplified version of the chords with a capo on the second fret below.
Suggested Strumming Pattern
The song is in 6/8 time, so I use this as the main pattern:
d – d u d – d – d – d –
Intro: Use the main strum. On the first chord of each bar you play d – d u d – d -. Then one down-strum each on the descending/ascending chords.
Verses: Play the main strum once for the first chord on that line. Then continue with that chord and play the strum as in the intro.
Chorus: Play the first half of the main strum (d – d u d -) twice each on the first two lines. Then the intro strum for the next line. Then d – d u d – once each for each chord from Bb to D then a single down-strum on the Eb. After that, it’s back to the intro strum. Or you can replace all the d – d u d – strums with
Outro: The outro uses the same strum but the chords flip things a little. The first line is the same intro strum (don’t be thrown off by the opening G, that’s a hang over from the chorus). Which continues up to the Ab in the second line. Then instead of going chromatically down it switches to Eb-E move. So you’re playing d – d u d – on the Ab then one down-strum each on the Eb-E.
Use that same pattern for a long F followed by a short Db-Eb. Then play d – d u d – once each for E-B-Bb and one down-strum on the F#.
You can use the same same main strum as the other version:
d – d u d – d – d – d –
Intro: Main strum once per chord.
Verse: Main strum twice per chord. Or you can go with
d u d u d u d – d – d –
Chorus: Play d – d u d -:
– Four times on the first two chords.
– Twice each on the third line.
– Once each on the fourth line with just one down-strum on the C.
– Twice each chord on the last two lines.
Outro: d – d u d – twice each for every chord on the first line. Then twice on D, once on G. Then a single down-strum on Eb.
Idles are masters of playing with tension and release. The opener on their latest album, Colossus builds tension for four minutes then releases it for a riotous two minutes. Danny Nedelko is more traditional in its structure. The verse, pre-chorus and bridge are just a C chord all the way through with some 7th notes to increase the tension. Then they break into a bright, singalong chorus with the cheesiest chord progression going.
As I mentioned, there’s no getting away from the I’m Yours chords these days. It’s even in the punk songs. But at least Idles mix it up a little. Rather than I V vi IV (C-G-Am-F), it’s I vi V I IV V (C Am G C F G).
Sometimes I put together tabs and chord sheets for my amusement that are so niche I assume no one has any interest in them. I’ve collected a few of those together today in hopes that one person will have a passing interest in one of them.
One of the many areas the BBC excels in is the exceptionally nerdy quiz show. I can’t imagine anyone else coming up with museum based quiz or a show like Only Connect where questions are chosen via Egyptian hieroglyphs.
Connecting Only Connect to ukuleles is very easy. Season three winner Jenny Ryan (who went on to become The Vixen on The Chase) is a keen uker with the excellently named Nanukes of the North.
I’m a big fan of Sarah Vowell’s books. But I’m an even bigger fan of her audiobooks. The Partly Cloudy Patriot, an exploration of her uncomfortable obsession with American history, includes narration from Conan O’Brien, Stephen Colbert and David Cross. Even more importantly, it’s sprinkled with songs from They Might Be Giants. Including this catchy little song.
If you’re interested in Hawaiian history, I highly recommend her book Unfamiliar Fishes.
This song comes from episode 616 of Comedy Bang Bang. It’s the culmination of a trio of country parody songs from Brantley Aldean and Harland Haywood (a.k.a. Drew Tarver and Carl Tart) and it had me crying with laughter.
Here’s a uke version of the intro (which shares a few ideas with yesterday’s post: The Weight)
I’ve raved about Hitman before on here. But I haven’t given enough praise for how much the music adds to the experience. The music works to subtly differentiate different areas of the maps and set the mood for each one.
This excellent little guitar piece is used to evoke a small Columbian fishing village which is relaxed on the surface but houses a huge drug operation. Similarly, the tune is relaxed and easy-going with a few little hints of darkness peaking through.
