Free Ukulele MP3s on eMusic: Part 2
September 17, 2007
Continuing the list of ukulele tracks you can get for free on eMusic. You can read all about how to get them in part one.
Beirut
7. Elephant Gun
8. Postcards From Italy
Indie-uke darling Zach Condon’s first album Gulag Orkestra and the Elephant Gun EP are both available on eMusic. These two tracks are essential listening.Grab the tab for Elephant Gun and Postcards from Italy.
Beirut’s latest album, The Flying Club Cup, will probably show up on eMusic soon after it’s released. Until then, you can content yourselves with this track from their website
Beirut – A Sunday Smile (mp3) via beirutband.com
Israel Kamakawiwo’ole
9. Somewhere Over The Rainbow/Wonderful World
10. You Don’t Know Me
Braddah IZ’s cover of Somewhere Over The Rainbow is by far his most popular song. The version on eMusic is the one from his debut album Ka ‘Ano’i – a more reggae-fied version than the most famous version. But my favourite track on the album is his cover of You Don’t Know Me (made famous by Ray Charles). You can pick up the chords for the song here.
John Lithgow
11. You Gotta Have Pep
[youtube _hYUoMingCo]
I don’t think words have been invented that fully describe how much I love this song. Most actors when starting a career in music make morose songs in a desperate attempt to prove that they are 4real. Lithgow (Third Rock From The Sun, Shrek, The World According to Garp) goes in completely the opposite direction and makes outrageously theatrical music with a healthy dash of banjo-uke in the bargain.
Ralph Shaw
12. Puttin’ On The Ritz
It takes some gumption to crown yourself ‘King of the Ukulele’ but he hasn’t had too many people disagree with him.
The Magnetic Fields
13. Absolutely Cuckoo
Don’t listen to the haters, Stephin Merritt has a genius way with a tune. The triple album 69 Love Songs has plenty of uke and non-uke delights. You can pick up the chords and tab to both at Stephin Songs.
The Magnetic Fields tracks aren’t available on eMusic in the UK or, I’m guessing, many places outside the USA.
Stephin Merritt
14. This Little Ukulele
UK eMusers can console themselves with this ode to the ukulele from the soundtrack to Eban and Charley.
The Magnetic Fields – If I Were A Rich Man
July 31, 2007
The Magnetic Fields – If I Were A Rich Man (Chords)
Many of Stephin Merritt’s songs have a strong musical theatre style to them. He has put out an album of showtunes and has said that he wants to write 100 Hollywood musicals. So it’s no great surprise to hear The Magnetic Fields covering a song from Fiddler on the Roof.
The scratchy out of tune uke on this song gave me a few problems transcribing it. I’m fairly sure he’s playing with a capo on the third fret or tuned to Eb (Bb Eb G C), but I’ve written the chords out for standard C-tuning. If you want to simplify the song, feel free to play the open chord positions.
Requested by maduke
Buy Knitting on the Roof US
Gothic Archies – Shipwrecked (Live)
June 4, 2007
[youtube 5QzUde27hGo]
Gothic Archies – Shipwrecked Live (Chords)
I can’t discuss Stephin Merritt songs without it descending into me reeling out quotes from the song. So, I’m not even going to try to resist.
Shipwrecked with you/I can’t think of a single thing I’d rather do/and that’s why I decapitated the crew
You needn’t do much, just sit there and flirt/and if it looks drizzly, I’ll build us a yurt
As the album version doesn’t have any ukulele, I’ve tabbed the live version (from the show you can download here. If you want to play along with the album version, put a capo on the second fret, tune up to aDF#B or transpose the chords up two frets.
Requested by Susan Tobacco
Gothic Archies – Scream and Run Away
May 28, 2007
[youtube GsS3reVFLJI]
The Gothic Archies – Scream and Run Away (Chords)
“People say, ‘Do these books have any messages for young people?’ And I say, ‘Of course, it’s one of the most important lessons in all literature. The lesson is: if you see Count Olaf, scream and run away. You don’t get that from CS Lewis’.”
After I posted Smile, I was overwhelmed by a flood of/floored by a barrage of/inundated with two requests for more. In the face of such an outpouring, who am I to deny it? Particularly when I can’t get enough of these songs myself.
Although there is no uke on Scream and Run Away the chords fit very nicely. But, if you’re desperate for a little ukulele oompah action, you could try playing this:
I plan on transcribing more of the songs from this album in the near future. So, if you don’t want to miss them, make sure you subscribe.
Stephin Merritt – Smile
May 22, 2007
[youtube L9Ob9TJueBQ]
Stephin Merritt – Smile! No One Cares How You Feel (Chords)
The collision of rictus-grinned morning TV host and the morose wit of Stephin Merritt was always going to produce hilarity. The look on Merritt’s face seems to shoot the words, “I’m going to set fire to your house and watch the smoldering remains through a huge spyglass.” I can only pray that the song’s final line of, “Everyone you despise will die so smile,” was followed by the words, “Here’s Tom with the weather.”
Merritt and Daniel ‘Lemony Snicket’ Handler have worked on a number of projects together and have, apparently at least, been friends since childhood. Handler is a fine accordion player and appeared on The Magnetic Fields’ (Merritt’s main band) album 69 Love Songs. Merritt returned the favour by forming The Gothic Archies with Handler and recording songs to accompany the Series of Unfortunate Events books. The two are a partnership made in heaven (and also a fine comedy duo).
Smile! No One Cares How You Feel has a simple repeating uke figure throughout – making it ideal for anyone learning to fingerpick on the ukulele.
The best approach to picking this is to assign a finger (or thumb) of the right hand to each string. The thumb on the g string, the index finger on the C string, the middle finger on the E string and the ring finger on the A string. The picking pattern is:
Thumb, index, middle, ring, middle, index, thumb, index (then repeat… a lot)
Once you can pick that pattern without thinking, you shouldn’t have any problem playing the song and scaring TV hosts.
