Beirut - Hallelujah
July 22, 2008
Zach Condon quite often finishes off Beirut gigs with a cover of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah. Although his version is closer to Jeff Buckley’s (one of the best cover versions ever recorded).
The chords are fairly simple. One thing he does a few times in the song (and loads of times in his own songs) is play the F chord with the G string open, then hammer on at the second fret. He does a similar thing with the G chord. This time the A string is left open then hammered on.
I’ve included two versions of Am in the song (one with the A string open and one with it at the third fret). He always uses the third fret version on the C - Am change that you hear at the beginning. He throws in the easier version on a few occasions towards the end.
Kudos to Leonard Cohen for making my job easier by describing the chords in the lyrics. Why can’t all songwriters be so helpful?
Zach Condon of Beirut’s Ukuleles
June 18, 2008
The second in the ‘What ukulele do they play?’ series. The good news: if you want to play the same ukuleles as Zach Condon, you won’t have to spend anywhere near as much as if you wanted Jake Shimabukuro’s ukulele. They’re actually fairly bog-standard ukuleles, not that expensive and would be a good choice for beginners.
He seems to have two main stage ukuleles:
Irrefutable evidence. Looks to me like a BU7TV.
Irrefutable evidence. Looks to me like an LU-21T.
Other ukuleles he’s been spotted with:
Fluke: On the set of the video for Elephant Gun he Postcards from Italy on the Fluke that’s featured in the video.
Samick: In this photoshoot. It’s the only time I’ve seen him with a Samick, so I don’t think it’s a regular player of his. It looks like a UK70.
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
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.
Beirut - The Penalty
August 28, 2007
The standout track on The Flying Club Cup as far as I’m concerned - although I am completely biased in any matter that involves ukuleles - is the uke lead tune The Penalty.
The first thing to notice in the chords for the song is that there are three different inversions of the C chord in there. The Penalty starts off with a shortened bar of the usual open C shape. Then the three strings remain open while the A string is played at the seventh fret. I’ve called it e/C as the highest note is the E. Finally, there’s another C chord - I’ve called it C(alt) which acts a passing chord between the Em and the F (it is only played for a short time and is, therefore, in square brackets). There’s is also a short Fadd9 chord which is made simply by taking your finger off the G string and letting it run open. This chord is only played for a short time also and is used to create a little harmonic interest in the long F bars.
There’s only one other set of chords in the tune: a simple F C F G. Then you are good to go.
More Beirut tab and chords for ukulele
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Beirut - Elephant Gun
July 18, 2007
Beirut - Elephant Gun (Chords)
Elephant Gun was annoying to work out as the original version is played on a uke tuned a semitone sharp (g#C#FA#). I decided to notate the chords as if the uke was in standard C-tuning. If you want to play along and don’t want to re-tune or use a capo, you can play along with this live version (or the many others on YouTube) which is in standard tuning.
To get the opening bars to sound right, start by strumming downwards twice, concentrating on the 3rd and 4th strings. Then strum upwards concentrating on the 1st and 2nd strings. Do this twice on the Am. Then, on the D7, strum in a similar way but hammering on from open strings on the first strum.
A quick aside, I’ve tweaked the tab (but not the chords) for Postcards from Italy. So if you grabbed it first time you might want to check back.
Buy Lon Gisland
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Beirut - Postcards From Italy
July 5, 2007
Beirut - Postcards From Italy (Chords)
Beirut - Postcards From Italy (mp3) via beirutband.com
My recent Fluke acquisition reminded me of the video for Beirut’s Elephant Gun. While I was checking it out, I came across this impromptu performance Postcards From Italy and decided I had to work out the song.
Beirut mainman Zach Condon’s choice of ukulele wasn’t entirely voluntary. In an interview with Pitchfork he explained that after falling of a bridge age 14, “my left wrist is an inch-and-a-half shorter than my [right one] and doesn’t quite have the mobility to wrap around a guitar neck without a bit of pain.” I’d say falling off a bridge was a small price to pay for avoiding the fate of becoming a guitar player.
Postcards From Italy is divided into two halves. The first half has this riff repeated:
If you’d rather strum chords through this section, moving between F and A will do it for you.
As the lyrics shift from the nostalgia in the first half of the song to the anticipation of the second half, so the music shifts with it. There is a small correction I would make to the fingering of the chords in the chart. It suggests playing the C chord with your third finger. But using you pinkie (little finger) allows for a much easier transition into the Bbadd9. You could keep your pinky there through all the chords (creating a Dm7 rather than Dm). It creates an effective drone through the chord changes.
The rhythm for this second section is not played the same every time, but I play the basic pattern like this:
The up arrows indicated down strums and the down arrows indicate up strums (don’t look at me, I didn’t invent the system).
Here’s the rhythm played slowly, then up to tempo.
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