Nina Simone – I Put a Spell on You (Chords)

Another intensely creepy song from Screamin’ Jay Hawins (whose Whistlin’ Past the Graveyard I chorded for an earlier Halloween). And I’ve gone with Nina Simone’s bewitching version for the arrangement.

Although I’ve used the A chord shape for the F#m7 to keep things simple, I do like to switch it up and use 2424 or 2420. Particularly for the F#m-F#m7-Bm move.

Suggested Strumming Pattern

I keep it really simple and play just down-strums the whole time.

Intro: Two down-strums per chord until the final C#7 where you play four.

Verse 1: Starting out as the same first line as the intro. For the next five lines do four down-strums each chord except eight on the C#7. Then two on everything until the last C#7 with four.

Solo: Same as the first half of verse 1.

Verse 2: Four down for every chord in the first four lines. Two for each on the fifth line. Then one each on the last line letting the C#7 ring out for the 10,000 syllables she manages to get out of the word “because”.

Twiddly Bits

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Here’s a uke version of the strings in the intro of the song.

You can also use this as a basis for the solo. Just watch out for the F#7 chord. I’d recommend playing notes from the F#7 chord itself in that bar.

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Tracklist
João Tostes & Carol Campos – Hallelujah
Vinícius Vivas – Fly me to the Moon
Billie Eilish – Telegraph Ave
Gracie Terzian – Treasures Untold
Jan Laurenz – Another Day, A New Tune
Arko Mukhaerjee – Bala Joban
EmiSunshine – Crimson Moon
Feng E – The Stalker in the Shadow
Le Temps d'une Étincelle – Kora'lélé
Rusty Cage – The Family-Friendly Noose Song

Vanity Fair investigates why a light ukulele ditty, Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head, was used to soundtrack Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. (Tab for Raindrops… here.)

“Shirtless ukulele player pulled from top of police car in Fremantle”.

New Releases
– Biscuithead and the Biscuit Badgers’ new album Thought Porridge (complete with handy songbook).
– Manitoba Hal has announced a collection of reworkings of his earlier songs: Vintage Blend.
– New record from Indian urban folk uker Arko Mukhaerjee: Bondhur Bari – My Friend’s Home.

Window Shopping
– Kanile’a’s 2019 Platinum Pineapple Tenor
– Orangewood Guitars have moved into ukuleles with their first collection: Marina Ukuleles.
– Les Rietfors custom pineapple.
– Tenor Petros ukulele.

The World Turned Upside Down (Tab)

Dick Gaughan’s Handful of Earth is an absolute powerhouse folk album. One of the best records of the 80s. Probably the best that didn’t come out of Manchester (okay, maybe Minnesota too). The highlight of the album is his galvanising take on Leon Rosselson’s The World Turned Upside Down

The original version is curiously mild-mannered for a song about an uprising. But Dick Gaughan packed his version with a fierce sense of resistance. His arrangement became the default and was an obvious influence on Billy Bragg’s cover (seen here performing it with Amanda Palmer and her ukulele) and on mine.

I tried to capture the force and relentlessness of Gaughan’s version in my arrangement. I’ve done that by having my thumb hammering out eighth notes on the g-string the whole way through. In combination with the index finger picking the C-string, that produces this rhythm in the intro and between verses:

Then on top of that you have the middle finger and the ring finger picking the melody on the E and C-strings respectively.

Links

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Now you’ve got your immoral zamboni costume together, here are some tunes you may wish to bone up on before the big night.

Addams Family Theme Tune
Chopin – Funeral March
Jonathan Coulton – Re: Your Brains
Dance Macabre
The Doors – People Are Strange
The Fall – Mansion
The Gothic Archies – Freakshow
Halloween Theme
Harry Potter – Hedwig’s Theme
The Last of Us II –
Through the Valley
London Bridge Is Falling Down (From Halloween)
The Misfits – Dig Up Her Bones
The Misfits – Halloween
My Chemical Romance – Welcome to the Black Parade
Mike Oldfield – Tubular Bells (from The Exorcist)
Ray Parker Jr – Ghostbusters
The Rolling Stones – Sympathy for the Devil
Gustavo Santaolalla – Last of Us Theme
Skrillex – Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites
This is Halloween (From Nightmare Before Christmas)
Tom Waits – Whistlin’ Past the Graveyard
Twilight Zone Theme
The Walking Dead Theme
Warren Zevon – Werewolves of London
The White Stripes – Little Ghost

Five Halloween riffs/intros: Thriller, Devil Went Down to Georgia, Sweet Dreams, Don’t Fear the Reaper and Jump in the Line

And a tutorial to spookify your playing:

Spooky Ukulele Sounds

Lizzo – Cuz I Love You (Chords)

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.

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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#.

Easy Version

Cuz I Love You (Simplified Chords)

Easy Version Strumming

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.

Links

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Tracklist

Jake Shimabukuro – Twelve
mxmtoon – seasonal depression
Choan Gálvez – Study No. 22 in B minor
Landermason – Benjamin Mee
Peanut Envy – Walking Stick
John Bianchi – You're Taken (But I Wish You Were Taken With Me)
Katy Vernon – Suit of Hearts
Arko Mukhaerjee – Machi Kadaile
Buckman Coe – Malama Ka 'Aina

IDLES – Danny Nedelko (Tab)

Since immigrants invented the ukulele, it’s only right to have a song celebrating immigrants on here. And what a celebration it is. Idles turned in a barnstorming performance of it in their already legendary Glastonbury set. And, along with Fontaines D.C., have convinced me that punk isn’t dead yet.

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).

Links

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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.

– Only Connect Theme (Baritone ukulele tab)
– They Might Be Giants – It Could Be Worse (Chords) from the audiobook of Sarah Vowell’s The Partly Cloudy Patriot.
– Matt Berry – Toast of London Theme (Tab)
– Memphis Kansas Breeze – Human Skin Truck Baby (Chords and Tab) from the Comedy Bang Bang podcast.
– Santa Fortuna Town Theme (Tab) from Hitman 2.

Dawson Sabatini – Only Connect Theme (Tab)

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.

Links

Only Connect on BBC.co.uk
More theme tune tabs and chords