This is a fairly difficult one. Lots of barre chords, the dreaded E chord and some confusing rhythms. Still, none of it’s as tricky as spelling the title.
Here’s the intro part arranged for two ukuleles.
Or you can just about fit both parts on to one ukulele. Which goes like this:
I was inspired by Ukulele Cat to knock up my own version of the Keyboard Cat tune. It’s dead simple, just the D and Dm chord shapes on the C, E and A strings. Make sure you’ve got the chord shape in place at the start of the bar and you’re good to go.
For the picking I’m using:
Thumb – C-string.
Index – E-string.
Middle – A-string.
I somehow managed to pass my entire childhood without coming across Disney’s take on Robin Hood. So when I first heard this tune my reaction was, “AZIZ WHISTLE STOP is a straight rip off from The Hampsterdance Song. What’s Roger Miller‘s email?” Roger Miller responded, “nooooooooooooooo! that song came out afterwards!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Anyway, Roger Miller’s more laid-back delivery of the tune makes it much more ukeable. I’ve included the first three variations on the tune. They raise in difficulty quite nicely each time.
I tried to stick to an alternating thumb pattern (moving between g and C). With index finger on E and middle on A. But the melody does sometimes stray onto the C-string which screws things up (such as the D in bar 4). Those notes I play with my index finger.
This is easily one of the best protest songs ever written. And one of the best songs of any sort. The lyrics are as nuanced and thought-provoking then any other. But it’s the music – written by Clive Langer – that really makes it shine.
The song is in the key of E minor but you’re hardly ever using the Em chord. In my arrangement there’s a grand total of three bars of it. So the song never feels relaxed or settled. It’s always shifting. The jazzy elements unsettle the tune. All that is added to in Robert Wyatt’s version with his vocal wobbles.
I could keep rambling on but I’ll let you play it.
Buy the Elvis Costello version.
Buy the Robert Wyatt version.
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Often seen as merely a , New York Times best-selling author with a huge YouTube following, John Green’s lasting legacy will certainly be the videos of him semi-competently playing FIFA ’11 as Swindon Town on his brother’s YouTube channel. It must really annoy him that he won a Printz Award for his spare-time work while his magnum opus goes unrecognised.
But no great work goes unrecognised on this blog. So I hastily cobbled together a medley of Swoodilypooper goal songs. In the spirit of the game, they’re with heart rather than skill.
I think this tune has to be the most overused piece of music on television: reality shows, sporting montages, documentaries. And now it’s been covered by the guy off of G4. That would usually be enough to kill off any song. But this song is so magnificent it gives me goosebumps every time I hear it.
For the uke arrangement I’ve moved everything up a fret from the original to the more uke-friendly key of C. The first half of tune is all played campanella style (i.e. one note per string letting them ring into each other). I know a lot of people don’t like this way of playing but, screw it, it’s easily the best way of arranging a tune like this.
The most important thing to get right is the dynamics (quiet and louds bits). The original gets this one spot on. Obviously you’re not going to have the same dynamic range as a full band and a string section. But try to let the music swell in the first half and blossom in the second half. The dynamics are what gives emotion to the tune.
Another important thing to get right – which I completely failed to do in the video – is to keep an even tempo. I speed up much too fast towards the end. So do as I say not as I do.
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