Hi Friends of The Lost Chords,
We enjoyed being back at The Remuera Club last week – hope it worked for you being in the Bar area. Many thanks to the Open Mikers – the Jade River Ukes and Wild Women and a Bloke. I loved the song, Havana. I looked it up and heard this 2017 version by the Cuban-American singer, Camila Cobella
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCjNJDNzw8Y
For any others interested in doing an open mike, contact Brad. We will try and feature one open mike set of 1 or 2 songs each Ceili, between one of the brackets.
Next Ceili: July 22 at The Remuera Club
Brackets are: 5, 7, 10, and 19
BRACKET 5
El Condor Pasa, ironically performed by Simon and Garfunkel, was composed more than 50 years before they made it such a popular song. Peruvian composer Daniel Alomía Robles, its true author, crossed the Andes in search of autochthonous music and traditions. When he returned to Lima in the early 1900’s, the Andean music he had heard during his trips – plus his previous experience as a music composer – inspired him to create a new melody that has gone on to have quite an impact in the world of music. The indigenous movements of the time influenced Alomía Robles during his composition of a zarzuela (Spanish operetta), written exclusively to be played by an orchestra without Andean instruments; he called it ‘El Cóndor Pasa‘. Soon it was performed in large theatres around the world, sung by renowned opera singers of the time. Despite being an operetta divided into eight musical pieces, only three parts of the composition became popular. The most well-known of the three – referred to as ‘El Cóndor Pasa’ – is divided into four parts: a yaraví (a sad and slow melody), a passacaglia and a happy huayno at the end. The operetta is about a group of Andean miners who are exploited by their boss. The condor that looks at them from the sky becomes the symbol of freedom for them to achieve. During the 1960’s, Andean bands became very popular in Europe. One of these groups was called Los Incas. They performed their own version of ‘El Cóndor Pasa’ with Andean instruments. After Paul Simon saw them perform the song live in Paris, he learned the melody and added his own lyrics to it. Under the name of ‘If I Could‘, this version became the most popular song across Europe at the time. Listen to Simon and Garfunkel athttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pey29CLID3I For something different, have a listen to Gheorghe Zamfir playing this on the Pan Pipes with a symphony orchestra https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9NDytH3HdQ , or, for something really different, Placido Domingo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSY3zPluWCk
Rhythm of Love, by the Plain White Ts, was written by group member Tim Lopez and released in 2010. It peaked at 38 on the Billboard Top 100. Lopez explained the story behind the song: “It was written for this girl I was dating while we were making our last album in Malibu. I had known her since I was 11. I wasn’t really emotionally available for her at the time as I hadn’t entirely gotten over my divorce, so when the band left on tour, it wasn’t right to try and keep the relationship going. Years later I realised what I had walked away from.” When he wrote the song when he was with her, and it was a song for her. He said the writing was enjoyable as “all I could think about at the time was her”.
Hear the original at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWiwuiT58Yc
The bracket closes with Green Door, a song released in 1956 – sung by Jim Lowe with music by Bob Davie and lyrics by Marvin Moore. The lyrics describe the allure of a mysterious private club with a green door, behind which “a happy crowd” play piano, smoke and “laugh a lot”. There are many theories about where the club with the green door is. One suggestion of the song’s origins is that it was inspired by an after-hours club in Dallas, Texas, to which lyricist Moore had been refused entry because he did not know the correct password. At the time of the song’s initial popularity in the 1950s, many believed it was inspired by a green-doored restaurant and bar called “The Shack” in Columbia, Missouri, where singer Jim Lowe had attended the University of Missouri. However long-time Shack owner Joe Franke doubts this theory. An oft-repeated urban legend has developed saying the song refers to London’s first lesbian club, Gateways, a club open from 1930–1985, which was in Bramerton Street in Chelsea. It had a green door and was featured in the film The Killing of Sister George. Whatever the truth, it’s a great song.
BRACKET 7
Bracket 7 opens with that famous Canadian folk song, Four Strong Winds. Recorded by many artists, including The Seekers, Bod Dylan, The Kingston Trio, and John Denver. Denver changed the location of the song from Alberta, where the original singers – Ian and Sylvia – were from, to the Rockies when he was living in Colorado at the time. In 2005 the Canadian Broadcasting Commission Radio One listeners chose this song as the greatest Canadian song of all times. Another great Denver song in this bracket is Country Road. Released in 1971 the song became a Platinum hit in 2017. In 2014 it became an official state anthem of West Virginia – described in the song as almost heaven.
Under the Boardwalk, released in 1964 by The Drifters, describes a meeting between and man and his girlfriend – they plan to meet privately and ‘out of the sun’ and away from everyone else – ‘under a boardwalk’. In The Drifters version –https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPEqRMVnZNU – you can hear a scrapping sound on the soundtrack. This is a Latin American instrument called a güiro. It’s been covered by many, including The Rolling Stones and The Beach Boys.
We say goodbye to the bracket with Ricky Nelson’s Hello Mary Lou – a song about first love and disappointments.
BRACKET 10
One, two, three o’clock, four o’clock rock – are you ready to rock n’ roll? Rock Around the Clock is the first number in the bracket. Rock Around the Clock is a rock and roll song in the 12-bar blues format written by Max C. Freedman and James E. Myers in 1952. The best-known and most successful version was recorded by Bill Haley & His Comets in 1954. It was a number one single on both the United States and United Kingdom charts and also re-entered the UK Singles Chart in the 1960s and 1970s. In 2018, it was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, and artistically significant”. Rock Around the Clock is often cited as the biggest-selling vinyl rock and roll single of all time. The exact number of copies sold has never been audited; however, a figure of at least 25 million was cited by the Guinness Book of World Records. Listen to Bill Haley and the Comets athttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgdufzXvjqw
The most famous version of Barbara Ann was released as a cover by the Beach Boys in 1965. It rapidly rose to No. on the charts. So, was Barbara Ann a real person? She was. Fred Fassert wrote the song in 1958, titling the song after his little sister, Barbara Ann Fassert. Fred’s brother Charles was a member of the group The Regents so the song was given to them. They recorded the song as a demo in 1958 but the song laid around so long, the group broke up. After their 1961 breakup, Gee Records released the song as BARBARA-ANN and it became the first of two chart singles for the group – not too bad for a group that didn’t exist anymore. Jan & Dean recorded the song in 1962 as an album track which helped inspire the Beach Boys to record their version for the album “Beach Boys Party!” in 1965; Dean was down the hall in another studio and came down to the Beach Boys recording session. He wound up sharing falsetto vocals with Brian Wilson on the song and is actually more prominent on the single than Brian (at the end of the album version, you can hear Brian’s brother Carl shout “thanks, Dean”). Listen to the Beach Boys at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPRonG87eKw
The bracket finishes with Good Golly, Miss Molly – a big hit for Little Richard in 1956. When asked by a journalist about the origin of the song, Little Richard once said that by “to ball” he meant to dance and have fun as one does at a ball or in a ballroom, and “rockin’ and rollin’” could be interpreted that way. However, he added, both “balling” and “rocking and rolling” are also slang terms for sex. Whatever the meanings and innuendos, it’s a favourite of ours. Here is Little Richard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQ6akiGRcL8
BRACKET 19
You are My Favourite, by Sophie Madelaine, was released in 2009 and quickly became a hit.
Sophie Madeleine is an award-winning singer-songwriter and ukulele player from Brighton. She was one of the first to graduate from Bath Spa University with an MA in songwriting, and has made a name for herself with beautifully crafted songs played on her guitar, ukulele and tenor guitar. Her first two albums, Love. Life. Ukulele (2009) and The Rhythm You Started (2011) achieved great critical success and many of songs have been used on soundtracks of TV adverts such as those for Pets At Home (You Make Me Happy) and Macys (Take Your Love With Me). She has supported the likes of Gruff Rhys, Newton Faulkner and Babyhead. She has since retired from music performances due to significant health issues and now works in the media industry. Hear her at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6Nz_TkgRYc And a version from Uke players from all over the word https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kX1uaflYyY
This bracket has one of the big-time Ukulele songs – Somewhere over the Rainbow and What a Wonderful World. The combination these two songs was made famous by the Hawaiian singer, Israel Kamakawio’le. A large man (at one stage, 343 kg), his name translates to ‘The Fearless-Eyed Man’. The medley was released on the 1993 Facing Future album, the all-time most popular album of Hawaiian music. Sadly, he died at the age of 38 in 1997. Hear his classic performance at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1bFr2SWP1I
We finish the night with another big-time favourite – The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down. Written by Robbie Robinson, and released in 1969 by the Canadian roots rock group, The Band, the song is on Rolling Stone magazine’s top 500 list, Pitchfork Media’s 42nd best song of the 1960’s, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s ‘500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll’ list, and Time magazines All-Time 100 list – some accolades!!!! The song is a first-person narrative of the social and economic distress experienced by those in the Confederate States – the South, popularly known as Dixie. Although it was a huge hit for The Band, it had its biggest success with the Joan Baez cover in 1971. It became a gold record and this version was used on the soundtrack of the 2017 film, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. The Band recording is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jREUrbGGrgM and the later one by Joan Baez athttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnS9M03F-fA
So, get strummin’, and we’ll see you July 22
TLCs
The Lost Chords Ukulele Group 