May 2023 Ceili – new time 630pm

Well, who knew? What fun we had at our new venue, the Grey Lynn Returned Services Club. It just felt good! From our perspective, we felt welcomed. We’ve had very positive feedback, both from you fine people and from The RSC, that it worked well on the night. We counted 60 strummers and singers and have confirmed our next Ceili there for May 15. We will look at connecting up our iPad to the two TVs for the next Ceili. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to have an April Ceili due to a combination of The Lost Chords member absentees and the date coinciding with Anzac Day events at the RSC. A big Open Mike thank you to Sonia and her groups from the Selwyn College Community Education Ukulele class – your contribution helped make the night what it should be – Clan Ukulele members getting together and making wonderful music! Thank you.

Given that the RSC needs to close up by 9pm, we are going to try an earlier start of 6.30pm for the next Ceili.

Details for May are:

Date:               Monday, May 15th 

Time:               6.30 – 8.30pm

Brackets:         8, 17, 19, 21

Location:        Grey Lynn Returned Services Club

Address:          1 Francis Street, Grey Lynn

Some background to these songs:

BRACKET 8

Those Were the Days is a song credited to Gene Rankin, who put the English lyric to a Russian song “Dorogoi dlinnoyu” – meaning “By the long road”. It deals with the reminiscence of youth and romantic idealism. The Mary Hopkins version of the song, produced by Paul McCartney, became a No. 1 hit on the UK singles chart (the oldies will remember what singles records were!). On the Billboard Hot 100, the song was immediately behind the Beatles “Hey Jude”. The song was performed at many concerts in the USA, UK and Europe – having been recorded by Mary Hopkins in five other languages. The most infamous presentation was on Christmas 1975, when Fransisco Marcias Nguema, the President of Equatorial Guinea, had 150 alleged coup plotters executed in the national stadium while a band play “Those Were the Days”. Hear Mary Hopkins at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3KEhWTnWvE . 

Also in Bracket 8 is the Mamas & the Papas California Dreamin’. This song was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in June 1966 and inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001. In 2021, Rolling Stone magazine placed the song in the top 500 songs of all time. The Mamas and the Papas were one of the leading counter-culture American groups of the 1960s. The group was formed by husband and wife John and Michelle Phillips, along with Denny Doherty (formerly of a group called The Mugwumps – love the name!). The last member to join was Cass Elliot, also from the Mugwumps. John and Michelle Phillips had been a group called The New Journeymen, a name they knew wouldn’t work for a new group. Lying around one day looking at the Johnny Carson Show on TV, they saw Carson interviewing members of the Hells Angels Motorcycle gang. One of the gang members said “some call our women cheap, but we just call them our Mamas”. Cass jumped up and said “I want to be a Mamas!” Denny and John looked at each other and decided they would be the Papas. Ellen Naomi Cohen – Cass Elliot, also known as Mama Cass – went on to record 5 solo albums after the Mamas & the Papas broke up in 1971. In 1974 she died of heart failure in London at the age of 33, and in 1998 was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Check out the original from 1965 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-aK6JnyFmk – something for The Lost Chords to aspire to!

BRACKET 17

This bracket opens with Iko Iko, a song performed in 1965 by the Dixie Cups. It tells the story of a clash between two reveller groups at a New Orleans Mardi Gras – the groups are known as Mardi Gras Indians. A song called Jock A Mo, was released in 1953 by a group called Sugar Boy Crawford and his Cane CuttersI – love the name! A lawsuit settlement in 1967 between Crawford and the Dixie Cups resulted in Crawford getting a 25% payment for all earnings of Iko Iko. The two songs share lyric and melody but differ in tempo, instrumentation, and harmony. How different does a song have to be to be different! Hear James Crawford at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-wB9qt2R7E and the Dixie Cups at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBl2G8Bd-aI

Price Tag is a song by English singer-songwriter Jessie J and released in January 2011. The original version also featured American rapper B.o.B. Price Tag is an up-tempo, ‘feel good’ song, with reggae-bounce and a great sing-along chorus (that means all you Lost Chords audience at the Ceili!!!). The song caused some controversy and was criticised by people who found the word hypocritical – ‘a rich rock star telling the rest of us that money doesn’t matter, and then questioning why she charges for her music’. Jessie J had repeatedly spoken out against this criticism in interviews and said this is a misinterpretation of her meaning, which skewers the superficiality of conspicuous consumption. This term, coined by the sociologist and economist Thornstein Veblen, is the spending of money and the acquiring of luxury goods to publicly display economic power – put more simply – ‘show-offs suck!!!’. She said “For me, so much I hear about how much money people have and how people take stuff too seriously. It’s not me saying you can live for free, because obviously that isn’t the case, but I’m saying that you don’t always have to let it be able that. It isn’t always about how much your shoes cost – it’s about the fact that you even have a pair of shoes to walk in”. The song debuted at number one on the UK singles charts and topped the charts in NZ.

Watch the Kareoke version at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qqWcjBXHS8 and the original version, with B.o.B. at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMxX-QOV9tI   

BRACKET 19

This bracket has one of the big-time Ukulele songs – Somewhere over the Rainbow and What a Wonderful World. The first song was a ballad composed by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Yip Harburg for the film The Wizard of Oz starring Judy Garland and sung by her in the film. It won the Academy Award for the best original song and became Garland’s signature song. See Judy in the 1939 film at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oW2QZ7KuaxA

What a Wonderful World is a pop ballad written by Bob Thiele and George Weiss, and was first recorded by Louis Armstrong in 1967. Hear Louis ‘Satchmo’ Armstrong at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3yCcXgbKrE   The combination of 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 42^nd 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 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnS9M03F-fA

BRACKET 21

Couldn’t do a new NZ bracket without Split Enz, therefore it has to be Six Months in a Leaky Boat. Written in 1982 by Split Enz leader Tim Finn, it’s one of New Zealand musical icons. It was voted the fifth-best New Zealand song ever in the 2001 Australasian Performing Rights Association list (so, what were selections 1 – 4?). Why ‘Six Months’ and why a ‘Leaky Boat’. Six months is a reference to the time it took the early pioneers to sail to New Zealand. Interestingly, during the Falklands War, the BBC banned the song as the reference to ‘leaky boats’ was not seen as appropriate during the naval engagements. The ‘leaky boat’ metaphor is a bit more obscure. In the last verse, Tim Finn hints at something more than the story of a voyage with the words: Shipwrecked love can be cruel, don’t be fooled by her kind. His brother and band member Neil, said it talks about the breakup of a relationship. Listen to Split Enz at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ar7DgREshAk

Long Ago is another great song in this bracket. Written in 1986, it featured on their first full album of the same name.  Herbs were the 11^th inductee in the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame and have been described as New Zealand’s most soulful, heartfelt and consistent contemporary musical voice. Their debut EP disk, What’s Be Happen?, set the standard for Pacific reggae and is regarded as a defining moment in New Zealand popular music. That album contains songs with powerful political statements such as One Brotherhood. Hear Herbs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmu4wR1bTYE

So, dear friends, get practicing and we will see y’all in May

The Lost Chords

No Ceili in April 2023

See you on May 15 2023 at Grey Lynn RSC!

March 2023 Ceili

Last month I said “It’s that time again – Welcome to 2023, and, it’s time for our first Ceili for the year” – and it didn’t happen because unfortunately, Florrie McGreals was not available as a venue for our Ceili’s. Well, WE HAVE ANOTHER VENUE!!!!!

The Grey Lynn Returned Services Club are keen to host us for the March Ceili, and we are keen to give it a try also. The atmosphere there is cosy and friendly and there is some parking on the street around the club and many more places in the reserve around the back. And, so we don’t go hungry, their food contractor (Nates Kitchen) says he will offer a simple menu on the night. Drinks are a lot cheaper than normal pub prices. Have a look at their website at https://www.greylynnrsc.org.nz/

In case you’re wondering, the difference between a Returned Services Club and a Returned Services Association venue is that RSC’s welcomed merchant seamen as members after WWII, whereas RSAs did not.

Let’s try and get a good turnout on the night. Details are:

Date:               Monday, March 20^th

Time:               7 – 9pm

Brackets:         1, 7, 10, 15

Location:        Grey Lynn Returned Services Club

Address:          1 Francis Street, Grey Lynn

Some background to these songs:

BRACKET 1

Jambalaya (On the Bayou) is a song written and recorded by American country music singer Hank Williams and was first released in July 1952, not long before his death at age 29. The song is named for a Creole and Cajun dish, jambalaya. If you are so inclined, have a go at making Jambalaya – see https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1167651/chicken-and-chorizo-jambalaya  So, who is Yvonne in the song? He references Yvonne in the song as his “ma cher amio”. This is Cajun French for “my good friend” or “my dear” and more likely means “my girlfriend or fiancée.” Williams did a follow-up song about Yvonne called “I’m Yvonne of the Bayou”. I think one of the great covers of Jambalaya was by the Credence Clearwater Revival – have a listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrUmGakCRdE

Only You, a song made famous by the Platters in 1955, also features in this bracket. Jump forward 30 years and Only You was covered by Ringo Starr and became No. 1 in the Easy Listening Chart in 1975. Down Under, the Hi-Marks, a popular ’70s New Zealand, recorded a version on their first album Showtime Spectacular. In the 1956 film Rock Around the Clock, The Platters participated with their two huge successes, “Only You” and “The Great Pretender”.

See the Platters at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FygIKsnkCw and New Zealand’s The Hi-Marks at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhCuDmIEJvw

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.

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. The song has been covered by many, including The Rolling Stones and The Beach Boys.

BRACKET 10

Let’s get Rock n’ Rollin’ folks!!!  Rock Around the Clock is the first number in the bracket. It 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 – anyone out there from Wellington? I remember seeing the Rock Around the Clock movie with Bill Hailey at the Roxy Theatre in Manners Street – sadly, now long gone. The was the biggest-selling vinyl rock and roll single of all time – at least 25 million was cited by the Guinness Book of World Records. Listen to Bill Haley and the Comets at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgdufzXvjqw

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 15

Mamma’s Got a Squeezebox by The Who, from their album The Who by Numbers, was written by Pete Townshend – no surprises, the lyrics are couched in sexual double entendres. Squeeze Box was a commercial success, peaking at No. 10 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 16 in the US Billboard Hot 100. The song is also their only international number-one hit, reaching No. 1 in Canada, and No. 2 on the Irish singles chart.  Here them at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXoxH8HI7z8

Dancing in the Dark, written and performed by American rock singer Bruce Springsteen, spent four weeks at number two on the Billboard Hot 100and sold over one million singles in the U.S. It was the first single released from his 1984 album Born in the U.S.A., became his biggest hit and helped to propel the album to become the best-selling album of his career. There have been many covers including Tina Turner, The Shadows, Downtown Boys, and Kermit the Frog!

After a major argument with his manager, Springsteen went home and wrote Dancing in the Dark that same night. He wrote about the difficulties of being an artist (“check my look in the mirror, I wanna change my clothes my hair my face”), the pressures of commercial success and the line between maintaining his artistic integrity. He is saying it’s impossible to just click a producer’s fingers and get a hit.

“Can’t start a fire… can’t start a fire without a spark” 
“This gun’s for hire, even if we’re just dancing in the dark”

He’s saying ‘you need a creative spark to be creative, not somebody ordering you to be creative’ and ‘you can ask for a hit, and pay me for a hit, but it doesn’t mean I’ll write a hit. I need a creative spark to write a hit, not the orders of my producer.’

Hear this fabulous song at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=129kuDCQtHs

So, Folks, get practicing and we will see you at the Grey Lynn RSC on the 20^th