Sunday, October 25, 2009

Where No One Has Gone Before

I remember when it all started. It’s been almost two years now. We were all so young and innocent. So full of hope and promise. There were really only a “handful” of people posting ukulele videos on youtube. I remember seeing mercedezzz version of ‘I Will Survive’ on banjo uke and thinking to myself how cool that was. Hell, I could do that! I know a ton of old songs that I could cover on the ukulele, and be just as cool as her! (at the time it didn’t even occur to me that she has more talent in her little finger nail than I have in my whole body, or will ever have for that matter). So I bought a banjo uke and did a lame cover of ‘Black Peter’ by the Grateful Dead. It sucked. But it didn’t matter. No one else had done it. There was nothing else to compare me to. I was breaking new ground. I was the Meriwether Lewis, the Earnest Shackleton, the Sir Edmond Hillary of the banjo uke. A week later I bought a Fluke and started covering just about any old tune I could think of. Again, I was the Christopher Columbus the Robin Knox Johnston, the James T. Kirk of the ukulele.

But now it’s all been done. Now whenever I think of a song to cover, I do a youtube search to see if it has already been covered. Usually it has. Even really obscure songs are used up. (I spent seven weeks learning “Overture" from "Tommy” by The Who, only to find out it has been done on the uke. Really? Tommy? Are you fucking kidding me?) A lot of the time the song I want to do has been done by someone I know. This is where things get really complicated. I am left asking myself; should I do it anyway? Should I cover it again? Do I give them credit in the sidebar? Do I post it as a video response? I surely don’t want to look like I am trying to “out-do” them (not like I could). What is the protocol here? Damn it, it used to be so easy.

8 comments:

UKISOCIETY said...

Nice post. Didn't even know you owned a banjo uke. Still got it?

What I really want to know is why a smoke detector always choses to lose battery power at 3 frickin' AM in the gee dee morning. So the sumbish starts chirping like some forlorn cricket every :60 seconds. And when you pull the battery out, it wails like some dying beast, flesh torn from its throat, in a last gasp of horrible anguish. The realization of its immediate death and subsequent everlasting doom washing over it like a tidal wave over some dang resort in Indochina we've never heard of before.

That said, I want a banjo uke version of Pink Floyd's Brain Damage.

Mugambismonkey said...

I tried to find a song that hasn't been covered on the uke yet - just to easily prove you're wrong. However - dammit!! I looked for "men in black ukulele" and found this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvVSPTNdFQ4
So I have to admit that you're right! It seems that every song on this planet has already been covered on the ukulele...

Adelle the Great said...

Your Black Peter was what made me first notice you, Boozie ;)

::pauses while everyone thinks of black peter jokes::

I used to look up songs before I did them- but I don't anymore. It's too depressing! There's always somebody out there waaay better than me that's done it. I watch it, I go cry in the corner, me & my uke go eat a pint of Ben & Jerrys together. No more. If I'm feelin a song, and I think I can perform it reasonably well at least, it's going up. FEA

I demand you record Overture & at least send it out as a private vid.

Grumpy Coyote said...

You need new music old man. Buy an album or something...

I no longer care if it's already been covered (except for the ones that have been done to death). I am now on a strict "If I feel like covering it I will" policy. FEA.

In fact I may do a "You Belong to Me" tutorial tonight...

RussBuss said...

funny thing is, i think that's how i came across your channel as well boozelle. at the time, i think we were the only two people covering neil young tunes on ukulele. anyway, you always pick the cool obscure tunes while i go for the mainstream stuff like neil young's arrangement of "honey baby".

also i agree with grumpy, buy some new music old man. you know they have something called CD's(compact discs, no lie) now? i think they've been available for over 20 years.

Boozelele said...

But what will become of all my 8-track tapes?

Mugambismonkey said...

Good new music is hard to find! Music-wise I'm still mostly stuck in the 60s to 90s. Suggestions anyone?

Willie Deuel said...

A banjo version of Brain Damage / Eclipse? Here you go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q75qJ3vCmBw

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