There were nine of us to play DUETS, a topic Jen picked two weeks ago, yet she was absent this night. (What's become of young people these days?) Dave, Frank, Larry, Jack, Bill, Vin, Arlene and WendySue soldiered on without her.

1. Let It Be Me, Everly Brothers, 1960 (Vin)

We did this several times as a warm-up, then again when WendySue showed up a few minutes later. Well done.

2. Dancing in the Street, Martha and the Vandellas, 1964 (Vin)

This qualifies as a duet because Bowie and Jagger did it in 1985. At the start, we held a C7 for the longest time as all the names of the cities were called out. One note on the Dm7: Bill showed me that if you play a regular Dm, add your pinky to the E string on the third fret. Though I couldn't do it fast enough for this song, I see that it is not impossible, unlike some other chords.

3. Teenager in Love, Dion and the Belmonts, 1959 (Vin)

This was off-topic, not strictly a duet, but maybe you could count the backing Belmonts with their "ooh oohs" as a second voice. It was one of three songs that we played perfectly. With a C Am F G7 pattern and Bronx natives Arlene, Bill and WendySue to interpret the Bronx's Dion DiMuci's hit, how could we miss? We ought to keep this in mind for future concerts.

4. Something Stupid, Frank and Nancy Sinatra, 1967 (Dan/WendySue)

The Cm gave us a little trouble, but it wasn't half terrible. Father and daughter sing well together.

5. Baby, Don't Go, Sonny and Cher, 1965 (Bill/WendySue)

Dave added harmonica on this one. I don't remember this Top Ten as a kid, but when I came upon it fifteen years ago, I immediately liked it. It has only two chords: C and Dm7. Very easy. Sonny Bono must have been a genius to get so simple a song to sound so good. In my next life, if I don't come back as a lizard or a house plant, I hope to come back as a composer of songs with catchy melodies.

6. I Got You, Babe, Sonny and Cher, 1965 (Bill/WendySue)

In the movie Ground Hog Day, Bill Murray woke up to this song over and over again. It was a little bit hard due to the second line of the verse having F Bb Eb and C coming pretty quickly. I couldn't get it, and bluffed through it by eliminating the Eb. But just having tried it on the piano, I'm here to testify that the Eb does sound good if you can do it.

7. Islands in the Stream, Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers, 1983 (Dan)

Guess who wrote this. It was Barry Gibb, eldest of the Brothers Gibb (also called the great Bee Gees). I dismissed this song thirty years ago, but now I love it. After watching Parton and Rogers sing it, I see that Rogers is singing the main melody, and Parton the harmony. It's that slightly different part which adds so much interest to the sound. Had they sung exactly the same thing, it wouldn't have sounded nearly as good. In my next life, perhaps I'll reincarnate as a vocal student and learn how to do that. I'm sure it's a teachable skill.

8. Jackson, Johnny Cash and June Carter, 1967 (WendySue)

"Well, go on down to Jackson. Go ahead and wreck your health." Here was a straight-ahead number with the three chords of C F and G7 (plus a C7 sneaked in there.)

9. Hey Paula, Paul and Paula, 1963 (WendySue)

Very sweet. Very easy to play. Paula hits an impossibly-high note in the second line of the second verse.

10. You're the One That I Want, Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta, 1978 (WendySue)

In the middle of this song, Bill put on orange sunglasses and played a kazoo mounted onto a toy saxophone. On the verse we did fine. The chorus wasn't as good because a chord was left out. We held a C uncomfortably long when it should have been a C and F alternating. This gets my goat. It's a mistake so easily prevented with an extra minute of proofreading.

11. Paradise By the Dashboard Light, Meatloaf, 1978 (WendySue)

Oh, what a mess, and five pages of it. This sounded awful in the beginning: inaccurate chords, and chords over the wrong lyrics. We should get medals for having slogged through it. It was fun to recite the Phil Rizzuto bit while everyone held an E7 for half an hour, but then got genuinely exciting (and with better chords) as Ellen Foley shouted, "Stop right there!" and went into her ultimatum to the boy in the car with her. But we still had three pages to go and it was a little bumpy.

12. Side By Side, 1927 (WendySue)

This was perfect. We didn't make a single mistake. I wonder what it is about some of these old songs (I'm thinking of Five Foot Two and Ain't She Sweet) that turn average ukulele players into All Stars.

13. Makin' Whoopee, Eddie Cantor, 1928 (WendySue)

Another old one well done. I have this on an album by Tony Randall. He's singing The Glory of Love and a chorus in the background is singing Makin' Whoopee. It all blends together magically. (Someone should erect a bronze statue to Tony Randall.)

14. Need You Now, Lady Antebellum, 2010 (WendySue)

This seemed easy enough, but since it's only six years old, I never heard of it. Apparently this country band is a hit with the younger set.

15. Where Have All the Flowers Gone, Kingston Trio, 1962 (WendySue)

We started the night strong with Let It Be Me and we ended strong with this folk song. (Never mind the middle.) It was a holdover from the last session involving plants. WendySue was a little late last time and therefore got gypped out of most of her songs. This evening she must have had a couple of hundred copies printed and stapled. She produced the bulk of the music. Otherwise, we would have ground to a halt by 8:15. Thank you, dear girl, for going above and beyond.

Our next session will be songs from BROADWAY. Tony and Maria do some good ones. So do Eliza, Colonel Pickering and Professor Higgins. And DO NOT leave out the Von Trapps.

-- Dan.