The Beatles came to America in 1964, and right behind them were a bunch of British bands with lots of hit records. It was an explosion of music. Scott, Sam, Larry, Jack, Vin, Charles, Ken, Jen and Bill celebrated this BRITISH INVASION with these songs:

1. Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying, Gerry and the Pacemakers, 1964 (Ken)

These pals of the Beatles also came out of Liverpool. Brian Epstein managed them and George Martin recorded them. The Amaj7 to Dmaj7 is a very pretty sound.

2. Downtown, Petula Clark, 1965 (Dan)

3. Sunshine Superman, Donovan, 1966 (Dan)

The C7 to F and G7 were very easy and fun to play. Here's a song you can pull out of your back pocket if anyone sees you with a uke and demands, "Play something." Bill did an instrumental with a kazoo attached to a Christmas horn or hunting horn. This is a multitalented, multi-instrumental man, also adept on ukulele and washboard.

4. Do Wah Diddy Diddy, Manfred Mann, 1964 (Vin)

We messed up on the bridge but did well on the rest of this chirpy song.

5. I Only Want to Be With You, Dusty Springfield, 1964 (Vin)

Great chords. Great song. I love Dusty Springfield. We did a fine job with it, despite the appearance of an Eb.

We then watched a YouTube video Vin posted of him doing a Bach piece, Prelude (Cello Suite #1) on ukulele, a two minute and twenty-five second masterpiece.

6. Hey Hey What Can I Do, Led Zeppelin, 1970 (Sam)

This is a catchy, dirty song about an unfaithful girlfriend. It was on the flip side of The Immigrant Song 45. The chorus of GG FF and C sounded terrific, like we were real rock guitarists.

7. Baba O'Reilly (Teenage Wasteland), Who, 1971 (Sam)

8. Squeeze Box, Who, 1976 (Sam)

9. Lola, Kinks, 1970 (Sam)

I had no idea what this song was about until I was much older.

10. Sunny Afternoon, Kinks, 1966 (Sam)

We've done this several times before and this was probably our best version.

11. Yellow Submarine, Beatles, 1966 (Charles)

Here's another we've done often in the past. Very easy.

12. Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd, 1975 (Charles)

I know six guitar chords. This song uses five of them, G C D Em and Am, so I can do it. I saw Pink Floyd at the Garden in 1987, and when they played this, people held their lighter flames aloft as if to say, "This is a sacred moment." Very moving.

13. A World Without Love, Peter and Gordon, 1964 (Charles)

As a little kid I loved this song. Still do. McCartney wrote this and later gave it to his girlfriend's brother, Peter Asher. Paul didn't think it was good enough for the Beatles.

14. Over and Over, Dave Clark Five, 1965 (Charles)

These guys were slugging it out with the Beatles in '64 and '65 with a half dozen Top Tens.

15. I'm Into Something Good, Herman's Hermits, 1964 (Charles)

16. Anarchy in the UK, the Sex Pistols, 1976 (Charles)

Play the sneering, snarling Sex Pistols version on YouTube, then see the funny way The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain does it.

17. I'm Telling You Now, Freddie and the Dreamers, 1964 (Jen)

My friend's cousin, Arlene, could do The Freddie, a dance that went with this song. It looks simple on the video, but I couldn't get the knack. (I just tried it.) We're going to have to ask Wendysue to demonstrate it for us.

18. She's Not There, Zombies, 1964 (Sam)

I never noticed it before I saw the chords and started playing it, but this song has a similar feel to Oye Como Va, with a fast, repeating Am to D. We should try this one again. Those Zombies were some cool cats. Their two other Top Tens were Tell Her No, and one of my all-time favorites, Time of the Season. Keyboardist Rod Argent went on to form Argent ( Hold Your Head Up and God Gave Rock and Roll to You).

19. Something, Beatles, 1969 (Sam)

Some of us were playing it as it is on the Abbey Road album, the traditional way, and some were doing it like McCartney did it (on the ukulele) at the tribute concert for George Harrison. The result: a big mess. To paraphrase a famous line from the movie Cool Hand Luke, "What we had here is failure to communicate." Next time we'll do it right.

We ended the playing a little early to watch a demonstration on how to change ukulele strings. It was lucky for me that Ken demonstrated on my ukulele. When I tried to change a string at home, I got stuck on the part about making the knot. What took Ken twenty minutes to do would have taken me a month.