On this night we were thankfully joined by Suzan, Anne, Jen, Ken Larry, Dan, Wendy Sue and Bill.

1. We started with a pick from Ken, Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World using a Dr. Uke chord sheet. Pretty chords - Dr. Uke always delivers! We played it nice and slow and it wasn't difficult.

2. The next two were mine: Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant and Turkey in the Straw. Now, Arlo's piece, in it's entirety is runs over 18 minutes but we played the basic tune. Arlo presents a humorous monologue while music plays in the background. He describes an absurd series of events after being cited for littering after finding a garbage dump closed on Thanksgiving Day. He and friends wound up tossing several items over a cliff but mail with his name was discovered by the police and he was charged with illegal dumping. He recorded this in 1967 when he was 20, Here are links to the full presentation and commentary about the song in Wikipedia. But why is this a Thanksgiving tradition? Well, Thanksgiving is mentioned but why it's famous for being played on that day, I am still not sure. Just enjoy!

3. Turkey in the Straw, originally written in the 1800's has many different versions. Here's a link to a funny video. We did well with both of these numbers.

4. Clever Dan found a number by The Cranberries, Linger. Unfamiliar to most of us but easy enough to play along with the video.

5. Jen gave us the next two. The Beatles' In My Life was played well after we adjusted for the incorrect chord placement of F and Fm. And then there was Kind and Generous by Natalie Merchant which no one knew. All most of us recognized was 2 lines, one of which went "La-la-la-la..." Unfortunately, not enough to play with.

6. The next one from me was inspired by an e-card a friend sent me. Let's call it the Thanksgiving version of I Will Survive. I opened it at 5 am and had a good laugh and knew I could not leave it alone. I matched the words to a chord sheet of this 1978 Gloria Gaynor disco era hit. Link to video. Good for a laugh at your next Thanksgiving dinner. You're Welcome!

7. Wendy Sue suggested the next few. No one knew Wonderful Summer by Robin Ward so it was a Wendy solo. Thank You Girl by The Beatles got better and more familiar as we went along. Then there was Louis Armstrong's I Won't Dance (Merci Beaucoup). If I recall, we played until the key change and then gave it up. And we took a complete pass on Thank Heavens for Little Girls.

With plenty of time left over we played a few Everly Brothers numbers the group did not get to at the last jam.

8. Dan handed out copies of Devoted To You and you might also like to Dr. Uke's chord sheet that I provided. Such a melodious song. I also brought the next 3.

9. Wake Up, Little Susie was played very slow so we could get accustomed the rapid chord changes. Not bad job for what looked like a difficult piece. A library guest came in and said "rock on." We should take that as a compliment.

10. Walk Right Back sounded great. So good that Ken wants to add it to our concert list.

11. We finished with All I Have To Do Is Dream.

Our next theme will be songs that have a musical instrument in the title or mentioned in the lyrics.

Until then you keep strumming,

-- Arlene.