On this lovely, rainy, spring evening, we welcomed Anne, PJ, Bill, Vin, Louise Jack, Dan, Larry, Arlene, Ting, & Ken to play and sing along to Songs about Spring or Bruce Springsteen.

We opened with the video of Jim Boggia playing an amazing rendition of Thunder Road. Bill recalled him saying, “I’ve got this ukulele and learned how to make it talk.” Then we watched a video of Bruce Springsteen fingerpicking a uke and talking about being at a Disneyland Hotel with “hookers and a ukulele.” Then we got right into playing the following songs:

1). Dancing in the Dark, Bruce Springsteen (Ken)

Ken was eager to show us this infamous video of Bruce pulling Courtney Cox up on stage to swivel her hips and dance with Bruce. Both Bruce and Courtney Cox were so young in this video, and they had millions of fans studying them to learn their cool stage moves. These were fairly easy chords and a great example of how to play a riff ([G] & [Gsus2]) between verses.

2). Going to the Chapel of Love, Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich & Phil Spector,1964 (Bill)

Bill did a great job making this chord sheet! This song was made famous by The Dixie Cups in 1964. The song tells of the happiness and excitement the singer feels on her wedding day, for she and her love are going to the "chapel of love", and "we'll never be lonely anymore." This was a great melody and we really played well together. All of Bill’s hard work definitely payed off. Thanks, Bill!

3). Raindrops Keep Falling on Our Head, (PJ)

I just adore PJ’s little green uke! I remember playing this song on our player piano when I was a kid and I always loved the line, “I did me some talkin’ to the sun.” This song was in a nice key and it was a great song to play. Good choice, PJ!

4). Should I Fall Behind, Bruce Springsteen (Ken)

What a gorgeous song and I never considered myself a Springsteen fan. This tune is frequently used as a wedding song. The video shows various members of the E-Street Band singing one after the other. It showed Steven Van Zandt, Nils Lofgren, Mrs. Bruce Springsteen (Patty Scialfa), and my favorite part was sung by Clarence Clemons, “There’s a beautiful river in the valley ahead…” Really pretty song and pretty easy chords.

5). Tip-Toe Through the Tulips, Al Dubin, 1929 (Arlene)

Thankfully, Ken spared us of his imitation of Tiny Tim’s disturbing falsetto voice. Tiny Tim, whose real name is Herbert Buckingham Khaury, made this song famous on the Tonight Show back in 1968. This performance single-handedly ended the popularity of the uke. We played it well and it had a great ending. It’s a great, happy spring song. Nice work on the chord sheet, Arlene!

6). Singing in the Rain, Nacio Herb Brown & Arthur Freed, 1929, (Arlene)

This song had [F] [Am] [Gm6] and [C7], a pretty combination of alternating chords. So nice, we played it twice!

7). Feeling Groovy, Simon & Garfunkel, 1966 (Arlene)

This song is also known as the "59th Street Bridge Song" and is on the album, "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme". Arlene found a video of Art & his mini me son with big curly hair singing this song together. It was very cute. Last I heard, Art was teaching math somewhere, but I think his students would always ask him things about his singing career-they specifically wanted to know about Woodstock. Pretty funny. Groovy song played in [F], [C] & [G].

8). Brilliant Disguise, Bruce Springsteen (Ken)

This song definitely needs more practice, but I can see how it could be really fun to play especially if you mastered the [G], [Gsus2], [Gsus4] riff. Ken played and sung along beautifully. Nice work, Ken. Great pick!

9). English Country Garden, Unknown (Arlene)

Arlene surprised me with her mastery of this tongue twisting song about what kinds of sweet flowers, insects, & songbirds are found in an English Country Garden. We watched a video of a headless melodeon player, and the group had a discussion about the differences between a melodeon, an accordion and a melodica. Great job singing, Arlene! Personally, I’m enjoying the cherry blossoms and the magnolia trees showing off their stuff during this magnificent time of year!

10). Rockin Robin, Michael Jackson, 1972 (PJ)

We watched Michael Jackson perform in an old video, and his talent was just oozing out of his pores. Unreal. We played this song pretty well and it was even better with Bill’s slide whistle. Where does he get all these novelty musical instruments?

11). Younger Girl, Lovin’ Spoonful, 1965 (Dan)

Arlene saw John Sebastian perform recently at Westbury Music Fair. She told us he was really old, but she said he told really good jokes! I never heard this song before, but Dan did a good job leading us through. I had trouble switching from [Dm] to [Em], but overall it was good as a group.

12). It Might As Well Be Spring, Rogers & Hammerstein, 1945 (Jen)

I thought more people would know this song. It’s from the movie, “State Fair,” and it was covered by Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and my favorite version by Astrud Giberto. The chord sheet looks overwhelming, but the song is so slow, there’s plenty of time to set up your fingers. Not the best song for the club.

13). Rhythm of the Rain, The Cascades (Vin)

Welcome back, Vin! We were all so happy Vin has been feeling better and was able to make it to the jam. This was a great uke song that he picked and we all sounded confident and strong playing it. Thanks, Vin! Great to see you!

14). Spring, Vivaldi (Anne)

This is really beautiful music, but we decided to skip it because it was too difficult for the group. It is one of my goals to be able to play classical uke. Amazing!

15). April Showers, (Arlene)

Arlene did a nice rendition of this song and recorded it on her deck. Arlene keeps getting better and better. When she’s rich and famous, I hope she’ll remember her humble roots. This is a nice song with fast changing chords. It’s do-able if you skip the [F#7].

16). City of New Orleans, Steve Goodman, 1971, (Larry)

This is a great folk song. Arlo Guthrie performed this song in 1972. Larry told the group that he got to sing this song on a ship in Russia after drinking about a half quart of vodka. It was the last song of the night and we played it well. Thanks, Larry!

That’s all for now. The theme of our next jam session will be the color Blue or the Blues.

Cheers,

-- Jen.