There was a good crowd on hand to play Part 2 of sixties music (excluding The Beatles and Elvis): Betty, Frank, Louise, Arlene, Anne, PJ, Larry, Jack, Ken, Jen, Bill, Dawn and Sally. We also had three new folks: David, Dennis and 14 year old Leah.

1. These Boots Are Made for Walkin', Nancy Sinatra, 1966 (PJ)

Not a bad beginning, if a little slower than I would have liked. I try to play stuff just as I hear it on the radio, unless there's a special reason to go slower. One reason could be it has tough chords or fast changes, but usually if it's not too hard to play, why not try to sound like the record?

2. Personality, Lloyd Price, 1960 (Bill)

We had this 45. Very nostalgic. I love this one.

3. Chapel of Love, Dixie Cups, 1964 (Bill)

We didn't make a mistake. Great. As Arlene likes to say, "Put it on the list."

There's an opportunity for harmony on this song. I long for a teacher who could say, "This side of the room---you sing it like this. That side---sing it this way," and we'll hear how it blends.

There's a young college guy who worked with us on his winter break. He goes to the Berklee School of Music in Boston. He's the ex-boyfriend of my foreman's daughter. He brought in a guitar on Friday and I brought in the ukulele. We played and sang for 20 minutes, and there were a few times he was able to spontaneously burst into harmony. He has that musical ear. It's so cool to hear it when it happens.

4. Rhythm of the Rain, Cascades, 1963 (Bill)

We've done this several times in the past and we're always perfect. Someone should have come into the room and pinned medals on all of us after that performance.

5. Calendar Girl, Neil Sedaka, 1960 (Bill)

Bill made a chord sheet for this and his other ones, and they are terrific. Here was another song where we took parts (we did it in the Lloyd Price song). Half of us called out the months, and the rest took Sedaka's part.

6. I Only Want to Be With You, Dusty Springfield, 1964 (Bill)

If I was waiting to be shot at dawn for high crimes and misdemeanors, this is one of the songs I'd want to hear and sing along with as the time drew near. It's one of the best ever written. Dusty Springfield sings like an angel. While I played songs in my dreary jail cell, I'd eat a lot of candy and live it up to the end. Hopefully it will never come to that since I'm reasonably law-abiding.

7. I Fall to Pieces, Patsy Cline, 1961 (Sally)

A lot of us didn't know this that well. It started a little slow, then it got stronger as the song progressed.

8. Stand By Me, Ben E. King, 1961 (Sally)

This is the fifth song I counted in which we were mistake-free. It's on a four chord loop, never deviating, like a train on a track.

9. Chains, the Cookies, 1962 (Dan)

The great Carole King wrote it. I might send her a thank you card and a tin of homemade cookies, just to tell her what a swell gal she is.

10. A Summer Song, Chad and Jeremy, 1964 (Dan)

This beautiful song went just ok. I thought the singing would be a little better. It's another that has an opportunity for harmony.

11. Daydream, Lovin' Spoonful, 1966 (Arlene)

No mistakes. What has gotten into us? We should take our act on the road and charge top dollar for tickets.

12. Sunshine Superman, Donovan, 1966 (Arlene)

This cool, hippie song from The Pride of Scotland went just so-so when we did it. It fizzled out at the end. It should have gone better. I must look into those chords. I think we may have played this before and done a better job with it. It was a very easy [C7] to [F] with a [G7] turnaround. It's so hard to tell what's going to go well with us and what is not. I so frequently guess wrong when I post my picks.

13. Mrs. Robinson, Simon and Garfunkel, 1968 (Arlene)

It went ok, but here was a rare time I think we were a bit too fast. Leah liked this one. She knows lots of the old stuff, things you'd imagine a young teenager not to know, but her parents and her grandparents apparently have excellent taste in music and have passed it on to her.

14. Then He Kissed Me, The Crystals, 1963 (Jen)

Great song. The chords on the bridge were wrong. I also quibble with one extra chord in the verse. I suppose a case could be made for it, but it threw me off.

15. Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow, The Shirelles, 1960 (PJ)

Another one which was mistake-free, and another I'd play on Death Row with a handful of Mary Janes and some Turkish Taffy.

16. A Whiter Shade of Pale, Procol Harum, 1967 (Bill)

Bill produced this excellent chord sheet. He said he didn't think this was a good song for ukulele. I must disagree with my honorable friend from Levittown. It does seem like an unlikely one for the instrument, this trippy ballad, but I love it on the uke. There are a lot of chords, and you're constantly changing, but they are all friendly chords, not a sharp or a diminished seventh in the bunch. It does take great effort to sing it, and to have it sound good one must sing loudly and with abandon.

"The room was humming harder

As the ceiling flew away...…….

And so it was that later

As the miller told his tale

That her face

At first just ghostly

Turned a whiter shade of pale."

We haven't heard lyrics like that in 50 years. This is a song to belt out if you're driving alone and it comes on the radio. It's one to pull out and impress people with. Lots of people think of the ukulele as songs like Tiptoe Through the Tulips and stuff hula girls do. Show 'em how versatile the uke it and that it's a fine instrument to take on the great songs of rock 'n' roll. Change a few minds. To play songs like this is what makes me so attracted to the ukulele.

17. Happy Together, the Turtles, 1967 (Anne)

This staple of AM radio went well. I saw these guys about 35 years ago at the pier concerts on the west side of Manhattan. The two main Turtles, Flo and Eddie, apart from giving us a half dozen hits, were hilarious on stage.

18. Take Me Home, Country Roads, John Denver, 1971 (Larry)

This one sneaked past the censors, having been released a year after the sixties ended. It always plays well.

19.Where Did Our Love Go, Supremes, 1964 (Jack)

In 1982, a group called Soft Cell had a smash hit, Tainted Love, and at the end of it, they tacked on a version of this Supremes song. Very cool beans.

20. Mellow Yellow, Donovan, 1966 (Arlene)

Great Scot! It's Donovan again in all his hippie splendor.

21. Under the Boardwalk, Drifters, 1964 (Sally)

This is a standard number for ukulele players.

This was the second time in a row we played sixties songs because there were so many songs that people posted and wanted to play. At our 8:30 time to decide on a theme for next meeting, we had several suggestions. Arlene suggested songs about different moods. PJ said love songs would be appropriate since Valentine's Day is coming up. I had heard the WFUV Question of the Day earlier that morning, and they were looking for songs about lying and dishonesty. I suggested that for us. Leah wanted songs from the eighties. But all that was outvoted by those of us who want to play sixties songs for a third session in a row. There were still a bunch of songs we didn't get to from Oliver, the Four Seasons, the Doors, the Foundations, Sam Cooke, the Association, the Zombies, and the Joe Jeffrey Group. We might be able to do this theme for all eternity and never repeat a song. This is my favorite musical era.

-- Dan.