DISCO tunes were celebrated tonight suggested by Dan who could not be here. Joining in the fun was Larry, Betty, Frank, Bill, Anne, PJ, Jen, Ken, Dave, Sally, and Dawn. Our founder Suzala made a cameo appearance and 2 new guests, Tony and Frank.

Our usual warm up, SIDE BY SIDE got us started.

ABBA’s DANCING QUEEN, (Ken) is a song I happen to love listening to. Almost anything by ABBA actually. In my opinion we were weak on the verses and strong on the chorus.

PJ gave us the ever popular party song YMCA which was lots of fun. From Wikipedia:

“Upon its release, the YMCA threatened to sue the band over trademark infringement. The organization ultimately settled with the composers out of court and later expressed pride regarding the song saluting the organization.” “Taken at face value, the song's lyrics extol the virtues of the Young Men's Christian Association. In the gay culture from which the Village People stemmed, the song was implicitly understood as celebrating the YMCA's reputation as a popular cruising and hookup spot, particularly for the younger men to whom it was addressed.”

THAT’S THE WAY I LIKE IT (Bill) - KC and the Sunshine Band, a song from bar chord hell. A few gave it a try while I sat back.

Bill also gave us The O’Jays’ LOVE TRAIN. OK on chorus but many, including me, weak on verse.

I WILL SURVIVE (Irene) by Gloria Gaynor gets a fair from me. Never a fan of this song but I love the Thanksgiving parody.

Next on to Blondie’s HEART OF GLASS suggested by Larry.

RASPUTIN by the German disco group Boney M. (Ken) was fun. I’d like to learn this one better. It’s a great ear worm. Hey, Hey, Hey!

THE WAY YOU MAKE ME FEEL by Michael Jackson (Ken) was fun. Still, Michael did it better.

SUPER TROOPER by ABBA (Ken). Easy enough to follow along.

HAPPY HAWAII (Ken) by ABBA and John Prine is one I learned to play a while back. Ken was surprised I know it. I think he expected to be the only one. Bill, I doubt very much that it fits the disco theme so some penalty must be invoked.

BEAT IT (Ken) was ugh! A video of changing chords. I didn’t realize the words were there until near the end. I cannot look in 2 places at once.

VENUS by Bananarama (Jen) was fun and easy. I had no idea this English group that formed in 1981 is still performing. Two ladies in their late 50’s are still riding that disco wave. They released an album just this past April called "In Stereo". Perhaps list worthy.

ROCK THE BOAT (Ken) by The Hues Corporation: my notes say it was sad. The playing or lyrics? I cannot recall.

DECEMBER, 1963 (OH WHAT A NIGHT) (Sally). Released in ’56 by The Dells and also performed by the Four Seasons. For us it was an epic fail!

TAKE A CHANCE ON ME (Sally/Bill) by ABBA. My notes say ‘meh.”

Out of material but not out of time we listened to Cookie Monster sing "Me Lost My Cookie at the Disco". Fun – thanks for sharing Jen.

The last two songs TAKE ME HOME, COUNTRY ROADS and in my opinion, the best of the night: SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW/WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD. List worthy.

Our next theme will be anything that relates to the SEA. I know we’ve done somewhat related themes (water, transportation) so this should give us a nice variety of tunes to choose from.

Until then – you keep strumming,

-- Arlene.