Jack, Larry, Irene, Jean, Dan, Abbie, Betty, Frank, Bill, Anne, Arlene, WendySue, Ken and myself all took a chance on this luckiest of days, Friday the 13th, to play our ukes to songs that have something to do with the topic of dance but not necessarily songs to dance to. I love to dance, but I realized it wasn't my calling when my dance instructor laughed really hard when it was my turn to leap across the room. Oh well. At least she got a good laugh!

1). BIG ROCK CANDY MOUNTAIN- This is our new opening night song, but the chord sheet is a bit confusing because it looks like columns. Hopefully Bill can fix this for us.

2). We watched a bit of Willie K playing the STAR SPANGLED BANNER (Irene). Wonderful!

3). This 7-year old girl is extremely impressive playing Elton John's CROCODILE ROCK (Ken). This video is a few years old which makes me wonder what this talented youngster is up to now. Ken got his kazoo out to play the la la la la la la's. Nicely done!

4). This extremely popular song from the 80's reminds me of my friend's Bat Mitzvah where all the kids got up to dance the LOCOMOTION by Little Eva (Bill). I remember liking the dance, but I completely forgot the steps to it.

5). Irene requested SHUT UP AND DANCE by Walk the Moon, which is a modern song with a great beat to it. It's a fun song, but we all agreed it wasn't list worthy.

6). Irene's second pick of the night was DANCING IN THE DARK by Bruce Springsteen. I love the video when Courtney Cox is chosen from the audience to come up on stage and dance with Bruce. This is one of my favorite songs by The Boss and we were lucky to have Clarence Clemens on kazoo.

7). FOOTLOOSE by Kenny Loggins was Irene's third pick of the night. It was hard to switch from [D] to [A] so quickly, but this song brings back great memories of the movie with Kevin Bacon. Speaking of Kevin Bacon, has anyone ever played the game "Back to Bacon?" Supposedly everyone in the world can be traced back to Kevin Bacon by linking the person with seven or fewer people. This is probably due to the fact that he's been in so many movies.

8). Next, Arlene picked LET'S TWIST AGAIN by Chubby Checker. The group seemed to enjoy the "Da Ba Do Dut Bah" in the beginning and at the end. Not bad.

9). Arlene suggested SHIMMY LIKE MY SISTER KATE written by Armand J. Piron. This song has a really cool jazzy intro which only Ken was able to play. This is one of his favorite songs to play on the uke.

10). TWIST AND SHOUT by The Beatles (Arlene) was our next number. It was fun to scream like Paul on the Ahh's. Not too shabby!

11). HOKEY POKEY (Betty). I haven't done the hokey pokey in years. This was an easy song that we could probably play for an audience, or maybe someone will hire us to perform at their wedding.

12). BLAME IT ON THE BOSSA NOVA by Eydie Gorme (Betty). What a nice chorus! I had no idea the Bossa Nova was such a seductive dance--the dance of love.

13). Bill made this excellent chord sheet for MR. BOJANGLES, released by Jerry Jeff Walker and also the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. We all knew the song, played it well and we ended together. I was told this was Sammy Davis Jr.'s signature song.

14). WendySue chose TENNESSEE WALTZ by Patti Page. I love this song, but the [F7] was tricky. Norah Jones & Bonnie Raitt sing a pretty version of this song and so does Leonard Cohen.

15). TUTTI FRUTTI (WendySue). This was just a bad attempt except for the one line in the beginning "Bop Bama Looma a Wop Bam Bam".

16). DANCING IN THE STREET (WendySue). After we found a decent chord sheet, we played it until the song just lost its fizz.

17). DANCING QUEEN by ABBA was next (WendySue). We sounded great! It was a fun song to play with a difficult strum pattern.

18). SAVE THE LAST DANCE FOR ME by The Drifters (Jean). This sounded lovely, but it had an awkward ending.

19). I SAW HER STANDING THERE by The Beatles (Betty). This was a good one, although it was missing the last note, Am7. We unanimously agreed it goes on the list!

20). Next, Dan requested DANCE WITH ME by Orleans. I wasn't familiar with it until Dan started singing it. It was a pretty song. Orleans was a two-hit wonder -- this song and "Still the One". Nice pick, Dan!

21). Betty chose the Beach Boys' hit that I never heard before DO YOU WANT TO DANCE?.

22). Yes, another Ed Sheeran pick by me, PERFECT, which is an easy four-chord song. I love the version with Andrea Bocelli the best.

23). This next catchy tune was picked by Arlene- SWAY by Dean Martin. It was great with the Cha Cha Cha at the end and this definitely goes on the list. We played it again with different chords. I prefer Arlene's chord sheet.

24). TIME WARP (Ken). Dan did a terrific job singing and we all agreed it has potential.

25). I HOPE YOU DANCE by Lee Ann Womack (Ken). This is a really beautiful song with great lyrics. "I hope you never lose your sense of wonder."

Maybe it was the moon or the fact it was Friday the 13th because the next theme is Death songs. We just couldn't wait for Halloween. See you all in two weeks!

Cheers,

-- Jen.