WendySue, Jack, Larry, Louise, Abbie, Jean, Irene, Dawn, Betty, Frank, Dan, Arlene, Anne, PJ, Ken, Louise and myself were all gathered together for this night of gobbledygook/nonsense/gibberish uke jam. This jam was Betty's brilliant idea and there were so many songs to choose from that we could've possibly stretched it out to two jam sessions. We learned that "Pafalafaka" is a term of endearment, and that "Ging Gang Goolie" is a song that our faithful member, Dawn, from the UK, is familiar with. We forgot to include "We Go Together" from Grease, and "Eep-Op-Ork-Ah-Ah" from the Jetsons, which was Irene's suggestion. Maybe we just might need to revisit this theme in the future.

1). BIG ROCK CANDY MOUNTAIN

We played this straight through.

2). ABA DABA HONEYMOON by Arthur Fields and Walter Donovan, 1914 (PJ)

Fun song with a fancy [C] chord walkdown ([C], [Cmaj7], [C7]).

3). BROWN EYED GIRL by Van Morrison (Jean)

Jean led us off and we were all together for the Shalalalas in the chorus.

4). THE BANANA BOAT SONG 'Day-O" by Harry Belafonte (Jean)

This is a Jamaican song about dock workers loading bananas onto ships while working the night shift, hence the lyrics, "Daylight come and me wan' go home."

5). DO WAH DIDDY by Manfred Mann (Jean)

This was a good pick. Someone asked if this song was about P. Diddy, which I thought was a funny comment.

6). MAH-NAH-MAH-NA (Arlene)

This song was originally from the Ed Sullivan Show, then The Muppets got a hold of it. Needs work.

7). TUTTI FRUTTI by Little Richard, 1955 (Arlene)

What else is this besides an ice cream flavor? It means "all fruits" in Italian. We've never played this song together, but it sounded really good. List!

8). DA DOO RON RON by The Crystals, 1963 (Arlene)

We thought this song was too long to play the entire thing.

9). SKINNAMARINK (Arlene)

We've played this song, which is apparently from a children's TV show, twice before. Cute!

10). SHABOOM SHABOOM (Life Could Be a Dream) by The Chords (WendySue)

This is an early do-wop song that, according to Dan, made The Crewcuts famous. There's a missing part in the beginning.

11). THE LION SLEEPS TONIGHT by Solomon Linda (WendySue)

Pretty! [G] [C] [G] [D]. I read that the original lyrics were written in Zulu!

12). THE WITCHDOCTOR by David Seville (Alvin and the Chipmunks) (WendySue)

The song tells the story of a man in love with a woman who initially does not return his affections. Wanting to be with this woman, the man goes to see a witch doctor for advice. The wise Witch Doctor replies, "oo ee oo aa aa, ting, tang, walla walla bing bang." How could we have a nonsense song night without this one? Nice pick, WendySue!

13). LET ME IN by the Sensations (WendySue)

This was a fast-paced song that not too many of us were familiar with.

14). THE SHOOP SHOOP SONG (IT'S IN HIS KISS) by Cher (WendySue)

We used Bill's chord sheet, but we had a hard time singing it.

15). BE-BOP-A-LULA (SHE'S MY BABY) (WendySue)

This was a Rockabilly song that wasn't too shabby!

16). OB-LA-DI, OB-LA-DA by The Beatles (PJ)

Best song of the night!

17). SUPERCALIFRAGILISITICEXPIALIDOCIOUS, Disney, 1964 (Betty)

Mary Poppins is wonderful!

18). IKO IKO by Sugar Boy and his Cane Cutters, 1953 (Betty)

Fun song and we played it well!

19). MAIRZY DOATS by Milton Drake, Al Hoffman, and Jerry Livingston, 1943 (Betty)

I've only heard bits and pieces of this song which is supposedly based on an English nursery rhyme. We all sang and we tried it twice. Very catchy lyrics!

20). ALL NIGHT LONG by Lionel Richie (Irene)

Irene researched this song and it was a really creative pick, although we needed more instruments and we were missing Bill on this one. If we practice this, it would sound OK.

21). HAVANA by Camila Cabello (Ken)

Here's a really catchy three chord song recent (it came out in 2017). It has a tricky strum and it's a great one to practice. Cynthia Lin does a detailed video tutorial.

22). MRS. ROBINSON by Simon & Garfunkel (Ken)

Nice pick...Coo Coo Ca Choo!

23). DOMINICK THE DONKEY by Lou Monte (Jen)

The song describes a donkey who helps Santa bring presents (made in Brooklyn) to children in Italy because the reindeer cannot climb Italy's hills. Dan asked me if I knew what the Italian words in the song meant and here's what I found:

"Cumpare" is sort of dialect / slang (mostly southern Italian) for "compare". 'Compare' is an Italian equivalent of Spanish 'compadre'. Both the Italian and Spanish words may be translated as 'compatriot, fellow countryman, villager'". Also, the word "SU",as in "Cumpare sing, Cumpare SU, and dance the tarantel'. SU "literally means "UP". So, the verse is basically saying "Everybody sing, everybody get up, and dance the tarantella". "Sannanicola" = San/Santo (Saint), Nicola (Nicholas) = Santa Claus; "ciucciariello" (little donkey). Chingedy ching, hee-haw, hee-haw!

24). HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET SIXTEEN by Neil Sedaka (Dan)

Both Dan and WendySue carried us through this song with great singing.

25). COME TOGETHER by the Beatles (Louise)

This song is the opening track on their 1969 album Abbey Road. Great nonsense lyrics! Good choice, Louise!

26). CHEESECAKE by Louie Armstrong (Louise)

Ken sang like Louie for us. Cheesecake!

Without further ado, our next uke jam sessions is, yes, you guessed it, Thumpety Thump Thump, HOLIDAY SONGS (including Festivus)!

Looking forward to seeing you all there!

Cheers,

-- Jen.