This jam was for the birds! Birds in the lyrics, tittle or even the name of the group. Joining me tonight were Anne, Dan, Jen, Ken, Ken’s brother Bill along with his amp and bass guitar, Larry, PJ, Irene, Jean, Betty, Frank, Abbie and Sally. Good to see you looking well Sally.

As usual, we began this session with BIG ROCK CANDY MOUNTAIN. No tricks and we did a good job.

RED, RED, ROBIN (Wendy Sue) was excellent and I suggest adding it to the list.

ROCKIN’ ROBIN (Wendy Sue) Also excellent.

MOCKINGBIRD HILL (Wendy Sue) This one intrigued me when I looked at the chord sheet. I thought it had an easy catchy tune so I looked for a video that I could play along in the same key. Try it with this video. I don’t know about anyone else but I liked it.

EL CONDOR PASA (Irene) This is a rather solemn sounding Simon and Garfunkel song with a sweet melody. But what is it about? I found this online:

• • • “A beautiful and educational song that yearns the power of freedom to imagine through bird flight how it must feel to be free by relearning it's meaning, and not to be oppresst by The Oppressors on the land that could influence us[you] or make you[us] wanna be like somebody we're not in order to survive if not careful. This song originally, that was started from the beginning was from a Peruvian[Inca Son] homecoming folk song as a national anthem of their culture. That was made more popular worldwide with some changes by our beloved Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. But in certain places ''EL CONDOR PASA'' was banned, like in the old-Soviet Union[Russia] for about 3 to 6 Thousand Days by the peoples Oppressors not to use it as a protest song of freedom against their Communist Government during the cold war days.”

But, how well did we play it? The chords look easy enough so we must have done well.

WHEN DOVES CRY (Irene) A Prince song unfamiliar to me but an easy strum pattern all the way through: //// //// //// // //.

FOR BABY (FOR BOBBIE) by John Denver (Jean). I did not know this one but it was easy enough to follow and we did well until the end. Frank played his fiddle. It was really sounding nice until the very last line. We probably should have looked ahead to confer on that part.

THE BIRDS AND BEES (PJ) A nice classic and we played it well.

MY BLUE HEAVEN (Arlene) A nice snappy tune with a melodious chord sheet from Dr. Uke.

BYE BYE BLACKBIRD (Arlene) A fast moving tune with very nice chords. This one was very sloppy but likeable. It could sound good with practice.

PEACEFUL EASY FEELING by The Eagles (Arlene) I so love this song and just about anything from the Eagles. For some reason every time I hear this song it reminds of the summer in the 70’s when nurses I worked with shared a home in the Hampton's. We would frequent clubs with live bands and I can recall this being played often. Anyway, this attempt was messy. Ken said it was a bad chord sheet (here's a better chord sheet).

SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW (Irene) A classic tune for the ukulele and the first one I ever attempted during a free lesson at a hotel in Hawaii before I started to play. During that hour, I learned [C] and [G] and that’s all I played. Anyway, on this night we started out OK but ended up all over the place. It has potential so keep at it.

TEQUILA SUNRISE by The Eagles (Jean) Another song I love but alas, we did not play it well. To quote Jean “It had its moments.”

MR. TAMBOURINE MAN by The Byrds (Betty) Nice one but a [D] chord was missing at the very end.

TAKE IT EASY by The Eagles (Betty) I really was great until the end. Maybe we should go over the end of some of these to prevent these disappointing crashes.

YELLOW BIRD (Betty) Easy

TILL THERE WAS YOU (Ken) Originally from The Music Man (1957) and recorded in 1963 by The Beatles. There is a very nice video tutorial for this by Mike Lynch.

DREAM A LITTLE DREAM OF ME (Ken) by the Mamas and Papas. Such a pretty song. All the [E]’s can be played as [E7].

YOU’LL NEVER WALK ALONE (Dan) was originally from the 1945 musical, Carousel. I grew up hearing it every Labor Day on the Jerry Lewis MD telethon. It’s also been covered by countless performers. We played this exceptionally well and I fully expected Ken to go all dramatic on us end belt it out at the end. Maybe it was his sore throat that held him back. Anyway, this needs to go on The List.

THREE LITTLE BIRDS (Abbie) Nice

NORWEGIAN WOOD (Abbie) It was a little bit of a challenge for some reason. That’s what I wrote but I forgot why.

I’LL FLY AWAY (Jen) We played this back in September for our ‘Death’ theme. Funny how I get to write about it again. Here’s what I wrote just a few months ago: “It was written in 1929 by Albert E. Brumley and has infiltrated several genres such as gospel, bluegrass, Christian rock, country, and has been used in TV and film. This one was easy and familiar and very upbeat. I would like someone to play it at my funeral or Shiva.” We’ve already added it to the list.

AND YOUR BIRD CAN SING (Bill) Impossible chords Jean said “We are now an audience.” Haha

And what’s a session about birds without a round of GHOST CHICKENS IN THE SKY? Ken got all worked up and Larry said “he (Ken) was losing his feathers.” It’s great to end with such rousing fun.

Our next theme will be COLORS thanks to the persistent requests from Sally.

Until then, you keep strumming,

-- Arlene.