You're Near Me

This is a tune I wrote, and it's on my cd that I'm getting returned to me on Friday...100 copies, and it's called "To the River EP". This song is on there, but it's with piano instead of uke.



I don't need roses or candy,
or anything fancy,
I don't need anything at all
when you're near me.

I don't need walks on the beach
as long as you're within reach.
I don't need anything at all
when you're near me.

And when you're near me,
there's a love like I've never known.
I'll bet that you agree with me

that nothing else even matters.
You know that I'd rather
forget it all,
stay home and wait for your call.
I need nothing at all
when you're near me.

In A Sentimental Mood

So I realize how much posting everyday improved my ukulele playing. I had a couple of students cancel today, and I decided to record Duke Ellington's In A Sentimental Mood. It's a fun but challenging song. Here's Duke on the tune:

"We had played a big dance in a tobacco warehouse, and afterwards a friend of mine, an executive in the North Carolina Mutual Insurance Company, threw a party for us. I was playing piano when another one of our friends had some trouble with two chicks. To pacify them, I composed this there and then, with one chick standing on each side of the piano."

Pure Imagination

I'm forging ahead into a new month. I'll try to keep doing this until I run out of material. Today is Pure Imagination written by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley for the 1971 version of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I'd love to have seen Johnny Depp sing it, too, but it wasn't meant to be.

My Romance

I'm running out of songs! Not really, but it's getting tricky to find ones I can learn in a day. Anyways, My Romance is a Rodgers and Hart tune from the 1935 musical, Jumbo. Doris Day performed it in the movie version. Yay!

I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me

I recently found out about this tune... a standard I didn't know. It really swings, both in the tempo and beat, but also the melody swings up and down:

  
                                                   what
    eyes             kis-             nev-              they
your      of     your      -ses      I     -er               could
            blue               too,           knew                do

Thank you David Heyer, my lovely partner, for pointing that out. He's taking a PhD course now about these types of musical forces (Larson). And, he'll be looking for a professoring gig here in a few years...

'Round Midnight

I decided to conquer a really difficult tune today. This is 'Round Midnight by Thelonious Monk. I found out from my good friend, Wikipedia, that he briefly toured with an evangelist while he was a teenager, and that his wife called his unorthodox piano sound Melodious Thunk, which seems highly appropriate.

Night and Day

I was helping a fellow singing friend out with this tune yesterday... he was singing a Billie Holiday-esque version of this Cole Porter tune. I decided to record this today because I was reminded of how much I like this song.

Interesting tidbit, Porter claimed this song was inspired by an Islamic call to worship he heard while on a trip to Morocco. Thanks, Wikipedia.

-Billie Holiday-

Cheek to Cheek

I love this Irving Berlin classic. It seems like all these jazz tunes work so well on the ukulele. This one was harder to memorize in one night, so my apologies for no whistling solo.

L-O-V-E

This is an easy tune and it sounds like it was made for the ukulele. My dogs, Bruno and Zelda helped me with the filming today. Any jingling or grumping you hear in the background is all their fault. :)

This tune was written for Nat King Cole's album by the same name, released just before his death in 1965.

We'll Meet Again

This tune was recommended to me as an "Ali song". My bandmate, Randy, thought that this would be right up my ali alley (ha). Anyways, I watched the end of Dr. Strangelove on Youtube:



and then I realized it that I have it in my extensive Rosemary Clooney collection (on the demi-centennial album). Anyways, here it is.

Stella By Starlight

Today's tune is Stella By Starlight, which was originally from a movie called The Uninvited. Today, I have put the sheet music that I use up for this tune. This is for educational purposes only...if you learn it, I'd love to see what you do with it. Like I said on the video, this is one of the hardest songs I've memorized lately. The ii-V progressions are definitely unusual in the first half.

Stella By Starlight

A Foggy Day

This tune was originally done by Fred Astaire in a 1937 movie called Damsel in Distress, and it's by the famed songwriting pair George and Ira Gershwin. Hope you like it.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

I know what you're expecting. A Brother Iz-style rendition of the tune. Well, you're not going to get it today. I promised to do this posting thing for a month, and this is the first day I haven't felt like it. I went to the emergency room at 3:30 am this morning with my partner. He is fine, so no worries. He was getting sick, and thought he might be getting pneumonia like he did a few years ago. It's like ever since the pneumonia, he worries so much about getting it again, that he fools himself into thinking he's getting it. He did pick up a nasty cold at the convention this weekend, but it didn't rear its ugly head until this morning, so that's probably what he was feeling.

But now you know my secret: I record these first thing in the morning (which today is 11:15 am) and usually in 1-2 takes. This was my one and only take. No time for perfection today (or any other day, really). Here you are:

Day By Day

Well, Wikipedia has let me down. No one else knows much about this tune, either.

However, Ella Fitzgerald recorded this tune in 1953, which was six years after her famous Decca recording of Lady Be Good. This was also the year she divorced bass player Ray Brown, with whom she adopted a son.

Ella was not the first to record it, nor was she the last. She is, however, one of my long-time singing idols, so learning more about Ella is always a good thing for me.

I'll Be Seeing You

This is another song I've been performing for over 10 years. But, not until I looked in my trusty Wikipedia, did I know the history of this song. Well, I knew it was popular in WWII, due to all the men leaving their wives/significant others. And, it was written in 1938 by Sammy Fain, and Irving Kahal. But here's the stuff I didn't know. I also didn't know the first 4 lines have a melody similar to Mahler's third. Not being an orchestral player, my knowledge of symphonies is lacking, I guess. I did know that it was played at the end of Misery, but I did not know it was played during the final episode of Beavis and Butthead, which is a TRUE work of genius.

Dream a Little Dream of Me

It seems like we all know this tune due to the late and great Mama Cass, but it was actually first recorded over 30 years earlier, in 1931. This tune seems to beg for the ukulele, and it was the first uke song I ever recorded. If you're interested in hearing the "studio" recording (studio in quotes because the "studio" is actually my office), then go to my MySpace and listen. There are even more than the 6 regular recordings in my profile area. Anyways, have a good one.

Another You

Here's the first video! This song is (There Will Never Be) Another You. Music is by Harry Warren, lyrics by Mack Gordon. Written in 1942, Wikipedia tells me it is one of the most widely performed jazz standards. This is true for me, as well. I have been singing this song since high school, and now I'm playing it on the ukulele as well. I have already heard from a viewer to show more of the ukulele in the videos, which I will try to do from now on. I am playing a stock Flea Market brand Fluke in concert size. This was my first ukulele, and I love it, love it, love it. It is green, and sounds great. I actually bought it for myself as an end-of-graduate-school present. Best present ever!