Bright Eyes Gavotte (part A)

A tune I’ve been working on for a while, this is only part A, I like it and I hope you do too.
I do have to come clean that I did fudge around with it in Audacity to speed up the tempo and remove some oops.

Classic Banjo

I stumbled onto this classic style on youtube nearly two weeks ago and decided I needed to learn it. So I ordered a book of tunes, joined an online Ning forum devoted to classic style, and went to work. I wound up with these.

First week:
Grimshaw’s first banjo exercise

Second Week (this week)
Saint Patrick’s Day (On Saint Patrick’s day!)

Silly Songs

I Used to Work in Chicago:

and Granny’s In The Cellar:

Simple Loch Lomond Gifts

it snowed a tad last night, it’s a slushy mess outside so I picked up the banjo.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

I just got a Zoom H2 digital recorder and it sure is something else!

awesome sound quality, somewhat okay banjar pickin’.

Pittsburgh Town

About time for a new post I think…
(Sheesh, how much do I suck at blogging?)

Anyhoo.. moving on..

I got my hands on a copy of Pete Seeger’s Industrial Ballads album and on said album there’s a cool little ditty about Pittsburgh and how it sucks to live in Pittsburgh (apparently it’s very hard to breathe there… or at least it was back in the day.. I’ve never been.)

so I did a Google search to try to figure out how to play it and had no luck. I did, however, find something that said it shares the same tune as “Froggy went a courtin’” and “Mama don’t ‘Low”. I knew I had “‘Low” in my Folksinger’s Wordbook and looked it up.

After putting 2 & 2 together I wound up with this:

(A)Pittsburgh town is a smoky old town, in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh town is a smoky old town, in(E7)Pittsburgh
(A)Pittsburgh town is a(A7)smoky old town
(D)Solid iron from(Dm)McKeesport down…
(A)Pittsburgh–(E7)Lord, God, in(A)Pittsburgh!

What did Jones and Laughlan steal, in Pittsburgh?
What did Jones and Laughlan steal, in Pittsburgh?
What did Jones and Laughlan steal?
Up and down the river–just as far as you can see…
Pittsburgh–Lord, God, in Pittsburgh!

From the Allegheny to the O-hi-o, In Pittsburgh
From the Allegheny to the O-hi-o, In Pittsburgh
From the Allegheny to the O-hi-o
They’re joining up in the C.I.O….
Pittsburgh–Lord, God, in Pittsburgh!

All I do is cough and choke, in Pittsburgh
All I do is cough and choke, in Pittsburgh
All I do is cough and choke
From the iron filings and the sulfur smoke…
In Pittsburgh–Lord, God, in Pittsburgh!

hope this helps!

Phn’glui mglw’nafh Chthulhu R’lyeh wagn’nagl fhtagn

I just read my first H.P. Lovecraft story (Dagon) and felt I had to learn this song I heard a while back (when this insufferable song was hogging the radio waves)

I Give you “Hey There, Chthulhu” written by Eben Brooks:

{D} Hey there Chthulhu down there {Bm} in your sunken city
{D} You’re a billion light-years distant and {Bm} the stars look very pretty
From {G} R’lyeh
So close {A}and yet so far {Bm} away. Ia {A} Iay.

{D} Chthulhu fuh-TAH-gun, or is {Bm} that Chthulhu fuh-TINE?
{D} I can never quite remember ’cause {Bm} I’m not in my right minds
Since I met {G} you
No one {A} corrupts the way you {Bm} do. You know it’s {A} true

(Chorus)
{D} Oh, it’s what you’ll do to {Bm} me
{D} Oh, and all {Bm} humanity
{D} Oh, you’ll rise up from the {Bm} sea
{D} Oh, kill everyone {Bm} slowly Except the one’s like {D} me

Hey there Chthulhu, I’ve been studying your gospel
The Necronomicon, it gives me nightmares something awful
Where I see
The death of all reality. It fills me with glee

So when the stars are right, you’ll come and do your worst
But that’s okay because I know you’ll eat the cultists like me first
When you get here
I know that day is drawing near. I have no fear

(Chorus)

BRIDGE:

{G} A billion light-years seems so far
{A} below the sea, beyond the stars
{D} Of these humans’ putrid souls you’ll drink your {Bm} fill
{G} The fools will all make fun of me
{A} But I’ll just laugh maniacally
{D} ‘Cause no one’s ever suffered like they {Bm} will
{G} Chthulhu, I can promise you
{A} That by the time this cult gets through
{D} The world will never ever be the {Bm} same!
Praise your dark {A} name!

{D} Phn’glui mglw’nafh Chthulhu {Bm} R’lyeh wagn’nagl fhtagn
Boy, that’s {D} really quite a mouthful, can’t quite {Bm} cram it in my noggin
Not {G} today
{A} I try to say it {Bm} anyway
{G} I feel my {A} soul begin to {Bm} fray
{G} Still I await {A} that frabjous {Bm}day
Chthulhu {A} calay!

(Chorus)
{D} Oh, kill everyone but {Bm} me
Everyone but {D} me

9 Minute Anonanimal – Andrew Bird

Watch this!

Andrew Bird is one of my favorite musicians. I got to see him live last year and it was amazing. He even hung out at his merch table afterwards and shook hands. He seemed awkward and shy, which really is how I would see myslef in the same position.

Push That Pig’s Foot a Little Further into the Fire

Here’s what I’ve been working on for the past few days.
it’s an Appalachian fiddle tune, but played on a Chinese banjo.

I hope you enjoy it!

Granny’s in the Cellar

I was watching one of Patrick’s workshops and he and his Dad play this tune for a friend of theirs in the UK. They don’t say how to play it and the fretting of the banjo is obscured, but the guitar wasn’t so I managed to figure it out.
It’s the same chord progression as Paddy Kelly’s Brew.

[G]Granny’s in the cellar
[C] Lordy, can’t you smell her?
[G]Cooking flapjacks on a greasy [D] stove
[G]In her eye there is some matter
[C]That keeps dripping in the batter
[G]And she whistles as the [D][SNIFF] runs down her [G] nose
[C] Down her nose, down her [G] nose

She whistles as the [D][SNIFF] runs down her [G] nose                                                                                                                                                                         [G]In her eye there is some matter
[C]That keeps dripping in the batter
[G]And she whistles as the [D][SNIFF] runs down her [G] nose