mystery song, broken things, remixed song

[solarbird]

I’ve been learning to play melody parts on zouk and mandolin – you might notice the lack of zouk or mandolin solos in the studio album? there’s a reason for that – and I started playing this tune, which I’ve known for forever, and which, in my headcanon, everybody in the world knows.

I’m wondering what it’s called. None of the tune recognition software knows it, and I’ve been asking people and turns out in reality, almost nobody knows it at all! It has an A part and a B part so I thought it was perhaps Irish, and I have it in my head it might be French in some way, but Ellen (whose mom is from Japan) says it sounds Japanese to her.

Here, have a quick recording I just made on my cell phone. Do you know this? If you do, what is it? And is there somewhere that everybody knows this song, or did I just make that part up:

What is this song? Clickie for mp3!

Also, last weekend, I got BONGOS! at a yard sale for cheap and fixed the cracks and refurbished everything else. (I like reclaiming abandoned instruments.) They look like this now:

If I hold them vertically with the smaller drum on top I can play them like some kind of two-tone bodhran, which sounds totally weird but kinda awesome.

Someday I’ll learn to play instruments the correct way. Hopefully not too soon tho’. XD

Finally! I remixed the Cracksman Betty version of “Paddy Murphy,” with new vocals on the first verse and chorus. I like this one better, I think it’s more fun. (Go ahead, you try to sing “O’Leary came with the bagpipes, some music for to play” sober. Can’t be done. BOOST THE ALCOHOL LEVELS TEN! MORE! POINTS!) It’s also a pay-what-you-like download. Enjoy:

Paddy Murphy
Dara Korra'ti

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I think I’ve really improved as a vocalist – and certainly become more consistent as one – over the last few months.

No time to post Friday, busy. Have a good weekend!

Mirrored from Crime and the Blog of Evil.
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Comments

here via network

[ailelie]

Part of it reminds me of 'skip to my lou.' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EM30ZHz04Q

Sorry, though, I don't know the song.

Re: here via network

[solarbird]

Yeah, that progression is in a bunch of things, most notably "Skip to my Lou," but other songs and tunes as well. So far, that's the only part most people recognise.

[acelightning]

The first phrase sounds as if it wants to turn into "Union Maid"/"Red Wing", but then of course it doesn't. Just on a wild guess, I think it might be a Breton dance tune, possibly having passed through the Canadian Maritimes, and I think it's usually played on the fiddle. But, like you, I know I've heard it before, but I can't quite remember in what context.

[solarbird]

I really thought everybody knew this.

Thanks for poking at it. If you come up with anything, please let me know!

[acelightning]

It occurs to me that it might also be played on the pennywhistle or recorder.

Hmm... *applies Google-Fu*...

Nope. I ran it through a couple of song identifiers, but I think they're more likely to recognize Lady Gaga or Bruno Mars :-(

I expect that it will suddenly pop into my head six months from now, just as I'm drifting off to sleep...

[solarbird]

I've been through several, including TunePal, which is specifically tunes in the Irish sense - no joy at all.

If it comes to mind six months from now, let me know! I probably won't have found it yet, given the success rate so far!

[acelightning]

It's very, very familiar, but I may not have ever known its title. Like the waltz melody that trapeze artists always used to use - the one that you can sing as "George Washington Bridge, George Washington Washington Bridge..." over and over to the end - everybody knows the tune, but how many people know that it's called "The Loveliest Night Of The Year"?

[ypawtows.livejournal.com]

RE: What is this tune?... I'm hearing "Skip to My Lou" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skip_to_My_Lou).

[solarbird]

There is a sequence in this tune which is absolutely the same as in the eponymous phrase in "Skip to my Lou, My Darling." That's what you're triggering on. But you find that chunk of notes (or very similar) in many old folksongs.

The rest of the song is quite different - different melody, different phrasing, and the appearance of separate A and B parts, which doesn't happen in "Skip to my Lou." It's something else with that phrase in common.

[stickmaker.livejournal.com]

Arthur Marx was one of those people who could encounter a new instrument and play it with a few minutes experimentation. Someone - perhaps as a joke - gave him a full-size harp. This he had to work at, because he kept breaking the strings. Eventually, he worked out a tuning which sounded good and didn't overstress the strings. He incorporated the instrument into the family act, and quickly acquired the nickname Harpo.

After a few years he decided to get some proper lessons. One of the first things he was told was to expect to break the strings, because there was no way to tun a harp without overstressing some of them. Harpo didn't learn much from this instructor, who insisted that Harpo instead teach him how *he* tuned his harp!

This experience was repeated, with variations, with several other teachers. They spent far more time having Harpo play for them than they did teaching him.

So, learning the "proper" method is fine, as long as you don't let that confine you.

My favorite piece of bongo music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBZJlVeEVeI (worksafe)

[partywhipple.livejournal.com]

I read this post twice. It didn't make me want to cry in my closet. So nice!!

[solarbird]

Thanks, I appreciate it. I worry about that sort of thing sometimes - I have lots of weird gaps in my knowledge and/or skill sets because of my DIY approach to everything, and it's difficult to get anyone to take me seriously as it is, and it all kind of feeds the whole "impostor syndrome" thing. It's a problem.

[solarbird]

I know! And yet, it's the econ that people pay attention to and comment upon. I suppose there being money involved is what matters.