Category: Ukulele Songs

I’m getting the band back together maaaan

So, here's the deal. I want to finally form a Ukulele band. If you live in Missoula, Montana and are into it, you should contact me. Here's some of the songs that I'd like to play. Obviously, we don't have to do all of these songs, or even more than one type of song. I'm leaning towards the sillier songs right now, but I can be talked into anything.

kid's songs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbyqgGIyj94
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yahu4MNRQ7A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I_X7StiFzM
http://ukuleleguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/simon-alton.mp3
http://ukuleleguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/gettingdresseddance.mp3
http://ukuleleguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/gus_is_picky.mp3

serious songs
http://ukuleleguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/bed.mp3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBbjxagGNZY
http://ukuleleguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/ukulele-guy-megan-lannegan.mp3
http://ukuleleguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/belated.mp3
http://ukuleleguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/You-Didnt-Have-a-Girl.mp3
http://www.howsyournetwork.com/download/erika-bday2.mp3
http://www.howsyournetwork.com/download/shane%20hickey%20-%20Eva.mp3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCwPBtcqZvs

funny songs
http://ukuleleguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/ukulele-guy-UPS-Girl.mp3
http://ukuleleguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/ukulele-guy-moderation-town.mp3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qpo2YFSrVE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_juiXOrbhuI

covers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj-GIAACClc
http://ukuleleguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/strange_powers.mp3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVWCqy5TjJY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX5y1_v2XrE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I_X7StiFzM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CVQ-Zm9xBQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NP1To9wG7uA

I realize that this is a bit of a haphazard post, but just need to link all these songs in one place so I can post it on Facebook because it's not letting me post a bajillion URLs into one update.... probably for good reason.

Video: Poontang! (yup, poontang)

Now that I got your attention... Nah, I'm not joking. This really is a poontang video. Heh. I'm having a pretty good time here using the word poontang in a somewhat legitimate manner...... POONTANG!

Ok. I think I got that out of my system.  We can start for real.  As you may or may not know, I'm a freaking sucker for novelty songs.  I know what you are thinking, "Wait a minute, he likes ukuleles and novelty music?  High school must have been awesome for him!"  Surprisingly enough, it wasn't, but that's neither here nor there.

On one of my various novelty compilations, I first heard the song Poontang by the Treniers and I was amazed!  Frankly, I wasn't even sure the word poontang existed in 1953.  Turns out, it did.  After I heard the song I did a little bit of research and it sounds like The Treniers were pretty much party animals.  The drank and recorded rad songs.  In fact, to promote this song, they made custom labels for beer cans that said something like "Sweet Alabama Poontang" on them.  Then they sent the beer to radio station disc jockeys to get them to play it.  Freaking rad!

Anyway, I've been wanting to make a video for this for ages but kept putting it off.  So, today I just grabbed my aNueNue Banjolele and my Flip and busted out this video in a single take.  Boosh!

If you want to hear the original, check out this video:

And if you wanna play along (and who wouldn't, right?) here's some chords that I wrote up for Poontang!

Poontang by The Treniers
covered by Ukulele Guy

                  10 9 8 8 
...POON is a hug!
                  10 9 8 8 
TANG is a kiss!
C x7 (5433)
F          
I've been marooned on an isle in the South Pacific
Bb
Missing my loving each night
C
Now that I'm home I'll go right
                    E  F
Out and get me some POON-TANG!
F
Tired of talking to tigers and kangaroos,
Bb
Or singing a song to a goose.
C
Now that I'm home on the loose,
                  E   F
Gonna get me some POONTANG!

Bb 
Now Poon is a hug. I wanted a hug so badly
      D# (3331)
I was Blowing my tropical top.
C
A Tang is a kiss, I wanted a kiss so badly
       C                 E
Wanted Poontang never to stop.
F
I don't want to eat And I don't want to sleep;
Bb
I've got a yen that I'm dying to please.
C
Till I get weak in the knees,
                  E   F
Gonna get me that Poontang.
F
POON-TANG!
F
POON-TANG!
Bb
POON-TANG!
F
POON-TANG!
C
POON-TANG!
F
POON-TANG!

F
A-huggin and a-kissin...that's POON-TANG!
F
A-huggin and a-kissin...that's POON-TANG!
Bb
A-huggin and a-kissin...that's POON-TANG!
F
A-huggin and a-kissin...that's POON-TANG!
C
A-huggin and a-kissin...that's POON-TANG!
F
POON-TANG!

Rock break.

Bb
A Poon is a hug. I wanted a hug so badly
D#
I was blowin' my tropical top.
C
A Tang is a kiss, I wanted a kiss so badly
                    E
Want-a-Poontang never to stop.
F#
I don't want to eat and I don't want to sleep;
B
I've got a yen that I'm dying to please
C#
Till I get weak in the knees,
                  F   F#
Gonna get me that Poontang.

POON-TANG!

POON-TANG!

Gonna get me some, gonna get me song... poon tang!

Video: You Didn’t Have a Girl (the making of)

Hmm..  I totally thought I had posted this song already, but it looks like I was wrong.  So, here's the deal.  This Christmas, Erika (my wife) and I agreed to not spend very much money on presents for each other.  So, I had to sort of get creative.  Luckily, I'm the king of pulling a song out of my hat with a moment's notice.  And, this time I had helpers!

Or, rather, anti-helpers as the case may be.  You see, I decided to involve my two sons in the recording process.  In hindsight, this was a terrible idea, but the end result turned out great.  It was just incredibly painful.  They fight like cats and dogs on a good day and (as you can tell from their jammies) it was getting on in the day.

Anyhoo, I made the process even more painful by videotaping parts of the recording "session" with my Flip MinoHD.  I had actually forgotten that I had done this until I found the videos today.  So, I decided to finally give Adobe Premiere a shot and try and do some video editing.  This is my first editing attempt so please be gentle.  You should just be lucky I wasn't doing "star wipes" all over the place. Also, I guess I have to figure out how to edit it without that black border around the whole thing. If you are an Premiere genius, then I welcome your input.

If you want to hear the finished product, then give this a listen: Ukulele Guy - You Didn't Have a Girl

Oh yeah, and I was using my aNueNue Banjolele in this song.

NOTE: Of course, after I already uploaded this video and wrote the post I realized what I did wrong in Premiere.  The next video won't have those annoying black bars around it.  I'm not sure I'm going to re-do it, though, because I don't see a way to do that easily without starting all the way over.  And, I'm way to lazy for that.

Song: Men at Work’s “Down Under” by Pretty Good Musicians

So, I'm wading through my inbox and trying to get my life back together again after the holidays.  So far I have 644 messages to go.  That's the bad news.  The good news is that I'm halfway done.  The better news is that I found an e-mail from Hillary (from Pretty Good Musicians) and it has a working link to their Men at Work rendition.

You remember Pretty Good Musicians, right?  What?!  You don't?  Harumph.  Then check out them doing Paula Abdul and Duck Tales, yo.

They also cleared up some 30+ year confusion for me.  I never knew what they were saying in the part that sounds like "Chunder".  Guess what?  It's actually Chunder.  To quote Hillary,

You're correct, he does say 'chunder', which is an Aussie saying for vomit.  The entire line is 'Where beer does flow and men chunder.'  I guess they can't hold their Foster's so well.

Touche Australian.  You just got slammed by a ukulele-wielding rad chick.

Anyway, here is their cover of Down Under.

Down Under - A Men at Work cover by Pretty Good Musicians

My New BFFs: Pretty Good Musicians (Duck Tales + Paula Abdul)

So, I think I got a tweet Hillary a week or so ago but I forget how this whole thing started.  I think we were just shooting the shit and then suddenly she dropped that her and some friends have an all-ukulele version of the Duck Tales theme song.  What?!  That freaking reeks of awesome.

So, we get yakking back and forth and I decided the world needs to know more, especially after I heard their covers of "Sweet Jane", "Duck Tales", "Straight Up" and "Who's That Girl".  Not only does the world need to know more, but I need these guys to move to Montana.  I've been toying with the idea of making a ukulele novelty band for a few months now, but finding the right folks is proving tough.  I'd be more than happy to play second fiddle to these badasses.

So, their band is called Pretty Good Musicians.  It's comprised of Hillary O'Keefe, Ian K and Matt Miklos.  Depending on the song, you are gonna hear between 1-5 ukuleles and most likely some hilarious commentary and occasional cursing.  Everybody likes swears, right?  Yup. In the recordings, they play a Lanikai Tenor LU-21T, an Eleuke, a cigar box ukulele and a few other random ukes.  You can tell that they have a blast playing together and recording and that's what it's all about folks.  What is the point of being in a bad if it isn't fun?  These guys get it.

Check out the Pretty Good Musicians Facebook Page if you wanna be a fan.

I noticed that the Facebook page doesn't have some of my favorite tunes, so here ya go:

Oh yeah, and to all of you who might be saying, "Man, I could do this."  DO IT!  Stop talking.  Do it!  The world needs more ukulele bands.  Especially ones who know how to have fun.  The world doesn't need anymore Interpol or Coldplay.  Joy is contagious.

P.S.  If you are already in a hilarious and fun ukulele-powered band, please send me songs and vids!  I don't care if it's recorded on your 4-track or karaoke machine.  (In fact, I almost prefer that).  I want to hear it!