Roger Miller’s King of the Road was the last recording I posted here. It has been a while! A lot has happened in life during the last 17 months. Some of it good and some of it not-so-good. But, I continue playing, and that gives me joy!
Last Christmas my partner and I went to see the movie, Song Sung Blue, which was about a husband-wife Neil Diamond tribute band. (Does this make them a Neil Diamonique act? Ha!) The film reminded me of my love of the real artist’s music. I dug into his songbook and resolved to work up the actual Song Sung Blue. The tune made it to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972. It is a simple song with a chorus, a bit of verse, and no bridge, but it resonates with listeners! It’s hard to feel bad when singing it or playing along. Before I jump into how this came together as a musical collaboration, here are the lyrics:
Song sung blue
Everybody knows one
Song sung blue
Every garden grows one
Me and you are subject to the blues now and then
But when you take the blues and make a song
You sing them out again
Sing ’em out again
Song sung blue
Weeping like a willow
Song sung blue
Sleeping on my pillow
Funny thing, but you can sing it with a cry in your voice
And before you know it get to feeling good
You simply got no choice
Song Sung Blue has a swing feel and is written in C Major, which is very easy to play on ukulele. The simplicity, though, invites a complex arrangement, and that’s what really makes it interesting to me. I wanted to emulate the original recording the best I could with multiple instruments and fills in the measures where there are only rests for the melody. I enlisted my teacher Trevor, who was enthusiastic about the project. My tracks were completed in Oregon and his in Kansas. Yay, technology! I put together a rough mix of the audio and then sent it to him for final mixing and mastering. Recording and editing the video was a whole different step, which I handled on my end once he delivered me his video files.
There is a lot going on here! Ukulele melody, ukulele rhythm, ukulele fills, electric guitar fills, bass guitar, percussion, vocals (as effects), and cello. While not every addition was featured in the video, there is a large enough sampling to showcase the effort put into this. It was a lot of work, a lot of multitracking, and a lot of fun:
If you liked the video, please share it with friends! It was a joy to make. For the latter half of summer I’m working on more chord-melody ukulele material.