Recently (November 2012) I embarked on a project to learn to play all 69 of the Magnetic Fields 69 Love Songs on my ukulele. My goal is to perform the entire album, start to finish by no later than my 69th birthday. I've got time, sure, but not enough to dilly dally.
Here’s a little video of my first ever foray into the world of ‘busking’.
I was too shy to put my ‘hat’ out, but it was good fun anyway!
On April 1st it was the one year anniversary of my commitment to play the uke everyday.
To mark the occasion I went busking on the tube.
It was good fun!
9 - Let’s Pretend We’re Bunny Rabbits
A beautiful song of longing and lust.
Track 8, Vol 1 The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side
One of my favorites off the album, and a fun one to play.
The good looking man in the photo is holding my uke hostage at a party on the Lower East Side of Manhattan… I know, it’s a tenuous link, but there it is. In fact, it’s not even my uke, it’s a loaner from my pal Gayland… but now we’re splitting hairs.
Track 7, vol 1 Come Back From San Francisco
The photo is of me playing my uke on Mutiny Radio in SF last spring. I’d only been playing for a few months, and must have sounded even more amateur hour then I do now… but that didn’t stop me!
Track 6 - I Dont Want to Get Over You
This is possibly my favorite to play (so far) of the 69. I often find that this is the song that first comes to my fingers when I pick up the Uke, before I’ve really decided what to play. I love both the lyrics (which are characteristically dark and witty) and the way the cords are structured (I’m sure there is a more technical term for that?).
Reno Dakoda
Track 5, Vol 1.
This was a tough one, because I had to learn how to pluck in order to play anything that remotely resembled the original. It’s pretty rudimentary, but I did it.
Like a Chicken with its Head Cut Off
track 4, Vol 1
An old favorite from the album, but not entirely a favorite to play.
All My Little Words
Song 3 of volume 1.
I’m on a bit of a roll now!
I Don’t Believe in the Sun
The second song in the first volume. There are some tricky timings in this one, but I think it came out okay.
