Where Do The Children Play for Planet Uke Play-Along April 16

Don’t be alarmed! It is perfectly normal to sense a Cat Stevens channeling experience when you sing this. Enjoy!

Song list shaping up for “Planet Ukulele” Earthy stuff play-along night

Here’s a tentative (firm as jelly!) list of songs that Mark Grenier and I put together for the play-along hour on April 16 at 5pm. If you have ideas for better, easier, more fun play-along songs that connect to the earthy theme, lay them on me! Also, if it’s your dream to be the lead singer/uker on any of these songs, we’re oh-so happy/relieved to share the honor. (Or, if you had dreamed of one of these as your open mic number, and you’d rather we don’t do it as an all-play) Just let us know!

I’ll be posting chord charts as I get them made.

Planet Ukulele Earth Day Play Along Song list in progress:

–Blow up your TV (John Prine)
–Big Yellow Taxi * (Joni Mitchell)
–Somewhere over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World (Israel Kamakawiwo’ole version) — Think we can pull it off?
–Tiptoe Through the Tulips* (Dubin/Burke)
–Water of Love* (Dire Straits)
–Landslide* (Fleetwood Mac)
–Fire on the Mountain (Marshall Tucker Band)
–Three Little Birds (Bob Marley)
–Where do the Children Play (Cat Stevens)
–The Galaxy Song (Eric Idle)
–After the Goldrush (Neil Young)
–Norwegian Wood (Beatles)
–Lime and Coconut (Harry Nillson)
–You Ain’t Goin NoWhere (AKA Easy Chair) (Bob Dylan)
–Take me to the River* (Al Green/ Talking Heads)

*still kind of a maybe

Some other possibilities we didn’t try out yet…
Imagine
This land is Your Land (Guthrie)
Water is Wide (Traditional)
Paradise (Prine)
Nowhere Man (Beatles)

Monty Python’s Galaxy Song (AKA The Universe Song)

For the upcoming “Planet Ukulele” Earth Day Uke play-along April 16 at the Flying C, this seemed a fitting intro song. (Thanks to Ukulele Boogaloo  where I snagged this arrangement. They have a lot of great songs with ukulele chord charts there!)

Planet Ukulele Play-Along 1: Three Little BIrds

“Oh, the polar icecaps are melting, tra-la-la…Oh, doom and gloom and we’re all doomed, tra la!”

Wait a minute! That doesn’t sound quite right on the ukulele… Let’s start this earthy play-along with something easy and upbeat, instead! Give this one a shot:

Planet Ukulele open mic and play-along event planned for April 16

The Bozeman Ukulele Cabaret’s play-along and open mic night event is back by popular demand from 5 to 7 pm on Monday, April 16 at the Flying C Cafe. (Located upstairs at the Community Food Co-op, 908 W. Main, Bozeman)

Ukulele players and uke groupies, get out your ukes and join in PLANET UKULELE: an Earth Day themed play-along and open mic.

We’re not talking sad, bummer “Inconvenient Truth” Earth Day, here. Granted, ecological doom is looming, but we are playing ukuleles! The theme “all things earthy” can include stuff like trees, flowers, rain, stars, clouds, moon, planets, dirt, worms, mountains, critters… whatever loose connection open mic performers want to come up with. So take that theme and run with it, kids!

According to feedback from the first event, people wanted the time a little later and bigger chunks of music, but the Co-op requires that our event end by 7pm, so for the time being we’re stuck with the 5-7 pm slot. We did decide to break it into two big chunks, though, so if you don’t want to miss the play-along fun, be sure to come at 5pm for the play-along hour and stay for the open mic hour, which will begin at 6pm. (Remember, the Co-op has a great deli with hot entrees and salad bar downstairs, if you want to grab dinner. Coffee, beverages and sweet treats are available upstairs at the Flying C.)

If you have ideas for fun (i.e. upbeat, familiar and easy) earthy-themed play-along songs, drop a note on this post or on the Bozeman Ukulele Cabaret Facebook page. Theme related is good, but if we run short of ideas, not essential. Also, if you would like to lead part of the play-along segment, let us know.

Lyric sheets with chord charts will be projected on a screen for easy viewing, and will be posted periodically on this blog and Facebook.

Other plans for the April 16 event include sign-up sheets for a more frequent (such as weekly) ukulele play-along group and for a those interested in starting up a super-fun ukulele performance group to grace community events and the like with the dulcet tones of four-stringed bliss.

If you have ideas to add or your want to get involved, comment on this blog post, or reach us via the facebook page. Meanwhile, mark your calendar for April 16th, think up some earthy songs, practice up, and spread the word!