The Smokin Ukulele

THE HUMBLE UKE, THE MIGHTY UKE - Popular songs and original compositions, arranged for, and played on, solo concert ukulele. No editing, no overdubs, just a touch of reverb added to make you think I live in a big house!! The Smokin’ Ukulele believes that the mighty ukulele can be much more than just an accompaniment instrument, it can be a solo instrument in its own right, capable of playing any style of music, limited only by the imagination of the imaginer. Currently working on a cd of instrumentals, which will hopefully go some way towards showing what these most underrated of instruments are capable of. LATEST NEWS - The Smokin' Uke is currently out of action due to a broken shoulder! D'oh! Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible........ A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE SONGS – “Livin’ on a prayer” - the Bon Jovi classic, this came from watching Tomi Paldanius playing an excellent arrangement of this tune on Youtube, and thinking, “Mmm, wonder what that sounds like on the uke…?” I was tempted to omit the key-change near the end, which is tough to play on the uke. That would have been the easy way, but it wouldn’t have been The Smokin’ Ukulele way!! “I shot the sheriff” – Ah, the great Bob Marley, and a great song, although the words would seem to suggest that Mr. Marley shot the sheriff because he tried to stop him smoking. Although smokers do seem to be persecuted unfairly nowadays because they are a minority group, shooting people who try to stop you smoking does seem to be a little bit on the extreme side. Mind you, the way things are going, sheriffs will soon be able to shoot people for smoking. In fact, I think they already can if you light up in a public place. Maybe Bob was right, but that’s a debate for somewhere else, anyways, it’s a nice tune, and if you’ve ever thought, “Mm, wonder what that would sound like on the uke…?” well, here you go… “Hard Times” by the great Stephen Foster. In these days of political correctness, people are a little apprehensive about some of Mr. Foster’s work, which is a shame because he probably wrote more wonderful tunes than any other composer, (with the exception of Mr. Zappa...) Incidentally, the melody in this arrangement is played in different ranges to demonstrate the full two octave range of the concert ukulele. “Many days you have lingered around my cabin door, oh hard times, come again no more.” Amen to that!! “Smokin’ in the rain (with the rest of those dirty, filthy, toxic-polluting, outlawed smokers, down at the Crossroads blues)” Ever wondered what it might have sounded like if Robert Johnson had played the ukulele instead of the guitar? Well, here you go… And while the U.S. Postal Service took Bob’s fag away before they put him on their stamps, we’ve given him an extra one, “Have a fag on us, Bob! You deserve it! Taking away people’s cigarettes is wrong!” Recorded and photographic evidence shows us that when Mr. Johnson played, he could be both smokin’ and smoking!!! Going back and altering old pictures is very wrong and it’s something that The Smokin’ Ukulele would never do……………!!! "Girls in their summer clothes" - a great song by Mr. Springsteen. Only heard this song very recently and was immediately taken by it, and, of course, had to see what it sounded like on the uke!! Well, as you can no doubt hear, I'm still working on polishing up the performance, but decided to put this roughish take here for you to be going along with! A warm summer song recorded on a cold winters night. THE UKULELES - The Smokin' Ukulele features vintage Martin ukuleles and vintage National Resonator ukuleles…. Yeah, right, in your dreams, pal, in your dreams. No, here at The Smokin’ Ukulele we are low-budget! The tools of the trade are, “Woody” – a Samick Gregg Bennett concert ukulele and “Tinny” – an Ashbury metal-bodied resonator ukulele. Special thanks go to Mr. Paul Empson of Pauls Music who supplied the ukes, (The Smokin’ Uke sez – “Support your local music shop!!”) and Mr. Hugh Scullion who took these cute puppies, electrified them and tweaked their giblets, turning them into a pair of race-prepared hunting dogs!, (The Smokin’ Uke sez – “Support your local luthier!!”)