Shawn's Blog

“You and Me Against You and Me” cover. My original cover.  I played it much the same, but this time with compression, equalization, reverb, distortion, and octave pedal treatment for more of that garage-band sound.  The octave effect was heard to good effect, according to some feedback at a Zoom open mic. Also, I strummed with a pick; the difference in sound surprised me.  The backing track…

“You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory” cover. This time, I’ve gone electric with it.  Often covered, including by Ronnie Spector.  View my previous acoustic version here.  I hadn’t started this blog yet, so I don’t remember how I recorded it.  Possibly into a Tascam; that would account for the hiss at the start.   I went full garage band pedals (analog) to the Risa ukulele sound –…

“I Can’t Wait” cover. The song title contradicts the lyrics.  I like that CM7 passing chord on the way from C to Am. I added some Gsus4 for voice leading on the way back to C, and Em 0402 on the way to G. Drums and bass from Logic Pro, both with some reverb.  The bass line works nicely and follows Perry Stauffer’s guidelines.  The ukulele and vocals get some reverb from the mixer.  No…

“Clay Pigeons” cover. This is the studio version, featuring a Logic Pro-generated bassline and tambourine percussion.  I’ve come to think of the beat 3 tambourine as “pensive”, and the full measure tambourine as “hopeful.”  This was my song at the 2 Rivers Cider Company jam this afternoon, where I changed the instrumental measures to reflect the choruses, making the chord progressions easier to…

“Clay Pideons” cover Muireann Bradley’s cover of this Blaze Foley song drifted by in my YouTube recommendations. I gave it a listen, then added it to a playlist for a later cover or download consideration.  It grew on me after a few listens.   I was reminded of an Amtrak trip to Denver years ago, where for a time I was seated across from a Mormon lady with her 2 toddlers crawling all over her.…

“Absolutely Sweet Marie” cover Bob’s the master of the put-down song. Maybe Taylor Swift is catching up. This was one of the first songs I charted: I remember playing it (not very well) years ago at a San Jose Ukulele club Sunday get-together at the New Almaden Community Club. I first heard the Flaming Groovies cover, then checked out the original, and decided to play it myself. Later, when I…

“Spring Rain” is a cover of a Go-Betweens song. I hadn’t brought this Go-Betweens song to a Uke West jam, so I had an opportunity to rework it.  I used the mosey strum this time with the high-g Kanilea instead of the 8-string Klos.   My original cover from last year sounded, to my 2026 ears, a bit muddled (do an A/B!).  The Instrumental could not be readily heard.  It sounds like my vocals were…

“16 Tons” cover Travis’s reference to the coal miner truck system suggests peonage (sucks).  But the song is good.   The song was included in the Heritage Park Band’s Americana playlist last year.   I was working out the melody lines to songs for a “breakout” group of jammers to play on the Risa electric, so I included this one.  I based it on the melody line from the Daily Ukulele.  I included…

“Golden Brown” cover A song about a woman with a heck of a tan or heroin? You decide! A somewhat truncated Stranglers cover.  I was unable to strum and sing the vocables simultaneously, so I’ll revisit it another time, perhaps playing the vocal notes on a ukulele, as I have not heard any of the myriad covers do that. I give myself a month to “produce” a song: determining the initial arrangement,…

“Galway Girl” cover Even if, according to the song, she ghosted him!  Once again, the legendary Glen Baker’s pennywhistle. This revisit is comparable to my original cover.  This time, I’m playing the high-G Kanilea.  I printed the GarageBand-composed bassline notation and played it on the Taylor Mini-Ebass as a backing track. My recording gear is more sophisticated now; I use compression and…

New Slang cover. I like this cover better. First, instead of attempting to play the instrumental and outro, I plugged in the intro riff. Next, I employed Dani Joy’s “mosey” strum, which fits the bouncy rhythm and fantastical lyrics.  And a GarageBand-created and generated bass line this time.  I think I used a metronome via earphones for my original cover. There are many 4/4 to 2/4 time…

“Moon Boat” cover This time, finger-picked!  And another one for Ukulele Rebellion’s Lunar New Year theme.  From the movie “Leave No Trace” ‘s soundtrack.  It was played during the end credits.  A poignant song for a poignant movie.  My 1st attempt.  My 2nd attempt. Third time’s a charm! I think it sounds better fingerpicked.   I stayed with the GarageBand bass and mostly tambourine percussion.…

“Halo ‘Round the Moon” cover Actual meteorological phenomenon! A Zoom jam participant remarked that the song serves as a post St. Valentine’s Day letdown ballad.   This song has been on my list to cover.  Ukulele Rebellion’s Lunar New Year theme made it a fit.  Year of the horse, too, but I have no horse songs.  It came out well, after a week of playing it successively at Dani Joy, South Bay…

“Olly Olly Oxen Free” cover. Now with a bass and percussion! I depart from the usual drums and use a  GarageBand tambourine. The bass is also GarageBand-created; it sounds nice enough.  I hear a drum machine in the original. I wonder if Godreau home-produced it.  Also, I employ the Klos 8-string and an adaptation of Dani Joy’s mosey strum.  My original cover is ok; I wanted to do something…

“A Million Parachutes” cover. Revisited, because the bassline in the verse was somewhat wrong.   I say “somewhat” because I accidentally copied the GarageBand bass chorus line into the verse measures and somehow didn’t hear it during playback. The notes fit, but I prefer my original intent of the chord root notes.  I noticed the problem while practicing the song for the Saturday Morning Uke Fest…

Cover of Magnetic Field’s “Everything Is One Big Christmas Tree” If the Hawkbirds can redo, so can I! The original cover is a year old; this is mostly the same. There is some mixer-provided reverb on the instrumental this time, played on the Risa electric and processed in GarageBand. I note how similar the GarageBand processing makes the ukuleles sound. The last year’s cover is here.

Cover of Tom Rosenthal’s “Don’t Die Curious” The overdue home “studio” version of this song.   There are some live versions (here, with Glen Baker on baritone ukulele, and solos here and here) from a few years ago.  I was doing home recordings of covers at the time, so I thought that doing a live recording would save the trouble.  I have much better recording gear now.  I used Dani Joy’s mosey…