Wednesday, October 12, 2011

New Tunes via Old Songs!

     I'll confess it-I have a weak spot for vintage uke sheet music. And I won a huge lot at opening bid which arrived yesterday! It's amazing how interesting & catchy the lyrics are on most of the tunes,and the titles can be just as catchy. "Heard Hearted Hannah the Vamp of Savannah" is a favorite right now tho I need to copy it for myself and learn it. Humorous lyrics that are right down G rated but you get the point the songwriter was aiming at. Marketing was pretty innovative too-back in the 20's you not only got the song you paid for but snippets of others the publisher had available. No one does that today for fear of giving away a freebie. The covers often have a portrait shot of whoever was performing/composed the piece-I have to remind myself that the female performers in their flapper do's & dress were right down daring in their day-so quaint by todays' standards but so on the edge in their own. I think every uke player should have a fat stack of antique sheet music to pour over for inspiration,making sure songs don't die out totally,and for preserving ukulele history!

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