I had so much fun with Little 15 on the guitar and ukulele, I thought I’d try another favorite Depeche Mode tune about the moooooon shining in the sky. I’m not sure if the main riff has ever been performed on banjo before.
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Month: April 2020
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Hard Times Come Again No More
Let’s try another tune from the 1800s. This one is by Stephen Foster, the father of American music. He wrote Camptown Ladies, Beautiful Dreamer, Old Folks at Home (“way down upon the Swanee River”), and Oh! Susanna, among others.
During the American Civil War someone made a parody called Hard Tack Come Again No More with the following chorus:
Tis the song, the sigh of the hungry:
“Hard tack, hard tack, come again no more.”
Many days you have lingered upon our stomachs sore.
O, hard tack, come again no more!
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Freebies during Isolation
Several companies and individuals are offering freebies to help pass the time in isolation. Here are some of my favorites. Got any others?
- Blues guitar lessons – 5 lessons over 5 days with a helpful PDF and backing tracks
- BitGym – great little app for the treadmill or stationary bike. Pick a beautiful hiking trail and walk it on screen.
- Logic Pro X (Apple’s professional music editing software) – free 90 day trial
- VidAngel – filter for Amazon and Netflix, perfect for The Tiger King without all the swears.
- Audible – a plethora of free audiobooks in a variety of languages, mostly classics and kids titles. (Doesn’t work in the Audible app, only in a browser.) Includes the Stephen Fry (UK) version of Harry Potter.
- Starcraft video game – this has been free for a while, but I just found out about it.
- Ink Cards – they’ll print up a postcard and mail it for you – you can even add a signature with your finger on your phone. First one free, $2 each after that.
- Kindle books – these ones are free even without a Prime membership.
- Library – check your local library website. Mine has free MP3s, Lynda.com lessons, eBooks and Audiobooks through Overdrive, etc.
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Arthur McBride
An Irish folk song from the 1800s, in which some British military recruiters try to convince two Irish cousins to join and they all end up beating the crap out of each other for 8 verses. Be sure to check out Paul Brady’s amazing 1977 performance of it in open G tuning – I think he added a couple of the verses. He sings it an octave higher than I can.