Last year, I spent 7.56 hours in bed each night. I don’t have a way to measure actual sleep time so time in bed was the closest thing to a sleep indicator I had. This year, I wanted to try and get it to at least 7.8 hours per night this year as part of my resolutions. So far, I’m doing well at 8.06 hours per night. However, anything based on time means time for something else is being sacrificed for it. But how much time am I talking about here, in the long run, rather than just a half hour per night? When I did the math, it was a little smack in the face, even though I don’t have any regret about it given sleep is the most important thing one can do for one’s health.
days
Eight Inappropriate Christmas Carols Parodies
It’s December again, and for those who want to liven up the holidays with some inappropriate Christmas carols, I have eight I have written starting from back in 2009.
New Horoscope Dates Explained (but will people use them?)
The 12 used zodiac constellations seen in the night sky
It’s old news, but it probably went viral this time because of social media. The dates of the zodiac used for telling horoscopes that so many people in the Western world follow are completely off! Astrology has been using a system that has been constantly changing for 3,000 years so that it’s about a month off now. But now that the world knows about it, what are people going to do about it? An explanation and some things to consider follows.
The Babylonians invented the zodiac system about 3,000 years ago. They noticed the sun passed through 13 constellations of the many they had mapped in the night sky. Passing through is a visual perspective as the Sun does not literally pass through any of the constellations. That needs another whole article if you don’t get that so I’ll pass given it doesn’t have relevance here. Yet, despite the 13 constellations the Sun looks to pass through, the Babylonians opted for 12 in creating the zodiac system we know today. Guess trisdekaphobia, the fear of the number 13, has been around for a while. The Babylonians left out Ophiuchus, with the Greek name given later to be the “serpent-bearer”, that is placed between Scorpio and Sagittarius.
Guitar and Ukulele Tabs for Blueberry Hill (Louis Armstrong Extra Lyrics Version)
Louis Armstrong, "Satchmo"
There are tons of guitar tabs online, so why am I posting guitar tabs on my blog? Two words: more information.
More information which will help you figure out what was on my mind in creating every part of the tab and decipher it better if you use it. And for me, I eventually will have my guitar tabs set online so I can access it from anywhere that has an Internet connection!
The main problem with guitar tabs is that there is so little information compared to sheet music that you can’t hope to know what was going through the tabber’s mind when certain chords were written out. They might have been listening to a version of the song you weren’t. They might have arranged it a little differently because they sang it a little differently than the version they referenced. Sometimes they do this because with just one guitar instead of a band, certain things just don’t sound good so void of other musical support (a sign of a bad song). But overall, let’s face it, the general guitar tabs out there isn’t professional quality stuff. That’s why there are so many versions for each song.
With some advances to blogging and web technology, as well as efforts of others to post things, the guitar tabs I present will have more feature containing information you can reference to learn them and/or modify them for your own versions. First, I will have videos with recordings of the pieces I referenced so you can hear them for yourself. Second, there are notes written out, even if just letters rather than sheet music style. Notes an octave apart will be identified by capital letters for the higher notes. That way, if I modified anything, you can figure it out and understand what I did, then decide for yourself if you want to leave it or change it yourself. Finally, the chords appear exactly where they should be as I change them so there is no doubt.
In my first guitar tab on this blog, I present an exotic version of Blueberry Hill, the Fats Domino classic many people know, some of whom via the favourite song of Richie Cunningham from the Happy Days sitcom from 1974-1984. Fats’ version is the bottom of two videos below, included for comparative purposes. The version I present is by Louis Armstrong, from 1949 and recorded in Canada, no less! I like it because has a whole bunch of extra lyrics, with some scatting, that will either challenge you or allow you to duet with someone. Its video is below, meant to accompany the guitar tab above, although you’ll probably want to do it at a much slower, nostalgic sort of tempo to squeeze everything in.
One day soon, I hope to record a version so I can really demonstrate how I envisioned it to be played with solo guitar or ukulele, and not just ask you to figure it out from the video below.
I hope you enjoy!
All I Want is You, U2 Guitar Tabs Letter Sized PDF
All I Want is You, U2 Guitar Tabs Tabloid Sized PDF
All I Want is You, U2 Ukulele Tabs Letter Sized PDF
All I Want is You, U2 Ukulele Tabs Tabloid Sized PDF
These tabs all fit on one page to avoid the inconvenience of page turns. However, the letter size tabs (8.5″ x 11″) may be too small for your eyes. If so, you can either enlarge to tabloid size (11″ x 17″) using an automatic enlarge feature on many photocopiers, or download the tabloid sized versions for printing. The tabloid size tabs can be inserted into a typical letter sized binder on the 11″ size, and folded almost in half to fit. You just open each tab to use it.
Please click here for guitar and ukulele tabs and chords to other songs on this blog.
Louis Armstrong’s version of Blueberry Hill
Artist: Louis Armsrtong with Gordon Jenkins and His Orchestra
Title: “Blueberry Hill” (Lewis-Stock-Rose)
Label: Decca Personality
Cat No: 24752-B
Release Year: 1949
Country: Canada
Format: 10″ Shellac Record
Thanks to VinyltoVideo YouTube user for the post!
Fats Domino’s well-known version of Blueberry Hill
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Reading Level: 9.1
12 Days of Vietnamese Christmas (a parody Christmas carol)
This is a polite parody of the 12 Days of Christmas carol. The song is in the video below, if you need a reminder. I have chosen the version with John Denver and the Muppets because I am quite fond of it.
The small difference is to that version and my lyrics that you sing my version with the 5th and 10th days being diva moments, not just the fifth (Miss Piggy in the video about the “golden rings”). You’re supposed to sing it with two diva moments so I’m not sure why Porky Diva herself didn’t take advantage of that.
Also, in being a little more creative than the original with the lyrics for the 6th to 12th days, make sure you don’t sing them too fast cause you’d probably find it a might tough tongue twister!
My other Christmas carol parody lyrics:
- Jingle Bells for Tiger Woods
- Noisy Night
- Bad Christmas
- Have Yourself a Bummer Little Christmas
- I Want a Hypothalamus for Christmas
On the (x) day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me…
.
Twelve Viet Cong Commies
Eleven Buddha statues
.
Ten – ao, dai, xanh!!! *
.
Nine knock off Polos
Eight egg rolls rolling
Seven cups of fish sauce
Six pairs of chopsticks
.
Five – bowls, of, rice!!!! (ba dum yum yum)
.
Four incense sticks
Three moon cakes
Two growing pills
And a free trip home to Viet Nam!
.
* Read ow, yai, sanh (nasal sound). Ao dai xanh means green long dress, which is a Vietnamese traditional outfit mostly worn by girls and women.
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