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Guitar and Ukulele Tabs for I Don’t Want to Live on the Moon (Ernie from Sesame Street)

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I came across this song at the end of May 2010 via one of those YouTube recommendation feature (enough to blog about it). The feature where because you watched something, its algorithms think you might like something else. Every now and then, it’s good, but this was something I really liked. I just think it’s a cute song, that’s all… and I don’t even have kids. OK, maybe I was influenced by the fact it was Ernie singing it since Ernie has always been my favourite Sesame Street character. But I like the song a lot, nevertheless, and I think lots of people will, too.

I thought when I first heard that song that it’d be a great lullaby for kids, but if you play the guitar or ukulele, you can now pull it out to accompany yourself with that lullaby. Or just sing it for fun like I do.

Ernie, from Sesame Street

The hardest thing about this song is the syncopation. The breaks in the lines are a little bit awkward in places. That’s why all the dashes and commas in the tabs. If those breaks don’t feel natural, then just take a little time to learn them and try not to think about them afterwards when you play. Trust your instincts after you’ve learned where the little breaks are in the lines.

I Don’t Want to Live on the Moon, Sesame Street Guitar Tabs Letter Sized PDF

I Don’t Want to Live on the Moon, Sesame Street Guitar Tabs Tabloid Sized PDF

I Don’t Want to Live on the Moon, Sesame Street Ukulele Tabs Letter Sized PDF

I Don’t Want to Live on the Moon, Sesame Street 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.

Another challenge to this song is that there are lots of up stroke chord changes, denoted by the / in the tabs. Read left to right, the line goes up like your strumming motion does. If you’re not used to this, it’s not hard to pick it up. Try it and then try not to think about it is how I’d advise you learn. Just go with the flow.

I hope you, your kids, or someone else’s kids (good for entertaining), like this song!

Please click here for guitar and ukulele tabs and chords to other songs on this blog.

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Reading Level: 5.9

Guitar and Ukulele Tabs for All I Want Is You (U2)

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This is a song that’s definitely harder to learn to sing than to play, mostly because of the high vocal range required at the end. I found a very nice fan video for it, with the original recording to which I created my guitar and ukulele tabs.

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.

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U2

I’ve tried to put a strumming filler between verses like in the song with the main chords and slight modifications of them. You strum to the rhythm of the phrase, one stroke for each note and resting when there is a rest. It would only take you a few minutes to figure it out and once you do, it wouldn’t be very hard to play because I’m not trying to show off any skills here. I’m just trying to avoid gaping holes in the song played by one person and one instrument when there doesn’t need to be such a gap.

The capitalized letter of the song notes are meant to be an octave higher than the notes with non-capitalized letters. The ending, as you can hear on the song, is very high. Most guys will have to use falsetto to sing this, but give it a go.

Don’t snap your vocal chords, though! 🙂

Please click here for guitar and ukulele tabs and chords to other songs on this blog.

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Flesch-Kincaid Grade Reading Level: 7.4

Favourite Songs I Heard for the First Time in 2009

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What were your favourite pieces of music that you heard for the first time last year?

I don’t necessarily mean music that came out last year, just that you heard it for the first time last year because it was new to you. If you care to share, you can put it in the comments following the post. I’d love to know to expand my musical horizons.

Below are a list of favourite songs I heard for the first time in 2009, enough that would fit on CD were I to have made one. Most were from musicals as I really got into them in 2009 after my classic jazz year in 2008. A few were one-off takes on television events, though, so I’ll start with one that was both. It was available on YouTube like most of my selections so I have included the videos to have the music right here for you. I also linked the songs to blog posts I did inspired by them, where I did one.

Someone Like You

from Jekyll & Hyde
Linda Eder & Frank Wildhorn on 2000 PBS Special
Linda Eder delivers a loving performance of this gorgeous song with touching lyrics, accompanied by husband Frank Wildhorn, who had composed the song. (blog post)

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If You Were Gay

from Avenue Q
Rick Lyon and John Tartaglia
Love and humour, not just in song but also video spoof. (blog post)

The Internet is for Porn

from Avenue Q
Stephanie D’Abruzzo, Rick Lyon & the Guys
Possibly the funniest song I have ever heard! (blog post)

Mix Tape

from Avenue Q
Stephanie D’Abruzzo and John Tartaglia
A song that dragged my emotions up and down, enhanced by Stephanie’s nuances of acting while singing this song. (blog post)

As Long as You’re Mine

from Wicked
Idina Menzel and Norbert Leo Butz
An often overlooked song from Wicked that I only heard once I saw the musical, rather than hearing the more popular songs from it. However, I loved it immediately, especially the soft-spoken ending.

Academy Awards 2009 Introduction

Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway
This number was both brilliant and unexpected in being clever, funny and spectacularly performed. My intro to the full talents of Hugh Jackman. (blog post)

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Monologue Song

from Saturday Night Live November 7, 2009
Taylor Swift
How to trash everybody you want to with class and humour while being really cute about it. (blog post)

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Dark Eyes

by Bob Dylan
Judy Collins
Judy Collins gives this sad Dylan song a haunting rendition. (blog post)

Better Angels

Lesley Gore
The original It’s My Party girl seriously grows up with this beautiful tune I first heard on CSI Miami (compilation video of episode shown below).

I Got a Feeling

Black Eyed Peas
Just an awesome dance song, ’nuff said cause I’m getting dancing! Best 2009 song in my opinion. (I chose the flash mob version shown on Oprah for the video cause it’s also so awesome!)

Wake-up

The Arcade Fire
I heard this song via the trailer for Where the Wild Things Are and thought they had made a pretty good choice for a theme song.

The Closest Thing to Crazy

by Mike Batt
Katie Melua
Pretty much describes what feeling in love feels like to me. (blog post)

I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas

Gayla Peevey
I heard it on a Telus commercial and loved it immediately, a bit surprised I had never heard this 1950s seasonal classic until now. (blog post)

You’ve Gotta Have a Gimmick

from There’s No Business Like Show Business
Bernadette Peters, Julia McKenzie, Ruthie Henshall
This is probably the ultimate example of my claim that girls have all the fun songs in musicals, and the video only emphasizes the point.

Married

from Cabaret
Ron Rifkin, Michelle Pawk
A charming little song about marriage. A compact version is shown below.

Mystery

performed on the show Inside the Actor’s Studio
Hugh Laurie
A hilarious and charming example of how lyric writing sometimes feels like to me, trying to find desperate rhymes and more desperate words that conform with desperate rhymes. (blog post)

Love, Look in my Window

from Hello Dolly!
Ethel Merman
There isn’t a video for this one but the piece was written for Ethel Merman when she joined Hello Dolly! If you hear her perform it with the emotions she does, you’ll know why it was written for her. I can hardly keep from crying at points in it. Probably good I don’t have the music for that reason!

I Want A Hypothalamus For Christmas (parody lyrics for I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas)

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This could be a tricky carol to get a whole group to be able to sing. The video is below if you’ve never heard it or need a refresher to try singing the lyrics.

I got the idea for this song from the only thing I can think of to rhyme with hippopotamus, which was hypothalamus, a portion of the brain that contains a number of small nuclei with a variety of functions. Then I just had to make sure a few other things “made sense”, like how you don’t bring a hypothalamus through the door (last line, second verse or original lyrics), and I had my song.

The topic of this carol spoof is insensitive, I know, to those with hypothalamus disorders, but you can’t live life never insulting anybody. It’s not like I’m choosing to do this as part of a caroling set at a hospital or something, you know! So let’s go, queue the brass band needed and let’s sing!

My other Christmas carol parody lyrics:

I want a hypothalamus for Christmas

Only a hypothalamus will do

Don’t want no doll, nor Cranium nor toy

I want a hypothalamus that works well to enjoy

.

I want a hypothalamus for Christmas

I don’t think Santa Claus will mind, do you?

He won’t have to put it in with paper glue

Just ask a neurosurgeon, that’s the easy thing to do

.

I can see me now on Christmas morning, stomping down the stairs

Bitchy, grumpy but surprised when I open up my eyes

To see a hypo-thala-mus right there

.

I want a hypothalamus for Christmas

Only a hypothalamus will do

No frontal lobes, left/right thalamuses

I only like hypothalamuses

And hypothalamuses like me too!

.

Mom says the hypo, would mess me up but then

Teacher says a hypo controls my circadian

.

There’s lots of room for it in my half-empty brain

I’d house it there, protect it there, and be the same again

I can see me now on Christmas morning, stomping down the stairs

Bitchy, grumpy but surprised when I open up my eyes

To see a hypo-thala-mus right there

.

I want a hypothalamus for Christmas

Only a hypothalamus will do

No frontal lobes, left/right thalamuses

I only like hypothalamuses

And hypothalamuses like me too!


Japanese Human Anime and Manga Facebook Picture Tagging Memes

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I did not create these, but I got them on Facebook and cannot determine their creators on the Net so I don’t have links to their sources. I did touch them up to give more contrast, line-up a few things, remove advertisements from sites which stole them and advertised themselves on them, and so on. These are better than their originals. As for theme, these are Japanese anime and manga posters, but those with humans in them rather than other creatures.

Here’s how to get these graphic for your Facebook fun:

  • Click on a picture below to get it at full size.
  • Right click on that picture and save to your computer.
  • Upload it to your Facebook profile.
  • Tag your friends!

Please click here for a complete list of Facebook picture tagging memes on this site with which you can use for fun with your friends.

Please click here if you want to see the anime character birthdays arranged by date.

The first is Bleach or Burīchi(ブリーチ).

The second is Final Fantasy or Fainaru Fantajī (ファイナルファンタジー, ). I’ll let you figure out what it’s about if you don’t know and/or can’t guess. 🙂

The third is a Merubura (メルブラ ) set that is sometimes known in English as Melty Blood, as per the Wikipedia entry (メルティブラッド ,Meruti Buraddo), is a visual novel and fighting game, co-developed by dōjin circles Type-Moon and French-Bread, originally released at Comiket on December 2002. That English name somehow just seems like a very poor translation.

The fourth is the Street Fighter or SF (ストリートファイター ,Sutorīto Faitā) set. Guess what it’s about? Of course, I should mention there are Japanese themes not about fighting and war, like the ever gentle Hello Kitty.

The final one is a Tekken or Iron Fist (鉄拳) set. It, too, is a fighting video game.