Tag Archives: tab

Molly Darling

Posted on by Standard 4

"Mollie Darling" (Will S. Hays) Evan Williams

“Mollie Darling” (Will S. Hays) Evan Williams

So, a while ago… after we decided to name the baby Molly Mae, Bethany’s uncle had remarked to her mom that their family had an old record called “Mollie Darling” for the Victrola… which is now in our living room.  Of course we had to check it out.  We have the version by Evan Williams.

Me being me, loving song histories and “cover” songs (like the origins of “Hey Joe”)…  This one is right up my alley.  It’s got a neat somewhat convoluted history, and probably more than a few have claimed ownership of it.  Google is pretty awesome, because within a few seconds I found some sheet music from 1871 in Temple University’s digital library, and a song history from Second Hand Songs.  I even found some easy-looking guitar tab.

It looks like it’s been recorded several times by a bunch of different artists.  The first one seems to be by the Haydn Quartet, but I can’t seem to find that version anywhere online.  I can’t find the version we have by Evan Williams online either.  The earliest one that I can find seems to be by Vernon Dalhart:

But, it’s out there several times, by several artists:

(A rockabilly one!)

(bagpipes!)

Mollie Darling - Sheet Music (Cover)

Mollie Darling – Sheet Music (Cover)

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Camp Song Books

Posted on by Standard 3

I’ve had a task in mind and in progress for a few years now, I need to make new camp song books.  It’s for a church camp where I participate several weekends out of the year as well as a full week during the summer.

I’d like the books to be usable by other groups if they want ’em, and have even thought about scrapping the book idea entirely and just using something to feed the projector that the camp has… but then you deal with the whole song being too much for a screen, and someone’s got to “flip pages”… could turn into a mess.  I’ve also thought about putting them all on an easel… but I’ve amassed a collection of ridiculous proportions.  Also, neither of these are practical at night around a campfire which is my favorite camp song setting.

There’s also the “what to include” trap.  We have a book with a lot of songs that are (to me) traditional, I’d like to add some newer ones, and have even entertained the idea of writing some of my own.  Some of the songs that I like, or that people want to sing, I really don’t have good chord progressions to back them up… and I need to get those.  Some songs, I have 3 or 4 different chord progressions and they all sound off or terrible.  I try to dumb it all down and change the key so I’m playing G, C, D, Am, & Em mostly.  Some songs have the dreaded Bm.  B, Bm, & Bm7, how I hate you.  I’m not a great guitar player by any means, but if you can strum through some chord changes… you should be able to play anything in the book.  Yeah, the songs can be corny or goofy, but I feel that it’s an important group fellowship dynamic to have that sing-along time.  It’s also a memorable part of the whole camp experience.

There’s also the alternate lyrics/verses issue.  People really take liberties with hymns, and it’s always been that way.  With some songs, I have a plethora of verses.  Some songs have alternate melodies or arrangements.  Some songs have lines changed or have been lanced with inclusive language.  (On a side issue, I know I’m UCC and on the whole it’s an incredibly liberal organization as far as Christian Churches go… but I don’t understand who’s so offended by gender-specific pronouns and why they need to change old hymns – Just write new ones and don’t mess with the words people have been singing for decades, or don’t sing the songs that you don’t like.)

I guess I generally like things to be more fluid than final, and I never have a “perfect” book idea in mind… but I need to get one done.  Here are some ideas that I’ve had…

  • A song book with a lo-fi companion CD of how exactly the songs go would be pretty cool.  (Maybe even two tracks each, one w/ vocals, one w/o so you can campfire karaoke.)
  • Mini 3-ring binders?  Would make adding songs awesome… but could get costly, and perhaps it’d make it too easy for pages to fall out?
  • Chord progressions, not just lyrics in the song books.  Lots of campers and counselors can play… so having all of the song books be the “master” would be good.
  • No page numbers.  Just look for the title of the song.  (We’re plagued by 2 or 3 different “editions” of the same song book with songs being on different pages and what-not.)  Then again, a song book without an index would be ridiculous…  maybe.

I’d appreciate the thoughts of any other camp song people, songwriters, guitar players, or any other musicians out there… or anyone who’s interested in becoming one.

 

Guitars & Rock N’ Roll

Posted on by Standard 2

I like guitars.  I blog about a bunch of stuff, but I can’t believe I neglected adding a guitar category before now.  Perhaps because I’m back to rocking out again, I’ve been more aware of guitars and music in general.

I have always loved music from an early age, and the guitar has always been my favorite instrument.  Of course I wanted to learn how to play.  I took a class in school because I needed 2 music electives one year.  We did the Mel Bay “Marry Had a Little Lamb” crap and I skimmed through only sort-of learning to read music while I bought guitar magazines and learned my favorite riffs by tab at home or from the kids in the guitar class who already knew how to play & were taking it for an easy A.

I was also learning at church camp… the minister in charge used to play campfire standards & hymns for the sing-alongs, and taught me how to play chords to a whole song instead of the riffs that I was used to half-assedly piecing together.  I think through this is where I first felt comfortable singing & playing at the same time.  I remember that being a huge obstacle at one point, but now it almost seems ridiculous.

I took lessons at a music store for a while, and it was cool… but basically I learned 1 scale and how to play by ear.  It wasn’t very structured, and I wasn’t a great student.  I just wanted to rock… not learn.

Around the same time, I re-discovered punk rock.  I had always been a fan of pop rock, punk rock, metal, & more… but when I learned that I could pop in the Misfits or Ramones and play along to the whole record, something just clicked.  I fell into a three-chord way of life… and discovered that I didn’t need to be a great guitar player.  Sure, there’s always room to improve, but I’m not trying to be Yngwie Malmsteen or Jimi Hendrix or anything.

With the punk re-awakening that I had, I wanted to write songs and be in a band.  Playing the guitar was the means to that end.  Luckily this was happening at the same time for me as some other good friends & eventually AiXeLsyD was born.  I’ve played on & off in a handful of bands & projects since then and been part of a few different scenes.  I’m very thankful for being introduced all the people that I’ve met through those endeavors.  There’s a weird bond with other people in bands that you just don’t get if you’re not part of the whole thing.  It’s like a weird brotherhood or religion or secret club… even within that I guess there are still more than a few who still don’t get it once they’re in it, but that’s a whole other blog.

This went a different direction than I intended, but you’ll have that.  Maybe I’ll blog more about the band experience… I’ve had a few standard rants about bands over the years that I’ll have to rehash here.

My original intent was just to say that I was going to start blogging about guitars.  I love guitars.  I like to play all kinds, I’d love to own them all.  I like normal guitars, but I gravitate toward the weird ones.  I’ll blog about all of them here.  Hopefully it’ll spark some discussions, awe, and ire.