Sherlock Foolish Music: "Oh The Pretty Bird" rewritten

I am reading “The Double Life of Bob Dylan”  by Clinton Heylin 

https://www.amazon.com/Double-Life-Bob-Dylan-1941-1966/dp/0316535214

Where I found Bob did a version of Cuckoo 

and he is not the only one - 149 collected or recorded versions according to wikipedia  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cuckoo_(song)

One of the most recent versions is an enchanting song I had seen “Rising Appalachia” do in a  cool video https://youtu.be/h6ow2Z5Jh9Y 

So while I am wrapped in preparation for the Franklin election season

Candidates, interviews, questions & answers, ultimately leading to a vote on Nov 2

Upon which the town government can/will move forward - how would it?  It all depends on the vote and who wins

So that was the inspiration behind this 

Imagine a nice banjo and folk guitar tune, and a better voice than mine 

as I rework the lyrics of this old folk song  ...

-----------

The candidate from Franklin talks as he walks

she brings good tidings written in chalk

Ignoring the flowers they make their voice clear

The more we ignore, the more they’ll play to fear

Oh the cuckoo

She’s a pretty bird

How I wish she was mine

She never drinks whiskey

She only drinks wine

The voters from Franklin want answers today

To the key questions, what’ll the candidates say?

Storm water or fee increase, Mask or override

The voters guide will help us decide  

Oh the cuckoo

She’s a pretty bird

How I wish she was mine

She never drinks whiskey

She only drinks wine

Whether young or old, the time is near

Candidates to reveal what they hold dear

The voters can cast their vote as they may

And we’ll see a new board after that day

Oh the cuckoo

She’s a pretty bird

How I wish she was mine

She never drinks whiskey

She only drinks wine

How each board will manifest remains to be seen

So let’s keep the campaign real clean

Or we’ll need liquid spirits to provide

Relief as we settle in for the ride

Oh the cuckoo

She’s a pretty bird

How I wish she was mine

She never drinks whiskey

She only drinks wine

Sherlock's Foolish Music (MADCAP Records) 2021

 

The Franklin 2021 "Election Collection"  ->   https://www.franklinmatters.org/2021/07/franklin-election-collection-2021.html

SOBCon needs a song!

SOBCon is around the corner. Watching the hashtag, you can see that folks are talking up the event. All the good networking, learning, sharing, and of course singing that will occur over the weekend.

Now, I must disclose that I am not a singer. I have been told that I can't carry a note but there is a power to music that draws me in all the time.

But I do think that SOBCon needs a song!

Let's pick a song where the music is in the public domain. Where the tune is recognizable and rewrite the lyrics for SOBCon.

As samples of what I have been crazy enough to do, I offer up the following:

(To the tune of Neil Diamond's "Solitary Man")


“Twitterholic Man”

@linda was mine
‘Til the time
That I found her

Twitterholic
tweeting Jim
retweeting him

Then @Sue came along
DM’d with me
That’s what I sought
Me and @Sue
But that died too

Don’t know that I will
But until I can find me
The girl who’ll stay
And won’t twitter behind me
I’ll be what I am
Twitterholic man
Twitterholic man

2009 Sherlock’s Foolish Music, Inc. (MADCAP Records)

One of a series of Music for a Hot August Night

And yes, this example is not a good one as the music is not yet in the public domain. There are plenty of good songs that are in the public domain. There must be one we can re-work to be the SOBCon song!

Another lyricist found

Frequent readers know that I have a habit of rewriting improving some song lyrics. (If you are a new reader, you can check out the Foolish Music Songbook to view the samples).

I found someone else with the same inspiration and actually better talent for pulling this off.

You can view these two treatments by Paco Hope here




and here



I hope you enjoyed these!

With apologies to two of my favorite singers; Billy Joel and Paul Simon.

PodCamp Boston Anthem

This can be sung to the tune of "Oh, Susanna"
with apologies to Stephen Foster


I come from Franklin, MA with a recorder on my knee
I’m going to PodCamp Boston my friends there to see
The web was down the day I left
Wireless was so spotty
Text and Twitter were all I had left
To keep me from going dotty

All you bloggers, don’t you cry for me
I’m a new media maker
With a PowerBook on my knee

I had a dream the other night
Google rank had settled still
I thought I saw my blog somewhere
High upon high, on top of the hill
Technorati, RSS, even Digg
Comments were incoming furious
How did this happen to get so big?
Ah, the Paris Hilton video drew the curious!

All you listeners, don’t you cry for me
I’m a new media maker
With an iPod on my knee

I’ll soon be at PodCamp Boston
And then I’ll look around
And when I find Chris Brogan
I’ll fall upon the ground
But if I don’t find Steve Garfield
This podcaster surely die
And when I’m dead and buried
Bloggers don’t you cry

All you viewers, don’t you cry for me
I’m a new media maker
With a camcorder on my knee


2007 Sherlock's Foolish Music, Inc.
(MADCAP Records)

originally posted for the PodCamp Boston 2 event in 2007

Possible SOBCon08 Song/Anthem

I have a history of rewriting some songs so with SOBCon08 coming up, I thought I try my hand at another one. If you want to join in and wordsmith or improve on the lyrics, feel free to jump in on a comment or via email to me (shersteve at gmail dot com).


Proposed SOBCon Anthem or Theme song

To the tune of Christine Kane's "Tucson"
Christine Kane/Lee Baby Sims Music/ASCAP/1997)


New words for SOBCon

Out on the web no one
knows you are alone
So when you howl about your new tool
That won’t format and ends up a clog
It’s about time you flog
a business blogging school

These days I twitter with the best of them
You retweet my anthem
I tweet Phil’s blog
We put the pod into podcasting
Moved a video into videocasting
Shortened into vlog

Maybe I played with fire
Maybe it made me wiser, but
I should have gone to SOBCon

I read about open comment night
Terry’s singing was quite a sight
Wendy’s giving a hug
To those she meets first time
We all came via email or a dime
Recognizing each by their mug

Maybe it was good last year
Maybe it’ll cost me dear, but
I think I should go to SOBCon

The organizers are led by Liz
Who is quite good at this biz
Analyze the layout
Add the widgets and buttons
Keep the content fresh
On topic to increase the pay out

Maybe it’ll be great this year
Maybe it’ll cost me dear, but
I've registered to go to SOBCon


Foolish Music (MADCAP Records 2008)

Foolish Music Songbook

From the time to time the urge to re-purpose a piece of music/lyrics has arisen and this is the listing of those Foolish Music efforts:

Aloha Rosa (to the tune of Neil Diamond's "Cracklin' Rosie")
this was also posted here

JJL Learning Anthem (to the tune of Neil Diamond's "I'm a believer")
this can also be found here and here
the audio version of this can be found here

PodCamp Boston 1 Anthem (to the tune of Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York")

PodCamp Boston 2 Anthem (to the tune of Stephen Foster's "Oh, Susannah")

PodCamp generic anthem (to the tune of Stephen Foster's "Oh, Susannah")
you fill in the blanks to make it for your PodCamp!

If I was a life long learner (a collaborative effort) (to the tune of the Bare Naked Ladies "If I had a Million Dollars")

The Twelve Days of Christmas, the JJL way (a collaborative effort)
the back story, or the making of

Music for a Hot August Night includes a couple of newly re-worded songs; "YouTube" and "Twitterholic"

Sherlock's Foolish Music (MADCAP Records)