The song was chosen by me from the San Jose club’s member’s choice list. Chart. San Jose does not do personal choice Zoom open mics. I like doing cantankerous Bob’s songs. I was already familiar with it, though in the key of D. F is actually easier for me to sing. I also played it at the Gilroy Jam and Ukulele Rebellion open mics. Change of tactics though, I now record and post to you-tube ahead of the Zoom meetings, so I can listen to my playing and apply adjustments at the open mics. This also removes the concern of having to get a good recording at Zoom time.
I finger picked it, like the original. Dylan finger picks his guitar at a faster tempo. A comment I got was that the arrangement was unusual. The pattern maybe? Strumming the song seems inappropriate. At the Ukulele Rebellion, the Disney song specialist got upset because he considered the song misanthropic. I thought he was kidding at first. Legend has it the song was directed at Dylan’s then girlfriend who chose to stay in Italy over his preferences. She must have been flattered to have inspired such a great song. Dylan is master of the put-down song. That genre has a long musical tradition. Misanthropic my foot. Dylan has written plenty of beautiful romantic songs.
Zoom anomalies cropped up at the San Jose Zoom rehearsal. I heard what sounded like a gradual speed up and a sudden slow down, like the performer realized he was fast and put on the breaks. It turns out this is a Zoom thing. We also discovered that Zoom can change the pitch! Wow. A performer unaccountably sounded 1/2 step lower than the chart. She was tuned correctly and used the chart’s chord forms. Go figure.
The San Jose Zoom featured Tony from the Isle Of Wight (England), who did excellent renditions of Swinging on a Star and The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea.
Shawn's Ukulele Stuff 
Just to clarify, San Francisco Ukulele Rebellion does NOT have a traditional “open mic.” People took turns leading songs in our in-person meetups, and we continue that tradition in Zoom. While I understand that every song in Zoom feels like an open mic to the person who leads it, being that the leader can’t hear anyone else, other people in the Zoom meeting have access to the chart for each song played, and everyone is playing along, not watching and listening, as would be the case with an open mic. Also, the person who objected to the song as misanthropic was not the “Disney song specialist” but another long-time Rebelllion member. We at Rebellion have a long-time culture of respecting people’s differeing views about songs.
LikeLike
If you are going to have open mics I prefer them after what would normally be a break time. That way all attendees can participate from the chosen books or song packet. Less time sending emails to chat format and screen sharing. Thank you for giving us a forum to visit and play together, separately.
LikeLike