Goodnight, Dear

August 6, 2010 3:11 PM

I started writing songs on ukulele about a year ago after giving up on the banjo. This is the sort of quaint, happy vibe that I like hearing with the uke. And yes, Paul was my favorite Beatle.

lyrics:

When day is done and the stars hang low
Won't you say goodnight, dear?
Morning will come and I will reappear
But til then you must close your eyes

Dream a silly dream
of polar bears or hot iced-cream
So I will say goodnight, dear
Goodnight, dear, I love you.

No, I'm too tired for another drink
Don't you think it's late dear?
1, 2, 3, 4, then 5.
Now we've missed the whole night time

Dream a sunrise dream
Of sunny slumber in a morning beam
So I will say goodnight, dear
Goodnight, dear, I love you

posted by tunewell (12 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite

Utterly charming! Not sure whether this is a cover or not (the McCartney reference suggests it may be). Nevertheless - a lovely job.
posted by MajorDundee at 3:36 PM on August 6, 2010


Not a cover. This is my song. But after I finished, I was struck by the McCartney influence.
posted by tunewell at 3:43 PM on August 6, 2010


Intriguing. If you hadn't mentioned Macca he wouldn't have crossed my mind when listening to this. This kind of material has a relatively long history in the UK (where I live) that pre-dates The Beatles by a considerable length of time. If anything it's melodically and structurally (rather than sonically) more like the sort of stuff the George Formby used to do. Don't be offended by that reference - he was a big name over here in his day and he arguably had an influence on the more whimsical material that The Beatles and several others (e.g. The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band) produced in the sixties and even bands like Queen have dipped into on occasion.
posted by MajorDundee at 4:16 PM on August 6, 2010


Not offended at all. I absolutely adore goofy old George Formby. I hesitated to mentioned McCartney and now realize I should have let the song stand on its own. But comparing me to the tradition of Formby and others is incredibly flattering. If you like Formby, I highly recommend you check out Cliff "Ukulele" Edwards, more famously known as Jiminy Crickett.
posted by tunewell at 5:08 PM on August 6, 2010


very lovely. yes, ther's a touch of stanshall about it, which is fine with me. more please!
posted by peterkins at 5:37 PM on August 6, 2010


Really, very nice.
Puts me more in the mind the Colin Moulding XTC songs than anything Beatles-y.

And yes, Paul was my favorite Beatle
And is vanilla your favourite ice cream? Totally kidding. A friendly ribbing from a George fanatic.
It's kind of ironic that you're a ukelele-lovin' Paul fan, as George was the big ukelele guy.
I did think Paul paid a great tribute to George with this song at the Concert for George; but it should have been a one-off for that night instead of him playing at every concert since, in my opinion.
Sorry for the Beatles derail.
posted by chococat at 7:59 PM on August 6, 2010


chococat-

Total understand the Beatles comments. I mean, I absolutely love all the Beatles. I think the reason I like Paul so much is his studied manner of songwriting, in the school of Hoagy Carmichael or Irving Berlin. The guy was born to write pop songs. And his obvious fascination with that era ('20s, '30s) with songs like "Honey Pie" and ""When I'm 64" captured me as a kid.

But don't get me started on George. What an amazing talent.
posted by tunewell at 8:32 PM on August 6, 2010


No, I apologize. I usually roll my eyes at Beatles threads because I just hate how everyone thinks they're a Beatles expert; but nobody knows anything, really, except those four guys.
But I got sucked in this time!
Back to your song:
You can totally hear how it evolved from the strummy ukelele. Love the harmonies and the descending melody.
posted by chococat at 9:23 PM on August 6, 2010


Lennon is my man. My mum tells me that when I was 5 (and absolutely nuts about The Fabs) he was my man too - so it's been a lifelong love affair! I have a photo of him on the wall in my studio in a pose where he's looking at me with that slightly sarcastic, sceptical gaze of his. I often look at it when I'm in the midst of something and whisper "What do you think mate - any good?". He just continues to look unimpressed..........

I also have a photo of John Coltrane on the wall. But he just ignores me completely. Quite right too.
posted by MajorDundee at 2:36 AM on August 7, 2010


Adorable. I appreciate your dedication to short songs.

Nice harmonies. And I dig the little pauses heralded by the glockenspiel.
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 2:42 AM on August 8, 2010


I agree 100% with Karlos. This rocks.
posted by uncleozzy at 7:07 AM on August 10, 2010


Yeah, to put it as one of those strange compliments, this song sounds so good that you could have slipped it as someone else's. With that comment, of course, I don't intend to say you can't write good songs, but that we (or me, I guess) sometimes expect great songs to be crafted somewhere distant, by people we will never meet.

But I guess that also applies to you. Hmmm.

Great song, in any case, and pardon my rambling.
posted by micayetoca at 1:06 PM on August 12, 2010


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