You couldn't make it up dept. no.43: World's greatest player on... you'll never believe it...

[fpb]

As a rule, this series features funny, improbable and sometimes stupid things. This is different. To begin with, I regard the Beatles' While My Guitar Gently Weeps as musically the greatest piece of pop music ever written. The lyrics are nothing short of stupid - hippiedom at its worst - but they hardly matter: melody, harmony, counterpoint - there is hardly one classical composer who would not have killed for music as stunning as this.

On the other hand, I have been known to make ukulele jokes. Who hasn't? But there is a man in the US state of Hawaii, by name Jake Shimabukuro, who can give not just a creditable, but a simply stunning account of this masterpiece on the ukulele. And if you don't believe me, here's the link. http://youtube.com/watch?v=-J30S6hkiyU&search=ukelele

Well, in front of such musicianship I just fall silent and salute. Jake Shimabukuro is said to be the greatest ukulele player of all time, and I can well believe it. But one still has to wonder - if you are good enough to do that on the ukulele, why play the ukulele at all? Ah, well, lie back and enjoy.

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

That *is* a lovely song (I liked it from the time I was a kid; there's lots of good stuff on the White Album)--and it sounds nice on the ukulele :-)

[fpb.livejournal.com]

It sounds nice if Jake Shimabukuro plays it. That's like saying that Bach fugues sound nice on the classical guitar if Andres Segovia or the like play them. Most of us would never stand a chance.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Tee hee--well, I'm not going to be trying it on the ukulele myself, that's for sure.

[jennilee.livejournal.com]

I'm at work so I can't watch it yet, but I just wanted to comment:

But one still has to wonder - if you are good enough to do that on the ukulele, why play the ukulele at all?

Well, he's the greatest ukulele player of all time, as you say. It doesn't mean he'd be the best player of guitar or mandolin or whatever else.

Everyone wants to be the best at something and he's found his glory instrument.

:( I want to watch it now!

[superversive.livejournal.com]

Maybe he plays the ukulele for the same reason Harpo Marx was mute in the Marx Brothers’ original vaudeville act: to make it more challenging.

(Actually, I’ve heard that Harpo was not allowed to speak because he was so much funnier than the others that he had to be severely handicapped to keep him from continually upstaging them. Even silent, he often outshone even Groucho in the films.)