This song is about one of my favorite instruments — the small but mighty ukulele! I decided to make the melody a little bluesy on this one. My favorite part is probably the line about George Harrison, who was an avid uke player. It also happens to have a nifty little turnaround with some augmented chords and diminished sevenths, which I don’t believe have appeared in my tonal palette yet this Jamuary. Also, I realized I had not yet written a song with a full key change, so this one modulates from G to A. I had originally written it in A, but didn’t want to play some of the crazy chords in B. And I’m not talking diminished or augmented, just the F# is a pain in the butt.

All the instruments are ukes, of course — a tenor and soprano providing the rhythm instrumentation, a concert providing the intro lead and first, shorter solo, and a baritaone uke providing the second, longer solo. A U-Bass rounds out the frequency range. There’s also a guitalele providing the backbeat chopping.

Lyrics

Let me tell you about an instrument
That’s easy as sin to learn
As your mastery grows, your obsession does
True passion begins to burn
It may look small, might not sound tough
But when you hold one you will see
If it’s good enough for George Harrison
Then it’s good enough for me

So rock the uke, rock the uke
Every day, rock the uke
Its four strings are beyond reproach,
Rebuttal and rebuke
Rock the uke, rock the uke
Every day, rock the uke
It’s a fitting instrument
from a pauper up to a duke
Oh yeah, oh yeah
Rock, rock the uke

You can carry the things almost anywhere
You can pack in four or five
And having a uke wherever you go
Helps your creativity thrive
They’re not just the purview Tiny Tim
And not just Hawaiian songs
When you pick one up you won’t put it down
And you’ll be strumming all day long