This blog is dedicated to the amateur or beginner musician with music written in a simple and easy to read Alpha Notes format and with Chords for the left hand. This is to assist those with little or hardly at all note reading skills. This is a blog that shows all the chords in Alpha Notes format too which you can find the notes for the chords in one of the blogs. Please feel free to leave a comment or any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Enjoy!
"Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built for Two)" is a song written in 1892 by British songwriter Harry Dacre with the well-known chorus "Daisy, Daisy / Give me your answer, do. / I'm half crazy / all for the love of you", ending with the words "a bicycle built for two". The song is said to have been inspired by Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick, one of the many mistresses of King Edward VII.[1][2] It is the earliest song sung using computer speech synthesis by the IBM 704 in 1961, a feat that was referenced in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).
"Daisy Bell" was composed by Harry Dacre in 1892. As David Ewen writes in American Popular Songs:[3]
When Dacre, an English popular composer, first came to the United States, he brought with him a bicycle, for which he was charged import duty. His friend William Jerome, another songwriter, remarked lightly: "It's lucky you didn't bring a bicycle built for two, otherwise you'd have to pay double duty." Dacre was so taken with the phrase "bicycle built for two" that he soon used it in a song. That song, Daisy Bell, first became successful in a London music hall, in a performance by Katie Lawrence. Tony Pastor was the first to sing it in the United States. Its success in America began when Jennie Lindsay brought down the house with it at the Atlantic Gardens on the Bowery early in 1892.
The song was originally recorded and released by Dan W. Quinn in 1893.
To download the easy alphanotes sheet music, look here. Enjoy!
Lyrics:
Daisy, Daisy, Give me your answer - do! I'm half crazy, All for the love of you! It won't be a stylish marriage, I can't afford a carriage But you'll look sweet upon the seat Of a bicycle built for two.
"Alouette" (pronounced[alwɛt]) is a popular Quebecois children's song, commonly thought to be about plucking the feathers from a lark. Although it is in French, it is well known among speakers of other languages; in this respect, it is similar to "Frère Jacques". Many US Marines and other Allied soldiers learned the song while serving in France during World War I and took it home with them, passing it on to their children and grandchildren.
The song's origin is uncertain, but the most popular theory is that it is French-Canadian. It was first published in A Pocket Song Book for the Use of Students and Graduates of McGill College (Montreal, 1879). Canadian folklorist Marius Barbeau thought that the song came from France, though the first printed copy in France came 14 years after the original Canadian (McGill) publication.
The Canadian theory links the song to the North American French fur trade. Canoes were used to transport trade goods in exchange for furs through large trade routes consisting of interconnected lakes, rivers, and portages in unknown of present-day Canada and United States. The songs of the French fur trade were adapted to accompany the motion of paddles dipped in unison. Singing helped to pass the time and made the work seem lighter. In fact, it is likely that the Montreal Agents and Wintering Partners (precursor to the North West Company of fur traders) sought out and preferred to hire voyageurs who liked to sing and were good at it. They believed that singing helped the voyageurs to paddle faster and longer. French colonists ate horned larks, which they considered a game bird. "Alouette" informs the lark that the singer will pluck its head, beak, eyes, wings and tail. En roulant ma boule sings of ponds, bonnie ducks and a prince on hunting bound. Many of the songs favoured by the voyageurs have been passed down to the present era.
"Alouette" has become a symbol of French Canada for the world, an unofficial national song. Today, the song is used to teach French and English-speaking children in Canada, and others learning French around the world, the names of body parts. Singers will point to or touch the part of their body that corresponds to the word being sung in the song.
Ethnomusicologist Conrad LaForte points out that, in song, the lark (l'alouette) is the bird of the morning, and that it is the first bird to sing in the morning, hence waking up lovers and causing them to part, and waking up others as well, something that is not always appreciated. In French songs, the lark also has the reputation of being a gossip, a know-it-all, and cannot be relied on to carry a message, as it will tell everyone; it also carries bad news. However, the nightingale, being the first bird of spring, in Europe, sings happily all the time, during the lovely seasons of spring and summer. The nightingale (i.e., rossignol) also carries messages faithfully and dispenses advice, in Latin, no less, a language that lovers understand. LaForte explains that this alludes to the Middle Ages, when only a select few still understood Latin. And so, as the lark makes lovers part or wakes up the sleepyhead, this would explain why the singer of "Alouette" wants to pluck it in so many ways if he can catch it, for, as LaForte notes, this bird is flighty as well.
The lark was eaten in Europe, and when eaten was known as a "mauviette", which is also a term for a sickly person.
The tune has been used in Season 3 of the television series Evil, possibly because the dark side of the lyrics could be seen as demonic influence/possession for the psychiatrist, a recurring character played by Kurt Fuller.
In the 1952 American one-reel animated cartoon "The Two Mouseketeers" (which was the 65th Tom and Jerry short), Jerry's friend Nibbles makes a ham sandwich while singing "Alouette" to himself.
To download the easy alphanotes sheet music, look here. Enjoy!
Lyrics:
French translation
Refrain
Alouette, gentille alouette, Alouette, je te plumerai.
1.
Je te plumerai la tête. ×2
Et la tête! ×2 Alouette! ×2 A-a-a-ah
Refrain
2.
Je te plumerai le bec. ×2
Et le bec! ×2 Et la tête! ×2 Alouette! ×2 A-a-a-ah
Refrain
3.
Je te plumerai les yeux. ×2
Et les yeux! ×2 Et le bec! ×2 Et la tête! ×2 Alouette! ×2 A-a-a-ah
Refrain
4.
Je te plumerai le cou. ×2
Et le cou! ×2 Et les yeux! ×2 Et le bec! ×2 Et la tête! ×2 Alouette! ×2 A-a-a-ah
Refrain
5.
Je te plumerai les ailes. ×2
Et les ailes! ×2 Et le cou! ×2 Et les yeux! ×2 Et le bec! ×2 Et la tête! ×2 Alouette! ×2 A-a-a-ah
Refrain
6.
Je te plumerai les pattes. ×2
Et les pattes! ×2 Et les ailes! ×2 Et le cou! ×2 Et les yeux! ×2 Et le bec! ×2 Et la tête! ×2 Alouette! ×2 A-a-a-ah
Refrain
7.
Je te plumerai la queue. ×2
Et la queue! ×2 Et les pattes! ×2 Et les ailes! ×2 Et le cou! ×2 Et les yeux! ×2 Et le bec! ×2 Et la tête! ×2 Alouette! ×2 A-a-a-ah
Refrain
8.
Je te plumerai le dos. ×2
Et le dos! ×2 Et la queue! ×2 Et les pattes! ×2 Et les ailes! ×2 Et le cou! ×2 Et les yeux! ×2 Et le bec! ×2 Et la tête! ×2 Alouette! ×2 A-a-a-ah
Refrain
English translation
Refrain
Lark, nice lark, Lark, I will pluck you.
1.
I will pluck your head. ×2
And your head! ×2 Lark! ×2 O-o-o-oh
Refrain
2.
I will pluck your beak. ×2
And your beak! ×2 And your head! ×2 Lark! ×2 O-o-o-oh
Refrain
3.
I will pluck your eyes. ×2
And your eyes! ×2 And your beak! ×2 And your head! ×2 Lark! ×2 O-o-o-oh
Refrain
4.
I will pluck your neck. ×2
And your neck! ×2 And your eyes! ×2 And your beak! ×2 And your head! ×2 Lark! ×2 O-o-o-oh
Refrain
5.
I will pluck your wings. ×2
And your wings! ×2 And your neck! ×2 And your eyes! ×2 And your beak! ×2 And your head! ×2 Lark! ×2 O-o-o-oh
Refrain
6.
I will pluck your legs. ×2
And your legs! ×2 And your wings! ×2 And your neck! ×2 And your eyes! ×2 And your beak! ×2 And your head! ×2 Lark! ×2 O-o-o-oh
Refrain
7.
I will pluck your tail. ×2
And your tail! ×2 And your legs! ×2 And your wings! ×2 And your neck! ×2 And your eyes! ×2 And your beak! ×2 And your head! ×2 Lark! ×2 O-o-o-oh
Refrain
8.
I will pluck your back. ×2
And your back! ×2 And your tail! ×2 And your legs! ×2 And your wings! ×2 And your neck! ×2 And your eyes! ×2 And your beak! ×2 And your head! ×2 Lark! ×2 O-o-o-oh
"Ar Hyd y Nos" (English:All Through the Night) is aWelshsongsung to a tune that was first recorded inEdward Jones'Musical and Poetical Relics of the Welsh Bards(1784). The most commonly sungWelshlyrics were written byJohn Ceiriog Hughes(1832-1887), and have been translated into several languages, including English (most famously byHarold Boulton(1859–1935) andBreton. One of the earliest English versions, to different Welsh lyrics by one John Jones, was byThomas Oliphantin 1862.
The melody is also used in the hymns "Go My Children With My Blessing” (1983), “God That Madest Earth and Heaven” (1827) and "Father in your Love Enfold Us".
The song is highly popular with traditional Welsh male voice choirs, and is sung by them at festivals in Wales and around the world.
"All the Pretty Little Horses" (also known as "Hush-a-bye") is a traditional lullaby from the United States. It has inspired dozens of recordings and adaptations, as well as the title of Cormac McCarthy's 1992 novel All the Pretty Horses. The melody is also used in the score of the film Misty of Chincoteague based on the book by Marguerite Henry.
The origin of this song is not fully known. The song is commonly thought to be of African-American origin. Author Lyn Ellen Lacy is often quoted as the primary source for the theory that suggests the song was "originally sung by an African-American slave who could not take care of her baby because she was too busy taking care of her master's child. She would sing this song to her master's child".[1] However, Lacy's book Art and Design in Children's Books is not an authority on the heritage of traditional American folk songs, but rather a commentary on the art and design in children's literature. Still, some versions of "All the Pretty Little Horses" contain added lyrics that make this theory a possibility.
One such version of "All the Pretty Little Horses" is provided in the book American Ballads and Folksongs by prominent ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax, though he makes no claim of the song's African-American origins. "Way down yonder, In de medder, There's a po' lil lambie, De bees an' de butterflies, Peckin' out its eyes, De po' lil lambie cried, "Mammy!"" Another version contains the lyrics "Buzzards and flies, Picking out its eyes, Pore little baby crying". The theory would suggest that the lyrics "po' lil lambie cried, "Mammy"" is in reference to the slaves who were often separated from their own families in order to serve their owners. However, this verse is very different from the rest of the lullaby, suggesting that the verse may have been added later or has a different origin from the rest of the song. The verse also appears in the song "Ole Cow" and older versions of the song "Black Sheep, Black Sheep".
A generation before Alan Lomax, writer Dorothy Scarborough, educated at Oxford University and holding a PhD from Columbia University, researched folk songs throughout the American South and devoted four pages of her book On the Trail of Negro Folksongs (1925) to variations of this song, all of which were provided, directly or indirectly, by African Americans.
The best-known versions of the song are written from the perspective of the mother or caretaker singing a baby to sleep. The singer is promising the child that when he or she awakes, the child "shall have all the pretty little horses."
An extra verse appears in some versions of the song. The added lyrics appear to be from the perspective of an African-American caretaker who is singing about how her own baby, her "lambie", is not being cared for due to her care of her charge. The origin of this verse cannot be known, since the refrain also appears in the folksongs "Ole Cow" and "Black Sheep, Black Sheep".
To download the easy alphanotes sheet music, look here. Enjoy!
Lyrics:
Hush-a-bye, don't you cry, Go to sleep my little baby.
When you wake you shall have All the pretty little horses. Black and bays, dapples, grays, All the pretty little horses. Hush-a-bye, don't you cry, Go to sleep my little baby. Hush-a-bye, don't you cry, Go to sleep my little baby.
When you wake you shall have All the pretty little horses.
The rhyme was first noted in the United States in 1879 as a children's rhyming game. It was sung while children danced in a circle. One of the number ran on the outside of the circle and dropped a handkerchief. The nearest child would then pick it up and chase the dropper. If caught, the dropper either was kissed, joined the circle, or had to tell the name of their sweetheart.
Ella Fitzgerald and Al Feldman (later known as Van Alexander), extended and embellished the rhyme into a jazz piece that was her breakthrough hit with the Chick Webb Orchestra in 1938. It has since become a jazz standard. The lyrics changed the color of the basket to brown and yellow. In Ella's version a little girl picks up the note and then takes the basket after it is carelessly left on the ground. A follow-up song written by Fitzgerald and Webb entitled "I Found My Yellow Basket" (1938) was less successful.
The song was a major hit of the "pre-chart" era, reaching number one in Billboard's sheet music and Record Buying Guide (jukebox) charts, also number 1 on Your Hit Parade.
The song was included in Hayley Mills' 1961 album Let's Get Together with Hayley Mills titled Green and Yellow Basket with extra verses describing how the dropper felt about losing the letter.
Nabisco did a take-off of the song for its ad campaign in the 1970s, with the lyrics "A Triscuit, A Triscuit, Baked only by Nabisco."
The song was used in the opening of the movie The Cowboy and the Lady (1938), but was not credited. Parts of it were played by an orchestra, used as background music, and sung by Harry Davenport.
The music for the song was used in the opening scene of John Ford's 1940 film The Grapes of Wrath to help establish the contemporary time frame of the events of the film.
