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My latest recording on the Zoom is one of my favorite Beatles tunes. I recorded it in my car in a restaurant parking lot while waiting for some Italian take-out.

I really just wanted an excuse to double-track my vocals.

Download “Cry Baby Cry.mp3″ (Right Click & Save As, Mac:Ctrl-Click)

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(3 votes, average: 2.67 out of 5)
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Last night I recorded my take on “The Cowboy Song” originally sung by Tom Hanks in the movie Joe vs. the Volcano. (I changed it a little bit.)

This is the song that made me want to learn ukulele in the first place. When my wife was pregnant with our two kids I decided that I wanted to be able to play and sing this to them.

The chords and lyrics are below.

Giddyap!

Download “The Cowboy Song.mp3″ (Right Click & Save As, Mac:Ctrl-Click)

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(8 votes, average: 4.38 out of 5)
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This page comes up on a lot of Google searches. I assume people are looking for MP3s of Tom Hanks singing this (sorry, I can’t help you there). However, if you just want information about the song or you’re looking for the lyrics and/or tabs, I can help with that.

The song was written by John Patrick Shanley for the film. There are only two chords in this song. I think Hanks plays them as F and C, but I play them as G and D7 which is a little better for my voice.

The lyrics are:

Ee he o he-o cowboy
Ee he o he-o oooo
Ee he o he-o cowboy, cowboy, cowboy
Under the moon.

I was ridin’ my horse
by the Rio Grandee
and all o’ them coyotes singing
in a prairie symphony.

I was ridin’ my horse
down by the Rio Grandee
when I seen me a cowboy, cowboy, cowboy,
ridin’ toward me.

Ee he o he-o cowboy
Ee he o he-o oooo
Ee he o he-o cowboy, cowboy, cowboy
Under the moon
Giddyup!

If you were to happen to read the whole script to the movie, you’d notice there was a verse originally written that was cut out of the film. It’s supposed to be the last verse before the chorus and it goes like this:

He was twirling his guns
And he had a guitar
And we sang us up a sweet old
song about love
Under the stars

Someone asked me to make a “naked” recording with the Zoom H4 with no effects or overdubs so they could hear what it sounds like. My wife also thinks the version of Cowboy Song I recorded last night is too “Phil Spector-ish” because of all the production I added to it. So here’s a raw version that’s just a single track of me strumming while singing the song. I don’t think I had the levels set right because there’s a slight hiss on the track… I need to spend more time figuring out the recorder.

Download “cowboysong_demo.mp3″ (Right Click & Save As, Mac:Ctrl-Click)

Recently I got myself a Zoom H4 portable multi-track recorder so I could start recording the progress of my ukulele playing. It’s really slick and is really easy to use.

I tested it out by recording my rendition of Eric Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight”. I think the quality of the Zoom sounds pretty darn good.

Download “Wonderful Tonight.mp3″ (Right Click & Save As, Mac:Ctrl-Click)

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(3 votes, average: 3.33 out of 5)
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I just wrote this little jingle yesterday for my comic book publisher Dial R Studios for their New Year’s podcast. It’s not Grammy material but I like to think it’s not bad for my first venture into songwriting and recording.

I call it “Luau at Dial R”. (I apologize for the quality.)

Happy New Year, everyone.

Download “Luau at Dial R.mp3″ (Right Click & Save As, Mac:Ctrl-Click)

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(3 votes, average: 2.67 out of 5)
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Thanks to artist Tom Beland.