Singing w/ "Sand" In Da Mouth & Jerry Byrd

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 25 Jan 2009 6:37 pm

Not bad for a guy with only one thumb!

I, of course, am ALL thumbs.

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 26 Jan 2009 2:32 am

Andy Volk wrote:Not bad for a guy with only one thumb!

I, of course, am ALL thumbs.

Could it be that a handicap forces people to excel ? not wishing to take away from his undoubted talent. Who's to say what path Jules or Andy would have taken if not for fate dealing them the blow it did ?

Rick Aiello wrote:
basilh wrote:BAD "Dobby" now goes and hits head on wall continuously..
My babies and I love Harry Potter ... especially the books/movies which include ... Dobby ...

Such a pity the producers didn't see fit to make more of the character, I think that was a missed
opportunity.

Rick Aiello wrote:

There are some (Me included) who think the Hawaii Calls version from the EARLY 50's was the definite one, certainly Jules Ah See is superb on this..
I'm gonna have to go with the "definitive" version of Sand ... being the "original" done by ... Andy Aiona Long ...

No doubt the original has its charm, and to aficionados like yourself is the obvious defining version, the Jules ah See version was probably heard by a much larger audience being a featured track on a extremely successfully album series (Hawaii Calls - Webley Edwards etc.)
The statement by the poster in his original post bears out my assertion about the general perception of the song, most people THINK it's an instrumental.

The strange thing about that is that in America most anoraks and steel guitar enthusiasts associate the instrumental with Jerry Byrd, whilst I've found that elsewhere the best know and quoted version is the Hawaii Calls instrumental one.

Even with Jerry Byrd's popularity in Japan, there they associate the instrumental with Jules ah See. Whilst I am generalising and only speaking from knowledge gleaned from many years research, I would stand by the definitive being the Jules ah See one, with the caveat: "To the general public."

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 26 Jan 2009 2:56 am

Josh, you give a link to a page you've created :-http://www.steelguitarmojo.com/jerrybyrdplayssand.shtml
Well I think you should edit it "Slightly" because

I think you could also amend the line to read "taken what previously was generally known as",
It then would probably sit as more factually correct.

Josh Cho · Post by **Josh Cho** » 26 Jan 2009 6:44 pm

basil,

Mahalo for your suggestions, I changed up the writing a bit, using your input...never realizing how important this page would be, but at the same time not wanting to impose my ignorance on the casual passer by...thanks again

Jerry Gleason · Post by **Jerry Gleason** » 26 Jan 2009 8:29 pm

A minor quibble with Basil's correction- Jerry's guitar is not a twin eight.The top neck is 7 strings. The 8-string bottom neck is most certainly B11, though. I would guess that the top neck is probably C diatonic, but I can't tell for sure. It's beautiful, in any case. I thought I might be able to tell from viewing the other songs on the program where he plays that guitar, but it's possible, even likely that he retuned for some of the other songs.

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 27 Jan 2009 3:54 am

Jerry, thanks for the correction, I DID know, I was in a hurry to post and over simplified the response.
Total agreement re the tunings, B11 and C diatonic..

Jerry Gleason · Post by **Jerry Gleason** » 27 Jan 2009 8:55 am

I knew you knew that.

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 27 Jan 2009 3:44 pm

I knew that YOU knew that I knew, but did THEY know we both knew ?

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 5 May 2014 1:22 am

So, where did Jerry Byrd get his intro from ?

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 5 May 2014 3:09 am

Back in the early 90s when I was a new steel player, I told Jerry in a letter that the tune reminded me of Django Reinhardt's classic Nuages - especially the intro. JB wrote back that he knew most of Django's music but didn't know Nuages and that he doubted there could be any connection.

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 5 May 2014 5:27 am

Hi Andy, hope all is well. My belief is that Jerry Byrd was influenced by another instrumental of Andy Iona's: Getting Sentimental Over You
The intro of which could have formed the foundation for the parts that Jerry devised for the intro of his version of 'Sand'

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 5 May 2014 6:22 am

That's an amazing recording, Baz. Andy sounds like Sidney Bechet's soprano saxophone. I see your point. What year was Sand composed?

Paul DiMaggio · Post by **Paul DiMaggio** » 5 May 2014 7:43 am

He recorded Sand on Dec. 15th 1939 for Columbia records. Whether that was the 1st time it was recorded or not, I don't know.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 5 May 2014 8:36 am

That's an amazing recording, Baz

I agree! The first part of the melody reminds me of "Carefree", a Byrd composition I believe.

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 5 May 2014 10:00 am

Actually, Doug, it looks like Carefree is an old tune recorded by Iona before JB. The composers are listed here:

http://digicoll.manoa.hawaii.edu/music/ ... p&course=3

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 5 May 2014 10:02 am

Actually Doug, Carefree is an Andy Iona tune also.
(Klik da linque)
I think it was the first tune I learned on Hawaiian Steel Guitar.

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 5 May 2014 10:04 am

Per the above, Baz, the composers of Carefree were Heyman & Henderson.

Here are the Iona & Byrd versions back-to-back ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzLSRu7K5pk

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 5 May 2014 11:28 am

Thanks for the info on Carefree. I love that tune!

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 5 May 2014 6:50 pm

PS I don't mean to hijack this thread, but I just bought the original sheet music for Carefree (1934) on eBay tonight. I'm looking forward to working out a steel arrangement of this great tune. It's on my list of projects. It's #157 on my to-do list!

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 6 May 2014 2:14 am

From the February 2003 Aloha Dream Magazine..
I was not very used to doing tab back then so it's not very accurate. I didn't have the sheet music to go from so I had to guess the chords etc..

BIAB and HiRes img and pdf are HERE

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 6 May 2014 9:46 am

Baz, sometimes the original sheet music from the 1920s and 30s is full of "tin pan alley" chord changes that sound choppy and were not played in later versions of a song. You have touched on this a few times in past threads... how arrangements and chord changes evolve over the years. Sometimes for the better, and sometimes not.
I like a lot of Jerry Byrd's recordings from the 50s, but when I look at the original 1920s, 30s sheet music for the songs it includes a lot of (1 beat or 2 beat) dim, aug, m7, etc. chords that are not in Jerry's recording. So I use the old sheet music as a basic guide, but I tend to play the more recent styling and get some of the chord changes by ear.

Nic Neufeld · Post by **Nic Neufeld** » 15 Nov 2017 6:31 am

I was getting progressively more and more obsessed with Andy Iona's "Carefree" until I dug up the original composers by looking at internet images of old LPs that referenced "Henderson"...then tracked down images of the sheet music from 1934 with Charles Henderson listed (wasn't sure if Andy Iona was the composer).

But I see from this thread you guys have all been through this long ago!

I did find another recording from Axel Stordahl in the 50s. The over-lush orchestration isn't necessarily my preference, but it's nice to hear the tune in a different context:
https://archive.org/details/78_carefree ... ia0005352b

From the sheet music its subtitled "Chesterfield Theme Song"...maybe part of a musical (especially given the style and era). The music also has lyrics (written by Edward Heyman...who I looked up and has done quite a bit of influential work). Has anyone run across a version with vocals by chance?

Nic Neufeld · Post by **Nic Neufeld** » 15 Nov 2017 11:34 am

Removed the entire previous post as the B11 tuning wasn't working great, and this is my current version in C6. Obviously Andy Iona wasn't in C6 from the recording (he hits a chord in the intro that I've omitted, and the harmonic hits in the key change I've made a "best effort" at), probably an old A tuning or something with root on top I assume. His vibrato is just fantastic. Anyway, I'm a beginner so mistakes are likely in here and no rhythms are indicated other than extra spaces in between phrases, but its quite playable in this tuning. I just need to get all those chords down on guitar and uke so I can make a decent backing track!

Code: Select all

Carefree (as performed by Andy Iona)
C6 tuning

Intro
 E|-12---10-------9-----8\7---5-------3-----------3-6-9---7-2-4-6--/8-/8------/8-7- 
 C|---------9-------------------2-2-0-----5-3---5------------------------/6-------- 
 A|-----------9-8------------------------------------------------------------------ 
 G|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 E|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 C|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Verse 1
 E|-6-\3--------3-10-9-----------8-7------------------------------- 
 C|------2----3-----------------------------------3-2-1-0---------- 
 A|------------------------4\3------------------------------------- 
 G|------------------------------------4\3----2-3------------------ 
 E|---------------------------------------------------------------- 
 C|---------------------------------------------------------------- 


 E|-/4----/8-/8-3----3-/6-----11-10-9-8-11----4---3-/6------------- 
 C|---------------------------------------------------------------- 
 A|------------------------------------------------------3-4-5----- 
 G|---------------------------------------------------------------- 
 E|---------------------------------------------------------------- 
 C|---------------------------------------------------------------- 

Verse 2
 E|-6-\3--------3-10-9-----------8-7--------------/11-10-9-8------- 
 C|------2----3-------------------------------2-3------------------ 
 A|-----------------------4\3-------------------------------------- 
 G|------------------------------------4\3------------------------- 
 E|---------------------------------------------------------------- 
 C|---------------------------------------------------------------- 


 E|-7---/4----3-------10-9----------------8------------------------ 
 C|-------------5-4-3---------------3-5-8---7---7--7\3------------- 
 A|--------------------------4\3----------------------------------- 
 G|---------------------------------------------------------------- 
 E|---------------------------------------------------------------- 
 C|----------------------------------------------------------------  

Key Change
 E|------------------------------7H19------------------------------
 C|-10-9-8-7-6---6-5-4-3-2-------7H19------------------------------
 A|-10-9-8-7-6---6-5-4-3-2-------7H19------------------------------
 G|-----------------------------------7H19-------------------------
 E|-----------------------------------7H19-------------------------
 C|-----------------------------------7H19-------------------------

Verse 3
 E|-10-\7--------7-14-13---------12-11-------------/15-14-13-12---- 
 C|-------6----7-------------------------------6-7----------------- 
 A|------------------------8\7------------------------------------- 
 G|--------------------------------------8\7----------------------- 
 E|---------------------------------------------------------------- 
 C|---------------------------------------------------------------- 


 E|-11---/8----7-------/14-13-----------------12------------------- 
 C|--------------9-8-7-----------------7-9-12----11---11--11\7----- 
 A|-----------------------------8\7-------------------------------- 
 G|---------------------------------------------------------------- 
 E|---------------------------------------------------------------- 
 C|---------------------------------------------------------------- 

Outro
 E|-11-10-9-8-/11---11-10-9-8-/11---11-10-9-7-/11---/11---11------- 
 C|---------------------------------------------------------------- 
 A|---------------------------------------------------------------- 
 G|---------------------------------------------------------------- 
 E|---------------------------------------------------------------- 
 C|----------------------------------------------------------------