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Topic: Anyone know this Hawaiian tune? |
Bill Leff
From:
Santa Cruz, CA, USA
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Ricky Davis
From:
Bertram, Texas USA
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Posted 9 Feb 2005 9:30 am |
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Bill it sounds a lot like "Keep your eyes on the Hands".
Ricky |
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Gerald Ross
From:
Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
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Posted 9 Feb 2005 9:47 am
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I agree somewhat with Ricky. The bridge can be used as a variation to "Keep Your Eyes On The Hands". Actually parts of the tune could be used as an improv/variation behind a singer singing that song.
So who's the band Bill? Good steel player too.
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Gerald Ross
'Northwest Ann Arbor, Michigan's King Of The Hawaiian Steel Guitar'
Gerald's Fingerstyle Guitar Website
Board of Directors Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association [This message was edited by Gerald Ross on 09 February 2005 at 09:47 AM.] |
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Bill Leff
From:
Santa Cruz, CA, USA
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Posted 9 Feb 2005 9:53 am
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| I don't know the name of the steel player or the group. It's something a bass player I'm working with came up with. He wants to do the song, and I'd never heard it before. |
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Don Kona Woods
From:
Hawaiian Kama'aina
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Posted 9 Feb 2005 10:10 am
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The melody line is not that of Keep Your Eyes on the Hands.
It sounds like an old Hawaiian tune, which probably has an uncommon Hawaiian title, at least to us haoles.
Bill, my suggestion is learn the tune and play it at the next HSGA convention. Somebody will know.
I think that we can find out the name of this song in time. I am in touch with some guys that know a lot of these old Hawaiian songs, i.e. John Marsden of England, Dirk Vogel, Mike Scott, Warren Slavin who all are members of HSGA.
It is a very nice tune, with the steel guitar player getting in some nice Hawaiian licks.
Aloha,
Don |
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Bill Leff
From:
Santa Cruz, CA, USA
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Posted 9 Feb 2005 11:17 am
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I found out the band is "The Cheap Leis" out of San Diego with Adrian Demain playing steel. They call the song "Palms"
Man, I love that band name! |
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George Keoki Lake
From:
Edmonton, AB., Canada
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Posted 9 Feb 2005 2:14 pm
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It bares little resemblance to "KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE HANDS", IMO (only part of the bridge and perhaps the last couple of measures of the song)...I too, am curious to know the title of that song. Whoever was playing the steel did quite a nice job of it. Ok, you folks in Hawai'i, one of you must have a clue...?  |
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Ricky Davis
From:
Bertram, Texas USA
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Posted 9 Feb 2005 2:44 pm
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Sorry; I should have listened to more than the first bar..ha..(I was playing a "name that tune in _____notes" game)...ha.
Yeah "keep your eyes on the hands" certainly does not go to the 2 chord on the second measure like this one.
So ya found out what song it was Bill??/Cool....>there's about a million of them like it out there.
Ricky |
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Jeff Au Hoy
From:
Honolulu, Hawai'i
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Posted 9 Feb 2005 5:08 pm
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| Steel playing is real nice... but what gets my attention the most is the backup! Clean and classic... and most importantly acoustic and miked! This is the stuff I get excited about! |
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George Keoki Lake
From:
Edmonton, AB., Canada
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Posted 9 Feb 2005 7:59 pm
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"acoustic and miked!" (Jeff)
A-MEN to that!!! Hawaiian rhythm always sounds its best when played on acoustic instruments....especially when using those great old "f" hole acoustic guitars. |
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Don Kona Woods
From:
Hawaiian Kama'aina
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Posted 9 Feb 2005 11:40 pm
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I am in full agreement with Keoki and Jeff
This may be implied but I want to say specifically that good Hawaiian rhythm backup also needs a stand up bass as well, not bass guitar. I like two ukuleles also when I play to get that crisp backup sound.
The group sounds like transplants from Hawaii.
Good find Bill.
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Gerald Ross
From:
Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
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Posted 10 Feb 2005 5:58 am
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I am in agreement with all the comments about rhythm. It should be tight and fill the niche a snare drum assumes in a dance band.
Many contemporary Hawaiian recordings and live performances suffer from a rhythm standpoint. One reason for this is too many strings playing at once. A band made up of three guitarists, two uke players and an electric bass have to work very hard and the musicianship level has to be very high in order to achieve a tight rhythm section. Many times these configurations fail. You can't have all those different strumming styles working together.
Add a twelve string guitar or two guitars in slack key tunings to the mix and the beat goes down the tube really fast. All you are left with is an amorphous wash of sound.
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Gerald Ross
'Northwest Ann Arbor, Michigan's King Of The Hawaiian Steel Guitar'
Gerald's Fingerstyle Guitar Website
Board of Directors Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association |
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Todd Weger
From:
Safety Harbor, FLAUSA
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Posted 10 Feb 2005 6:03 am
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Swweeeeeeeeeeet... has that classic sound going on all around. I'm with Jeff -- THIS is the stuff I get excited about, too!
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Todd James Weger/RD/RTD
1956 Fender Stringmaster T-8 (C6, A6, B11); 1960 Fender Stringmaster D-8 (C6, B11/A6); Chandler RH-4 Koa semi-hollow lapsteel (open G); Regal resonator (open D or G)
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Todd Weger
From:
Safety Harbor, FLAUSA
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Don Kona Woods
From:
Hawaiian Kama'aina
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Posted 11 Feb 2005 2:38 pm
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According to the reports I have read, He is an EX-SKATEBOARDING CHAMPION.
He appears to be developing his musical career at this point.
I would come to see and hear him play his steel any day. He has the Hawaiian touch.
I would not walk two blocks to watch him skateboard. ha ha.[This message was edited by Don Kona Woods on 11 February 2005 at 11:59 PM.] |
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Bill Leff
From:
Santa Cruz, CA, USA
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Posted 21 Feb 2005 11:11 am
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I think we have a winner!
I received email from Tom Yanagihara this weekend identifying this tune as "My Wahine and Me". Here's a link to an audio sample of the song performed as a vocal (scroll down the page and click on the song title):
http://www.mele.com/v3/info/2959.htm
and a link to the lyrics:
http://www.huapala.org/My/My_Wahine_and_Me.html
For those that might want to have a go at copying the steel rendition, try the B11 tuning.
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George Keoki Lake
From:
Edmonton, AB., Canada
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Posted 21 Feb 2005 12:26 pm
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| SORRY to disagree Bill...they are TWO much DIFFERENT songs. Listen to the chord progression. I'm inclined to believe it is a song called "PALMS", (even though it is new to me). "MY WAHINE AND ME" is a great song which is very popular in the Islands. I'll admit it starts out somewhat "similar" however I am sure Jeff will agree, they are two different songs.... |
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Jeff Au Hoy
From:
Honolulu, Hawai'i
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Posted 21 Feb 2005 1:42 pm
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| I'm with Keoki! |
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Rick Aiello
From:
Berryville, VA USA
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Gerald Ross
From:
Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
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Posted 21 Feb 2005 4:38 pm
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Try playing the tune "Palms" in D9 tuning (C D F# A C E lo->hi). It falls very naturally in this tuning.
D9 is a very cool tuning because you get some of the B11 voicings but you still have the minor triad on the top three strings.
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Gerald Ross
'Northwest Ann Arbor, Michigan's King Of The Hawaiian Steel Guitar'
Gerald's Fingerstyle Guitar Website
Board of Directors Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association
[This message was edited by Gerald Ross on 21 February 2005 at 04:40 PM.] |
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Bill Leff
From:
Santa Cruz, CA, USA
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Posted 21 Feb 2005 6:55 pm
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D9 is a cool tuning, but I'll put my money on B11 for this performance. Notice the double stops played over the V chord in the B section on strings 1 and 2 at the 12th fret. Very reminiscent of Herb Hanawahine's version of Hula Breeze, played in B11.
Also, I've noticed that D seems to be the key of choice for songs played in B11 as the melodies are usually played over the fifth fret (similarly, F is a popular key for songs played in C6 for the same reason). |
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George Keoki Lake
From:
Edmonton, AB., Canada
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Bill Leff
From:
Santa Cruz, CA, USA
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Posted 28 Feb 2005 9:19 am
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The mystery of "Palms" is solved!
Here's email from Adrian Demain, the composer and steel player of the song:
"Palms is an original composition that I wrote for a surf film called "The Seedling". We had intended to use a recording we
did of "Sand" (the Jules Ah See version), but we didn't know where to go for the licensing. End result?...a song with the same kind of feel and in B11. What's really funny is that the only reason I ended up with the
B11 tuning is because I wanted to learn "Sand" and kept changing my C6 until I could get all the notes, only to find out later in a book that Jules was using a B11.
Thanks for sending me the link to the forum. It's funny people are still talking about Cheap Leis and we've done 3 shows in the last 3 years!"
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Jeff Au Hoy
From:
Honolulu, Hawai'i
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Posted 28 Feb 2005 12:58 pm
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Wow! I've owned a copy of "The Seedling" since it first came out around 1999, but haven't watched it for about 4 years. It's a modern surf film shot entirely in 16mm about Californian guys and girls who like to ride surfboards with design cues from 1966-1967 vintage boards, in the surfing style of that era.
I see a kind of parallel... the retro surf culture (people into riding "obsolete, regressive" technology) is very much like us non-pedal steelers today.
I rode a 9'9" 1967 Surfboards Makaha for a few years... figures (?) |
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