,

My first new release in 15 years: "Darn." is here!

,

***Don’t miss the release party on Saturday, May 16th at 8:00 p.m. central!

http://facebook.com/andrewyonda/live

“I’m so filled with regret

I’m like a poodle that got wet

I’m not the dog I used to be.”

So begins this depressingly cheerful, easily digestible rocksploration of nostalgia and regret.

Click here to hear it on this blog, or if you prefer Spotify, click here or listen below:

I’m super excited. I’ve never had my own music on Spotify before (!). The last music I released was in 2005 with my band the Buffali, when blogs and iPods were new inventions, and Spotify and Youtube were just glimmers in Mark Zuckerberg’s eyes. I feel that I have overcome a hurdle, and look out, world, I have more songs!

These 6 songs took, unbelievably, 3 years to make. It turns out I’ve never really recorded and released songs on my own before. Oh, sure, I’ve released lots of “demo” quality recordings on this blog, but taking a song from demo to finished product is something I’ve always done with a band. But now it’s just me and my alter-egos, and I had to figure out a whole new recording process, and learn how to play the drums, keyboard, guitar, and bass. I brought in my good old friend Dan Hardgrove to play guitar on some tracks, but I ended up wasting his amazing talent because I couldn’t figure out how to keep the vibe of the songs at that point. After a year or two of floundering around (3 hours a week, since, as a father of young children, time is scarce), I finally figured out a process that resulted in recordings I like:

  1. Lay down a live track of me singing and playing acoustic guitar, complete with dynamics, uneven tempo, and je-ne-sais-quoi.

  2. Add drums, bass, and re-record vocals and acoustic

  3. Add harmonies and other instruments, like such as usually Wurlitzer and misc. percussion.

  4. Mix in ProTools.

  5. Master using landr.com.

At this point when I start a new recording I assume it’s going to be the “whole band”, which is:

-Amazingly Andrew on lead vox and acoustic

-Willie Andrew on bass guitar

-Clyde Andrew on drums

-Professor Andrew on Wurlitzer keyboard and harmonies

I hope to bring you more 6-song EPs soon, and hope that this process I’ve identified continues to work, and fast!

I’ll be playing a live album release concert on Saturday, May 16th at 8:00 p.m. central, check out my Instagram for the live feed, I may try to do FB live as well, I have no idea.

Thank you to Audre Rae Krull for beautiful backing vocals on “You Animal” and “I Am In Control”. Thanks to Dan Hardgrove for guitarrific inspiration. Thanks of course to my lovely wife Jennifer, for supporting me in this fun but ultimately vain endeavor!

Watch me play live in a John Prine tribute showcase?!

Say goodbye to those lockdown blues and check out this showcase of Madison musicians performing John Prine tunes. My choice is “Let’s Talk Dirty in Hawaiian”, one of his funnier songs which I know well thanks to Dr. Demento. I’ll be going on last but don’t fret if you’re in a hurry—we’re all playing one song each so it’ll be a brief show!

8:00 p.m., Saturday May 9th, 2020

https://www.facebook.com/groups/madisonstage/permalink/2892025534206635/

Free admission!

Peggy Gordon (Irish cover song)

Hi! As Austin Kleon says, “Do good work, then share it.” Ergo, do mediocre work, don’t share? In any case, here is some work! One of my favorite Irish songs, I made a friend for life when I played this on a banjo at my friend Laurie’s party the night I met her. It was the only song I was ever able to play on that consarned instrument, but she didn’t need to know that!


I found this song in a bin of forgotten recordings from 2012. A virtual bin, at least. I spiced it up in Pro Tools with a lil Vulf Compressor from Goodhertz, which really fucks with it but is pretty cool. I just used the default setting.

The cover photo, in case you were wondering, was also in a forgotten bin from 2012, I thought it would match well! Enjoy!

,

I'm so filled with regret, I'm like a poodle that got wet [new song]

,

New song comin’ atcha! Could this be my greatest record ever?!! Just like the Grammies, I distinguish between records and songs—though this track could also be a greatest song ever nominee, I think it would win greatest record because the quality and vibe of the recording are “da bum.” A sweet mix of vocals and harmonies, Wurly, drums (with hot rods instead of sticks?!), and a funky sample. And for some final, nasty pizazz I even had it mastered over there at LandR.com, a crazy new mastering service that uses Skynet to determine the best sound for your record. As my 5-year-old son says, you git what git and you don’t throw a fit. Now if only I could run it through the hit-song-rating algorithm to find out what my chances are. . .

This song is going to be featured on the forthcoming EP tentatively titled “Darn.”

, ,

Big Star's "Thirteen" chords and cover song

, ,

Oh hey! Happy 2018! This is just a beautiful song that I got into so I made my own version:

When I was "researching" this tune, I got interested in Alex Chilton (as one does), and I learned that he got famous at 17 for "The Letter" while he was the lead singer for the Box Tops!? And that song went to #1 for THREE weeks the month after the Beatles "All You Need is Love" had been #1!

The teenage Alex Chilton

 

And here are the chords. Use mine, as there are lots of crappy/wrong chords out there for this song.

Thirteen by Big Star (transcribed by Amazingly Andrew Yonda)

 

G    Cadd9    G     Cadd9

G    Cadd9    G     Cadd9     G    Cadd9    G     Cadd9

   Won’t you let me take you home from school?

G    Cadd9    G/B             Em7     C  G/B    Am7

   Won’t you let me meet you at the poooooool?

      Em7    Am7

Maybe Friday I can

    Em7            Am7

Get tickets for the dance

        D  C  G/B  Am7

And I’ll taaaaaaake you

 

G    Cadd9    G     Cadd9

 

G    Cadd9    G     Cadd9     G    Cadd9    G     Cadd9

  Won’t you tell your dad get off my back?

G    Cadd9    G/B             Em7     C  G/B    Am7

  Tell him what we said bout Paint It Black

      Em7    Am7

Rock and roll is here to stay

    Em7            Am7

Come inside where it’s okay

        D  C  G/B  Am7

And I’ll shaaaaaaake you

 

G    Am7    G    Am7

 

G    Cadd9    G     Cadd9     G    Cadd9    G     Cadd9

  Won’t you tell me what you’re thinking of?

G    Cadd9    G/B             Em7     C  G/B    Am7

  Would you be an outlaw for my love?

       Em7           Am7

If it’s so well let me know

       Em7           Am7

If it’s no, well I can go

        D  C  G/B  Am7

I won’t maaaaaaaaake you

G    Am7    G    Am7

 

There are some fun things like hammering on the Cadd9 chords that you should consider.

, ,

"Brilliant" t-shirt idea

, ,

Had a brainstroke today: Why not cash in on the whole "Keep Calm" t-shirt trend while incorporating terrible cow puns, etc.? To make it relatable for the youth I used a "z" instead of an "s"

Brilliant t-shirt idea

For sale in the shop REAL soon!

, ,

Ondine (They Might Be Giants cover)

, ,

Scary Pinata Face

I just keep'em comin' atcha! This is a cover of "Ondine" from They Might Be Giants "Back to Skull" EP. I had this in my head and I had the idea of "Maybe I should be recording just my vocal track first when I record so I can capture all the funk I was envisioning without instrumental or click track limitations!" Not a bad idea, actually!

I could have recorded over the original vocal track of course, and probably should have since I did it a capella, no pitch or tempo reference, but actually it's not half bad! Maybe one third bad?

Want to play along? Here is my transcription of the chords and lyrics to Ondine:

Ondine

 

[notes]    G Eb C            G Eb C

Ondine             you won

[tacet Cm]

All she left behind was an unloaded gun

        Eb

And my face is blushing

Cm

  From all the things she’s done

Eb

  You couldn’t miss that girl

F

  Cuz here she comes

 

[notes]    G Eb C            G Eb C

Ondine             back up

[tacet Cm]

Run over my body with your pickup truck

    Eb

And finish what you started

Cm

  Because I’m done

Eb

  I’d search the whole world over

F

  To find these words

        Cm    G        Bb        Cm

She said I had the strangest dream

Eb    F            Cm        G

  I dreamed I killed you again

Cm        G        Bb        Cm

  Don’t make me kill you again

    Eb        F        G

Cuz I could never kill you again

 

[notes]    G Eb C            G Eb C

Ondine             was here

[tacet Cm]

You couldn’t even take away a souvenir

        Eb

Of what’s left of that sinner

Cm

    She used to call me that

Eb                            

  I’d search the whole world over

F

To find these words

 

        Cm    G        Bb        Cm

She said I had the strangest dream

Eb    F            Cm        G

  I dreamed I killed you again

Cm        G        Bb        Cm

  Don’t make me kill you again

    Eb        F        G

Cuz I could never kill you again

 

C    G        Bb            Cm

  I had the strangest dream

Eb    F            Cm        G

  I dreamed I killed you again

Cm        G        Bb        Cm

  Don’t make me kill you again

    Eb        F        G

Cuz I could never kill you again

, ,

Bob Dylan: The Man in Me (cover song and transcription)

, ,

Have you seen the Big Lebowski? Then you know this song from the amazing bowling intro. Here I've done my own echoey groovy version. Also the chords online are all wrong, so I'm giving you the right ones here!

Now if you want to try something new and different, please visit this youtube page of a slowed-down Bob Dylan version of this song, then speed it up in the video settings to 1.5 speed, and it's a super funky almost Peter Tosh-style song! How wonderful! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV_0ltpWITU

The Man in Me by Bob Dylan
Transcribed this April 15th, 2016 by Amazingly Andrew Yonda
(there are a few unexpected half-measures resulting in 7-bar verses, so I’ve marked each beat with either a chord name or a slash so you can keep track)

G / / / Am / / /
The man in me will do nearly any task
D /C / / /G /
 And as for compensation, there’s little he would ask
 G ////
Take a woman like you
 C /C(D in bass) / G / / / 
To get through to the man in me

G / / / Am / / /
 Storm clouds are raging all around my door
D /C / / /G /
 I think to myself I might not take it anymore
 G ////
 Take a woman like your kind
 C /C(D in bass) / G / / / 
 To find the man in me

Am/ / / G / / /
But, oh, what a wonderful feeling
Am / / /G / / /
Just to know that you are near
Am / / / G / / /
Sets my heart a-reeling
Am / / / D / / /
From my toes up to my ears

G / / / Am / / /
 The man in me will hide sometimes to keep from bein’ seen
D /C / / / G /
 But that’s just because he doesn’t want to turn into some machine
 G ////
 Took a woman like you
 C /C(D in bass) / G / / / 
 To get through to the man in me

(Don’t forget to do a verse before and after singing la la la)
,

This is a pretty interesting music video

,

Had this song in my head so I looked it up. "Young Girl" by Gary Puckett and the Union Gap. This 1968 clip is one of those strange, fun early music videos when there were a) no production budgets and b) absolutely no rules about what makes a music video.

To begin with, the subject of the song is a guy's love for an underage girl, which is creepy enough, but the video holds its own in terms of strange and weird--these are actual stills from the video! 

I love that the band has set up in this dilapidated barn. Reminds me of another classic entry in the barn-themed music video canon, Badfinger's "No Matter What". Maybe I have a theme for my next video!?

Powered by Squarespace

Cart (0)