“Sweet Baby James” was the opening song on James Taylor’s 1970 album of the same name. It was written for the son of his brother Alex, who named him after James, and is a cross between a cowboy song and a lullaby. It has become one of James Taylor’s most popular songs.
Stevie Wonder’s 1984 song, “I Just Called to Say I Love You” has been his biggest hit single, topping 19 charts worldwide. It won an Academy Award for “Best Original Song” and was also nominated for three Grammy awards (Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, Best Pop Instrumental Performance, and Song of the Year).
For my ukulele strum-along, I played it in the key of G all the way through and the chords should be pretty easy to keep up with.
“Tequila Sunrise” was the first single on the Eagles’ second album, Desperado, in 1973.
For my ukulele strum-along I didn’t try to emulate the signature guitar riff that starts the song, partly because I wouldn’t have done it very well, but also to show that the song can be done with just normal strumming and still sound pretty good. I also played it in the key of F, which is a little easier on the uke than the original key of G.
“One Less Set of Footsteps” was written and recorded by Jim Croce and released on his 1973 album, Life and Times. It spent ten weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and went as high as #37 on the chart. It reached #8 on the U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.
The lyrics to “Ol’ Man River” were written by Oscar Hammerstein (with music by Jerome Kern) for the 1927 musical “Show Boat.” The song contrasted the struggles of African-Americans with the constant flow of the Mississippi River.
This song was written in 4/4 time and every recording I listened to was in 4/4 time, but to me it sounded great in 6/8 time, so that’s what I went with. If you’re familiar with my Hallelujah tutorial, the F to Dm change so prominent in this song is identical to the C to Am change in Hallelujah, the only difference being that I played this song in the key of F and Hallelujah in the key of C. If you want a detailed explanation and slow demonstration of the picking pattern you can find it at the 3:30 mark of the Hallelujah video just after the song. I’ll include the Hallelujah video below for reference.
“If the Bombs Fall” was written by Larry Norman many years ago for a different war but it seems more appropriate than ever right now.
