The Regular Friday Post (A Repost Highlighting The "Calypso" Strum)
Rando Lyrics: Next week is Thanksgiving, and Michael Acoustic will be dark. So - no rando lyric this week either, but I consider this one of my most important posts - See Below
Special Section - I’ve run this before - BUT - I’ve added some other videos and materials to last year’s post that you may find helpful
IF YOU ARE JUST STARTING OUT ON GUITAR THIS IS A MUST READ
- so I’m reposting it here at the top for you folks on Substack who may be just passing through, browsing, occasional readers, etc! Listen to your guitar instructor and at first you’re just going to go “Down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up”. I get it - making your fretting hand and strumming hand operate independently, but still synchronized and on the beat is really difficult at first.
DON’T GIVE UP!
When you start to “get it” (meaning you can mostly change chords “on the beat” - you’ll just know), you’re going to want a better strumming pattern. This is it:
From Mr. Griff Hamlin (before his current website Blues Guitar Unleashed):
Link: >Basic Strumming<Start here - click the underlined link!
Ed. - Sometimes ya just need to go back to the basics - and this lesson (Mr. Hamlin’s at the link above) starts out with the basics BUT - if you can stick with it - this lesson teaches (eventually) the “Calypso” or “island” strum, which is the basic, but incredibly handy, syncopated strum - it will quickly become your “go-to” strum and actually adapts very easily to a finger pick. Kinda the Swiss Army knife of syncopated guitar playing.
I’ve talked about this before - it’s a great example that lets you hear clearly the “Calypso strum”. It’s heard as the iconic opening riff from “Up Around The Bend” by CCR - see if you can count it out loud while it’s played:
“1, 2 and, and, 4 and,
1, 2 and, and, 4 and“
If you heard this pattern Down, (beat), Down, Up, (beat), Up, Down, Up; or…
counted the 8 beats as: 1 (beat) 2 and (beat) and 4 and - where the parenthetical word “(beat)” is a silent directional move of your hand without making contact with the strings, you’re getting it. It can be difficult at first because we want to hear and say:
1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and
- that’s what we would hear if we strummed “down up down up down up down up” and we could count it like this 1&2&3&4& where the numeral is a down strum and the ampersand is an up strum. But that’s kinda boring, so the syncopated “Calypso” beat makes things more interesting for your listeners, even if they’re not really hearing the syncopation for what it is.
So, you should hear “Down Down Up Up Down Up” or “1 2& & 4&”
Here’s written explanation of the Calypso (sometimes called the “Island”) strum - in case you learn by reading the explanation before you view the videos:
From The “National Guitar Academy” at Strumming Techniques
If you learn more readily from a video, the link below is about the the best I’ve seen for guitar - I really like how he plays it through quickly first, so you can hear just how cool this sounds when you learn it, then he patiently explains and demonstrates the syncopated count.
Calypso Strum Pattern YouTube Video
Make sure you skip through the ad at the beginning- it can be misleading. Also the instructor, Guoliang Lee, has a bit of an accent - easily overcome in a few seconds when you get used to his speech patterns, and he really does an outstanding job of teaching the pattern.
This one is very quick, kinda once through, but this instructor gives a very clear and easily understood example of how to count the Calypso beat strum:
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
Ed. This is an odd insert, doesn’t seem to conform to Substack spacings, so I helped it…
This one is really interesting but pretty advanced. If you’ve mastered the Calypso Strum pattern, see if you can work the fingerpick addition using your middle, ring and even pinkie.
YouTube Link: Advanced Calypso Hybrid Strum/Pick
So most of the rest of this is from last year’s post from around this time, and Harry Chapin’s fabulous song “Taxi” is A Song To Play
Things I Found On Social Media:
The Church Sound Guy - This made me laugh because I used to (pre-covid) run sound for the contemporary service praise band at my church. I’m guilty of more than a few of these things. Also, if you’re new to The Babylon Bee - it’s just satire, folks…
So, moving on….
Last week’s year’s rando lyrics: The lyric, “I'll tell you why baby's crying” is from the song "Taxi”, performed by Harry Chapin. Written by Harry Chapin, it was released as Track 6 on the March 1972 album “Heads & Tales”. Produced by Jac Holzman.
Credit: Genius Link >Taxi<
Ed. I always wondered if this song had anything to do with the 70’s sitcom “Taxi” with maybe the character of Alex Reiger (played by actor Judd Hirsch Link >Judd Hirsch<) being sort of loosely inspired by the events of Mr. Chapin’s song. Nope! - Apparently the television show was based on this 1975 article in New York magazine: NY Mag Feature. So…
Mr. Chapin’s inspiration was more complex:
“In 1960, Tom and Harry Chapin attended a Fishkill summer camp, where Harry met Clare McIntyre. They dated for two years before breaking up. According to Tom, Clare was an “early, formative love” for Harry.
Years later, Harry took a job as a cab driver in New York City. According to Tom, he spent the weekend before his first day on the job wondering what would happen if Clare, who always took cabs instead of the subway, were to get in his taxi. Those thoughts later turned into the song “Taxi.”
Sandy Chapin, Harry’s wife, stated:
I think he was feeling pretty low about [driving a cab], and wrote the song ‘Taxi’ with the idea that the people he had told his dreams — that he was gonna make a great film — were gonna get into the cab, and so he ended up being a cab driver after all the big talk. And one of whom would be the girlfriend…”
“Taxi,” the first single from Heads and Tails, rose to number 24 on the Billboard charts in 1972, staying for 16 weeks.” (Ed. note - this is apparently a typo in the original - the actual name of the album is “Heads and Tales” Link: >Heads and Tales<.)
Credit: Genius ibid
See Also Wikipedia’s article: Link >Taxi<
See Also Mr. Chapin’s Wikipedia entry and bio: Link >Harry Chapin< (Ed. Really interesting life and accomplishments - almost an historical footnote now, though his music lives on…
…I was unaware he had briefly attended the US Air Force Academy, and that’s where the lyric “I was gonna learn to fly” came from…)
Welcome to The Regular Friday post!
For Today:
Harry Chapin’s fabulous, not quite autobiographical song has always been a favorite of mine, the links above were really fascinating to me as I prepped this week’s post. I also found it fascinating that as a lifelong New York City/Long Island resident he chose the opening lyric “It was raining hard in Frisco”. I wondered if “Clare” (Ed. “Sue” in the song - possibly changed to rhyme with the lyric “I still remember you”…dunno…) had some connection to San Francisco, or maybe just Frisco, Texas. Dunno. I kinda went down the rabbit hole on that and learned Frisco, Texas gets an average of 36” of rain per year, with San Francisco getting much less on a per year average basis (surprised me). So, dunno, though the songwriter in me thinks the line needed a 2 syllable word that didn’t need to rhyme later for the location and “Frisco” was a good choice because it rains a lot there and it might be thought of as slang for San Francisco, and thus appropriately vague, and maybe more importantly, not NYC. Dunno, but I’ve always liked the song, and that’s a big reason that it’s this week’s…
…A Song To Play…
So, a couple of things - I chose this YouTube video because you get a feel for the barre chords that are required, and that it’s definitely more than a beginner’s song to play. I didn’t include a capo version because I couldn’t find one that did it justice, though if you have a subscription to Ultimate Guitar there are some chord charts that attempt to. Also, you can be forgiven if you didn’t recognize the Rando Lyric “I'll tell you why baby's crying”. It’s actually in the bridge, which is sung in a very high (though beautiful) falsetto by someone other than Mr. Chapin in this video and in the “song and sequel” YouTube linked below - I couldn’t tell if it was the same vocalist, though both are male and (silly me) I always thought the part in the original was by a female vocalist…
Credit: Chordify Link: >Taxi<
Ed. There is a sequel to this song, here’s a link to a YouTube of the original and the sequel together, played live (14 min): >Both< Extra note: The sequel makes a reference to “The Bay” so maybe it is San Francisco. Not like I know….
Lyrics (From Genius)
[Verse 1]
It was raining hard in Frisco
I needed one more fare to make my night
A lady up ahead waved to flag me down
She got in at the light
[Verse 2]
Oh, where you going to, my lady blue
It's a shame you ruined your gown in the rain
She just looked out the window
She said, "Sixteen Parkside Lane"
[Verse 3]
Something about her was familiar
I could swear I seen her face before
But she said, "I'm sure you're mistaken"
And she didn't say anything more
[Verse 4]
It took a while, but she looked in the mirror
Then she glanced at the license for my name
A smile seemed to come to her slowly
It was a sad smile just the same
[Chorus]
And she said, "How are you, Harry?"
I said, "How are you, Sue?
Through the too many miles and the too little smiles
I still remember you"
[Verse 5]
It was somewhere in a fairy tale
I used to take her home in my car
We learned about love in the back of a Dodge
The lesson hadn't gone too far
[Chorus]
You see, she was gonna be an actress
And I was gonna learn to fly
She took off to find the footlights
I took off to find the sky
[Post-Chorus]
Oh, I've got something inside me
To drive a princess blind
There's a wild man wizard
He's hiding in me, illuminating my mind
Oh, I've got something inside me
Not what my life's about
'Cause I've been letting my outside tide me
Over 'til my time (Over 'til my time) runs out
[Bridge] *falsetto
Baby's so high that she's skying
Yes she's flying, afraid to fall
I'll tell you why baby's crying
'Cause she's dying, aren't we all?
[Verse 6]
There was not much more for us to talk about
Whatever we had once was gone
So I turned my cab into the driveway
Past the gate and the fine-trimmed lawns
[Verse 7]
And she said, "We must get together"
But I knew it'd never be arranged
Then she hand me twenty dollars for a two-fifty fare
She said, "Harry, keep the change"
[Verse 8]
Well, another man might have been angry
And another man might have been hurt
But another man never would have let her go
I stashed the bill in my shirt
[Chorus]
And she walked away in silence
It's strange how you never know
But we'd both gotten what we'd asked for
Such a long, long time ago
[Verse 9]
You see, she was gonna be an actress
And I was gonna learn to fly
She took off to find the footlights
I took off for the sky
[Chorus]
And here she's acting happy
Inside her handsome home
And me, I'm flying in my taxi
Taking tips and getting stoned
I go flying so high when I'm stoned
(Ed. I’m just going to note with great approval that Mr. Chapin tossed any sense of traditional song structure. The “choruses” are essentially musically the same with no thought of repeating the lyrics. The verses sort of repeat a pattern - 4 verses, then a “chorus”, then 1 verse, then a chorus, then a “post-chorus” whatever that is (I think the contributor on Genius just made that up because nothing else really applied), then a completely musically different “bridge”, then 3 verses, then a different chorus, then a single verse and then another different chorus. Absolutely brilliant in my view and more songwriters ought to break old patterns and “rules” whenever they can write brilliantly enough to get away with it and still tell a compelling story. Mr. Chapin did - a brilliant voice taken too soon…)
The “ME!” Section…..
Shameless Self Promotion Section:
My song is out! Link: “>Long Road Back<”click on this link for streaming options, then scroll down for links (or just click on these links) to Amazon, Apple, Pandora, iTunes and even Spotify
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-Michael Acoustic
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Cheers and keep playing!!
Michael Acoustic
“It’s never really final - you just run out of things you can bear to change…”
Really helpful for learning guitar. Thank you!
Huge fan of Harry Chapin. Saw him perform twice in the 70s. He was a terrific storyteller ... and even though some of his songs were very dark ("Sniper", etc.), you came away feeling better about the world.