An irreverent Wall Street Blog
Sultans of Swing. Ukuleles. Brazilians. Nothing Else to Post for July 5th
July 5, 2019
It's July 5th and there's nothing worth writing about involving the financial services community today because nothing has been published since July 3rd by any regulator or prosecutor. And those regulators and prosecutors who arrive at work this morning are likely going to take a bathroom break around 11ish and disappear. On top of that, let's not expect too much from all those civil servants who will be supposedly telecommuting to work today. As such, I'm taking a break today from my thankless job as Wall Street's gadfly and pain-in-the-ass.
I was aimlessly surfing YouTube and came upon the title "Dire Straits - Sultans Of Swing - (Ukulele Solo Acoustic Cover) Overdriver." I like "Sultans of Swing" -- it's got a great guitar riff and what's not to like about Mark Knopfler or vintage Dire Straits? On the other hand: a ukulele version? Does the world actually need a ukulele version of "Sultans of Swing"? Intrigued, I looked up this Overdriver duo and found out that they are Brazilians guitarist/vocalist Evandro Tiburski and bassist/vocalist Fabi Terada https://www.facebook.com/overdriveroficial/
Sometime round 1963, I wanted an electric guitar but my folks said "no,": First, you have to show us that you're not going to play it for a week, get bored, and move on to something else. So, they bought me a cheapo ukulele and sent me for ukulele lessons at the local music school. Yeah, they actually taught ukulele in New York City in 1963. Truth be told, I liked the uke and got pretty good at it. Between you and me, the Beatles really missed out by not asking me to join as their uke guy -- I'm sure that I could have propelled them to greatness! It doesn't take a musical genius to realize how much better "Ticket to Ride" would have been with a uke track. But I digress. Yeah, like I never digress. In any event, let's get on with this particular digression.
By 1964, I proved to be such a ukulele virtuoso that my folks bought me a no-name guitar that had so little action (as in "none") that my fingers bled from pressing down on the strings as I learned to play. Over the years, I have gotten okay on the guitar. I almost sound like Mark Knopfler or Eric Clapton or Jimi Hendrix or Stevie Ray Vaughn -- on a bad night and mainly while they're tuning up. If you close your eyes and stuff your ears when I'm playing my guitar, you can almost hear Keith Richards on a night when he was stoned out of his mind and playing an electric uke with (of course) the E string removed.