Intro: D D+a D D A D x2
D
The other day as I made my way
A G D
I heard the music start to play.
Happy sound, people all around,
A G D
I knew that I was here to stay.
Em G A
Suddenly, by the tree, goodness me...
A A A, G G G
Chorus:
D
Pretty girl, can I take you home
A G D
On a bright and sunny morning?
We danced all night in the pale moonlight,
A G D
And now the day is dawning,
Inst. (Kazoo) = Intro.
She worked all week in a disco-teek,
She looked at me but she didn't speak.
The beat was good, and I knew I should
Have brought an extra pair of feet,
What a day, so I say, hip-hooray!...
Chorus
Inst.
"Come on, my lover, give us a kiss!"
(Boom boom boom boom)
Chorus
I had to weep, 'cause I had to keep
On dancing in a tired heap.
The only sound was the aching ground:
The band had all gone home to sleep.
Day had come, gone the sun, oh what fun.....
Chorus x2
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Thanks
to Dexter
Muir for these lyrics and chords.
Hogsnort Rupert's Original Flagon Band
 This
Wellington novelty act was formed in 1968 by two Brits
Dave Luther (Guitar/Vocals) and Alec Wishart
(Percussion/Vocals). Dave had played with several skiffle
groups in Britain in the late fifties prior to emigrating
to New Zealand in 1966.
Alec was the friendly humorous front man and Dave was the
one who had the ear for suitable sing-a-long melodies.
1970 was their golden year with three songs getting onto
the hit parade, their biggest being "Pretty Girl" which
went all the way to number one in August, staying there
for three weeks. "Pretty Girl" was New Zealand's biggest
selling hit of 1970. It was entered into the Loxene Golden
Disc Awards in August 1970 and easily won the title.
They later simplified their name to just Hogsnort
Rupert and became an electric band with another hit
in November 1970, Auntie
Alice Bought Us This.
For more details see this online extract from the pop
encyclopedia Dreams,
Fantasies And Nightmares, and also their web page in
Bruce Sergent's wonderfully illustrated NZ
record album site.
Other NZ skiffle bands
Skiffle This word
word has been used since the early 1900s for
the good-humoured music played by those too
poor to buy instruments and who have used
instead washtubs, jugs, washboards etc and
other found instruments along with any
improvised horns, reeds, or strings that were
handy.
Skiffle music was used as entertainment at
money-raising rent-parties in the Southern
USA. MORE
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Hogsnort Rupert were followed in 1973 by the zany Bulldogs
Allstar Goodtime Band ("Miss September,"
"Everybody Knows") made up of Victoria Unversity students.
But NZ's greatest skiffle band was the 1980s
street-busking Big
Muffin Serious Band who made up to $200 an hour on
the street with their tea-chest-and-three-ukulele rock
band.
Their mime artist, 'The Naughty See Monkey' entranced the
punters with his intensity when he did those wonderfully
complicated riffs on his ukelele, playing counterpoint to
lead electric ukuleleist Jim Fulton. I watched three full
performances before I noticed that The Naughty See
Monkey's ukulele had no strings - Jim was playing both
parts!!!
The Big Muffin's biggest problem was getting the huge
crowd that always collected to move away after The Naughty
See Monkey had taken the hat around, so that they could
attract another crowd and collect more money.
Make money on the street by skiffle band busking
- BE HAPPY Have happy, lively tunes, like
Pretty Girl, or Everyone Knows or Does
Your Chewing Gum Loose It's Flavour...... or the
Fijian Chulu Chululu. Have songs with a lively
chorus you can repeat lots of time with variation of
instruments. And not too many long verses with unusual
words.
- LOCAL HUMOUR Change a few words on the
occasional song to give some local humour, The Big Muffins
did "They Call the Wind
Maria
Nor-wester" with a reference to NZ's searing wind on the
Canterbury plains. And the Howard Morison Quartet did "My
Old Man's a Dustman an All Black."
- NOVELTY SOUNDS Get players of basic non
electric band instruments - lead, chord rhythm, percussion
- as well as some instruments for tonal variety - tea
chest bass, washboard, mouth organ, kazoo, comb and paper
- and also 'instruments' for visual novelty, the Big
Muffins had a hedge-clipper percussion, and a plastic
saxophone, and a 'wind machine' for doing "They Call the
Wind Nor-wester." These make good visual props.
- LOOK AT THAT! Other visual props help
too; tall colorful hats, a foot-operated puppet, or one of
the group doing mime, or magic tricks or juggling.
- GIVE EYE-CONTACT Give some eye-contact
to passers-by, and acknowledge their interest with a smile
or nod towards them. Busking is entertainment, so
entertain the punters. Present yourself as a relaxed,
happy, confident person and set out to make other people
happy too. Too many buskers I've seen seem to be tense and
serious, and frown obsessively at the fretboard of their
guitar, whilst completely ignoring the passing throng.
- MAKE THEM HAPPY Gauge the punters'
response to your music and adjust your playing
accordingly. If your own newly-written songs you are
singing are going down like lead balloons, then play/sing
songs that the punters are familiar with.
- TUNES FOR EVERYONE Having a variety of
tunes you can play helps too. Look down the street and see
who is approaching, and be ready to switch to a tune
suitable for charming the money out of the old aunties who
are coming towards you, or the teenagers, or the harassed
mum with the little kids, or the businessmen with their
Asian visitors.
- PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRA... And lastly,
practice lots. Lots. Practice the words, the chords, the
instrumental breaks, the comedy chit-chat, the visual
gags. Learn all the words and chord sequences. (No music
book stand - what are yer?) Get the rhythms tight and
pulsing. Practice lots.
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Page made 17th August, 2003, refomatted Nov 2009
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