New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Girlie Action Media & Marketing) Infamously DIY musician
Amanda "Fucking" Palmer is widely celebrated for having carved a career for herself using social media and direct fan support, she has been an innovator in creating new models in the music business that do not depend on corporations. Last Spring, she put out a call on Twitter for lyrics about "an empowering three-syllable object that you weren't allowed to take to work" to a massive response.
The results were added to the lyrics of "Ukulele Anthem," an ode to the DIY ethos to which Palmer (and her army of fans) is firmly committed. Palmer has been playing the song to wild applause at her recent "Ninja Gigs" - spontaneous free performances for which Palmer has become known, the most recent taking place at Occupy Wall Street in NYC, Occupy
Boston (Palmer's Hometown) and her appearance yesterday at Occupy LA. Two weeks ago, artist Shepard Fairey heard Palmer playing a song at a party in
Santa Fe, and loved what he heard. Palmer had no plans to release the song, but was encouraged by Fairey and others at the party to put it out instantly. She recorded it four days later, while Shepard Fairey went to work in his studio creating an image to represent the song.
"I've admired Shepard's work since I was a teenager. The fact that he was excited about the anthem and was willing to create an image for it literally kicked my ass into releasing it. This song is so much more powerful than I expected it to be. At the #Occupy gigs that I've been doing, I've been playing all sorts of inspiring songs, from Lennon to Billy Bragg, but this one's been getting the loudest cheers. It actually speaks to the here and now. I think it's a good time to put it out. The ukulele is a perfect symbol for hope and empowerment. It's cheap, it's easy to play, it's punk rock, and as I think
George Formby said, you can't be unhappy holding a Ukulele."
Through Amanda's typical "pay what you want" model, fans will be able to get the track and artwork by Shepard Fairey for free or voluntary donation via bandcamp.com.
Award-winning author Neil Gaiman and DIY-musician
Amanda "Fucking" Palmer have embarked on a brief co-headline tour of the West Coast, starting with a Halloween engagement at
Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles. The newlywed (and anything but conventional) couple are billing the event as "An Evening with Neil Gaiman &
Amanda Palmer" and promise an unusual and intimate few hours of spoken word, songs, stories, chats with the audience, and - given Palmer's penchant for the unplanned - more than a few surprises.
Fans who are unable to get to the limited run of dates can still celebrate Halloween with
Amanda Palmer, Neil Gaiman and friends as they will be making a Halloween appearance on The Late Late Show With
Craig Ferguson tonight. When asked to perform on the show,
Amanda recruited her friends Moby and Stephen Merritt of The Magnetic Fields to be part of her band for a special Halloween performance of a "cult classic" song that the "supergroup" have not yet revealed.
"Ukulele Anthem" Lyrics
sid vicious played a four-string fender bass guitar and couldn't sing
and everybody hated him except the ones who loved him
a ukulele has four strings, but sid did did not play ukulele
he did smack and probably killed his girlfriend nancy spungen
if only sid had had a ukulele, maybe he could have been happy
maybe he would not have suffered such a sad end
he maybe would have not done all that heroin instead
he maybe would've sat around just singing nice songs to his girlfriend
so play your favorite cover song, especially if the words are wrong
'cos even if your grades are bad, it doesn't mean you're failing
do your homework with a fork
and eat your fruit loops in the dark
and bring your etch-a-sketch to work
and play your ukulele
ukulele small and forceful
brave and peaceful
you can play the ukulele too it is painfully simple
play your ukulele badly, play your ukulele loudly
ukulele banish evil
ukulele save the people
ukulele gleaming golden on the top of every steeple
lizzie borden took an axe, and gave her father thirty whacks
then gave her mother thirty-one, and left a tragic puzzle
if only they had given her an instrument, those puritans
had lost the plot completely
see what happens when you muzzle
a person's creativity
and do not let them sing and scream
and nowadays it's worse 'cause kids have automatic handguns
it takes about an hour to learn how to play the ukulele
about same to teach someone to build a standard pipe bomb
YOU DO THE MATH
so play your favorite cover song, especially if the words are wrong
'cos even if your grades are bad, it doesn't mean you're failing
do your homework with a fork
and eat your fruit loops in the dark
and bring your flask of jack to work
and play your ukulele
ukulele, thing of wonder
ukulele, wand of thunder
you can play the ukulele, too
in london and down under
play joan jett, and play jacques brel
and eminem and neutral milk hotel
the children crush the hatred
play your ukulele naked
and if anybody tries to steal your ukulele, let them take it
imagine there's no music, imagine there are no songs
imagine that john lennon wasn't shot in front of his apartment
imagine if john lennon had composed "imagine" on the ukulele
maybe folks would have more clearly got the message
you may think my approach is simple-minded and naïve
like if you want to save the world then why not quit and feed the hungry
but people for millennia have needed music to survive
and that's why i've promised john that i will not feel guilty
so play your favorite beatles' song
and make the subway fall in love
they're only $19.95, that's not a lot of money
play until the sun comes up
and play until your fingers suffer
play LCD soundsystem songs on your ukulele
quit the bitching on your blog
and stop pretending art is hard
just limit yourself to three chords
and do not practice daily
you'll minimize some stranger's sadness
with a piece of wood and plastic
holy fuck it's so fantastic, playing ukulele
eat your homework with a fork
and do your fruit loops in the dark
bring your etch-a-sketch to work
your flask of jack
your vibrator
your fear of heights
your nikon lens
your mom and dad
your disco stick
your soundtrack from "karate kid"
your ginsu knives
your rosary
your new rebecca black CD
your favorite room
your bowie knife
your stuffed giraffe
your new glass eye
your sousaphone
your breakfast tea
your nick drake tapes
your giving tree
your ice cream truck
your missing wife
your will to live
your urge to cry
remember we're all going to die
so PLAY YOUR UKULELE
-Releases.jpg)
