The Deedle Deedle Dees

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Set list for Women's History variety show March 12

Here's what we played at our March variety show at the Knitting Factory yesterday. The show was a big Women's History Month party so we sang about famous women -- and women in our everyday lives.

Audra Tsanos and Jen Milich from AudraRox were there to help us out. We backed them up on a couple of AudraRox tunes, the wonderful traditional song "Who's Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot," and "Sisters Marching Strong," a great women's history anthem written by songwriter / poet Jen Waller (who had to miss the show due to a broken leg! feel better, JW!)

We were also excited to have Atticus (a Brooklyn middle schooler) join us to play his mandolin along with his teacher, Ari Dolegowski (AKA Moby Dee). His classmates Charlie, Sam, and Paris were, as usual, our emcees.

We've posted lyrics and sing-a-long videos for most of the Dees songs here. If you want lyrics, search for the song title on this blog. If you want a sing-a-long video, go to www.youtube.com/user/singalongwithlloyd and scroll down through the uploads on the right until you see the song you want.

If there's anything you can't find, write me at thedeedledeedledees AT yahoo DOT com and I'll send you direct links.

March 12, 2011 setlist
at the Knitting Factory, Brooklyn

Just the Dees
Abbie Abbie Abbie
Sojourner Truth
Little Red Airplane
Do the Turnout
Put on the Dress

w/ Audra and Jen of AudraRox
You're a Rock Star, Too (words and music (c)(p) AudraRox)
Who's Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot? (trad)
Sisters Marching Strong (words and melody by Jen Waller)
Girl Power (words and music (c)(p)AudraRox)

Atticus Kaplan and Moby Dee (Ari Dolegowski)
great mandolin tune (I gotta ask Ari what it's called)

Dees + Atticus
Nellie Bly
Tub-Tub-Ma-Ma-Ga-Ga

until next time,
Lloyd

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Hamlet with second-graders: a peek into the songwriting process

Many of you know that I write lots of songs with kids based on what they're studying. Right now I'm involved in three school songwriting projects, one of which is an original musical based on Hamlet with my wife's second-grade class.

I've found that people often don't totally understand the songwriting with kids thing until they actually experience it in person. I thought it would be fun to share one of my projects online so that teachers and parents can see how it's done.

Just now I posted rough drafts of four songs for the Hamlet show. They're currently in "blah blah" form, which means that kids need to write lyrics to replace the nonsense sounds I'm making on these You Tube videos. They're going to do that for homework tonight -- and they have the option of using these videos to help them. Some kids work better when simply asked to "write a poem" and won't use these videos at all. Others will spend a lot of time crafting words to go with these little tunes.

Another option: Try having kids write lyrics to familiar tunes like "I've Been Working on the Railroad," "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," etc. I do this with many classes. My wife's kids were ready to jump right into the original songs so I skipped ahead.

By the way, these tunes are all original, written by me, and copyrighted. Feel free to use them in your classroom or home for instructional purposes. Please write me at thedeedledeedledees AT yahoo DOT com if you'd like to use them in a performance or for any commercial purpose -- I'll say yes or no depending on what you want to do.

These are all working titles:

Tush Tush: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmiaA-TrGMs

Nunnery: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pv_0sPLyNKg

More Than Kin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaWT5HgCMl8

North by Northwest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YWKj6gC4X8

Lloyd

Friday, March 4, 2011

Set list and links for my shows at North Mianus School (CT) yesterday

Hi parents and teachers!

If you'd like to follow up on my concerts today at North Mianus, here's a complete list of all the original songs I played along with links to some sing-a-long videos and a couple of book recommendations.

If you'd like more info about any of these tunes, search for the titles on this blog. You'll find lyrics, book recommendations, lesson plans, and more. Also feel free to write me (thedeedledeedledees AT yahoo DOT com) if you have further questions.

If you'd like to buy albums featuring these songs, visit the Deedle Deedle Dees on CDBaby. http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/TheDeedleDeedleDees

Nellie Bly
http://www.youtube.com/user/SingalongwithLloyd#p/a/u/1/B_uDMQZQ7dI

¡Sí Se Puede!
http://www.youtube.com/user/SingalongwithLloyd#p/u/28/uPJW1u2YcD4
Read more about César Chávez in Harvesting Hope: The Story of César Chávez by Kathleen Krull and Yuyi Morales.

Battle of Brooklyn
http://www.youtube.com/user/SingalongwithLloyd#p/u/14/6B7M3Y5BCek

Aaron Burr

Henry Box Brown

Baldy

Little Red Airplane
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oct7_K2XrPs

Tub-Tub-Ma-Ma-Ga-Ga
http://www.youtube.com/user/SingalongwithLloyd#p/u/8/uT-7sUm0CzU
Read more about Harriet Tubman in Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford and Kadir Nelson.

Play Your Hand

Vegetarian Tyrannosaurus Rex

Obedience School

Sojourner Truth
http://www.youtube.com/user/SingalongwithLloyd#p/a/u/2/hfhPYMfnJeQ

John Muir
http://www.youtube.com/user/SingalongwithLloyd#p/u/11/VRXbHgpjacc

Put on the Dress
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfwHRTweacE

I Can Put You Together Again

I Am the Hodja

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

All 28 names from our Twitter feature #todaysblackhero

In case you're not following us on Twitter (@ulyssessdee) or you missed a day, here's the complete list of people we name-checked with the hashtag #todaysblackhero through the month of February.

This is by no means an attempt to list the 28 GREATEST BLACK PEOPLE WHO EVER LIVED or anything like that. It's just a bunch of people I personally admire. Yes, there are two upright bass players on the list. There's also a businesswoman, a poet, a dressmaker, a congressman, a football coach, a pharaoh, and many others worth studying.

Look up the names you don't know. Ask us if you want background info on anybody, songs to use in your class or home, or lesson plans.

Harriet Jacobs
Ralph Ellison
Sojourner Truth
Ray Brown
Toussaint L'Ouverture
Tony Dungy
Marion Williams
Elizabeth Keckly
Fats Waller
Cool Papa Bell
Coretta Scott King
Jimmy Blanton
Phyllis Wheatley
Zora Neale Hurston
James Baldwin
Madam C.J. Walker
Jacob Lawrence
Kara Walker
Harriet Tubman
Mary McLeod Bethune
Frederick Douglass
Fannie Lou Hamer
Henry Box Brown
Hatshepsut
John Mercer Langston
Bessie Smith
Blanche Kelso Bruce
Oscar Micheaux

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Setlist / Reading list for yesterday's show at Flywheel (Easthampton, MA)

Here's what we played at our Black History Month show at Flywheel yesterday + two reading lists, one for grown-ups and one for kids.

All the links will take you to sing-a-long videos.

acoustic sing-a-long
You Are My Sunshine
Play Your Hand http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLjjcc9CXgg
Down by the Riverside

onstage
Henry Box Brown http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRjJODQfTsw
Sojourner Truth http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyC3ZceFpPg
St. Bessie Blues http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oATlLvd-sTY

acoustic in the audience
Trapped in the Attic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ5PXzSswUo

onstage
Lucy & Fannie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-E47vw9VE0
Tub-Tub-Ma-Ma-Ga-Ga http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqYnOBESIJ4
Zora http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ih7kiKkHQ4w
This Little Light of Mine

audience requests
Baldy
Bring 'Em In http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qU3_-L4Pksw
Nellie Bly http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_uDMQZQ7dI

some grown-up books where you can learn more:
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl - Harriet Jacobs
The Army of the Potomac Trilogy - Bruce Catton
Only the Ball Was White by Robert Peterson
The Senator and the Sharecropper: The Freedom Struggles of James O. Eastland and Fannie Lou Hamer by Chris Myers Asch
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

some kid books where you can learn more:
Zora and Me by Victoria Bond and T.R. Simon
We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson
Henry's Freedom Box by Ellen Levine and Kadir Nelson
Eyewitness: Civil War by John Stanchack
Bessie Smith and the Night Riders by Sue Stauffacher and John Holyfield
Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford and Kadir Nelson
Only Passing Through: The Story of Sojourner Truth by Anne Rockwell and R. Gregory Christie
Fannie Lou Hamer: Fighting for the Right to Vote by Laura Baskes Litwin

Friday, February 25, 2011

Reading list for our setlist at the Target READ event at the New York Public Library (2/24/11)

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Set list for today's Grimm-themed Knitting Factory show (2/5)

Today we celebrated fairy tales, folk tales, and tall tales at our variety show. Guest author Adam Gidwitz read a story and told us about his scary and super-fun new book, A Tale Dark and Grimm. The Dees played songs related to the theme, some rather new, some resurrected from old projects we wanted to revisit.

Videos, lyrics, etc. for all the following coming soon.

1. The Deedle Deedle Dees Variety Show Theme

2. Cool Papa Bell
a song about Negro League legend, James Thomas "Cool Papa" Bell

3. John Henry (Ezra Jack Keats version)
based on EZK's book, written originally for an event celebrating the author at Symphony Space

4. Camperdown Elm
sing-a-long video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCZ_iLv7jJY
lyrics, background: http://teachddd.blogspot.com/2010/10/camperdown-elm-lyrics.html

5. The Golem
a klezmerish instrumental inspired by the statue / fighting hero

6. I Can Put You Together Again
a tune written with my wife's second graders for our production of The Myth of Osiris a couple of years ago

7. I Am the Hodja
written with my wife's second graders for our production of The Silk That Got Away last year

8. Little Red Airplane
about Amelia Earhart. not really related to our theme (although she is a folk hero I guess). we played it because a small fan made a request.
Buy the album featuring this song here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/deedle3

L

Kids: You Must Read These Books

Only Passing Through: The Story of Sojourner Truth by Anne Rockwell and R. Gregory Christie (7 and up)
Revenge of the Whale by Nathaniel Philbrick (ages 7 and up)
You’re On Your Way, Teddy Roosevelt by Judith St. George and Matt Faulkner (ages 7 and up)
We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson (ages 7 and up)
Henry’s Freedom Box by Ellen Levine and Kadir Nelson (ages 7-10)
A Young People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn (adapted by Rebecca Stefoff) (ages 10 and up)

Search for song titles, background info on our music, and more: