My little homage to the wonderful Terry Hall. I was really struck down by the recent loss of this great musical icon of my youth.
Love this song. Not easy to recreate the kind of dead-pan delivery Terry gives it that has all the feeling at the same time.
Also, after a loooong time, I’m just beginning to get to grips with the A shape chord (here playing B flat) with the flattened second finger across three strings. So hard (especially with my tiny hands). Not quite there yet, but I reckon I need to just use it as often as I can and not worry about being perfect.
Nicely done Claudia.
I first came across Terry Hall with the sudden and exciting burst of Too Much Too Young blaring out of the radio sometime in early 1980. And the ska 2-tone wave rolled in. He always had an interesting front-man delivery style.
You’ve done good work here and yes, B flat barre is somewhat yuck isn’t it. you gotta suck it up until it gets better.
I’m intrigued by the chords in this song and want to go analyse. They’re all majors. Mmmh. Something to cogitate over.
You did very well paying tribute with your cover. It must be hard to lose an artist so important to you.
Yes, just practice and it will for sure get better. If you feel pain, then maybe relax to lose the pain and try again. Sometimes tiny adjustments to hand position can make a notable difference too.
It still amazes me how flexible the human body is and what once was hard and painful, becomes easy and natural one day.
That sounded fabulous, Claudia, playing and singing. Hearing the title sung in the chorus did ring some faint bells from my school days.
I suppose I and many others are now at that age when losing the artists we loved may become a more regular thing now, nostalgic joy and sadness with equal measures ahead.
And no finer way to celebrate and honour those artists than with a heartfelt cover as you’ve done here.
Great cover of a good song, Claudia.
I’ve always been a big fan of Terry Hall’s projects and was lucky enough to catch The Specials live a while ago. It filled me full of sadness to discover (after he died) that he had been abducted by paedophiles as a child and suffered from mental health issues since then.
Thanks for the share and reminder to learn one of his songs
I’d be surprised if you weren’t listening to Gangsters in '79
Thanks Richard. Yes, I think the chord progression is quite unusual and no minors. With all of Terry’s Hall’s songs, I love the rhythm of the lyrics and how that interplays with the music. It sounds simple but, bugger, it’s not easy to write like that!
And yes, Too Much Too Young is a great classic.
Thank you Kamil. I find sometimes you struggle to play something and then, if you leave it a little while, when you come back to it your hands and fingers miraculously can do it! Like they’ve been working on it subconsciously. One of the joys of learning an instrument, I think.
Thanks David. Some deaths strike home harder than others. In this case I really felt like a part of me had gone. But it hasn’t really, because the music is still there
If you feel pain, then maybe relax to lose the pain and try again. Sometimes tiny adjustments to hand position can make a notable difference too.
