This 'French' tune from the 1930s was actually composed by Italian composer Dino Olivieri - but it ticks all the right French boxes for me - lovely flowing melody line and sweet chord sequence. I'm playing it in C, the written key, on tenor guitar with guitar backing. There's an introductory verse and then three choruses of the main theme. I'm playing the tune fairly simply and concentrating as much as possible on expression and tone.
That's absolutely lovely, Will. I think I'll have to step up my attempts at being able to record videos with overdubs -- that sort of tune is easy enough to play but simply wouldn't work without that steady strum. Just the melody line single-tracked wouldn't hold together. From the fact that you're playing the melody with headphones I presume you laid down the rhythm track first. What did you use to blend the backing track into the video recording? Martin
I had the vague feeling of having heard this one before, and yes! I heard it here (fastwind to 7:30)! In my head, this melody is linked with torpedoes, depth charges, ASDIC sounds and engine oil flavour. What a mad age for music so beautifully composed (and so beautifully played today).
Aha - you found it! (I mentioned "Das Boot" in my "Show info" bit on YouTube. That version was by Rina Ketty, an Italian-born singer who worked in Paris in the 1930s. There's also a lovely version by Jean Sablon. Reinhardt's done it - but takes it too fast and loses the beauty of the melody.
Martin - I have a Roland VS84 8-track digital recorder. I recorded the guitar backing into a Zoom H2 (to get a nice "clean" sound as there's a bit of residual hum from the 10-year old Roland's drive) and then popped the backing into Track 1 of the Roland. Using the Zoom as a mic, I overdubbed the tenor lead line. I then uploaded each track separately into Garageband on my Mac Book Pro, and then synched them up, topped and tailed, panned left/right, etc. This I then mixed down to an mp3 file. For the video, I uploaded the video track into iMovie on my Mac and extracted the soundtrack. Then I added in the mp3 audio file below the visual track and got them in synch. Then topped and tailed the video track - added titles, credits and a fadeout - and then compiled as an mp4 movie file which I uploaded to YouTube. Sounds a little complicated but I've been doing it for years and have got it more or less down OK! I suppose that it's really only bowed instruments which can really sustain a simple, slow single melody line - though mandolins have tremelo, of course...
A great way to start the day. My wife and I walked our usual 3.5 mile walk, had a quick breakfast, then I settled down at my desk for my morning routine of weather, email, and Mandolin Cafe (retirement is tough). Will Fly - It’s always a good day when you treat us to a tune like todays. Thanks for your explanation to Martin on how you put your soundtrack and video together. I’ve been working on that and this really helps. Thanks for sharing and 10 points extra for the hat.
The German submarine movie this song featured in contains some characters whose life overlapped with mine. - the war reporter (and narrator) was played by Herbert Grönemeyer who later became a rock singer and wrote a song about the town he was born in ... and where I live now. - the young man who secretly writes letters to a French girl is played by a former student of the same school I attended (he was approx. 8 years behind me) in a completely different town. And now this song reappears from the mists of the past - if that ain't creepy I don't know what is. Fate is playing tricks with me.
Nice work, Will! This is a great tune and one of my favorites done by Django Reinhardt. I love your smile at the end too!
