Week 1 - Pennies From Heaven

I know this tune from the Steve Martin film. It's a jazz standard written in 1936 by Arthur Johnston (music) and Johnny Burke (lyrics). I'm not sure what else they've written together but I'm gonna have a look 'cause I really dig this song. It was first popped by Bing Crosby in the film Pennies From Heaven. Of course, it's been covered a million times by such luminaries as Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Tony Bennett, Big Joe Turner, Frank Sinatra (one of my favourite versions), Dean Martin...the list goes on.

Here's old blue eyes himself. Don't feel too bad for him when he blows the end - he's still the Chairman of the Board. Don't ever forget that.

The idea to do this tune came from watching Ukulele Mike teach it on his YouTube channel MusicTeacher2009. He does a great job teaching it. Of course, it has that damn Cdim7 chord. I don't know why that shape gives me so much trouble. I mean, it's just a D shape with the pinky thrown in but it messes with my mind for some reason. Today at lunch I played the following progression over and over for about 30 minutes: A, Bm7, C#m7, Cdim7, Bm7, E7, Bm7, E7. By the end I was sort of nailing the Cdim7, it felt pretty damn good.