"What are you listening to right now?" thread | Page 243 | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

Watching the excellent Elizabeth Cotton picking ……and the slight nervousness in her voice reminded me of my mum……Always able to knock-out a tune on the piano she took up the guitar in her sixties and sang in a little WI ‘Ladies group. Her picking was restricted only to Travis…….but she was far more accurate than I am. 

Although I have a CD of her stuff never thought to video her. Anyway inspired to reminisce I went over to youtube and had a listen to her brother…….My uncle. A right clever dick he is. He can get a tune out of any instrument…….whether you blow it, strum it, or plink it. From accordion to zither…..(Bloody Third Man tune). He had a musical-saw and could play it with a hammer or violin bow. He’d tune a ukulele by singing in perfect pitch ‘My dog has fleas’ At Christmas parties everybody played or sang….Even I was given a tin with rice in it to shake. It probably all sounded terrible but what fun!  

He grew up loving the crooners and thought the Beatle’s were rubbish until ‘Yesterday ‘ came along. It meant quite a lot to me that they had gotten his respect.

He’s in his 90’s now and still sings on a Sunday at The Duke of Kendal near Marble Arch. He’s a sprightly ’80 something’ in this clip. 

If you bother to watch please note that there’s someone else singing along near the microphone that’s a little off key………My uncle never was.