Chord Req: Nz song- Christmas on the Beach

Subject: Chord Req: NZ song- Christmas on the Beach
From: AnneMC
Date: 06 Dec 10 - 01:45 AM

Can anyone help with the chords to this NZ song please. I want to teach my class to play it on the ukuleles.

Christmas on the Beach

We don't want no holly or mistletoe
We don't want no Christmas tree with artificial snow
We don't want no Snowman made of cotton wool
We're not a bunch of fools

Christmas on the beach, Christmas on the beach
Pack your picnic hamper up we're gonna have a feast
Underneath the huge Pohutukawa tree
Christmas on the beach

We don't want no reindeer, we don't want no sleigh
We just want some sunshine and a good old holiday
We don't want to suffocate in our shoes and socks
We don't want to sit around the box

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Nz song- Christmas on the Beach
From: Little Robyn
Date: 06 Dec 10 - 02:29 AM

Sorry, I've never heard of that song and it's not on the NZ Folksong site either. Where did you find it?
Cheers,
Robyn in Hawke's Bay

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Nz song- Christmas on the Beach
From: AnneMC
Date: 06 Dec 10 - 05:54 AM

It is from Kiwi Kidsong 3 - so from a few years' back, as they are up to about Book 17 now.
Anyone still got the Kiwi Kidsong 3 teacher book? It may have piano and guitar chords.

Anne

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Nz song- Christmas on the Beach
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 06 Dec 10 - 06:28 AM

"Kiwi Kidsongs" seems to be a gvt. initiative featuring ad-hoc lyrics and compositions (aka gvt. propaganda).

If you don't find the book, your best chance may be to post the tune in ABC format here, or a link to a file representing the tune in any format, eg sheet music.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Nz song- Christmas on the Beach
From: Little Robyn
Date: 06 Dec 10 - 06:38 AM

OK, I've found it, written by a bloke named ARIF USMANI
Born 1949, Auckland, New Zealand
Bachelor of Law (Auckland University)

PERFORMANCE
Extensively toured NZ schools & concert halls (with The Aunties.)
40 years performance in theatre and music in a wide variety of situations and ensembles.

SONGWRITER
Written and produced 29 children's music albums.
Written well over 1000 songs (for both children and adults.)
Lyricist.
Song Doctor.
MUSIC
Professional musician in London, New Zealand, France, Australia.
Recording producer and engineer.
Founder, original pianist of Frank E Evans Band.

If you click here you should find a recording of his Christmas CD. It's near the bottom of the list.
It's too late for me to work it out now (past midnight in NZ) but it sounds like a basic 3 chord tune.
Robyn

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Nz song- Christmas on the Beach
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 06 Dec 10 - 08:12 AM

Here's my go.

Symbols approximately follow the meter. I write "b" to mean b minor (7), A+ is the chord {A C# E#}, A° is the chord {A B# D# (F#)}.

 Intro
  A A A A AbE A E
  
  Verse
  A A D D A A b E E 
  A A D D AbE A E
  
  Chorus
  A A+ D A° A A b E E
  A A D D AbE A A

Have fun on the beach!

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Nz song- Christmas on the Beach
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 06 Dec 10 - 08:31 AM

Note: "AbE" in my last post means A, B minor 7, E in quick succession, not any A-flat!

Nothing wrong with adapting Christmas to the local weather conditions, but is that really a matter of "NZ children and their unflaggingly solicitous government against the imperialist United Forces of the Northern Hemisphere"? Be warned, children: the virus is highly contagious!

Grishka (spent two years in Australia)

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Nz song- Christmas on the Beach
From: AnneMC
Date: 06 Dec 10 - 01:24 PM

Thanks Robin for the information. I do like to know the background of songs. Great to have such a good sound clip available, too.
'Christmas at the Beach' is a huge favourite with the kids at our NZ school, and is sung every Christmas.

Anne

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Nz song- Christmas on the Beach
From: Little Robyn
Date: 06 Dec 10 - 01:38 PM

Can your kids cope with the key of A?
It would be easy enough to transpose it into C or D depending on their ukulele tuning.
Kia ora,
Robyn

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Nz song- Christmas on the Beach
From: AnneMC
Date: 06 Dec 10 - 04:44 PM

Hi Robyn,
They can play in Key of C or D (or G).
Our ukuleles are tuned to GCEA.
Would have to teach them the easier way to play an E if we have to do it in Key of A!

Anne

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Nz song- Christmas on the Beach
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 06 Dec 10 - 05:46 PM

Anne, E7 will be perfect wherever I wrote E.

Robyn and I would like to know whether your children can and want to sing low notes such as A3. (Or do they sing at all?)

C major seems the best idea to me. Transpose all chord names upwards by two steps. The chords C+ and C° are found here under the titles "augmented" resp. "diminished". Again, use G7 instead of G. (In some cases G6 would be better still, but I wouldn't worry.)

Hope that helps.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Nz song- Christmas on the Beach
From: AnneMC
Date: 07 Dec 10 - 12:12 AM

Grishka,

These are 8 year old learners on ukulele - Can't do C+ and C diminished!
And yes, they love to sing and they sing this song well. Just wondered how hard the chords would be for them (and me!) as we learn ukuleles too.

Anne

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Nz song- Christmas on the Beach
From: Little Robyn
Date: 07 Dec 10 - 01:20 AM

OK, transposed and simplified for the kids:

(C)We don't want no holly (F)or mistletoe
(C)We don't want no Christmas tree with artificial (G)snow
(C)We don't want no Snowman (F)made of cotton wool
We're (C)not a (G)bunch of (C)fools

(C)Christmas on the beach, (F)Christmas on the beach
(C)Pack your picnic hamper up we're gonna have a (G)feast
(C)Underneath the huge Po(F)hutukawa tree
(C)Christmas (G)on the (C)beach

(C)We don't want no reindeer, (F)we don't want no sleigh
(C)We just want some sunshine and a good old holi(G)day
(C)We don't want to suffocate (F)in our shoes and socks
We (C)don't want to (G)sit around the (C)box

Happy strumming,
Robyn

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Nz song- Christmas on the Beach
From: AnneMC
Date: 07 Dec 10 - 03:50 AM

Many thanks, Robyn! My minimal music skills need the assistance! Am only a few steps ahead of my learner ukulele players.
And the Kiwi Kidsong version actually is in C too, as I discovered when using your chords (song lifts to D midway through, but I can cope with that.)
Thanks again, and my class will be thrilled to find they can easily play it. Looking forward to doing it with them tomorrow.
Anne

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Nz song- Christmas on the Beach
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 07 Dec 10 - 07:05 AM

Seems you found a good solution.

C+ (1003) and C° (2320 or even 2020) are not difficult technically, but would need additional learning, of course. Obviously you have a recording different from the one Robyn linked to, so the harmonies may differ (slightly) as well. Shifting to D is another challenge.

BTW, to make that clear: my reservations are not about the lyrics as such. The fact that a government office promotes the song, however, may be interpreted as directed against foreign forces (British, US, Japanese, global capitalism ...). Children and adults should be aware that parting from traditions is a painful process whose opponents are within our hearts and our own societies, not in London or wherever.

Merry Christmas and enjoy your music!

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Nz song- Christmas on the Beach
From: Little Robyn
Date: 07 Dec 10 - 01:39 PM

Don't panic Grishka, the music people in the Dept of Education aren't trying to poison the kid's minds. They've just found a prolific writer of localised children's songs and they're using him.
He seems to be a professional storyteller/entertainer and he's based in Auckland.
Visit his site here.

Hey, when I was teaching, my class were all singing stuff like "We shall overcome" - much stronger protest songs, ban the bomb and anti-segregation songs.
(Today they're using those things in history classes - it was current affairs in my day!)
Robyn

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Nz song- Christmas on the Beach
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 07 Dec 10 - 03:57 PM

Robyn, "We shall overcome" has its perfectly legitimate place in our hymnals. To commit oneself to peace and justice, and to demand it from others, is a noble cause for every generation.

The problem with some other protest songs and texts is that they suggest a culprit for one's own behaviour. McDonalds, supermarkets and TV companies are being blamed for their consumers' lazyness, overweight, stupidity, sentimentality, materialism etc. Other texts bitterly complain about anonymous pressures from society, which by this very act are amplified instead of counteracted.

No reason to panic, just to think and to teach a little more wisdom to children. The same kids who thoughtlessly sang protest songs against the bomb would later sing insults against The Other Football Club and then against The Other Ethnicity. "We're not a bunch of fools" fits every purpose, down to self-contradiction.

Peaceful holidays!
Grishka

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Nz song- Christmas on the Beach
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Dec 15 - 07:07 AM

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Nz song- Christmas on the Beach
From: GUEST,Little Robyn
Date: 04 Dec 15 - 01:36 AM

I don't know why this old thread popped up again but I just checked on the link that I found back then and of course, it's no longer there. So I Googled the name of the song writer and sadly, he also is no longer with us.
I did find this tho':
Arif Usami RIP
Robyn