Saturday, February 28, 2009

Andy Cohen

While looking around for a YouTube of "Green Rocky Road" for that other post, I was pleasantly surprised to find that my old guitar-pickin' pal Andy Cohen has a whole batch of performances up on YouTube. Here's one of my favorites, "Sailin' Down the Chesapeake Bay:"



Here's Andy's "Green Rocky Road:"



Here's Andy playing the Marxophone:



And the Dolceola:



Great stuff, Andy. As always.

7 comments:

blake said...

Very nice. I didn't get how the left hand on the Marxophone worked, though. Something was changing the chords but I didn't see what.

I guess "Green Rocky Road" was a real cliche 40-odd years ago; first time I ever heard it was on "The McGarrigle Hour" ca. 2000.

Hector Owen said...

The left hand on the Marxophone: You're probably looking for something more sophisticated than what's actually there. The sixteen leftmost strings are tuned in chords, four strings to a chord; when you want a chord, you strum the strings for that chord with your thumb, or a pick if you'd prefer.

Much, much more on Marxophones here; good clickable pictures here.

About "Green Rocky Road" being a cliche, back when: I got real tired of that song. But it seems appropriate to mention it now, even if only in an excessively literal-minded way because of the title. The warmingists and enviros want to steer us down a green road, and it's going to be a rocky one, as the effects of over-regulation hit more and more of the economy.

blake said...

I wondered if that was the case with the Marxophone. It looked like he was strumming the same strings.

This stuff is dangerous for me. If I had my way, I'd have a room full of string instruments.

Yes, "Green Rocky Road" has a different interpretation today. I'm curious as to what the hell it meant originally!

Hector Owen said...

"Curious as to what it meant originally" you are not the only one! Maybe nothing. There is a Rocky Rd. in Belle Chasse, Louisiana, part of greater New Orleans, and it looks pretty green; but I doubt there's a connection to the song.

blake said...

Well, I, for one, am fine with "nothing" as an answer.

Interesting how often nothing gets made into something which then gets forgotten and becomes nothing again.

Or something like that.

Hector Owen said...

Oh, Juanita!

blake said...

Ha!

And that even fits in with the Green Rocky Road! What does it mean? Who knows but future musicologists will assign meaning.