I meant to post this on St. Patrick’s Day on Monday, but I had a bit of a respiratory issue that prevented me from recording. Well, better late than never.
This song is called “Sandy, oh Sandy” and is meant to imitate the sound of Irish music. The text is written by my friend Derek Nolan and me. Derek is just starting to write his own Substack newsletter, Biology with Derek.
Derek is a neuroqueer lover of biology, music, and sonnets. Born in Iowa and currently attending Kenyon College, he hopes to spread his love of literature, poetry, and science through his Substack newsletter, Biology with Derek, which updates weekly on Tuesdays.
His first two posts are a poem and a reflection on a concept from biology:
Derek would love it if you could read his posts and subscribe for more! Just a first-year in college, and he is already quite profound in his writing.
After we wrote the first stanza of the poem together, I realized that the poem sounded like the lyrics of an Irish song. So I wrote a melody to go along with it. Then I wrote more stanzas, which ended up becoming kind of melancholy, which I suppose is pretty consistent with it being an imitation of Irish songs.
Initially I wasn’t sure what I wanted the accompaniment to be like. But my ukulele is pretty handy, even though it’s not an Irish instrument, as I can play and sing at the same time. (I find ukulele easier to play than guitar because my hands are small.) I decided to re-tune the ukulele to the pitches G4, A3, D4, A4, instead of the usual G4, C4, E4, A4. This allowed me to use open strings more frequently, which created a sound that was more similar to how string instruments are used in Irish music.
Here’s the score, for anyone who wants to try it themself!
I hope you enjoy this song!
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