I bought a ukulele exactly four months ago today—which you’d already know if you saw what I inflicted on the world when I hit my three-month ukulele anniversary—so I thought I should share another one of the songs I’m noodling around with. Today’s victim, “Side by Side,” which was sung far better by Ukulele Ike.

One unfortunate side effect I’ve noticed about playing the ukulele is that my singing seems to have deteriorated as a result. I never thought of it before, but playing an instrument while singing is sort of like singing while rubbing my stomach and patting my head—there’s not much brain left over to pay attention to what’s going on with my throat. I hope that will improve as the playing comes more naturally to me. (Please tell me it will improve!)

In any event, here it is, flubs and all!

As part of my four-month anniversary celebration, I also recorded my take on George Formby’s “Why Don’t Women Like Me?”—I’ve absolutely fallen in love with Formby, have joined the George Formby Society, and am considering attending a Formby convention in Blackpool—but I haven’t decided whether to share that with any save the new uke friends I’ve made in the UK.

We’ll see.