April Song Of The Month--Daphne

MikeK · April 6

This month's song is arguably one of the most joyful songs to listen to & play in the GJ repertoire. It's super easy, as it essentially vascillates between I-vi-ii-V in D and I-vi-ii-V in Eflat. There is that little walk-down in bars 5 & 6, 13 & 14 and 29 & 30 that must be managed properly. But beyond that, it's super straightforward. Django recorded it a whopping 7 times. The 1st recording was made in Jan '38 (with the classic HCQF line-up) and the final recording was made in Jan of '49 as part of the Rome sessions. Note that both include Stephane. My favorite recording of it is from the HCQF made in April of '38, check out the link to it below. Note how Steph plays the head in while Django joins him for the A sections of the head out. Classic stuff that's hard to beat. It's such an infectious and joyful melody. This is a great one for playing at a gig and having someone make a beeline to the the stage afterward and ask, "what was that song?!" It's like people know it but don't know it. It's always very interesting to me when that happens. Other notable recordings of it include those by Bireli Lagrene and Pearl Django. According to legend, the song was created when Steph was tuning (playing those 4 notes that became the melody) and Django liked it & started playing chords behind it. If true, how cool is that?! Enjoy the link, I'll post the chart later--

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oztpgtnsPVA

MikeK · April 6

Here's that link again, the last one isn't behaving--

https://youtu.be/oztpgtnsPVA?si=0hBsMjNw946e_lNf

Buco · April 6

Ignore below, I was thinking of Dinette...

That story then makes sense because I always thought this melody was some sort of exercise from Django. Because, (I hope I'm remembering this correctly) the melody is basically 3rd and 7th of each chord, alternating places. I don't have a guitar with me but I think that would be 3rd and 7th of An, then the b7 and 3rd of Db etc...

Shows you the genius of Django. On paper, it couldn't be simpler, right?; 3/7, 7/3. But the groove and the phrasing couldn't be catchier. Just genius.

littlemark · April 6

I think you're overthinking it. 5th, root of D maj then 5th, root of A7.

Phil · April 6

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/120752#Comment_120752

This link isn't working either.

Joonas · April 6

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/120762#Comment_120762

I got the link to open when I copied and pasted it to my browser.

MikeK · April 6

Indeed, I'm not sure why the link isn't producing the song. When I click on the original (before posting it) it does fine. But once I copy it & paste it to the forum, it shows as a Djangobooks error. I'll try again later.