Watch Out, We're Mad! – Dune Buggy

Over the past two or three years I have arranged several songs – not all of which have yet become blog posts – from the films of the outstanding Italian duo, films whose atmosphere is fundamentally shaped by their music. Whether they are handing out punches in the Wild West or in modern times, the accompanying music always fits perfectly. I have already written about this in two earlier posts. If you have not read them, I recommend Odds and Evens, in which I show my ukulele arrangement of Guido & Maurizio De Angelis's Brotherly Love, and All the Way, Boys! , where I play Carmelo La Bionda and Michelangelo La Bionda's Movin' Cruisin'. This new post, in which I would like to teach you another famous De Angelis brothers song, Dune Buggy, is warmly dedicated to theHungarian Bud Spencer and Terence Hill fan communityand theKrumplishal blog.

Of course, years ago I did not understand the lyrics of this song either, but now I know they are inviting us to “have fun in the dune buggy”. I began looking more closely at the structure and chords and discovered a very well put together little song. It is not overcomplicated, nor does it need to be: it has a simple, catchy melody, good accompaniment and vocals, and it is timeless music for handing out cinematic punches. If the tune does not immediately come to mind, you absolutely should listen to it:

The original is in E major, and I generally like to play my arrangements in their original key even when that makes them difficult. So I first attacked it in E major. It is not merely difficult in that key – it is outright horror – so I abandoned the idea and looked for a key that would be digestible for both me and you. “Exceptionally”, that turned out to be C major . Of course, I could also put a capo on the ukulele and play it that way – and one day I probably will.

I have to dampen beginners' enthusiasm just a little, because playing the song this way requires several months of active practice, and perhaps even that is an underestimate. I never want to discourage anyone from trying, of course, but I still have to recommend the arrangement below mainly to more advanced players. First, here is the arrangement itself, which I played on a banjolele – and that gave the song a fantastic atmosphere:

Then comes the “how to play it” video, in which I use the beautiful dark-brown Baton Rouge ukulele:

Good luck with the picking and learning. I am always happy to receive feedback, questions or suggestions!