Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love with girl (or vice versa). Girl spurns boy. Boy loses all hope for the future, rendering the remaining of his days empty and meaningless.
In the great catalog of song theme categories, surely none takes up more space than that of unrequited love. It may be the oldest song archetype known to man.
Failing to include a song on the subject in one’s own personal catalog of material would be a glaring oversight.
Not to fear, “Bury Me Beneath the Willow” is here. It’s not just any old song about unrequited love (of which the willow tree is apparently an ancient symbol), mind you, but one of the earliest recorded songs on the topic.
It happens to also work out very nicely in standard G tuning, and, in my opinion, sounds best with only a minimum of fanciness. In fact, not a single thumb was dropped in the making of this arrangement (hence the Brainjo level 2 designation).
Be sure to include an extra dose of lonesome in your voice when you sing it.
Bury Me Beneath the Willow
gDGBD tuning, Brainjo level 2
Notes on the Tab
In this particular song, I play the same thing while singing as I do on the banjo “solos,” which is why there’s no separate vocal backup arrangement.
Notes in parentheses are “skip” notes – to learn more about skips and syncopated skips, check out my video lesson on the subject.
For more on reading tabs in general, check out this complete guide to reading banjo tabs.
PRIOR SONG OF THE WEEK EPISODES
- Episode 1: “Ain’t Gonna Work Tomorrow”
- Episode 2: “Gumtree Canoe”
- Episode 3: “Crawdad Hole”
- Episode 4: “Oh Susanna”
- Episode 5: “Freight Train”
- Episode 6: “Grandfather’s Clock”
- Episode 7: “Hop High Lulu”
- Episode 8: “Been All Around This World”
- Episode 9: “I’ll Fly Away”
- Episode 10: “Leaving Home”
- Episode 11: “Poor Orphan Child”
- Episode 12: “Mr. Tambourine Man”
- Episode 13: “Swanee River”
- Episode 14: “Big Sciota”
- Episode 15: “Roll In My Sweet Baby’s Arms”
- Episode 16: “Darling Corey”
- Episode 17: “Battle Hymn of the Republic”
- Episode 18: “America the Beautiful”
Level 2 arrangements and video demos for the Tune (and Song!) of the Week tunes are now available as part of the Breakthrough Banjo course.
View the Brainjo Course Catalog
