The Ukulele Alphabet: Only Wanna Be With You by Hootie and the Blowfish

Letter H, Week 1
“Only Wanna Be With You” by Hootie and the Blowfish

I was so excited for this week’s song.

I was gonna do “Bus Stop” by the Hollies, a super fun oldie with equally fun chords, and had practiced the heck out of it. I was so ready.

But then I was listening to my Ukulele Alphabet playlist in truly horrific Friday evening traffic — the traffic that makes a normal 18-minute commute turn into a 45-minute one — and had an epiphany.

Or whatever the opposite of an epiphany is, when you have an awful dawning realization instead of an exciting one.

Graham Nash founded the Hollies. Which was one of the points I was going to make in my essay accompanying the song. But I have a Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song scheduled for later in the project.

And as per the rules I myself created for the Ukulele Alphabet project, and I quote:

If an artist plays in two different bands or has a solo album or side project, they can only appear in the alphabet under one of those projects.

The CSNY song could NOT be changed — it’s super important to me, one of my lifelong favorites. So there I was on a Friday night, scrolling through all the H artists in my music library, looking for a replacement I could learn in a few days.

I had two options: one, a recent song that’s cool and hip and would give me lots of cred.

Or Hootie.

Dear readers, the heart wants what it wants, and the heart wanted Hootie.

Remember that I am a ‘90s teen to the core:

Why fight it? Let the Hootie flow!

Listen to the original version of “Only Wanna Be With You”:

What’s the Ukulele Alphabet?

Read all about my 2025 ukulele performance project (and its rules) here.

I want to A-B-SEEEE some more!

Watch all the performances in the Ukulele Alphabet project.