They Abducted my Girl (From the Shady Grove) : A Duet for Theremin and Banjo

The other evening as our family was driving home, the song Good Vibrations by the Beach Boys came on the radio.  I turned it up a little and told my son (who's interested in many of the same things his father is...) to listen for the theremin.  Good Vibrations was one of the first pop songs to use the theremin as an actual instrument, rather than as the cliched sound effects of  horror and science-fiction B movies of the 50s and 60s.

My son, always quick to read my mind, suggested that I should get a Theremin.  But before I could agree that that would indeed be Sweeeet, my wife laid down a firm, "No."

"Why not?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Because if you get one, you'll actually want to play it," she answered.  She gave the same response when I asked about getting a banjo.  "Soon you'll be writing duets for theremin and banjos," she said... and that was I all I needed...

Here is They Abducted my Girl (From the Shady Grove) a duet for Theremin and Banjo.


I don't actually have a theremin or a banjo.  As I said, my wife won't let me get either one.  The banjo part is actually a recording of a fairly popular bluegrass / folk song Shady Grove.  And I used Ableton Live 8 to create an artificial theremin instrument.