Your Mother Should Know

The Accordion is harder than sin to play. Mine (a child's size) weighs a good 35 pounds, and my muscles ache after playing for anything more than ten minutes. But how did this mixture of piano and bellows come into being? Who was the mastermind that put that that whole shebang together? I bring you: the story of the accordion. 

Some say that the accordion was invented by a certain  Christian Friedrich Ludwig Buschmann (Wallenstein Goethe Smith) in Berlin, Germany. The first accordions were  diatonic, which means that they could only play in one key, which means that you'd have to have multiple accordions if you wanted to play songs in different keys, sort of like with harmonicas. Shortly afterward, the accordion gained popularity in many countries. It became an integral part of folk music in many countries especially in Eastern Europe.  As time went on, music and the use of the accordion evolved. This is a direct quote from wikipedia (aka the Fountain of Absolute Truth):

Accordionists in heavy metal make their most extensive appearances in the folk metal sub-genre, and are otherwise generally rare. Full-time accordionists in folk metal seem even rarer, but they are still utilized for studio work, as flexible keyboardists are usually more accessible for live performances.

Who the eff knew there was a folk metal genre? Where was I? I would be all over that. While neither genre, standing alone, appeals to me entirely, the two together make for quite the shindig. I'm picturing Kirk Hammet playing accordion on a supercharged metallic version of Blowing in the Wind. Quite the spectacle. 
I recently attended the arizona accordion club and let me tell you, those cats can blow. Here is my mediocre accordion playing on the Beatles' "Your Mother Should Know."