The Laptop Sessions Cover Songs & Original Music Video Blog

By Jim Fusco:

Oh yeah, another Jim Fusco night and ANOTHER “new” band to the Laptop Sessions!  Incredible.  It’s almost hard to believe we haven’t done a song from a band starting with every letter in the alphabet.  I think we haven’t done Q yet…

I tell you, I have to do more songs from Dion.  He had some amazing hits and he was pretty prolific with them, too.  This song is a classic 4-chord doo-wop style number.  Even though the song was that “easy” to play, I still found myself doing take after take to get the inflection of the words right.  Plus, I play an “F” chord so much like a “C” chord, I was actually switching between the two accidentally!

But, practice made perfect and I got through the video without too much more trouble.  This is another one of my fading-out songs, as the single version of the original song is just a perfect recording and I wanted my video to reflect the same.  The way Dion sings with such youthfulness and the way the Belmonts give those great supporting vocals makes for a timeless single.

And hasn’t EVERYONE felt this way in the past?  Chris and I have had countless conversations on this topic, asking why we would even do this to ourselves in the first place.  The answer?  Because it made life interesting, which is a theme through many of my early songs.

Even though I’m not a teenager now (and incredibly surprised that it’s been five years SINCE I’ve been one!), I could still channel the sentiment in this song.  I don’t think Dion had that in mind when he recorded this number, but I think every time someone who was a teenager back when the song was released hears it again, it takes them right back.  That could be a scary thing, but any three minute song that can do that is more than just a four-chord song- it’s a classic.

Enjoy tonight’s video after yesterday’s…ridiculousness…here on the blog.  I can only hope that what happened with the video situation here yesterday will NEVER happen again, as I hate being lied to and especially hate laziness.  With that said, I’ll be back with you on Sunday!

By Chris Moore:

Well, never let it be said that I was entirely original when I first started writing songs.  This song is proof positive that I had a lot of emotions that needed to be expressed, but that I had a long way to go before I could release songs and not be embarrassed of them.  For instance, take the title of tonight’s original contribution, “My First Song.”

Anyone willing to guess when I wrote this song?

As you may have guessed, this is the first song I ever wrote.  Now, I had written poems and stories, and I had even written lyrics for which I had tunes in my head.  Some of those I would even go back to later on and add music.  But, at the time, this was the first song I wrote as a complete piece.

I clearly recall that afternoon, sitting in front of my sister’s keyboard and awkwardly positioning my fingers on the keyboard, playing with chord progressions and lyrical possibilities.  On this particular afternoon, I was particularly consumed with conflicting feelings of obsession and revulsion for a girl who I spent the better part of four years idolizing.  Now, the lyrics may be simple and the words may be even simpler, but it was true.  It was from the heart.  And, for better or worse, it was probably the most openly honest I have ever been — or ever will be — in a song.

If you pay attention, the lyrics are subtle but have interesting aspects.  For instance, the first verse ends, “I know that you want-”.  This abrupt ending is deliberate; I meant to give the feeling of being cut off, perhaps to invite the girl who is the subject of the song to be curious.  To want to find out what I know and if what I know is indeed what she wants.

The second verse is somewhat enigmatic.  From where I sit, pushing seven years after I wrote this song, I’m not sure if I meant what I think this line means:  “I feel that you want something that will get you there.”  My question now is, where is “there”?  For that matter, what did I mean by “something” rather than “someone”?

Regardless, I had a lot of fun dusting this classic off.  Thanks to the Chris Moore Songbook, I was able to recall the chords and lyrics to this song, as well as several others that I played as part of a “tour down memory lane.”  I hope you enjoy this brief and simple, but landmark (for me!) tune.

As a final note, because I’m posting today, Jeff will be taking my place on Friday.  I know you’ll enjoy Jim and Jeff’s work in the coming days (and I certainly will, as I now have the weekend off!), so I’ll see you all on Monday.

See you next session!

By Chris Moore:

It’s no secret that I’ve been going through a Wilco phase recently.  And, by phase, I mean that I wasn’t really familiar with the band until a couple months ago.  I had read about the band a bit music magazines, and I had read quotes by band frontman Jeff Tweedy, which I generally found interesting.  So, I finally found a copy of their critically acclaimed Yankee Hotel Foxtrot album and decided to give it a spin.

And instantly loved it.

Ever since, I’ve been listening to alot of other music, but I’ve gone back to Wilco every time.  In the past two months, I’ve gone on an odyssey to discover as much about them as possible.  This has involved reading Wikipedia posts, skimming music magazines, and browsing through numerous CD store racks and used album bins.  In the process, I’ve found affordable copies of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot’s predecessor, Summerteeth (which is the origin of the song I just added to the members-only section, which you should definitely check out soon!), and their first album, A.M.

Now, it’s not that Wilco is my new favorite band of all-time, by any means.  But there is a certain excitement that accompanies fresh territory, striking out into a land that is unusual and can present unexpected ideas, sounds, etc.  For instance, I learned all about Uncle Tupelo — a band I had heard OF but had never actually HEARD — because Uncle Tupelo, minus one member, became the first incarnation of Wilco.

But, I guess that’s a story for another time.

Suffice it to say that Uncle Tupelo is credited with founding the “alt-country” genre that I didn’t even know existed until recently.  As Tweedy progressed, he became more and more experimental with his music, particularly after the first couple Wilco albums.  He seems like an interesting musical figure to me, as he embodies that rock songwriter ideal; he has made some great music, and from many reports, he can be a bit of a jerk.  For instance, members of Wilco have been essentially summarily dismissed to make way for new musicians with new sounds to bring to the process.  While this may not make for pleasant interpersonal relationships, it has certainly made for some interesting musical variations and evolution in the band.

When I think of this song and this album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, in particular, I am reminded, to a degree, of some of the classic albums that have initially been criticized or even rejected by record company executives.  In this case, the hype surrounding the making of the album seems to have only aided and increased its eventual popularity.  Essentially, as Wilco recorded this album, but the powers-that-be needed to make some cuts at the label, so they released the band.  There are several conflicting stories, but the end result is that Wilco got to keep the recordings and rights to the then-new material, going on to another division of Warner Bros. to officially produce and release the album.  This caused a bit of a stir in the record industry at the time — particularly the public perception of the label’s treatment of this fairly longstanding act — and even though I wasn’t nearly as interested in music industry news as I am now, I remember something about this at the time.

The track I chose for tonight is the opening song, “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart.”  For better or worse, my version does not do justice to the studio version, which you should definitely listen to; for that matter, you should definitely listen to the album!  But, when I discovered that Jeff Tweedy does an acoustic version of this song in his acoustic sets, I couldn’t resist.  It’s a great song that sets the tone remarkably well for the album to follow.

I hope you enjoy my version and that you hurry back in the next couple days for Jeff and Jim.

See you next session!

By Jim Fusco:

And the winner, yet again, is Jim Fusco!!!  (AHHH, Jiiiiimmmm Fuscooooo, AHHHH, undefeated champion of the world, AHHHH)

What am I the winner of?  Well, the song with the LONGEST title ever on the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog!

“San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)” is a great tune that symbolized the Summer of Love in 1967.  The song was written by Scott McKenzie’s friend John Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas.  McKenzie was slated to form the band with Phillips earlier, but then decided to be a solo artist.  Well, McKenzie is the true definition of a “One Hit Wonder”, as this song reached the Top 10 and that was his only big hit.

Chris said to me, “I konw the song, but I’ve never even heard of Scott McKenzie!”  Well, he doesn’t realize it, but he has.

The classic Number 1 hit for the Beach Boys in 1987, “Kokomo”, was actually written by the following: Mike Love, Terry Melcher, John Phillips, and…Scott McKenzie!  I don’t know what hand he actually had in it, but it’s funny to learn of the connection.  That song became a hit a solid 20 years after he hit it big with his only well-known song…and it was a song he didn’t even write!  I’m sure McKenzie is still seeing royalties from “Kokomo”.

I came up with a big project that I call “The Cover Songs Initiative” today that outlines the progress I’d like to see this site make, along with the steps to get there.  I’ll be rolling it out tomorrow night, so I’m excited to see some great progress!  See you on Thursday night!

By Chris Moore:

Hey there y’all!  So, I’m aware that this isn’t my night and all, but I have some good news…

One more video has arrived!

Yes, it’s true.  In addition to Jim’s regularly scheduled cover song music video, you can check out an all-new video in the members-only section.  If you’re not a member, you need to sign up!  If not, you’ll miss my recording of Wilco’s “How to Fight Loneliness.”  I didn’t feel right releasing this as a normal Laptop Session, as I already had recorded a Wilco song for my Tuesday 11/18/2008 video.  So, I figured there was no better way to handle it than to add it as a free video in the members-only section.

So, don’t wait around, get on over to the members-only section and kick back to my cover version of this great track off Wilco’s Summerteeth album.  I should also give a shout-out to Jim for helping me figure out the A6 and Bbdim chords I needed to learn in order to play this song.  It’s a fairly simple song, but I really enjoyed learning it.  I’ve been playing it a lot recently, so I figured I just had to share it.

Enough said.  Go to the members section!  Press play!  Enjoy, courtesy of the best acoustic cover song music blog in the universe…

See you for tomorrow’s session!

By Jeff Copperthite:

Good (late) evening to you!  It’s Jeff tonight posting (a bit late) with another…yes, another!…brand new band to the Sessions.  Lately all 3 of us have been on an unofficial New Bands 3.0 binge.

Tonight’s new band is The Cranberries, an Irish band (with another female lead singer - score another one for the Jeffster) and a song from their debut album (deep breath) “Everyone Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?”  That is the last time I write that album title by the way.

This album produced quite a few successful singles including the song covered tonight.  The song is “Zombie”, which as far as song difficulty goes this is probably the easiest of all the songs I’ve covered to play.  The challenge was singing like Dolores O’Riordan who has multiple octave range.  I decided to sing the verses in key, but drop an octave to sing the chorus parts.  It allowed me to get a little more emotional with the song as well.

I would’ve posted earlier but our Sunday Nyzul Isle runs failed miserably - not because we didn’t succeed, but in 4 boss fights we won all 4, but were awarded absolutely nothing in drops.  Oh well, there’s always next week.

I hope you enjoy today’s cover, and come back tomorrow for another great acoustic cover song by Jim!