Monthly Archives: October 2008

“Bad Moon Rising” (Creedence Clearwater Revival Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Well, since Chris usurped my Thumpin’ Thursday (copyright Jeff Copperthite), it’s been some time since I posted.  Well, tonight, I hope to continue my trend of exciting new videos with this one here: ANOTHER “new” band to the Laptop Sessions in Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR).

Also, this is two songs in a row with three main chords to it.  This was another one-take job for me and I’m happy to bring a new band to the video blog that a) everyone knows and b) has a song everyone’s heard of.

I don’t have the unique vocal styling of the original going on in this video, but I stayed pretty true to the recording.  This song is pretty interesting.  If you don’t really listen to the words, it sounds like an upbeat song that you’d probably smile while singing.  But, listen to the words, and you’ll hear a very dark story about a man who really sees negativity in most things.  He sees hurricanes, lightning, rivers overflowing, and most importantly, a truly bad moon on the rise.  I guess it’s about looming negativity on the horizon.

I hope that doesn’t ruin the song for anyone, but then again, that is what the lyrics are saying.  I think it’s funny sometimes that record companies don’t even listen to lyrics and just choose singles based on their “sound”.  I can see where they’re coming from (from a business standpoint), but think that a little more care should go into the process than just listening for a good overall sound.

Enjoy your Super Sunday edition of the Laptop Sessions today.  This will be my last acoustic cover song until next Saturday, as I’ll be coming at you with an original tune on Wednesday.  I hope that you got to watch Jeff’s version of my song, “The More You Stay” this past Friday- he did a great job as always!  See you Wednesday and don’t forget to come back for your Columbus Day video tomorrow!

“The Last DJ” (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Cover)

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By Jeff Copperthite:

Good evening to you, and welcome to your Saturday edition of The Laptop Sessions!  Tonight we (finally) return to our regularly scheduled…well, schedule…and we are now posting on nights we were originally scheduled to post.

That being said, sorry, no new band tonight.

Instead, it’s one we haven’t covered in some time – Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers!  From their 2002 album “The Last DJ” is the title track from that album.  I first heard this particular song via (who else) Jim, and I have always been a fan of Tom Petty’s work thanks to my brother.  This is the 3rd song I have covered from this band.

Oddly enough, I think it’s a great cover, and I think the other two are good as well.  It’s a great song to cover on acoustic since the driving track is acoustic on the song.  You have to love the chorus and the message of the song as well.

I think the higher quality I get on my new laptop has been tremendous during the past 3 months, though.  If you view the videos through Youtube, you will see the “watch in higher quality” button and that will make it sound even better!

Be sure to come back tomorrow for another awesome Jim Fusco acoustic cover song!

Editor’s Note: Unfortunately, Jeff’s acoustic cover song music videos are no longer on YouTube, but we decided to keep his cover song blog posts up.  We figured these music blog entries would be good for posterity’s sake and because Jeff always gave such insightful posts each Session.  We hope to see Jeff’s impressive catalog of acoustic rock songs here on the Laptop Sessions cover songs and origianal music blog again in the future.  But, for now, please make sure to check-out hundreds of other acoustic cover songs from all of your favorite bands here on the Laptop Sessions music blog!

“Can’t You See” (Marshall Tucker Band Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

I got into this song for a couple of reasons.  My father always liked this song, but one of my favorite teachers, Mr. Hill, enjoyed this tune, as well.  I am happy to bring this song to the Laptop Sessions cover song video series tonight because it’s become one of those favorites that conjures up an, “Oh, man, turn it UP!”

I’m pinch-hitting for Jeff today and Chris will be taking my place tomorrow. Sounds confusing, eh? Well, it all means that I’ll be back for the start of my Original Wednesday week on Sunday and Jeff will have to do Friday and Saturday himself. Actually, he’ll probably be doing an Original Friday instead!

“Can’t You See” by the Marshall Tucker Band is, in my opinion, one of the greatest three-chord songs ever written. I’m almost embarrassed to play such a simple song here on The Laptop Sessions, because songs I normally play require hours and hours of learning and practice. This song was a two-take job, however, because I hadn’t quite thought-out the ending where the backgrounds keep singing, “Can’t You See” and the lead sings the first verse over again. I got flustered on the first take of this cover video and flubbed the first verse. I think it came out, “Gonna take a freight train, all the way to Georgia now, don’t care where it goes.” Hmmm, I have an idea- maybe….Georgia!!! 🙂 So, that take was ruined.

The song I’ll be posting for you next is also a three chord song, essentially, so I guess I got off easy this week. But, this adds yet ANOTHER new band to the Laptop Sessions cover and original song series, so I hope the trend continues. That is, if Chris doesn’t have anymore meetings that force us to delve deeper into the Bob Dylan back-catalog. You know, I was just thinking- I haven’t done a Beach Boys song in a long while. I have a few ready to record, but I just have so many other songs that I want to explore that it seems like a cop-out to record another Beach Boys song. Well, that’s the thing about the Laptop Sessions: as a musician who does all of these acoustic cover videos, I have to make a decision between doing songs that I love and songs that will help us get more eyes on the website. Thankfully Chris and Jeff take some of the newer bands, as I’m trying to round-up every last band from the 60s and 70s I can. See you on Sunday, as I get another break for a few days!

“Behind Blue Eyes” (The Who Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Isn’t it about time?  Tonight, I bring you- finally- a cover song of The Who, one of the world’s greatest all-time rock bands.  This band defines the term “classic rock” and even though they’re only down to two members left in the band, they’re still rocking and making music today.

In our quest to cover every great band of all time, it pains me to think of some of the ones we still haven’t done yet.  I’ll be premiering three of them in the next week alone, including tonight’s video.  Can you believe we haven’t done Creedence Clearwater Revival or the Marshall Tucker Band yet, either?  Well, coming up in my next two sessions, I’ll be doing a cover song from each band.  I hope Chris and Jeff will hop on the bandwagon and help me with some of these famous bands we haven’t done yet, including Simon and Garfunkel, the Rolling Stones, and Queen.  I, of course, always have a few tricks up my sleeve…53 at last count, that is…

Onto tonight’s Laptop Session cover song video.  The Who are an electric band for the most part, with roots from their “garage” band days in the mid-60s.  Everyone, I think, kind of thinks of them as a 70s band, and maybe that’s why they’ve maintained their “cool” stature (kids today don’t feel nerdy walking around with a Who t-shirt on, but you NEVER see someone with, say, a Bobby Darin t-shirt on!).  But, you can’t forget about their earlier songs, before the concept albums and the rock operas.  I do respect them for that, but I wish the other band members did more than just write lyrics and an occasional song (“Boris the Spider”, anyone?).

“Behind Blue Eyes” was a perfect choice because it combines a soft acoustic part with a rocking section that translated well on Chris’ steel-string acoustic guitar.  Sorry, the Italian nylon-string guitar had to take a break tonight!  The only problem with doing this cover song video was the fact that I practiced it first, making the softer parts MUCH harder to sing.  You see, while singing, you have two modes: the sweet mode and the rock-out mode.  This song has both, but once you rock out, it’s hard to revert back to the sweet singing style.  I think I made it by just fine, as I just played the guitar a bit softer to balance out the lack of power in my voice in those sections, ESPECIALLY after my throat-grinding middle section.  This video may be even more rocking and voice-ruining than my video for Billy Joel’s “You May Be Right”!  Click here to view the video and make the judgement for yourself!

Lastly, I’m glad that I recorded this cover song music video after I’d recorded two more, because there was no way I was singing anything after THAT vocal performance!  I’ve been practicing these songs for a couple of MONTHS now and making sure they’re perfect.  Especially when I introduce a new band to the Laptop Sessions acoustic rock cover songs series, I want to make sure that I’m going to please all the new fans of that band we’re going to usher in.  So, I think my full-hearted performance of The Who’s “Behind Blue Eyes” should satisfy fans and have them coming back to the Laptop Sessions music video series for more!  Enjoy!