By Jim Fusco:
I know you’ve been waiting for this all week…it’s Jim Fusco Tuesday here on the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog! Yes, that’s right, your favorite place to get acoustic covers and rock music videos from three of the best indie songwriters you’ll find.
I’m having SO much fun playing with my new Mac Pro right now. It just amazes me to be typing this on one 22″ Acer monitor and to have the other monitor rendering a video at a clip about 25 times faster than my old machine. It makes me feel more productive without actually doing anything!
The computer’s setup is finally complete. I’ve had it since last Friday and Becky helped me put together (and find) the great L-shaped desk, while Dana helped me to set everything up and give some sage advice.
Meanwhile, Chris was heeding my pleas to do some work on the music video blog here, as he’s decided (quite ambitiously) to post the chords to every single song he plays this year. Here’s hoping that he’ll play a song I’ve actually heard of…
Now, if you haven’t heard of tonight’s song, you must’ve been living under a rock for the past forty years. One of Motown’s greatest songwriters, Smokey Robinson, wrote this tune that he did with his group, the Miracles. Smokey was, and still is, a writer for many other acts. One song you just might have heard of was an incredibly huge hit for the Temptations, entitled “My Girl”. Smokey truly is the man.
I also love tonight’s cover song, “Second That Emotion”, because Smokey sings in his classic falsetto throughout the song. Now, this actually poses a bit of problem, believe it or not. You see, everyone’s voice kind of hits falsetto at a different note. Brian Wilson always went into falsetto at exactly the right times and I don’t believe I’ve really ever heard Carl Wilson use his falsetto voice. That said, my falsetto range tends to be a bit on the high side. Meaning that whenever I sing songs that are mostly in falsetto, I find it more comfortable to sing most of it in my regular voice. That makes it hard to switch halfway through. But, I practiced and practiced until it worked really well. Here’s to you, Smokey!
Tonight, I’m happy I can bring you another great Motown hit from the sixties. It’s so funny to see the breakdown of decades here on the video blog. Chris and Jeff have the 90s and 200s locked solid. Then there’s me bringing up the rear, taking the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s by a large margin. And every I say or write “large margin”, I’m forced to think of “Large Marge” from Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. My cousin, brother, and I watched that movie all the time when we were little. Then, I watched it again recently and realized that it’s a freakin’ hilarious flick. If you haven’t seen it for a while (or were scared of it when you were little, like I was), you really should give it another chance.
Okay, I’ve ranted long enough for one night.
Why’s it such a milestone? Well, I’m going to bring you the title track to my upcoming new album, “Halfway There” on Original Wednesday! I know you’ll love the song, especially after the great reaction I got from “Only A Dream” last week. Thanks to ilsy74 on YouTube for sending out the video and promoting our original work. I’m very excited to get the reaction to my new material and I’ll be back soon enough to bring it to you! Until then, have a great night and enjoy tonight’s Motown acoustic cover song music video!