Monthly Archives: February 2009

“Working My Way Back To You” (Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

I suppose I should’ve done a song today to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of “The Day the Music Died”.  You know, maybe a Buddy Holly tune, or something from the Big Bopper or Ritchie Valens.  But, I decided to honor their memory in a different way…by completely forgetting to do a song by them until I just started writing this post…

Sorry Buddy, Bopper, and Ritchie.

Well, I am happy to bring you a new artist to the music video blog tonight, anyway.  And this person’s still alive (and apparently still putting on some great concerts)- Frankie Valli!  He and his group, the Four Seasons, had so may hits in the sixties (and even a couple big ones later on in the disco era) and I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to do one of their songs.

Apparently the Spinners had a big hit with “Working My Way Back To You” in the early eighties, but I’ve always known this original version from 1966 that went all the way to #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.  It was a nice challenge to recreate the vocal abilities of Frankie Valli, as he’s always been known for his whiny falsetto.  I don’t necessarily have that kind of falsetto, but I think it gets the sentiment across.  In fact, if you read my post from last Tuesday, you’ll see my comments about how falsetto voices are very hard to reproduce.  That’s because everyone’s voice goes into falsetto at different notes up the scale.  So, you’ll notice in this video that I tend to only do a few notes in falsetto during that last chorus.

I was mentioning to Becky earlier that you can always tell when a song was done by a group that doesn’t write their own songs.  Rock music songwriters usually won’t go out of their way to add a key change for the last, repeating, chorus.  But, as with showtunes and more “vocalist” acts like the Temptations, the Four Tops, and Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, they take songs from these “serial songwriters” that just write (and not perform) songs for a living.  So, they try to make these big productions out of their songs, which usually includes a key change.  Go back and listen to some of the more “lounge-singer” type acts from the sixties like Johnny Rivers- you’ll hear exactly what I mean.

It’s always fun to bring you another great acoustic cover song music video here on Jim Fusco Tuesdays on the Laptop Sessions music video blog.  Since I brought you the past two Original Wednesday posts, I’m going to take tomorrow off and hope that Chris and/or Jeff will step in.  We’re excited again today because the blog reached 304 views- our NEW best view count for a day!  Thank you to all of the new fans of the Laptop Sessions and especially to those that always come back to see my videos on Tuesday.

Have a great week and I’ll be back again for Jim Fusco Tuesday next week on the greatest (and now, most popular) music video blog ever created!

This just in: 300 views to the blog today! That’s a new record AND with two minutes to spare!

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By Chris Moore:

It is with great pleasure that I announce a new record for the blog.  As of today, we have broken our daily view record.  Previously at 263 viewers in one day (calculated back in December), we’ve started off February with an even 300!

This is exciting, and it is an expecially hopeful sign for the year to come.  Hopefully it will be one of diversification and growth on the blog.  In addition to the daily music videos we post, we have begun to add chords to popular (and also some obscure) songs and we have continued to write articles having to do with writing, recording, and listening to rock music.

Rock music is what we know how to do best, and we’re here to share whatever we can in as wide an array of formats as possible.

Speaking of which, I’ll be back in a few hours, posting for the third time today with the first in a series of rock music articles.

Thank you for all your support and all your views!  Tell your friends, tell your family, tell your lovers, and, heck, even tell your pets.  We’ll take all the views we can get!  🙂

A “Chris Moore Monday” Premiere!

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By Chris Moore:

Well, I am regretfully feeling pretty terrible tonight and my throat has taken quite the hit.  So, should we just cancel the session for the night and wait for “Jim Fusco Tuesday?”…

Not a chance!

Instead of a music video tonight, I’m working on the first in a series of articles on rock music that I will release in the coming year.  I’m still trying to work on a name for the series as a whole.  Maybe “Rock Face: The Face of Rock Music Today.”  Sorry, that was a shameless inside joke that only a few of you will get.

Seriously, though, I’m working hard on this article now and I hope you enjoy it when I post it later tonight.

On an unrelated note, the Bruce Springsteen Halftime Show performance yesterday was even more exciting than I thought it would be, for a number of reasons.  First of all, the performance itself was great.  As Jim’s father pointed out, it looked like Springsteen would need to be hooked up to oxygen immediately after the show, based on all the energy he put into the twelve minute performance.  Once again, I’m not really a Springsteen fanatic, but I love his recent work.  I’ve been somewhat unimpressed with his live work (including a couple of concerts televised on television over the past few years), but the Super Bowl performance was certainly a high point of the game for me.  I realize that’s sacriledge and I may be branded as an outcast, but so be it…  Oh, and that being said, there’s a really funny list on a Yahoo! blog today called: “The 10 Unforgivable Sins Of Bruce Springsteen’s Performance At The Super Bowl.”  Jim sent it to me earlier today.  Worth a read for any music fan.

The second reason why the performance was so exciting is its aftermath.  I posted the set list and some general comments and predictions yesterday, mainly because I was looking forward to the show and it was on my mind.  Well, the post helped catapult us to an all-new view record for a single day on the Laptop Sessions music blog!  Thank you, Super Bowl, and thank you, Bruce Springsteen!

Stay tuned for the article to come; I hope you enjoy reading it!

Super Bowl Halftime Show: Bruce Springsteen’s Set List

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By Chris Moore:

Hello, football fans. More specifically, hello Super Bowl XLIII Halftime Show rock music fans! I’m writing this post mid-game, anticipating Bruce Springsteen and his Halftime Show songs.

Yes, as I’m sure you’ve heard, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are performing a 12 minute set at the half time of tonight’s big game. For those of you who don’t know me, it’s those twelve minutes of Springsteen live songs that I’m eagerly anticipating. Some people bet on the game and who will win. Me? I try to guess which songs the Boss will decide to play.

Luckily, Jim invited me to his parent’s home, which hosts a big screen television and lots of snack food — the best of circumstances for watching the game!

My bet? I’m personally predicting (and hoping) that Springsteen’s set list of songs will include four tracks — three greatest hits and one from the new album, “Working on a Dream.” With only twelve minutes to work with, it seems like four songs will be a tight squeeze, but we’re talking about a crowd of football fans and party-goers with predictably short attention spans. Also, even though the great majority of Super Bowl fans won’t recognize the new songs, playing a new song just might interest some of the viewers of Super Bowl XLIII to buy “Working on a Dream.”

Okay, so here’s the predictions for specific songs, understanding of course that I don’t expect any of these to necessarily come true.

Hits: “Born in the USA,” “Brilliant Disguise,” & “Hungry Heart.” Maybe “My Hometown” as a fall back. Pretty random guesses here from a recent Springsteen fan, so take these for what they’re worth…

New Song: “My Lucky Day” or maybe “Working on a Dream” (the former is the single, but the latter IS the title track…)

Some other predictions from the Laptop Sessions peeps:

Mike and Jim agree: “Born to Run,” “Born in the USA” and “Dancing in the Dark”; something from the new album.

My bet is that they’ll be more accurate with the hits; they’re usually amazingly intuitive and/or logical with these types of music trivia and predictions.

And now, courtesy of the WordPress app on my iPhone…

The Super Bowl XLIII Bruce Springsteen Halftime Show Songs (Set List):
1) “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out”
2) “Born to Run”
3) “Working on a Dream”
4). “Glory Days”

Well, I couldn’t have been more wrong in my predictions, but I was right about one thing – Springsteen and the E Street band ROCKED! He really gave it his all. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more energetic performance from anyone at any age, never mind a rock legend pushing 60 years of age…

See you tomorrow for my all-new “Chris Moore Monday” Laptop Session music video!