Hello everyone- I know you were expecting a great acoustic cover song music video tonight, but instead, to commemorate my brand new album, “Halfway There”, I decided to record track two off of the album, “Our Love Doesn’t Translate”.
“Halfway There”, available at http://jimfusco.com, is an album I’m very proud of- I’m sure you’ll love it, and to prove it, you can hear the entire album online before you buy!
If I weren’t so tired tonight, I would tell you SO much about this song and this album. My friend Alberto and I wrote this song while in Italy- we were so proud of it and we both knew we had a great song on our hands. We were so excited to record this song when we got back- I finished it within a couple of weeks. That was almost two full years ago- I’m so glad this album is finally finished and released!
Listen to the words of this song- they tell the whole story of a lost love and not being able to “connect” with that person. It’s an exaggerated metaphor for this theory and I think you’ll get what we were talking about.
Okay- it’s been an incredibly long day and I need to gear up for another. We had a great time tonight with a new friend from California- what a great way to kick-off the album release!
For Woody Guthrie, Billy Bragg, & Wilco chords and lyrics, CLICK HERE!
By Chris Moore:
As promised, I’m up to the plate for the second time this evening, as I sonically celebrate New York Mets baseball opening day 2009!
For my next trick, I picked my familiar acoustic guitar up and learned a song from Mermaid Avenue, Volume II. This album is comprised of songs whose lyrics were composed by Woody Guthrie, predominantly in the 1940s. Then, in the mid to late 1990s, Billy Bragg and the boys of Wilco (Jeff Tweedy, John Stirratt, Jay Bennett, and Ken Coomer) teamed up to write music to the words. The result was Mermaid Avenue. The first album is, in my opinion, a masterpiece. In both individual tracks and the sequence of songs as a whole, the first album is amazing. There’s something about the production quality and the combination of vocals — alternating between Bragg’s deep clarity and Tweedy’s roughness — and instrumentation is masterful.
The second collaboration is essentially a compilation of tracks left off the first release. As Bragg and Wilco had had a falling out, I can’t imagine that there was much in the way of actual collaboration on the second album. This is evident, and it perhaps accounts for why I have never really gotten into the second album as much as the first. Still, there are some standout tracks, such as “Airline to Heaven” and “Someday Some Morning Sometime.”
Admittedly, “Joe DiMaggio Done It Again” is not a song I would, under normal circumstances, choose to record for a Laptop Session. (And it’s a bit of an anomaly, as the music is written by Bragg, yet Tweedy sings it — a good decision, in my personal opinion!) That being said, I couldn’t think of a more perfect track for today. Although Joe DiMaggio was a player for the Yankees (and I’m a Mets fan!), I think DiMaggio belongs to an era of baseball history that is timeless. There are certain players — Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Ty Cobb, and others — that fans of all teams can appreciate.
It doesn’t hurt that the Mets won 2-1 over Cincinnati, led by the strong starting pitching of Johan Santana and a home run by Daniel Murphy to name a couple. Even though I wasn’t home to watch the game, I was able to watch via live phone feed — um, I mean the internet connection to the Mets homepage on my iPhone. As Mike texted today, “We’re back to iPhone scoreboard watching!”
As a final note, today is special for another reason…
It’s fellow Laptop Sessions contributor Mike Fusco’s birthday! Here’s to the big 2-3, Fusc! His birthday seems to come at the best time of the year for him — just as the weather is starting to turn warmer (not that you could tell from today’s weather!). For those of you who don’t know, one of Mike’s favorite pastimes is going to the beach. I was there this weekend, and let me tell you… it’s just about time!
Well, that’s about enough for one post. I mean, two posts. 🙂 Have a great week and don’t forget to stop back regularly for more cover song music videos and posts!
For a Guthrie/Bragg/Wilco cover video, CLICK HERE!
“Joe DiMaggio Done It Again”
Woody Guthrie – words (1949) / Billy Bragg – music (1995)
G D D7
Joe Deemaggyo done it again! Joe Deemaggyo done it again!
G
Clackin’ that bat, gone with the wind!
D G
Joe Deemaggyo’s done it again.
Some folks thot Big Joe was done! Some jus figgered Joe was gone!
Steps to the platter with a great big grin;
Joe Deemaggyo’s done it again!
I’ma gonna tele ya jist th’ way I feel; man cain’t run without his heel.
Watch that raggypill split the wind!
Joe Deemaggyo’s done it again!
All three fielders jumped their best; tryin’ ta climb that highboard fence.
They all growed whiskers on their chins!
Joe Deemaggyo’s done it again!
Up along them clouds where the eagle roams: Joe cracked that ball to whine and moaann.
His buddies laugh as they trot on in.
Joe Deemaggyo’s done it again!
INSTRUMENTAL BREAK
Grandmaw’s home by the radio on the telleyevizzion awatchin’ Joe;
She jerks the beard offa grandpaw’s chin.
Joe Deemaggyo’s done it again!
The puppydog barked at the pooseye kat; how does it look from where you set?
Looks like a cyclone slidin’ in…
Joe Deemaggyo’s done it again!
Hey there, sports fans! Welcome to yet another “Chris Moore Monday” here at the Laptop Sessions new music video blog. Today, as you may already know, is the opening day for the 2009 season of the New York Mets. Ah, America’s favorite pastime…
Baseball!
Because I couldn’t be home in time to watch the first Mets regular season game, I decided to celebrate by learning and recording not one but two cover songs tonight. This is the first video, inspired by an encounter with one of my colleagues. At the end of school on Friday, he stopped by my room and said simply, “Listen to Walter Johnson before opening day.” All I could think to say was, “Is that a song or a person?” Sure enough, it’s a song. He smiled as he replied and repeated that I should listen to it before opening day. So, as suggested, I looked it up on YouTube early this morning and found the Jonathan Richman song “Walter Johnson.” It’s an a cappella performance from his 1995 album You Must Ask the Heart.
A search of Wikipedia produced a brief biography and a picture of Richman with a guitar and prominent eighties-era Tom Selleck chest hair. I don’t know what I expected, but it was certainly interesting to put a face to the singer of this unique song.
Truth be told, I have no real idea what possessed me to record a version of “Walter Johnson.” There’s something about recording your own version of a song that forces you to become intimate, if only temporarily, with a track. In this case, I don’t have any plans to buy any Richman albums in the near future, so I figured it would be a long time before I heard “Walter Johnson” again. Being that it was opening day, it only seemed appropriate that I would pay tribute to Walter Johnson by singing my own version of the song.
I hope you enjoy it. Feel free, of course, to laugh as you wish. The “bum ba bum ba bum” parts are pretty funny — at least, they were to me at first. But, really, this is the perfect day to sing this song!
And this is only the first of two baseball-related tunes I’ve carved out for you today.
