Author Archives: Jim Fusco

About Jim Fusco

Jim Fusco is a singer, songwriter, guitarist, and all-around musician. Learn all about him and his creative works at http://jimfusco.com!

“Iris” (Goo Goo Dolls Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Welcome, welcome to another edition of The Laptop Sessions with me, Jim Fusco!

First, let me say that I had a GREAT weekend.  We had my best college friends over for the first time on Saturday night and ate, talked, played a Family Guy DVD trivia game, and watched “The Hangover”, which I loved even more the second time around.

Then on Sunday, I went to my favorite little Mexican restaurant in Wallingford with my father, then we both hiked up to Danbury for the TNA Wrestling show at WCSU.  IT WAS AWESOME!!  They had great matches, there were a ton of stars there, and I got to meet many of the wrestlers.  Turns out that Velvet Sky and Madison Rayne are two of the nicest ones–and they play the meanest ones on TV!  I also got to meet Jeff Jarrett and got my photo taken with The Phenomenal AJ Styles.  I even got to hold the Championship belt!!

It was quite a weekend, so I knew it would be a tough week to make up for it.  Things are very busy at work and I’ve been keeping a steady pace on my nighttime work, as well.  It’s a new strategy I’m trying that’s working well so far.  Thankfully I recorded this video last week- my mood would’ve been much different if not.

Which finally brings me to tonight’s video:

“Iris” is one of those songs that I kind of knew, but never knew who did it.  I was surprised to find out what a big hit it was.  In fact, it holds the record for consecutive weeks as the Number One played song on the radio (13) according to Billboard.  It made it to the Top 10 on the charts and stands as Goo Goo Dolls’ biggest hit.

After Laptop Sessions alumnus Jeff Copperthite introduced me to this band on WCJM Free Internet Radio shows many years ago, it took me about ten years to actually break down and buy an album.  I purchased “Dizzy Up the Girl”, which was their biggest album (probably because it had “Iris” on it).  Actually, I didn’t realize this song was on it- not exactly the best name for a song when it doesn’t even mention that word in the lyrics.  I bet it would’ve gotten to #1 if people knew the stinkin’ title!

Actually, Jeff played many tracks (especially on our personal BSYNHO shows for our wives) from the Goo Goo Dolls that were album cuts and lesser hits.  So, I knew a few others, including a couple Jeff’s already posted here on the music blog.  I really, really enjoyed “Dizzy Up the Girl”, so I went out and bought two more of their albums (for like four bucks apiece, too): “A Boy Named Goo” and “Superstar Car Wash”.  But, I haven’t listened to them yet because I’m currently in a phase from another band we haven’t covered yet on the blog.  Let’s just say I’m “dying” to record a video from them!  You’ll find out soon.

Anyway, like I said, “Iris” isn’t my favorite tune from Goo Goo Dolls so far, but I couldn’t believe Jeff hadn’t done their biggest hit (I’m assuming it’s because of the high range in the chorus), so I wanted to snatch it up.  It’s always great to claim a video you know will be popular.

Well, I’m running lean on time tonight, but am really enjoying the amount of sleep I’ve been getting.  I mean, I worked today, cooked dinner, worked again tonight, and posted a Laptop Session.  Now, I’m off to watch some more “Arrested Development” with my wife and brother, then it’s off to bed for 8 hours of sleep.  Now THAT’S some Operations Planning if I do say so myself! 🙂  Anyone from work would be cracking-up at that one…

Until next week!

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“Ding Dong Ding Dong” (George Harrison Cover) : Jim Fusco’s 200th Video!

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By Jim Fusco:

And a Happy New Year to you- I’m Jim Fusco back for another year of the Laptop Sessions.  I’m also back with Number 200!  That’s right, tonight’s video is my 200th and it kicks off a brand new year of great acoustic cover song music videos here on the most popular music blog that isn’t corporately-owned…well, I can’t substantiate that claim… 🙂

Anyway, I figured I’d kick the New Year and new decade off right with a New Year’s song in “Ding Dong Ding Dong”, a hit single off of George Harrison’s Dark Horse album.  If you’ve heard the original version of this song, you probably wondered why George’s voice sounded so raw and raspy.  No, he wasn’t taking vocal cues from his pal (and future Traveling Wilburys member) Bob Dylan.  He was actually suffering from a terrible break-up when his wife ran off with his best friend, Eric Clapton.  It forced the two friends to not speak for a long time (yes, significant others can change people and break friends apart, that’s for sure), but eventually they reconciled…once she and Eric broke up, too!  That’s a fairytale friendship story if I ever heard one.

The title track from Dark Horse also features George’s gravelly vocals and it’s actually a nice tool he uses well on these somewhat bitter songs.  I mean, George was always one to write songs against the “establishment” (like “Taxman”, “Not Guilty”, and “Devil’s Radio”), but this time, it was a more personal fight.  One can only think that “ringing out the old and bringing in the new” has to be correlated to his estranged wife leaving the picture.

And, in the end, George ended up finding his real soulmate in Olivia Harrison, whom he was with until the end and continues to preserve George’s legacy to this day.  Now there’s a woman who really appreciated and “got” him.  So, it all worked out.  I guess sometimes a broken heart is just an opportunity to find something (or someone) better!

I’ve always considered this a Christmas song- remember my post from a few weeks ago about my father’s famed Christmas Compilation tapes?  Well, this song was on it.  And even though it’s loosely based on the New Year and it’s idea of “starting anew”, it’s really not a Christmas song at all.  But, you’ll still never find me listening to “Ding Dong Ding Dong” from January through October!

I’ve already recorded another video- I was on a bit of a roll tonight.  I could’ve done more, but work is really driving me into the ground lately.  My list is ever-growing.  I have a great forgotten 60’s song lined-up, but that video is a late-90’s Top 10 Billboard hit that is officially the song played most on the radio- it spent 18 weeks at Number One on the Billboard Airplay charts.  That’s the most for any song- ever!

And I can’t believe we haven’t covered it.  My only thought is that I’m the only one here that can sing the chorus, so I’m glad I finally got around to it.  Look for some new bands to come in the near future, as well- it’s going to be another productive year of great cover song music videos…if I can find the time and energy to keep up with it week after week.  Enjoy “Ding Dong Ding Dong” in LSHD (Laptop Sessions High Definition)!

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“Blue Christmas” (Elvis Presley acoustic Christmas cover song)

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By Jim Fusco:

Welcome, welcome to another edition of the Laptop Sessions in high definition!  Tonight, I bring you the second video from last week’s recording session.  This one is truly a classic off of one of my favorite all-time albums: Elvis Presley’s 1957 Christmas Album.

“Blue Christmas” is a song everyone knows.  And, I’m pretty sure that with tonight’s recording, that every single musician in the last 50 years has recorded a version of it.  I happen to do mine in Elvis’ style, but I love Brian Wilson’s version on the Beach Boys Christmas Album, too.  But, while Brian’s version is sad and melancholy, Elvis gives this song so much raw soul.  It’s his “uh-huh” singing at its best and is on my list of “perfect recordings”.  Those are the songs (like, for instance, the Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows”) that couldn’t be any better- just the perfect blend of instrumentation, songwriting style, vocals, etc.

Of course, “Blue Christmas” was even recorded earlier than Elvis’s version- as early as 1948!  But, Elvis made it a rock song and that’s the version that everyone knows.

I got to use my colleague Noreen’s 12-string Gibson acoustic from 1967 on this one- what a great sound!  It was so much fun to play.  When you’re using that guitar in a room with good acoustics, you feel like you’re a one man band.  I’m loving this new setup.  And, this week’s video was much easier to edit- literally took just a minute until it was rendering.  It’s such a nice feeling to get something done right the first time.

On a personal note, things have never been busier.  Whether it’s decorating the house, going shopping, cooking, working, etc. I’m never just sitting and relaxing.  I have a feeling it’s going to be like this until after the New Year, but I tell ya- I need some more sleep!  I’m looking forward to a couple of work parties, a couple of get-togethers at the new house, and general Christmas cheer.

If you haven’t done it yet, head on over to WCJM Free Internet Radio at wcjm.com and click on the Moore Hits in the Morning radio in the center of the screen.  You’ll then be taken to all of our radio shows that you can listen to absolutely free- click on any of the numerous Christmas shows and get ready to laugh!  They’re really entertaining and I listen to each of them at least twice each Christmas season to get me in that yuletide mood.

Okay, off to bed now!

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“Holiday” (Bee Gees Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Welcome to the first-ever Laptop Sessions acoustic cover song music video in high definition, which I’ve dubbed, “LSHD”.  I’m so excited to be on the cutting-edge of technology and hope that more YouTube viewers will see my cover song music videos because of the enhanced new look.

But, what a project doing this for the first time…  Even on my fast Mac Pro, it still took almost an hour just to render this video, and then the audio and video sync kept going off.  So, it was a project that took WAY more time than anticipated.  I think I have a pretty good system going now, so I hope the future music videos will be a bit easier to produce.

Tonight, I enlisted the help of  my colleague Noreen’s 1967 Gibson 12-string acoustic guitar.  It’s pretty sweet, as you see in the video, but also sounds pretty great, as well.  It’s really easy to play and has a very powerful sound.  As soon as I picked it up a couple weeks ago, “Holiday” from the Bee Gees just popped into my head.  Something about that 12-string sound that just reminded me of this song.  So, I knew I had to have it for this video, and I knew I wanted something special for my first one in HD.

Actually, this is also my first music video from my new house, which I share with my new wife.  Yes, the awesome studio is long gone now, but I’ve got a pretty good setup here in one of our spare bedrooms.  Someday I’ll rebuild the studio, but I don’t think it’ll be in the house.  We’ll see.

“Holiday” is one of those songs I’ve known for all my 25 years.  My father put it on his famous Christmas compilation cassette tape set and we heard it every year.  It took me quite a long time to realize that this wasn’t necessarily a Christmas song, though I do hear it on the oldies stations during this time of year.  I thought it would be a nice way to usher in the “season”.  Actually, there are a lot of songs that aren’t really Christmas songs, but I’ll always consider them to be: “Another Morning” from the Moody Blues (off of Days of Future Passed, which is about “a child’s world”, which my father thought reminded him of Christmas), “Eyes of a Child” by the Moody Blues (off of To Our Children’s Children’s Children, which my father took to mean like the birth of a child, like Jesus), “Christmas” by the Who (which is only loosely based on the holiday of Christmas), and “My Sweet Lord” by George Harrison (which is a song praising God, but says nothing about the holiday).  Again, they’ll always be Christmas songs to me.

I’m glad I got to know this song- it’s a good tune.  The early Bee Gees were really good and I enjoy many of their early hits.  They’re a band that really re-invented themselves in the seventies.  It’s almost like two completely different bands.  Plus, you know I love a group of brothers that write their own songs and sing in harmony, so it’s a perfect fit!

I never really understood the words to this song, but now I know why- it’s because I still had the kid’s understanding of the lyrics that I thought I “learned” when I was little.  I mean, I learned the words maybe 20 years ago, but my vocabulary then was not what it is now.  So, the line, “put the soft pillow on my head” always came out as “but there’s something upon my head”.  No wonder it never made any sense to me.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy my first LSHD video and welcome to the new era of the Laptop Sessions.

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