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!

“Margaritaville” (Jimmy Buffett Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Welcome, Parrotheads, to the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog!

Now, don’t get too excited. I, like most people, pretty much know just this Jimmy Buffett song and not much else.  But, I was at Mohegan Sun casino last week and walked by the new Margaritaville club and bar they have.  I, of course, thought of this song and decided it would be a nice fit for the Laptop Sessions!

But, for a three-chord song, this certainly took me a few tries to get it right.  I really do feel like I should be wasted away again in Margaritaville after that recording session…

What a life Jimmy Buffett must have.  He wrote a song about lounging around in the tropics while sulking over some unmentioned tragedy, and now he’s the king of a Margaritaville empire!  They have hats, t-shirts, a whole food and drink line, and now a line of bars.  His site is known as Margaritaville- it’s almost like the song comes first and the man comes second.  It’ll be an interesting surprise to see if any of the guys here on the music video blog do a different Jimmy Buffett song in the future…

Tonight, I feel a bit like sinking away, as I learned that my brand-new Mac Pro computer, which I haven’t even gotten to pay the bill for yet, is already obsolete.  A new version came out, just as I said it would, and is twice as fast, just as I said it would, for the same price…just as I said it would.  How depressing.  I mean, I still love my computer, but I got a bad enough deal on the thing as it was.  Now I feel like I could be getting things done even faster.  And the amount of time I spend down here working on side projects, I think that sounds good to me.  Well, here’s to waiting until the next version comes out and making a lot of money to buy one in the interim.

But here’s a slightly interesting fact about today- today is Square root day!  I’m sure you’re all excited.  It’s the day where the numbers of the month and the day are multiplied together, creating the number of the year.  So, today: 03 x 03 = 09!  It only happens like 7 times a century, and the next one isn’t until 4/4/16.  So, there’s another “milestone” we’ve all lived through…

Sorry I can’t write a bit more tonight- it’s been a tough and long week already…and it’s only Tuesday.  It’s not going to stop, either, and I already have important plans into next week.  It’s been a crazy time lately- I’m either working away endlessly, or I’m out having a great time, going to the casino, going on weekend trips, etc.  I guess I need some super-fun times to balance out my dull, 15 hour a day working times all week.  I’m already plotting a great weekend…

I’m taking Original Wednesday off this week and will attempt to come back with another next week.  I hope to find some time to finish up the album over the weekend so I can send it out once and for all.  You know I’ll keep you updated on my progress, and I hope you’ll also join me on my quest (in the very near future) of reaching a quarter-million views on YouTube!  Have a great night and see you all next week!

“A Night Away” (Jim Fusco original song)

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Another Wednesday means another new original song acoustic music video here on the Laptop Sessions music video blog!  The site is more popular than ever and I’m very happy to have my new original music featured in front of so many eyes and ears.

In the midst of working an eight hour day and another almost full-time night job, I got a minute to record this video.  I’ve been working on my new album, “Halfway There” for almost two years now and it’s been a whole four years since my last effort. Well, we did have a band in the middle there, so that’s where all of my creativity went for a couple years.

This song actually branches off of that sentiment.  The band was a great idea in theory.  We were even great on stage.  But, when everyone in the band is close to each other friend-wise, then it makes it really difficult to mix work with it.  If I had met the other band members at a job somewhere, it probably would’ve worked out better.  Tonight’s original song is one that tells the story of the night that signaled the end of the band as we knew it.

I’m not angry.  I’m a bit more ashamed, as I say in the song.  I really wanted the band to work, but realized it wasn’t working and really couldn’t work with the personell we had.  I felt ashamed because I always finish what I start and never got that satisfaction with the band.  We even released an album that was credited to the band last year, but in actuality, it was a compilation of what each member was doing at the time.  When I think of what might have been…

On my new album, this song is probably the most rockin’ out of the 11 tracks.  It’s short, but there’s a pretty cool guitar solo in there that always makes people’s eyes light up whenever I play it for them.  I guess they never pegged me as the Guitar Hero type.  Well, it’s off to work for the rest of the night- I’ll be back for another Jim Fusco Tuesday cover song music video in a short six days.  I hope you enjoy tonight’s video and hopefully sometime in the next week I’ll be sending all of the files and music to the CD company for production.  I still want to remix and remaster four songs because I want this one to be as near-perfect as I can get it.  See you then!

“People Are Strange” (The Doors) Cover Music Video

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By Jim Fusco:

Welcome, welcome to another edition of Jim Fusco Tuesday!  If you’re a fan, you’re in for a treat this week, as tomorrow I’ll be bringing you another brand-new, world premiere track off of my upcoming album, “Halfway There”!  I’ll leave the details until then, but make sure you stop back!

Tonight, I finally put an end to a great shame here on the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog.  We pride ourselves on having the best bands of all time- both in music quality and in popularity.  Now, for my tastes, the Doors are a bit too avant-garde at times, but as far as a cult following and popularity go, it’s an atrocity that it’s taken us this long to do a Doors song!  So, it’s Jim Fusco to the rescuse again tonight with “People Are Strange”.

“People Are Strange” (which I always thought was titled “When You’re Strange”…) for me is a kind of a midway point between such pop/rock style songs (“Hello, I Love You” and “Touch Me” – both GREAT songs) and the “deeper” style of songs like “Riders on the Storm”.  Plus, I think it translated really well into acosutic guitar, so it’s a perfect addition to the music video blog and a nice way to start off our Doors category here on the site.

I read an article on Yahoo today about the most hated and loved bands.  One of the ones they mentioned was the Doors because of Jim Morrison being kind of a martyr.  I mean, everyone loved the Beatles and they broke up well before John died.  So, they don’t really get a sympathy vote.  But, Morrison and Hendrix were rockers that died well before their time and during the height of their popularity.  So, their star continues to rise after they pass away because you can’t do wrong when you’re not around, well, to do more wrong!

I would have to agree that the Doors are a bit overrated, but if you take them at their best, which I’m assuming are their singles, (unless someone wants to correct me by posting a commment) then you’ve got a group with a classic rock’n’roll lead singer, a world-class keyboard player in Ray Manzereck, and some truly radio-worthy singles.  That ranks pretty high in my book.

I hope you enjoy tonight’s Laptop Session acoustic cover song music video.  I have so much to say about the progress of my new album, but again, that’ll wait until tomorrow night’s post.  Then, I’ll leave the next week to either Chris or Jeff before I come at you again with another original song music video!  We have so many great plans to get new viewers to the blog (a big shoutout to Chris’ efforts- see, I don’t only criticize, I praise!), so if this is your first time here, we welcome you and hope you’ll come back each day for another great cover song or original acoustic music video!  See you tomorrow.

“(I Just) Died In Your Arms Tonight” (Cutting Crew Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Welcome, welcome to yet another edition of Jim Fusco Tuesdays here on the best music video blog ever created.

Now, I’m sure you’ve been wondering why week after week I write, “Welcome, welcome” to begin my posts here on the music blog.  Well, it’s the famous opening to Groucho Marx’s show, “You Bet Your Life.”  “Welcome, welcome to You Bet Your Life.  Say the secret word and the bird will come down and give you a hundred dollars.”  So, that’s the story!

Tonight, I bring to you another one-hit-wonder group with a Number One single on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart in 1987.  “(I Just) Died in Your Arms Tonight” was a Number 1 for two weeks and it’s a really “eighties” sounding song.  So, what was my response?  To make an acoustic cover version of the song.  These videos tend to be my most popular.  I’ll keep you posted on the progress.

I’ll admit that before tonight, I only really knew the chorus to this song.  I then got the song and listened to it about 15 times (the people next door must’ve thought I was in some sort of a mood tonight.  But, then again, I do live with 24-hours-a-day-music-Moore…).  It really is a great song, after all.  I’m always a sucker for over the top eighties production, and this song has a great guitar solo both in the middle and especially at the end.

My version has a bit of a uniqueness to it, as I made my own version of the opening synth part on acoustic guitar.  It’s nothing special, but I really like the sound.  It definitely beats just strumming it and letting your imagination fill in the gaps.

It’s late now and Dana is really keeping me awake over here with stories, etc.  I’m not complaining- we always have a good time down in the new computer room.  It’s funny- I never spent much time down here until I got the new computer.

My trip this weekend was a lot of fun.  We went up to Lake Champlain and stayed at the Hilton in Burlington, VT.  We wen to Ben & Jerry’s factory, sampled Cabot cheese, and got candy and fudge from the Lake Champlain chocolate factory.  We also got to walk around the wonderful Church Street market, where we had a ton of great food and went to some pretty cool shops.  I’d love to live near a place like that.  Our hotel had an indoor pool, which was nice, especially during the winter in Vermont.

Plus, on Friday, right before I left, I was greeted at home with the painting of the album cover to “Halfway There”, my new album!  It’s officially nearing completion now and the cover went a long way.  I’ll be revealing it online soon!  The painting is amazing.  It was done by a great young artist named Ben Quesnel.  In exchange, I’m making him a website, and after the job he did, I’m really gonna make a great site for him.  This album cover really takes my production to a new level!

Okay, off to bed- a very busy week this week.  Everyone has the week off from school (I’m constantly surrounded by teachers), so everyone thinks that they can just start hanging out and taking more of my time than usual.  I usually don’t mind, but honestly, there’s just too much to do to fit everything in.  Until next Tuesday, have a great week and enjoy tonight’s Laptop Session!