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!

“Happy Tears” (Original Wednesday Song by Songwriter Jim Fusco)

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By Jim Fusco:

Tonight, it’s another Original Wednesday for me, Jim Fusco, where I play an original song from my now vast collection of well over 150. I’m excited about tonight’s, as it’s been one of my favorites since I wrote it back in 2002 or 2003. The original recorded version of this song is rich with about ten of my voices singing in harmony. I even made a surround-sound version of this song with a music video.

Everybody tells me that this is most “Beach Boys” sounding song I’ve written. And to tell you the truth, as with all of my songs, I didn’t write it with a specific style in mind. I never sit down and go, “Okay, Jim, time to write a Beach Boys song.” But, even I’ll admit that this is a Beach Boys-sounding song, especially with that interesting strumming pattern. It’s tough to play that and sing with it at the same time, but I’ve been playing this song for so long that I don’t even think about it anymore. This video was Take 1.

I wrote this song after my then-girlfriend (and now fiancee) Becky said the phrase “Happy Tears” and I found it so interesting that I put those words to this great tune that popped into my head one day. I think we were going through a time in our relationship where you’re thinking, “Man, I do NOT want to mess this up.” There’s always going to be issues to iron-out, and when you finally do, it’s almost hard to believe that everything worked out. But, looking back five years ago, it almost seems obvious that it would all work out.

Enjoy tonight’s Laptop Session!

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“That’s Not Me” (The Beach Boys Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

“That’s Not Me” is track three of the pivotal album, “Pet Sounds” from 1966. My family got into the Beach Boys back in 1990 or 1991 because of this album. Of course, we listened to the greatest hits, but we were more interested in this well-crafted, deeper music that “Pet Sounds” brought to the table. Seventeen years later, “Pet Sounds” doesn’t stand as my favorite Beach Boys album- that title goes to a couple of others, including “Holland”, “Sunflower”, and “The Beach Boys (1985)”. But, I still love every single track off of “Pet Sounds”. One of the reasons I like those other albums better is because of the contributions from the other band members. On “Pet Sounds”, it’s really a Brian Wilson solo album, featuring Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston, Carl Wilson, and Dennis Wilson on backing vocals.

But, then you get songs like “God Only Knows” that clearly benefited from Carl’s lead vocals and “That’s Not Me”, which benefited from Mike Love’s great lyrics and singing. This song is a great one to play on acoustic guitar and do a cover of because I didn’t have that feeling of stripping too much away from the song. This is a very personal-sounding song and I think it works great as an intimate cover music video. Of course, I plan on doing pretty much every song from “Pet Sounds”, but I arrived at this choice now because it’s the track that still hung on to that Brian Wilson/Mike Love writing tandem that put them on top in the early 60s.

I hope you enjoy tonight’s Laptop Session acoustic cover song and I hope you’ll come back to see another great cover music video from Chris Moore!

NOTE: This video was remastered in 2020 for improved video and sound.

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FMP Studios has its own domain name!

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Just a quick announcement:

I finally pulled the trigger and purchased a new domain name for FMP Studios, the premier music, video, graphics, marketing, and photo restoration studio: FMP-Studios.com!

I hope you’ll check it out. We offer a ton of great services, all of which you can read about right here on the Fusco-Moore Productions cover songs music video blog by searching “FMP Studios” in the search box on the top of the page. You’ll be blown away by our unique combination of: fast turnaround times, professional custom results, and lowest prices anywhere!

Let me just say, as well, that running this website (and the other six we have) isn’t easy. Working full time, doing a video every three days, and planning a wedding all contribute to the difficulty.

But, over the past few days, Chris Moore has really stepped-up and has done some great things for the site. You see, my job here on the video blog is to come up with ideas for new features and more ways to get us noticed. And then, I have to figure out how to make those ideas come to life. We’ve seen many examples of this over the past two months or so. We now have a full sitemap, an incredibly extensive directory, links to every category, and so much more. Plus, we post at least once a day.

Chris isn’t a coding kinda guy like me. But, he really wanted to help. So, I gave him some large tasks to do. With some help from Jeff, Chris wrote literally 50 pages worth of unique and informative content to put on ALL of our category pages! It was an incredible amount of work and I want him to know that it was appreciated. He also made great descriptions for the site and is making great posts for WCJM Radio and FMP Studios. I’ve had so much of the burden taken off of me. I usually have to come up with the ideas, DO ALL THE WORK, and THEN implement it all.

With Chris’ help, I’ve been able to do so many more unique things to the site because I don’t have to spend my time actually making the content, like I’ve always had to do in the past. Now, I can focus on making the site work properly and getting these enhancements to really make the site better in the end.

I also appreciate Jeff’s consistency here- I never have to bug him to do his Session. I never have to tell him to do a better job. He just does it. And now, since Chris should probably get a break from some of this stuff, I might have to start bugging Jeff soon! 🙂

What a team…

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“Unchained Melody” (The Righteous Brothers Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Welcome to tonight’s Laptop Session acoustic cover song starring the one…the only…Jim Fusco! Wait, that’s me! 🙂

Well, we’re back to full swing here at the Sessions and the cover songs don’t stop comin’. I’m happy to bring this acoustic version of a great song by the Righteous Brothers- another “new” band to the video blog. “Unchained Melody” is one of those songs whose title has nothing to do with the song, other than maybe describing its less-than-repetitive structure. If anyone has any further insight, I’d love to hear it.

This is kind of a tribute song to my future wife, Becky, as she loves this song and will most likely be played at our wedding. Maybe I’ll have a cover band like us, but I usually opt for the original version of the song, which I suppose is kind of ironic.

I also suppose that doing a cover of this song is also one of those “standard” covers that everyone does. But, I had to do it because one night this song was brought up in conversation and I just picked up the guitar and played it straight through on the first try. I’d never played it before and it just flowed from the first chord. That’s when I realized that newfound skill. And it’s progressed since I started this music blog. Now, with most songs, I can just pick up the guitar and play it…and also tell what chord is being played by ear. Sounds a bit sensationalized, but Chris will attest.

NOTE: in 2019, this song was named the #1 song of the 1960’s by listeners of SiriusXM and 60’s on 6.  I suppose I can’t argue with that, though I still would’ve loved if California Girls, which came in at #5, would have taken the top spot. 🙂

Anyway, enjoy this acoustic cover song tonight and stay tuned for more Laptop Sessions- I’m sure you’ll be pleased!

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