Category Archives: Beach Boys Songs

Beach Boys songs & covers: Acoustic cover songs – music videos by the songwriters of the Laptop Sessions video blog. Daily music blog with new indie rock acoustic songs.

The BEST COVER SONGS of 2011 (The Year-End Review Awards)

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By Chris Moore:

What better way to kick off a Monday at the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover song music video blog than to unveil the Weekend Review’s picks for the top ten cover songs of 2011.  After all, this is kind of our thing.  And this has been a busy year for covers.  Not only were there two – not one, but two! – collections of Buddy Holly covers released as tribute to the legendary singer/songwriter in 2011, but there were also two covers EPs put out by Relient K.  This is not to mention Brian Wilson digging back to his childhood (farther back than the Gershwin brothers this time) for the inspiration to In the Key of Disney.

A regular amount of covers wasn’t enough for 2011.  No, no: 2011 needed more covers!  Now, as you’ll recall from our mission statement, it has always been the goal of this blog to put an end to the proliferation of bad covers on YouTube.  In keeping with that tradition, we will now take the time to recognize these non-YouTube covers that have demonstrated excellence this year, standing out from the pack of mediocre (or worse) ones:

1)  “(You’re So Square) Baby, I Don’t Care” – Cee Lo Green (Cover of Buddy Holly)

2)  “Caroline No” – America (Cover of the Beach Boys)

3)  “Here Comes My Girl” – Relient K (Cover of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers)

4)  “Colors of the Wind” – Brian Wilson (Cover of the Disney song)

5)  “Baby” – Relient K (Cover of Justin Bieber)

6)  “Not Fade Away” – Florence and the Machine (Cover of Buddy Holly)

7)  “Interstate Love Song” – Relient K (Cover of Stone Temple Pilots)

8)  “It’s So Easy” – Paul McCartney (Cover of Buddy Holly)

9)  “Listen to Me” – Brian Wilson (Cover of Buddy Holly)

10) “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” – Brian Wilson (Cover of the Disney song)

 

Honorable Mention:

“Surf Wax America” – Relient K (Cover of Weezer)

“Disney Girls (1957)” by the Beach Boys Chords, Tabs, and How To Play: Ask the Musician

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By Jim Fusco:

Hello all, and welcome to another edition of “Ask the Musician” with me, Jim Fusco!

Tonight, I’m answering a question I’ve gotten a lot: “What are the chords to the Beach Boys’ “Disney Girls (1957)”?  One of our readers, Albert, left a nice message on my cover version of this song here on the blog, so I wanted to thank him by posting the chords so he can play it himself!

If you want to see the song played solo and acoustically, CLICK HERE to read my blog post and see the music video!

“Disney Girls (1957)”

Bruce Johnston

Capo on the first fret.

Intro: F / / Fmaj7 / / Gm7/F / / F F/G F/A Bb / / Dm/A / / Gm7/C / C7

F                                Am/E                      Gm7/D              Gm7
Clearing skies and drying eyes now I see your smile
Gm7/C                      C7                          Fmaj7               F.Bb  /   F.Fdim
Darkness goes and softness shows a changing style
F                    Am/E                               Gm7/D                Gm7
Just in time words that rhyme well bless your soul
Gm7/C                        C7                 Fmaj7             F6
Now I’ll fill your hands with kisses and a Tootsie Roll
Eb               Bb/D                     F/C                       F7
Oh reality, it’s not for me and it makes me laugh
Eb7                          Bb/D                   F/C                 F  /  Fdim  /  C7  /  Gm7  /  D  /  C7  /  E
Oh, fantasy world and Disney girls I’m coming back

Patti Page and summer days on old Cape Cod
Happy times making wine in my garage
Country shade and lemonade guess I’m slowing down
It’s a turned back world with a local girl in a smaller town
Open cars and clearer stars that’s what I’ve lacked

Eb7                          Bb/D                   F/C                    A7
But fantasy world and Disney girls I’m coming back

Dm                                                                Gm7
Love…Hi Rick and Dave Hi Pop…good morning mom
C7                                                                        Fmaj7          F6
Love…get up guess what I’m in love with a girl I found
Bb                  C7/Bb                          Gdim/A            A7                  D7+5         D7        Fdim/G  /   G7  /   C7+5  /  C7   /   Gm7/C   /    C7
She’s really swell ’cause she likes Church, bingo chances and old time dances

All my life I spent the night with dreams of you
And the warmth I missed and for the things I wished they’re all coming true
I’ve got my love to give and a place to live guess I’m gonna stay
It’d be a peaceful life with a forever wife and a kid someday
It’s early nights and pillow fights and your soft laugh

Eb7……………………….Bb/D………………..F/C
Fantasy world and Disney girls I’m coming back

“The Man With All The Toys” by Jim Fusco – FREE mp3 Download! – Day 8 of 14

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By Jim Fusco:

Hello everyone!  We begin week number two of free Christmas songs with another favorite of mine: “The Man With All The Toys” by the Beach Boys.  It sounds like a simple song on the surface, but there are some cool changes that Brian Wilson created for the chords.  The vocals, especially the cool “low harmonies” on the bridges, are difficult and really cool.

I tried to stay as close as possible to the original with the instruments, too.  I used my Fender Stratocaster on the neck pickup, just like Carl and Al did on the original recording.  For the lead guitar part, I actually had to re-record it because I didn’t originally put the echo effect on it, like the original had.  I also ended up recording two bass lines with slightly different sounds.  If you listen on headphones, you can hear one in each ear.  I never knew that there were two bass lines recorded for this song, but that’s how they got that cool “oomph” to the recording.  As always, the more I find out about the Beach Boys, the more I love them!

I hope this track adds to your enjoyment of the holidays (paraphrased from Christmas Vacation) and that you’ve taken the time to download the other seven tracks so far.  Stay tuned, because tomorrow I bring you Day 9!

“Little Saint Nick” by Jim Fusco – FREE mp3 Download! – Day 3 of 14

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By Jim Fusco:

Hello everyone and welcome to Day 3 of Jim Fusco’s 14 Day of Rock’n’Roll Christmas!  We keep it rolling tonight with my favorite Christmas song- “Little Saint Nick” by the Beach Boys!  This song is one of the few Christmas songs that I think holds up as one of the band’s better early songs.  It’s tough to describe, but think of any other artist and think of their Christmas hit.  Like “Wonderful Christmastime” by Paul McCartney.  That’s not a great song, really.  But, I like “Little Saint Nick” right up there with the rest of the Beach Boys’ early hits.  Maybe it’s just me, but then again, I’m a superman!

Please make sure to stay tuned, as we have 11 more songs coming your way.  I can’t wait to unveil the rest, but let’s hope it takes quite a while, as we don’t want Christmastime going by that fast!

See you tomorrow and enjoy “Little Saint Nick”!