Category Archives: Jim Fusco Songs

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

“Tuning In” (Original Song by Jim Fusco)

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By Jim Fusco:

Welcome to another edition of the Laptop Sessions with me, Jim Fusco!  Tonight, I bring you an original song that first appeared on my 2009 album, “Halfway There”.  Let’s get the promo stuff out of the way first: You can buy the album “Halfway There” with 12 original songs on my website at http://jimfusco.com/albums/halfway-there.html.  I play all of the instruments on the album and sing all the vocal parts, though there are a couple of guest appearances throughout.  The album, which you can buy on iTunes as well as on CD, features a beautiful album cover painting from Ben Quesnel.  I made him a website for his original artwork at http://bqartstudio.com.  The album cover ties the whole album together- the feeling of being only “halfway there” in life.

“Tuning In”, tonight’s original song music video, is about two people that are having a tough time finding time for each other.  As we all grow up and start to work for a living (after graduating school, hopefully), we find it hard to fit in all of the things we were accustomed to doing.  I know I found it difficult.  All of a sudden, your days are completely filled.  Plus, when you get home, there are chores to do around the house, plus cleaning, cooking, and the laundry.  No time is left over for anything fun anymore!  My future wife and I were in that situation for a while.  We eventually made everything work, but for a time, we would barely ever see each other.

I can recall the exact moment when I came up with the idea for this song, “Tuning In’.  Every week, we would get together and watch the TV show “Boston Legal”.  But, during this time period, we were both very busy, as I mentioned earlier.  I recall seeing a pattern: the ONLY time we’d see each other was to watch this one-hour long TV show!  Thus the line, “I’m tuning you in an hour a week…”  Of course, looking back on it all, I’m sure I was exaggerating a bit.  But, like I said, it was tough getting used to being so busy all of the time.  We went from spending every waking moment together to only seeing each other when all the chores, homework, and day jobs were done…hardly ever.

I chose to do “Tuning In” tonight for a few reasons:

First, I like the song!  Of course I do- I wrote it, right?  But, this one always gets me because I love the style.  I came up with that interesting strumming pattern (kind of start-stop thing I do with the guitar) and it’s got some cool chords thrown in there.  Plus, I think it’s one of my best choruses up to that point in my musical career.  It’s got a good hook and in the recording, I was able to use a neat vocal effect, too.  I got three vocal background parts and recorded each of them twice.  The result was a nice full effect that I borrowed from Bareknaked Ladies- they used the technique on their “Barenaked Ladies Are Me” album (specifically the song, “Bank Job”).

The second reason I chose “Tuning In” as my original song of the night was because I’m not quite ready to debut a new song from my upcoming album, “Those Around Us”.  Yes, all of the songs are recorded, mixed, and mastered.  But, I’m waiting for the album cover (again painted by Ben Quesnel- and it’s AMAZING) so I can produce the discs.  I’m so excited, but I want to debut Laptop Sessions acoustic music videos of the new songs once I have a release date set for the new album.  I’ll keep you posted- it’s going to be soon!

I hope you enjoy my original song, “Tuning In”, another step forward (in my opinion) as a songwriter and producer.  And I hope you’ll check out the album “Halfway There”, as well- it would mean the world to me if you listened (and bought, of course) the album.  Let me know what you think of “Tuning In” in the comments section!

“Have You Here” (Jim Fusco original song)

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By Jim Fusco:

And, welcome back!  Today is Wednesday, and here on the best acoustic music blog ever conceived, that means it’s time for an original song!  Today, I bring you a cut off of my new album, “Halfway There”, available now at http://jimfusco.com.

This song is the most personal one on the album and is really the most blunt song I’ve written in a long time.  It’s not meant to be angry or anything- it’s meant to ask questions of both myself and someone else.

Basically, I’m saying: “Hey, I’ve been trustworthy for over six years and still I feel that I’m not being fully trusted.”  The song pretty much speaks for itself after that.

This was the last song I wrote for the album, save for the bonus track.  To me, I can definitely tell that this was written after the bulk of the other songs.  Songs for an album always have a “feel” to them and it took me quite a while to record this track and make it “fit”.  But, I love the tune and the chord progression.  Fans of Stone Temple Pilots will hear the similarity between the riff of this song and the one in “Plush”, which I was listening to a lot at the time.  I didn’t realize it until afterward.  But, the similarity is just like an, “Oh, yeah, I see what you mean,” more than anything.

So, I hope you enjoy this original song.  It’s really one of my favorites off of the new album and the chord progression to the chorus is one of my favorites to play, too.  I’ll be back next Tuesday with yet another acoustic cover song on my normal day for posting music videos.  Have a great day!

“Our Love Doesn’t Translate” (Jim Fusco Original Song)

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By Jim Fusco:

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!

“On For Miles” (Jim Fusco Original Song)

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By Jim Fusco:

Why doesn’t anyone post Original Wednesdays anymore?  Well, I’ll just chalk it up to the fact that my brand-new album is coming out in less than two weeks- “Halfway There”!  If you’ve been to the music video blog before, you’ve probably seen advertisements for it.  You may have even heard a bit.  I hope you’re liking it so far- it’s a loooooong time in the making!  If you’ve been here before, you’ve probably also noticed that we cover almost 200 bands- a new video three times a week.  You may not know that on a weekly basis, we post original songs, as well!

Tonight, I bring you track 3 from the upcoming “Halfway There” LP.  On the album, you’ll notice that this song is much punchier and has a more modern sound to it.  Okay, so maybe it doesn’t have a modern sound, but it’s as modern as you’re gonna get from me! 🙂  The song has some cool effects and features a very intricate five part harmony on the chorus- it’s so cool to listen to it in the car because the chorus seems to “widen” the speakers as soon as it kicks in.  It does that on the first chorus of the song “Halfway There”, as well- I’d love to hear reactions when the album comes out!  I got this effect because of the new mastering techniques I learned.  No longer does it sound like a wet burlap sack is draped over the speakers when listening to a recording of mine.  I’ve actually even remastered my last album, “What About Today?”, in the same way- you should HEAR how much better it sounds!  One of these days, I’ll get a digital copy up on the FMP Store.

Anyway, “On For Miles” is supposed to be “single-worthy” in the sense that it’s the third song on the album, but it does follow two superb ones (if I do say so myself) in “Go Back To Him” and “Our Love Doesn’t Translate”.  I knew I needed to follow-up those songs with something really catchy, as well, but that also got you into the feel of the whole album, rather than listening to a collection of singles.  It’s tough to describe.

So, this version, which is only me and an acoustic guitar, has a much different vibe- but that’s when a cover song on acoustic guitar is really interesting.  It’s never interesting to take a song that was done acoustically in the first place and just do it live in front of the camera.  It’s fun to take a fully-produced song and pare it down to the bare bones and play it just as a “song” and not a production.

I hope you enjoy tonight’s original song and I hope you’re as excited as I am about the release of “Halfway There”.  I just got the UPS tracking number for the shipment- looks like I’ll be getting them a week earlier than expected, but you’re still going to have to wait until the 7th to get your copy! 🙂  I live for anticipation.

Have a great rest of the week and I’ll be back with only my second Beach Boys tune for the year on Tuesday.  I figure once a quarter is good to keep the loyal fans happy!  The only question is, “Which one?”  You’ll have to wait and see for that, too!  Geesh, I’m just teasing everyone tonight, huh?  Oh, wait, I guess I did just post two videos in a row…so, you can afford to wait a few days!  See you then.