John Lennon covers: Acoustic cover songs – music videos by the songwriters of the Laptop Sessions video blog. Daily music blog with new indie rock acoustic songs.
Hey there! First self-written blog on the laptopsessions site, and I’m excited to be learning all the ins-and-outs of the process. (Not really EXCITED, cuz it’s lots of work, but the end result is exciting!) So I was in kind of a bind because 3 days comes and goes so fast, and suddenly I was left to do another cover. And anyone who knows me knows I used to HATE doing cover songs, so I have zero in my prelearned catalogue. However, I figured out this Beatles cover song, my second favorite Beatles tune of all time (The first being “Something”, which I will do in a future session on the Uke in tribute to George Harrison!) I’ve always loved “In My Life”, Ringo’s drums are great… they sound like feet shuffling during a slow dance, and I think anyone who gives this song a good listen will have a slide-show of their whole life playing in their head.
As I sing it to myself pictures of faces I dont speak to anymore still pop up, (“some are dead and some are living”- it’s true!), and loves that have come and gone. I dont know exactly what this song means to me, I guess just because there’s no current love to sing it to makes me believe it’s sung to my soul… and whoever out there shares it with me, and the Big Man upstairs who is responsible for it all. (No, not my father upstairs! haha!) Not bad for a 4 am recording on a binge of candy and diet Dr. Thunder. Enjoy!
Well, then- welcome to the first Jim Fusco Thursday here on the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog! 🙂 I’m happy tonight, as it was a day of getting things done. Actually, the past two days were all about getting things done and that always gives me a good feeling. I need to cover a few topics before I get started tonight:
My album, “Halfway There” is now on iTunes and available for download!! I’m very excited about this. I just signed up for some promotion. If I get any kind of response, I’ll gladly do a bigger campaign. Go check it out: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/halfway-there/id361828586 Please, it would mean so much to me if you would sign-in to iTunes, rate, and comment on the album. The more popularity it gets from the loyal music blog followers, the better chance it has at succeeding!
Next up, I’m going to be releasing the classic second (and last) album by MoU, “Homestead’s Revenge”. And, just like everything else in that band, I’ll be covering the cost of this submission myself…
I recorded three “episodes” of the Laptop Sessions tonight, so that ensures three weeks of all-new videos coming up!
Speaking of “episodes”, I had a thought tonight. I’m afraid that there’s so many Laptop Sessions videos that they’re becoming meaningless. Honestly- I don’t even remember some of the songs I’ve done! So, I’ll continue for a while on the once-a-week plan, but I really think I should do a “season” of them, much like a TV show. I think once every two weeks, or 26 “episodes” would be good for the year. That way, each music video would be a special event. And it would probably give me more time to promote the site. I used to worry that there wasn’t enough content to promote, but now I know that there’s SO much content that too much work went into it all with little return. I’ll keep you posted on my thoughts.
Finally, I want to mention the passing of rock legend Johnny Maestro of the Brooklyn Bridge. I was going to record “The Worst That Could Happen”, but I realize that, other than the chorus, it’s not one I know too well. I’ll keep listening and maybe I’ll bust it out someday. R.I.P., Johnny.
Onto tonight’s video!
This video, “Real Love” by the Beatles, came out so great that I wanted to push it ahead of my planned video for tonight, which will now air next week. I love this song so much and even though it’s played on piano in the recorded version, it translated very well to my nylon stringed acoustic guitar. And playing it on the 3rd fret capo really made it sound like the original. Now, when I say “original”, I actually mean the version done by the remaining Beatles (over John’s home recording) in 1996. John’s demo version does appear on one of his “Best Of” solo albums, but the lyrics are slightly different. The Beatles version from the Anthology in 1996 is simply perfect. The vocals are stunning (even though John’s voice sounds very ghostly and distant due to the original source tape they used, it works to a much better effect here than on “Free As A Bird”) and the guitar solo is so great. It’s George at his rock best- a biting and wailing solo over such a great love song.
And last night, I arrived at a pretty big conclusion: In my opinion, John Lennon is the best songwriter of all time. Yes, Brian Wilson is still (and will always be) my favorite songwriter, I have to admit that there was no one better than John Lennon. He wrote some of the best songs of all time- and some earlier than all the other 60s bands! He had a knack for the hooks (like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah”), but also wrote some of the best ballads ever. “In My Life”, “Woman”, and “Real Love” are three amazing examples. Okay, so Paul McCartney is a great songwriter, but his great songs are great and his less-than-great songs STINK! Even John Lennon’s less-than-perfect songs are good. He just had that gift. He was a great lyricist and wrote some of the most unique melodies ever.
So, with that in mind, I went to record “Real Love”. I remember when it came out- watching the Beatles Anthology on TV when it first aired in 1996. It was awesome. Especially because, at that point, I still thought I was the only Beatles fan in my generation. So, having that kind of special on TV was pretty big for me. And two new songs just made it a perfect situation.
I hope you enjoy tonight’s rendition of “Real Love” by the Beatles. I know it’ll go down as one of my favorite videos simply because I realized that it’s one of my favorite songs. It’ll always make me wonder, “What if the Beatles endured and somehow got to play into the 90s?” I think we all know it would’ve been awesome, despite what critics might have said at the time. It always bugged me that everyone expected bright, pop songs- but think about it: if the Beatles had continued playing from where they left off with “Abbey Road” (“Let It Be” was recorded earlier), the songs would’ve sounded very similar to “Free As A Bird” and “Real Love”. And that’s just fine by me. Until next Thursday, I hope you enjoy your weekend! Make sure to check out all of our Beatles cover songs here on the music blog!
Welcome, welcome to another edition of the Laptop Sessions with me, Jim Fusco! Tonight, I bring you the classic standard “Stand By Me”, made famous by Ben E. King and then covered by John Lennon years later. And, no, I did not base my pick tonight on the cheesy movie we watched while growing up…
Tonight, as it has been in the past with a couple other songs, the version of “Stand By Me” that plays in my head is a combination of the John Lennon version and the Ben E. King version. I hear the music to the Ben E. King version but John Lennon’s voice. It’s probably because Lennon did such a spot-on cover. Man, watching this video of John performing “Stand By Me” just makes me wish he were still alive to make music today. I know he would’ve still been great today and that he would be coming out with the kind of music that Paul and Ringo are coming out with now (not to mention the great stuff George did before he passed-away).
Anyway, I’ve known this song for as long as I can remember- just listening to the radio growing up. Then, while jamming with the Acai Berries a few weeks ago, we happened upon this tune and were going to do a cover video ourselves. But, I figured I could just do it on my own because it doesn’t require another singer or really any other instrumentation (unless you want to be a purist and have someone play the riff constantly in the background).
As much as I don’t like the fact that my studio is gone, I’m really happy with the acoustics I’ve been getting! You know, it’s terrible to have so much echo and reverb when recording a multi-track song, but it’s the greatest thing ever when recording a solo acoustic video like this. On another note, I’m trying to justify purchasing an HDV video camera for two reasons: to play the high definition video tapes of our wedding into the computer for editing, and the prospect of having the Laptop Sessions in high definition! How cool would that be? We’re getting faster internet next week, too, so my uploads wouldn’t be too painful. I’m watching an auction on eBay- let’s see what the Mrs. has to say…
We just found out this evening that we are CLEAR TO CLOSE on the house this Friday- right on schedule! It was a rough ride getting to this point, but everything is finally ni place and we’re hoping that we’re all moved in and set up by end-of-day Saturday. We bought all new furniture, hired movers, boxed everything up, got the condo rented- what a project. The best part is that we’re doing it all at once and (hopefully) that’ll mean it will be DONE all at once, you know? I hate stringing things out. So, this weekend will be very busy. But, hopefully things will be stable enough that I’ll be back with a fresh new video next Tuesday! Then, the Acai Berries are getting back together to record some more tracks- we’ve got a TON of songs in mind, but we’re ready to do about four of them, so stay-tuned.
Have a great week (make sure to stop back on Thursday for Jeff’s post!) and please, please, please wish us luck with our crazy weekend ahead. It promises to be one of the most important weekends of our lives! Until Tuesday…
Let’s have a little contest here- go ahead and find me a better solo acoustic performance of this song. I’ll wait…
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I didn’t think so! 🙂 Tonight, I bring you one of my personal favorite performances. I’ve been practicing this song for many months now. I wanted to get it right. To me, John Lennon’s “Woman” is an example of a perfect song. Yes, it’s about Yoko Ono, but if you look past that, you get a truly amazing song. If you haven’t heard it before, get ready to have a new favorite song. It’s probably my favorite love song of all time. The songwriting, the words, the tune, and even the production of the original version is simply unsurpassed in my mind. This came on the radio this morning- what a way to wake up. And I knew it was a sign that it was high time I did this song on the place for great acoustic cover song music videos: The Laptop Sessions blog!
“Woman” appears on “Double Fantasy”, which is an album that should’ve been titled, “Half Good”. John wrote half the songs and Yoko…wailed her way through the other half. But, this was John’s comeback album- he hadn’t done one in years before Double Fantasy came out. Of course, it turned out to be his last- it was released only weeks before he died. That makes songs like “Beautiful Boy” all the more poignant. That song is amazing, too- listening to Double Fantasy proves that John Lennon is one of the absolute best songwriters of all time. He had the perfect mix of genius and wacky, out-there “artist” to him. Songs like “Watching the Wheels” and the number one hit “(Just Like) Starting Over” (which I also covered- search for it in the John Lennon category) round out some great hits for John from Double Fantasy. He even had some other obscure, but equally great, songs on the album including “Cleanup Time” and “I’m Losing You”.
I tell you right now that this song will play at my wedding on July 25th. I will ball my eyes out. Something about the way he sings it and how he admits, “I’ve been a jerk in the past, but I am sooooo appreciative.” In the end, it all adds up to, “I love you.” Of course, if you know my tastes in music, you know that I love a good, “Yeah, yeah” or “Well, well” in a song. And we all know that John Lennon is the originator and master of that (“She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah” = genius!).
I’m glad to bring this acoustic cover song music video tonight. I am very hopeful that soon my YouTube video views will increase by leaps and bounds. You know I’ll keep you updated! Enjoy Jim Fusco Tuesday for this week and make sure you come back for Jeff’s Thumpin’ Thursday in only two days!
John Lennon Acoustic Rock Cover Songs and Free mp3 Downloads
John Lennon is perhaps better known as one half of the Lennon/McCartney songwriting duo that formed the backbone of the Beatles’ new rock music. Yet that is not to say that he is without successful new music to his name; after all, he is the songwriter behind such classics as “Imagine,” a piano song that is still widely played on radio stations and satellite broadcasts nationwide. Although he was killed long before the advent of the internet, a search for John Lennon YouTube videos will instantly produce a music video for “Imagine.” His acoustic guitar music was distinctive, and the posthumously released demo album of acoustic songs proved just how prolific a songwriter he really was. His passion for life went beyond songwriting, as he demonstrated with such activities as the “Bed-in for Peace.” Along with his wife, Yoko Ono (who was one of the songwriters that collaborated with him over the years), Lennon helped create a new role for the songwriter, putting purpose and passion into new music. The Laptop Sessions features acoustic cover songs from John Lennon’s considerable catalog.
