Category Archives: Paul McCartney Songs

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

“Little Willow” (Paul McCartney Cover)

Posted on by
2

By Jim Fusco:

Hey folks!  Today, I bring you a favorite song of the Fusco family in “Little Willow” by Paul McCartney.  “Flaming Pie” is one of my favorite all-time albums and that’s because we listened to it CONSTANTLY when it came out, during vacation, and all throughout the summer.  It always brings back fond memories and I always play the album when I take my own vacations now.

It’s fitting that I’m presenting this song today, as we’re in the midst of Tropical Storm Hanna up here in Connecticut.  Hopefully it won’t be too bad because I have a video job (taping an anniversary party) up at the Mohegan Sun casino tonight.  Should be fun, but who wants to drive an hour in a tropical storm?

So, why is it so fitting?  Well, I read in the liner notes of “Flaming Pie” (which is the booklet I modeled the booklet to my first album, “With Or Without You”, after exactly) that this song, “Little Willow”, was written to calm people after a hurricane.  It’s such a great song- so simple, but it has a great calming effect.  I thought it was a perfect one to do while outside with my nylon string guitar.

There’s also “Heaven on a Sunday” off of this album that makes me feel so calm.  I guess that’s the point of the song, but it always reminded me of a particular summer when I went to Boy Scout camp in Camp Sequassen.  That must’ve been a busy summer.  No wonder I remember this album so well!  Anyway, I used to get to fish off of a row boat there.  Having “Heaven on a Sunday” (“cooling my fingers in the bay…”) stuck in my head while peacefully fishing was a zen-like experience.  I think of that moment and it takes me right back there.

On another topic, how about Jeff with his Beatles cover yesterday?  And Chris doing Hendrix?  Amazing, folks- you never know what you’re going to get next on this music video blog- the BEST music video blog in the universe!  Starting in a couple weeks, we’ll be bringing you yet another “New Bands Week” here on the Sessions because we love to challenge ourselves and entertain you.

I’ll be making a couple of BIG announcements in the next few minutes here on the music blog, so stay tuned and for now, enjoy today’s music video!

“My Brave Face” (Paul McCartney Cover)

Posted on by
Reply

By Jim Fusco:

Welcome to your Friday edition of the Laptop Sessions with me, Jim Fusco!

Tonight, I bring you a cool tune from Paul McCartney, “My Brave Face”. I always knew of this song, hearing it on the radio and such, but for some reason, I fell in love with it a couple years ago. I guess I never really knew it was Paul.

It’s a TOUGH song to sing and I just can’t seem to shake this cold lately, but I prepped myself by eating and drinking a lot before I did the take. It always makes me feel better.

There’s also some really tough lines to sing, as they have this odd syncopation to them. The line, “Ever since you left I have been trying to compose a ‘baby will you please come home’ note meant for you”. Are you kidding me? It took a while to get that one down.

But, I really like the way the whole video came out and I think you’ll agree it’s one of my more passionate ones.

Enjoy tonight’s video and make sure to get yourself back to https://www.guitarbucketlist.com tomorrow for another new video from the one and only Chris Moore!

“Great Day” (Paul McCartney Cover)

Posted on by
Reply

By Jim Fusco:

Welcome to your Sunday edition of the Laptop Sessions!

Today, I bring you a tune that I covered on my album “That’s All Folks” called “Great Day” by Paul McCartney. It closes out his 1997 album “Flaming Pie”, one of my all-time favorites.  That album, “That’s All Folks”, came about because I had purchased my first good acoustic guitar.  That guitar meant everything to me- it sounded great, played great, and made me feel like a real musician.  I didn’t even really know how to play too well when I bought it.  So, I learned how to play a bunch of songs I was listening to at the time.  That taught me more chords, which turned me into a better player.  And, at the time, I was going through a HUGE Paul McCartney phase.  They had just released “Wingspan” with all of Wings’ greatest hits.  I know those songs probably grate on people after all this time, but they were all new to me- and I fell for it pretty hard.  We were also listening, as a family, to Paul’s albums from the 90s quite a bit.  The first real song I learned how to play (and played it for my parents) was, of all things, “Hope of Deliverance” by Paul McCartney off of the “Off the Ground” album from the early 90s.  I guess you could say that Paul McCartney’s songs really taught me how to play.  And when it comes to rock musicians, you can’t get a much better tutor than him.

This is the perfect acoustic song and gives quite a vocal workout, which you wouldn’t expect in such a simple song.  I decided to do this acoustic cover song on my nylon-string classical acoustic guitar, as it gave me the opportunity to be more expressive in my performance.  This song is very soulful, which you wouldn’t really expect from the lyrics.  I kind of dumbed-down the guitar picking riff throughout because that’s not really my thing.  I’m a strummer and a soloist, but can’t do the flat-picking thing too well.  Paul McCartney, the phenom that he is, is proficient at almost anything, musically.  The man is one of the best bass players of all time, he can play the drums, sing (obviously), write songs, and play any guitar part you throw in front of him.  Oh, and he’s written some of the most famous rock songs of all time on the piano, as well.  That’s a pretty impressive life, for sure!

I hope you all enjoy today’s Session, as I’ll be back on Wednesday with a “political” original song- don’t miss it!

“Young Boy” (Paul McCartney Cover)

Posted on by
Reply

By Jim Fusco:

Hello everyone and welcome to your Thursday fix of the Laptop Sessions music blog!

I’ve been sick with a cold these past couple of days- good thing I had a couple of cover song videos in reserve! I should be back to my healthy self again over the weekend, and I have a list of literally 40 different songs to record cover song music videos for the Sessions…hopefully not all in one day…

This tune is a great one from Paul McCartney’s late 90’s album, “Flaming Pie”. That album stands as one of my all-time favorites because it came out right when I was really getting into music seriously. My family listened to it constantly. I plan on doing most of the songs off this album eventually because of it.  “Flaming Pie”, for me, will always be the “vacation” album.  I remember the summer that this album came out.  My family went on vacation- a road trip to one of the New England states.  We listened to this album constantly while on the trip.  It was so exciting to go into a music store and see this album being promoted.  I remember listening to the album on headphones in one of these stores (remember those kiosks?).  But the weird thing was- we were listening to it in the car!  I guess I was just excited to see an album I liked getting some popularity for once.

Paul McCartney’s songs, dare I say, are much better when he’s in a bad mood.  Unfortunately, his wife was suffering from cancer at the time he wrote and recorded “Flaming Pie”.  The emotions Paul put into this album range from sweet (“Little Willow”) to edgy (“Really Love You”).  I think “Flaming Pie” features some of the best songs he’s ever written.  “Heaven On A Sunday” is one of my absolute favorites- it’s just got that perfect peaceful sound.  And “The World Tonight” is just a great rock’n’roll song- the perfect single.  Paul even makes mention of his old friend John Lennon.  You remember John’s story of how the Beatles got their name, right?  “A man on a flaming pie came down and told me to spell “Beetles” with an “a”.”  Yeah, right.  Anyway, it made for a great song (and album) many, many years later.

This tune is a great one on acoustic guitar and was one of the first songs I leaned to play on guitar. It’s fun to sing and has a great melody, but most of all, I love the message in the song. “He’s gotta do it for himself.” How many times have I tried to steer someone in the “right” direction, only to learn that the person needed to learn on his own. I love when people learn from others’ mistakes, but I also accept the fact that it doesn’t happen that often.

I hope you enjoy tonight’s Paul McCartney cover song.  “Young Boy” is a great one for you to learn, too.  Just start with C – Am – Em – F – G.  There- you’ve got the verse and you’ve mastered five different chords!  Stay tuned for many more Paul McCartney songs here on the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog!