Just a little over a month after announcing the milestone of 60K views, Jeff has met his stated goal and reached 70K views before the new year.
It really is something else to see the outpouring of support the three of us have received throughout the year, and I hope that the next 10K views bring a lot of satisfied ears and eyes to many people.
I now have a new goal and I want to reach 100K views by the end of February.
Again, thanks to all of you who have supported us throughout session-a-day. I hope you have a great holiday season, and I hope you keep checking back for our end-of-year reflections and future sessions here on guitarbucketlist.com!!!
Well, tonight’s going to be a brief one, and I apologize. But I made up for it by calling in the big guns — aka one Jim Fusco for additional guitar stylings and harmony vocals — to make this video one my favorites that I’ve done. It’s certainly the best Christmas video that I’ve recorded. We had a lot of fun playing it, and I think that comes through on the recording.
I hope you enjoy it!
Oh, yeah, I should probably mention what song it is. This is “Green Christmas,” one of the holiday originals on the Barenaked Ladies’ Barenaked For the Holidays album. Second only to “Elf’s Lament” and maybe “Christmastime (Oh Yeah),” this is one of my favorite original tracks on the album. There’s just the right mix of humor and seriousness on this record, and I think this one leans more toward the serious side. I especially like the middle part — “Green, cause of everything I miss. All this missletoe, no kiss…”
Simply put, this was a lot of fun to record.
And it’s certainly not like we haven’t played it before. It’s been a while, but this song is officially part of our MoU Christmas Chord Book, Part II. That’s right, we needed multiple chord books to contain the number of songs we learned for our Christmas shows.
The reason this post is so brief is that I remembered and recorded my video much later than I would have liked, and then, Jim and I watched the SNL “Best of Christmas Past” DVD while wrapping our gifts for Christmas. It felt good to accomplish that while simultaneously watching some great skits — the Matt Foley “motivational speaker” Santa, Alec Baldwin’s “Shvety balls,” Eddie Murphy’s “Mr. Robinson’s neighborhood, and boy does the list go on… — and laughing (a lot!) together.
I’m sooooo tired. No, I’m not quoting a classic Beatles tune- I’m really freakin’ exhausted! Something about driving an hour to the Buckland Hills mall, shopping, eating a TON at Red Robin, and driving an hour back just makes me so tired. Then, I realized it was my night for a cover song music video. It always works that way. My way of dealing with it? Honk the horn while driving down I-84.
As we gear up for yet another winter storm here in CT, I find myself really ready for Christmas, and just in time. Today, we dug ourselves out of the snow and I went to my parents’ house for a party with my father’s cousins- a yearly tradition. It was so nice, especially because Mike was there. Felt like old times. Mike and I would attempt to fit in with the older crowd, but eventually would just run downstairs and play with our Hess trucks, which we would get each year. Today, we got pizza from Fratelli’s in Wallingford. My parents had never eaten there before, but I tried it at work and loved it. So, I put my recommendation out there, and thankfully, everyone loved it.
I then went to do a video job (maybe THAT’S why I’m so tired) at the New Haven Lawn Club. It was a nice Jewish wedding. I only had to do the ceremony, but got paid for a whole job. And a few days before Christmas, that’s always a welcome thing. Chris, Dana, and I went on our trek (see above) after I got home, and that brings us to my cover song music video for tonight.
I’ve known “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” my whole life. I always found it interesting that my father said this song wasn’t really a big Christmas “hit” until after John Lennon died. Just like George Harrison’s music- the man’s albums went on being obscure and not available on CD until AFTER he died. Hey, at least they’re out now. Dennis Wilson is the perfect example of this phenomenon, except it took everyone about 25 years to re-release something after his death. And he was the most talented of them all.
I dedicate this song to my boss, Steve Mirabella, who suggested I do this for the Laptop Sessions. It’s so rewarding to find someone who cares about and loves music as much as I do and is actually interested in these cover songs music videos we do on a daily basis here. And yes, Steve, I found a much less annoying way of handling the Yoko Ono parts, so the song sounds much less….well, you know…than the original.
I hope you all enjoy this great Christmas song and heed its words- Christmas is a time for EVERYONE and it will come no matter the wars, hardships, unreasonable hatred, etc. It’s good to know that there’s an anchor in our lives like that. It allows me to keep traditions going and that makes me incredibly happy. I’ll see you back here again on Tuesday for another great Laptop Session! Oh, and tonight is my 150th music video, and here’s to 150 more!
Good evening and welcome to your Friday edition of “Da Sessions” (as a student of mine put it – well, it could’ve been from Ditka too). Tonight I bring you another one of those “sorta” new band (solo artist?) songs that we like to break out quite frequently.
Tonight’s song is a Tom Petty classic called “Runnin’ Down A Dream”. It is from his first solo album called “Full Moon Fever”. This song is well known as having that really cool riff, with the fuzzy guitar and acoustic guitar and constant rock drum beat. Well, that doesn’t narrow it down much. Petty is known for having a lot of kick ass tunes in his library.
Tonight I had a battle with myself. I had no idea which song to record tonight out of the 5 I have remaining for the year. I spent about an hour deciding to record this song because I felt it was the least intensive on my voice.
I actually had myself a great day today. I woke up very early and discovered that I was getting an early start to my weekend. I do so love snow storms and I love it when we get an unexpected day off to enjoy it. I ended up doing some decorating around the house for Hanukkah, made pancakes for breakfast, and got to enjoy a lot of different things in Final Fantasy XI today. Because it didn’t start snowing here until about 11:30, my wife still got to go out to the lunch with her coworkers that she wanted to do, and I got to hit the gym like normal.
Now all I got to do is find a time tomorrow to finish my holiday shopping. Thankfully my wife took care of most of it :).
And I also have tomorrow morning off as well. Snowstorms do rule. They’re so good, “It’s like jumping into a foam block pit after being launched off a trampoline 15 feet into the air and you lay there for a while staring up at the ceiling thinking how cool that whole thing just was good”.
Editor’s Note: Unfortunately, Jeff’s acoustic cover song music videos are no longer on YouTube, but we decided to keep his cover song blog posts up. We figured these music blog entries would be good for posterity’s sake and because Jeff always gave such insightful posts each Session. We hope to see Jeff’s impressive catalog of acoustic rock songs here on the Laptop Sessions cover songs and original music blog again in the future. But, for now, please make sure to check-out hundreds of other acoustic cover songs from all of your favorite bands here on the Laptop Sessions music blog!
Editor’s Note: Unfortunately, Jeff’s acoustic cover song music videos are no longer on YouTube, but we decided to keep his cover song blog posts up. We figured these music blog entries would be good for posterity’s sake and because Jeff always gave such insightful posts each Session. We hope to see Jeff’s impressive catalog of acoustic rock songs here on the Laptop Sessions cover songs and origianal music blog again in the future. But, for now, please make sure to check-out hundreds of other acoustic cover songs from all of your favorite bands here on the Laptop Sessions music blog!
Cover Songs & Original Music Videos By Laptop Sessions Songwriters
The Laptop Sessions music video blog is a great combination of acoustic cover songs and original music. This website features cover songs from many of rock music's greatest bands, including the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and Bob Dylan. The blog archives hundreds of acoustic cover videos, how-to videos, and articles about music.We only play the best cover songs from the best rock bands of all time.
Here at the Laptop Sessions, we don't just sit down and do a bunch of cover songs- we make them our own. Yes, each cover will sound like the original, but it will also have a new, fresh sound to it. One of our specialties is taking a song from say the eighties and stripping-away the production. Then, we're left with just the song- simple (and most times, much better). We then record an acoustic version of that song and put it on this music video blog for all music fans to watch.
But, Laptop Sessions Music Blog is much more than just videos. There are informative blog posts, including the chords and lyrics to your favorite songs, recording tips, and much more. Plus, you can buy Jim Fusco's original songs right here on the music blog!
Right from the start, the Laptop Sessions Acoustic Cover Songs & Music Video Blog set out to be different. We wanted to give the best music blog for the world to enjoy. We wanted to put an end to bad YouTube cover videos forever. We wanted to bring great rock music back to the forefront with our great cover songs and original music. And, we guarantee we'll keep it this way- free videos in the archive for your musical enjoyment. If you're looking for the best cover songs, the most exciting new music, and the most informative music articles, look no further than right here: home of the world-famous Laptop Sessions.
