“The Trader” (Beach Boys Cover)

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Welcome to another week of the Laptop Sessions with me, Jim Fusco!  Tonight, I bring you the week’s first video in the Beach Boys’ classic song, “The Trader”.

First, let me say that tonight’s video is potentially the last that I’ll record here in the condo, as we’re hoping everything is still on track for moving in to the new house next Friday.  You’ll notice that this is the first video I’ve done since the studio was painted back to white- it’s sad, but I hope to rebuild bigger and better (and smarter) someday!

Onto tonight’s video: Carl Wilson wrote, in my opinion, one of the greatest songs of all time in “The Trader” for the Beach Boys’ 1973 album, Holland.  I love the album, too- they were just so cool in 1973.  Dennis’ contributions to the album were great and Mike Love gave his best song of all time in “Big Sur”.

But, Carl really stole the show with “The Trader”, a two-part masterpiece about an explorer finding a new land and claiming it for “velvet robes” (royalty).  In the process, he kicks-out the natives from the land and builds shops, roads, etc. through their beautiful countryside.  So many times things like this have happened through history, just because (as the song says) someone comes in, sees someone else already there, and is threatened because they say, “They’re not like me.”

The second part of the song, in my opinion, is supposed to be from the point of view of the natives.  How they see the world is so much different from the imperialistic visions of the “Trader” and, honestly, I always lose myself in the second part of this song.  The imagery that Carl and co-writer Jack Rieley put into their lyrics make me feel so bad for these people that were driven out of their homes and native land.  It’s such an odd idea that the evening breeze, the merging streams, etc. can all be valid “reasons to live” as we all (myself included) rely on such materialistic things.

Obviously, Carl lends an amazing vocal to this track, as he pretty much always did with his songs and others.  I tried to replicate it best I could here and believe I got the vocals down pretty good!  The second part of the song is sung much softer than I had anticipated, but I decided to keep it because it allowed me to sing a bit “sweeter” without having to project my voice.  Believe it or not, after just two false-starts, I was able to record this take.  I guess it helps when you’ve heard a song about 200 times over a span of fifteen years.

I’m currently racking my brain for some ideas on how to increase traffic to the site.  Our numbers are still up over last year’s numbers, but I fear for next year’s numbers.  It’s going to be tough to get back up there again without my ability to bug the other guys to step-it-up (which, in turn, makes me step-it-up).  So much has changed since I started this blog.  It’s hard to believe what’s gone on in the past two years.  Looking through our Original Wednesday posts, it was so interesting to get a once-a-week view of the three of our lives.  One minute, you’re best friends with someone, the next you barely know them.  And one week someone is missing someone, and a few weeks later, they’re not anymore.  So, if you’ve been visiting the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog recently, maybe you should take a look back through the archives and see where we were all at during the past couple of years.  You’ll learn a lot about us and learn how much things can change in such a short period of time.

Until next week, I hope you have a much less stressful week than I’m going to have! 🙂

Jim Fusco Surpasses 400,000 Views on YouTube!

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Seems like forever since we hit a milestone in views- I hope that life will calm down enough to start promotion back up on the blog.

But, in the meantime, I can celebrate 400,000 views on YouTube of my nearly 200 acoustic cover song music videos!  I can’t wait to get the elusive half-million- then, I’ll be halfway to one of my life goals- a million views on YouTube.

To have a million of anything, to me, is pretty impressive.  “Oh, if I had a dollar…” 🙂

Anyway, thanks to all for the support and the views- keep ’em coming!

“The Fool on the Hill” (Beatles Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Welcome, all, to a late edition of Jim Fusco Tuesdays here on the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog!

I’m back with my friends Steve and Chris for another Beatles cover song video- tonight, we bring you ‘The Fool On the Hill”.  Chris C. brought this song to our attention because he has an incredible set of recorders (flute-like instruments) that he wanted to play at our practice sessions.  We were going to play “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away”, but it looks like Jeff and Chris M. have that market cornered already!

Anyway, when the Acai Berries’ Chris suggested “The Fool On the Hill”, I jumped at the idea- it would give me a chance to do some great Paul McCartney-like singing and Chris a chance to play his recorder in the style of the flutes on the song.  Let me tell you- he got it right on, didn’t he?

And how about the great 12-string guitar playing by Steve off-camera.  That picking style he’s doing on the D6 chord sounds a lot like “Dream On” from Aerosmith and it adds such a mystical feel to this song.  Paul McCartney said he wrote it about people like Maharishi, of whom people said was just a fool standing alone on a hill.  Those nay-sayers to the Maharishi’s principles would just discount his teachings and brush him to the side.

Come to think of it, this is a pretty universal theme.  I mean, I was just listening to my “old” album “My Other Half” from 2002.  I was a senior in high school when I recorded it and high-school “issues” (relationships, etc.) were very fresh on my mind.  I had just met Becky at the time, but we didn’t start officially dating until about two weeks before the album came out, so the songs on “My Other Half” reflect previous people I was (or even wasn’t) involved with.  There’s a song called “Never Taking Your Chances” (which is so weird, because that song was tuck in my head before I even starting thinking about writing this post) and I say, “Just because I’m not what you see, it doesn’t mean you can walk over me, and never taking your chances with me.”

I was complaining about someone who was a friend to someone I was interested in.  Well, looooong story short, she basically prevented me from ever having a chance with that person.  Why?  Who knows!  She knew nothing about me, but just like the “Fool on the Hill”, she assumed things about me and never gave me a chance.

That’s what Paul’s saying in this song: “They never listen to him, they can see what he wants to do.”  No they don’t!  They just think they see what he “wants to do” because of stereotypes, rumors, conjecture, etc.  I’m pretty happy that I made this connection tonight, as it gives “The Fool On the Hill” much greater meaning to me.

And I hope it gives meaning to you, too!  Anyway, I’m excited about an exciting weekend of TNA Wrestling ahead- three hours of iMPACT on Thursday (not to mention a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my main man Jeff Copperthite!!!) and then the biggest pay-per-view of the year on Sunday, Bound For Glory.  Of course, I’ll be pulling for Sting to beat AJ Styles all the way.  Only 15 days left until the house is done, but man, it’s going to be stressful two weeks.  I get sick to my stomach just thinking about it.

Well, have a great one and I promise that next week’s video will be on time!

“You Can Do Magic” (America Cover) – The Traveling Acai Berries

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By Jim Fusco:

I was so disappointed to find that Monday’s video wasn’t a Beatles song- myself and my fellow Acai Berries had an all-new Beatles video ready to go to keep the streak alive, but now I guess I’ll save it until next week.  It’s a cool one, too, so be sure to check back!

Onto tonight’s video:

“You Can Do Magic” is one of those songs that I didn’t need to convince Becky to like.  This was a Top 5 Billboard hit for America in the mid eighties and was their last big hit to date.  Of course, they didn’t write this song and, if my memory serves me from reading the America Box Set liner notes like seven years ago, they didn’t play any of the instruments on it, either.  The writer of the song basically wrote it for the members of America (namely Gerry Beckley, whose “unique” voice actually works pretty great on this song) to sing and had the whole thing ready.  All Beckley and Bunnell had to do was overdub some vocals.  The guitar solo part in the beginning does sound like Beckley’s style, so maybe it’s him on that part…

That first guitar part was something I tinkered with before going to our recording session last week.  But then Steve came in and said, “Hey Jim, how about this over the beginning chords,” and busted out a great part on the 12-string Gibson that blew me away.  So, out went my dinky solo on regular acoustic and in came Steve’s jangly solo on the 12-string.  You can even hear Chris C. playing in the background (he’s actually on camera during next week’s video) if you turn it up, as he was picking the bass parts (an octave higher) on his mandolin.

Let me take this opportunity to say that I’ll finally admit that a Martin guitar is probably worth the extra money.  Every time I pick up Steve’s guitar, I’m just in awe of how clean and clear it sounds.  The low strings are especially crisp and it stays in near-perfect tune, too.  They make a new all-wood version for around $999 (the company cited the recession as a reason to make an “affordable” guitar), but it’s probably going to be quite some time before I can justify purchasing that.  Could be a nice Christmas present from Becky…for the next ten years…

And how about Steve’s vocals?  He did a great job backing me up on this song- again, it’s like singing with my father or my brother.  They already know the parts and just sometimes ask for me to clarify something.  It’s not like I have to teach them the part- it just sorta comes naturally.  What a breath of fresh air.  It’s one of the big reasons (besides his ability to pick up chord changes by ear) why we can bust-out two videos during a recording session.  And Chris C. can sight-read.  One take and he’s ready to go.  My vocals, even though I don’t like to point these things out, were a bit weak, as this take was done after two solid hours of playing and singing.  Earlier takes (done in the first half-hour) were much stronger on my part- my voice was just tired at this point.

And, we get a rare glimpse of Steve on camera this week!!  Don’t get used to it- you don’t see him at all in next week’s video! 🙂

I hope you enjoy this classic America tune.  Of course, I’ll be back next week with another Traveling Acai Berries video, so come on back.  But, while you’re at it, remember that we post every Monday and Thursday, as well!  I, for one, love to keep up with the posts and I’ve read every single one.  It’s great to check your email (remember to subscribe to the blog- click the links on the sidebar to the left) and get a fresh new post/video three times a week!  Plus, check out our past videos, as they’re just as good as the new ones (I sound like one of those annoying AT&T Rollover Minutes commercials) and even if you started today, you’d have well over a year of quality entertainment at your fingertips.

On the personal front, this has been a good week of getting stuff done- painting over the weekend and securing a renter for our place (!!!!) was followed by delivering the lighting to our new house, which we got a mini tour of today.  It looks amazing (we have trim around the windows, which is a novelty that we didn’t have in the condo) and it’s really coming together.  I can’t believe it’s about three weeks away…

Until next week, enjoy tonight’s video and enjoy Jeff’s video on Thursday!  It’s sure to please- talk to you then!