“Barely Breathing” (Duncan Sheik Cover)

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By Chris Moore:

There’s only one day left after today for our latest edition of “New Bands Week.”  It’s always sad to see it go…  Now, in the past, we have unofficially extended our New Band Weeks by quite a few days, fishing deep into our reserves to find songs from new and different artists.  I wonder if Jim and Jeff plan to surprise us with acoustic covers of new bands even after Sunday…

Unfortunately, I’ll be breaking that trend by Monday, when I post my 100th Laptop Session!  I wanted to make it a special one, so I have chosen — and no one can convince me otherwise — to perform barenaked.  Oops, that was a typo.  I meant to write “Barenaked” with a capital “B.”  My bad.  My 100th session will be “Break Your Heart” by the Barenaked Ladies.  This is one of my all-time favorite songs, ever since Jim played it for me a few years ago.  I love everything about it — the lyrics, the concept, the emotion expressed, and most of all, Steven Page’s vocal performance.  Now, I’ll admit that this song is a bit out of my comfort zone.  And I spent about an hour tonight practicing and perfecting my performance and running my voice ragged and to the edge.  Will this be my best acoustic cover music video ever?  Probably not.  But, will it set the bar higher for my next 100 session?  Absolutely!

But, that’s enough about my next session.  I should probably write at least a little bit about my cover tonight…

Before New Bands Week started, we each signed up for bands we planned to cover.  I had signed up for Jimi Hendrix, Billy Bragg & Wilco, and John Denver.  Then, I jumped the gun and released a Jimi Hendrix cover a few weeks ago.  That left me with two.  I recorded “Walt Whitman’s Niece” by Billy Bragg & Wilco for my Tuesday session, so that left John Denver.  And I truly planned on recording a Denver song.

But it was not meant to be.  Instead, I’m bringing you a Billboard Hot 100 top twenty song.  This is Duncan Sheik’s “Barely Breathing,” a song that I’ve been practicing and wanting to record for a couple months.  Tonight, finally, I pulled it out, dusted it off, and I hope you enjoy it.  It really is one of those songs that received a ridiculous amount of radio airplay when I used to listen to it, but it absolutely deserved it.  It was easy to learn, had some interesting chord patterns, and this was probably one of the most fun recording sessions I’ve had in some time!  It was actually an odd experience — I haven’t heard the song for years, but I remembered almost all the words the first time around, and the whole experience was very natural.  For me, that was exciting!

Well, that’s it for me for now — Jeff Copperthite’s closing New Bands Week video is in the archive.

See you next session!

Editor’s note: this post was originally published before December 2015; the exact original date is uncertain.

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Mike Fusco Original Wednesday extra “You I Won’t Forget”

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Hey everyone-

I’ve had this song recorded for awhile now, it was actually the first song I ever wrote on guitar (and it was completely by accident!)  I was waiting for Mr. Jim Fusco (who’s great new album “Halfway There” is available now for purchase!…you’re welcome, Fusc!) to get off the phone my sophomore year of high school so I can Dial up (for those of you who don’t know what that is, we used to have to dial up to go online and connect to a blazing 24.4 kbs on an old modem) and go on Instant Messenger.  AOL was the place to be at night in high school, and my brother took up our only phone line.

Impatiently waiting, I picked up my unplugged electric guitar I had received two years earlier (on Jim’s 16th birthday, actually).  My father can’t turn down a good deal, so he excitedly asked me if I wanted a guitar, too, and drove us to the JCPenny outlet store that morning before the party so I could have one as well =)  I never learned how to play it in those two years, but Jim had started to get the basics and knew all the chords.

I recall seeing him play a G (which, to a non-guitar player, looks like this cool, difficult chord).  So I pick it up, throw my fingers on it, get it completely wrong, but as soon as I strummed it, I LOVED the chord.  It sounded like a harp.  And an entire melody and lyrics hit me all at once, as I struggled the better part of the night to figure out how the strings worked and BS some chords to fit this new tune.

Needless to say, I never made it on instant messenger that night.  I became a guitar player =)  And it still goes down as one of my favorite songs, and I thank Jim for three things- 1. Vocals on the original recording 2. driving me home in the camaro everyday so I’d stare at the passenger-side side-view mirror that said “Objects are Closer Than They Appear” (listen for a variation in the song!) and 3. Talking on the phone too long. =)  enjoy!

Editor’s note: this post was originally published before December 2015; the exact original date is uncertain.

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“Burnin’ Up” by Goo Goo Dolls – Chords, Tabs, & How to Play

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Introduction:  G-Em7-CaddD-G

Verse: G – Em – C – G

Chorus: C – D – G – Em

“Burnin’ Up Inside…” – F-Em-D

Bridge: Em (x3) Bm (end on C)

Verse 1:

Said you’re burnin’ up inside

No one seems to tell

You’re living from a personalized

Manual from hell

Chorus:

Life seems pretty easy when it’s from my easy chair

And you’re burnin’ up inside and no one cares

Verse 2:

Said you’d have enough this time

This town don’t treat you well

You always find coincidence

Well I do parallel

Chorus 2:

Life seems pretty easy when it’s from my easy chair

And you’re burnin’ up inside (x3)

And you hurt me..

Bridge/Guitar Solo

Verse 3:

Come and take my hand tonight

I’ll show you where to start

’cause every word that left your lips

Like a needle through my heart

Chorus 2

Outro

(’cause you’re burnin’ up inside) Hurt my eyes (x4)

End on G

Editor’s note: this post was originally published before December 2015; the exact original date is uncertain.

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“Wishful Thinking” (Wilco Cover)

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For Wilco chords, CLICK HERE!

By Chris Moore:

Welcome back for another installment of “Chris Moore Monday” here at the Laptop Sessions.  I’m excited to bring you another installment in my little Wilco project.  I decided a couple months ago that I would like to record one song from each of their albums — since there are six, I figured that would be a reasonable goal.

I’ve already recorded from their first album (“Box of Letters” from A.M.), third album (“How to Fight Loneliness” from Summerteeth), fourth album (“I Am Trying To Break Your Heart” from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot), and now I’m happy to present “Wishful Thinking,” a track from their fifth album, A Ghost is Born.

This album took me a little time to get into, but once I did, I really grew to love the songs.  There aren’t really any songs on the album that stand out as single-worthy; in fact, I don’t believe they even released a single.  But, as you become more and more familiar with the songs, you begin to pick up on the subtle nuances in both the instrumentation and the vocals.  Considering the album’s twelve tracks, I thought this one would work best as a solo acoustic number.  In addition, I think the vocals are a particularly good match for my range and style, so I’m always excited when that happens…

Although I chose this song, my instant favorite track on the album was “Company In My Back.”  I didn’t even know what that meant at first, but I loved the song, so I had to do some research so I could fully understand what I was singing along to!  I may yet record that track (coincidentally the song that follows “Wishful Thinking”) for a future “Members Only” video or a surprise non-Monday video.  After all, with so many great bands and songs that we haven’t covered, I don’t feel like I can spend too much time on any one artist, even if they’re one of my favorites…

So, I’ll hold myself back from recording my final two Wilco songs of this little “project” at least for a while.  I did finally buy the second Wilco studio album today with a Best Buy gift card from Christmas.  That was exciting, if a bit sad, since that’s the final gap in my Wilco collection.  But, it’s a double album, so it’s a sizeable gap and I’m sure I’ll enjoy it.  I’ve only had time to listen to the first disc, and I was distracted for part of it, so I think I’ll put it on as I get ready for bed.

I should share that the second CD I bought with the gift card today is Warren Zevon’s 1991 album Mr. Bad Example.  Apparently, this is the “Encore: Back in Print Imprint” version.  If I recall properly, this album was such a flop when it came out that it went out of print until recently.  I couldn’t be more excited, as my second favorite Zevon album of all time is The Envoy, his eighties album that was so poorly received that his record label dropped him.  And I love that one!  What a shame.

On a personal note, outside of my DVD player temporarily going haywire last night, I had a really relaxing weekend.  For those of you who don’t teach and/or have work that you bring home, that’s also code for “I didn’t really get much work done.”  Oh, well.  The week will begin soon enough, and as good ole T.S. Eliot wrote, “There will be time.  There will be time.”  I hope so, because I’m going into midterms with a slightly larger pile of work than I hoped for and my BEST portfolio on the horizon…

Oh, and I almost forgot.  If you haven’t already, you should check out my review of Meade Skelton’s new single “My Loudoun County Home,” which I posted yesterday.  Jim and I are quite excited to have our music reviews section expanding, so go ahead and read them all!  Or, if you don’t have time for that, then browse the archive for another awesome “Jim Fusco Tuesday.”

See you next session!

Editor’s note: this post was originally published before December 2015; the exact original date is uncertain.

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