For Beatles chords & lyrics, CLICK HERE!

By Chris Moore:

Hello and welcome to my first traditional “video and a post” Laptop Session in weeks!  For the past few posts, I’ve opted to write reviews, but now its back to Beatles cover songs for me!  This was actually a lot of fun, but I don’t get to write as directly and personally as I do in a post like this one.  Thus, I’m back with a guitar, recording my first cover song music video since “God’s Gonna Cut You Down.” Let’s just say it’s good to be “back”!

You’ve probably already noticed that the Laptop Sessions main page has suddenly been filled with “chords & lyrics” posts.  Let me start by explaining these four new additions to the blog.

First, the Beatles chords (for “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away”) are obviously meant to accompany this post.  If you enjoy it, then by all means, jump in and start playing it yourself.  Actually, you might want to read the rest of my post before you break out your axe…

So, why the added chords and lyrics?

Well, I’ve been itching to record a cover version of a track from the new Pearl Jam album Backspacer ever since I started listening to it last Sunday.  Specifically, there are two largely acoustic tracks that are very easily translatable into acoustic music videos — namely, “Just Breathe” and “The End.”  The first single, “The Fixer,” is more of a full-band, harder rock affair, but its structure is fairly simple and it is truly a great deal of fun to sing.  I’m still deciding which song to record for my session (anyone care to hazard a guess before next week?).

Now, normally I would wait until next Monday to post the chords, but I’ve been learning/practicing all three and going out of my mind attempting to comprehend how anyone could post the chords and lyrics without having even the slightest idea as to what the correct words are.  This, in fact, is one of the most profoundly aggravating aspects of the decline of CD’s, at least in my mind — people who download digitally do not necessarily get a booklet, and even if they do, do not necessarily take the time to read the liner notes and lyrics.  Has music really become that abundant and easily accessible that we couldn’t care less what the singer is actually saying, or what the album as a whole is actually about?  This is the feeling I get when I surf the web for chords and lyrics.

This is also why I enjoy spending time in CD stores like Newbury Comics or — as I visited today — Exile on Main Street.  It’s a good feeling to see albums that you had forgotten about, never actually seen in person, or perhaps never even heard of before.  I left today with my hands covered in a thin layer of dust, having purchased an album that had collected a considerable amount of that aforementioned dust — the Charlie Sexton Sextet’s Under the Wishing Tree.  (Sexton played with Dylan for a few years, left the band a while back, and just recently rejoined — he was perhaps my favorite guitarist that I’ve seen in Dylan’s band, so I had to check it out.  More to come after I’ve listened more closely to the album…)

After all this posting, I suppose I should actually take a few moments to address the video you’re about to watch…

Following Jeff’s excellent rendition of “Yesterday” last Thumpin’ Thursday, I decided I couldn’t let the Beatles marathon slip away on my watch.  I had been planning to record a Pearl Jam song (as I mentioned earlier), so I opted instead to record a Beatles song that had been sung by Eddie Vedder in a cover version a few years back.  “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away” is the third track from the Beatles’ excellent 1965 album Help! — Nicole’s favorite Beatles album.  Thankfully, I was able to borrow her copy of the 2009 remastered version of Help! and ensure that I was more than prepared to record this great song.

The video that follows is a perfect example of what seems like a short, simple song but is in actuality a little gem.  To me, this song exemplifies how the Beatles really aren’t overrated — even with a simple verse-verse-chorus-repeat-fade song, Lennon and McCartney had to throw in some interesting chords and variations.  It’s not simply G or C that you’re hearing — instead, my underworked and not-so-dexterous pinky finger was called into play to make the song sound entirely accurate.  Even as I type, my hand is still recovering from the workout!  Overall, I’m very pleased with how the recording came out, even if my lips ended up a bit dry and thus led to a few flubs during my “vocal flute” solo at the outro.  I hope you can forgive the slight inaccuracies and enjoy this great Lennon/McCartney classic!

Oh, as a quick “P.S.,” I should mention that my review of the 2009 remaster of Let It Be really will be coming eventually.  My internet was a bit screwy last week and I lost all my progress, so I put it aside temporarily.

It’s been a great Yom Kippur (see my Twitter posts above), and although it’s back to school for me tomorrow, I still have another surprise up my sleeve for later this week.  That is, if my internet connection can hold steady…

See you next session!