Assistant Editor’s note (that’s Jeff): I am in the process of re-embedding some Laptop Sessions videos that I still have. This post was originally from 2009, but for history’s sake I have not edited the post.
And continuing from last week’s post is the song that is followed by the one I covered last week.
Now, I know that i’ve covered a bunch of Coldplay songs, and quite a few from Viva La Vida, but there’s a good reason. Everybody loves this band. They write catchy songs, and enjoy performing and love their fans. How can I not want to cover this band?
This song is more of an instrumental than a lyrical song, but the lyrics are present and sung. I initially wanted to perform this with my electric guitar hooked up to my bass amp. However, I hit a few snags. 1) My electric strings are kind of old. 2) The bridge of the guitar sticks out of the base of the guitar a bit, making the strings a bit further from the fretboard, and therefore more difficult to play. 3) The amp is meant for bass, and I could not find a good combination of settings that made my guitar sound like a guitar.
However, practicing the song on the electric proved helpful, as it made it a lot easier to play on the acoustic. Funny how that works sometimes.
This video came out great. I’m very proud of this cover.
I have reached my first milestone post 100K views and hit 110K views. I’m nearing 500 views per day on my videos, and I can’t wait to tell you when I am averaging 1K views per day. It could happen before the year is out!
Hello and welcome to a very special edition of the Laptop Sessions. This is Chris Moore writing for the first Monday — the first day, for that matter — of June. And June 1st is a special day for entertainment, as this is the date of the very first Tonight Show hosted by Conan O’Brien on NBC. As I type this, I’m watching the beginning of the episode and loving every moment. For me, Conan is the ultimate late show host, and I truly hope that he will establish himself as a primary late show host in the minds and hearts of viewers throughout the nation. I wasn’t sure what to expect tonight, as I haven’t watched an episode of Late Night for years.
I haven’t been disappointed.
As I’m watching the first segment with Conan’s “run to California,” his opening monologue, and his “tram tour” video, I’m remembering why his late night show was one of my favorite reasons to stay up past midnight in college. Well, that and late night Burger King chicken fries and burgers, of course.
My song choice tonight is directly inspired by Conan’s first night on the Tonight Show. His first musical guest — a band which he said he was delighted “to the bone marrow” about — is Pearl Jam. Thus, although I was planning to record and post the first Relient K Laptop Session, I decided instead to record a Pearl Jam song.
As a special treat (I hope), I’ve recorded a Relient K song to tide you over until I can get back to the one I wanted to record. In fact, this is probably for the best, as I started to work out the chords for “At Least We Made It This Far” and found that all online sources for Relient K chords were terribly inaccurate. So, I’ll keep working on that one and get back to it soon.
Tonight’s session is my cover song version of Pearl Jam’s “I Am Mine” from their 2002 album Riot Act. The first single off the record, “I Am Mine” is a great track that tackles existential issues. My favorite line is “I know I was born and I know that I’ll die; the in between is mine.” What a great line. When I’m stressed out, I sing this line in my head to remind myself that I’m in control of my life, at least to a certain degree.
Although I like the music and vocals on this song, to be fair, it is not perfect. Case in point: I’m not so crazy about the line “The oceans are full because everyone’s crying.” There’s something about that line that cheapens the overall impact for me, kind of like the line “It sucks to grow up” turned Jim off to the Ben Folds song “Still Fighting It.”
Regardless, this is a great song, and I worked very hard to do my absolute best to record an enjoyable cover session for you.
I can’t believe that I actually stayed up late enough to watch the entire Tonight Show, but here I am. This leaves two truths:
1) I will be setting at least a couple extra alarms for tomorrow morning.
2) I got to see not only the Will Ferrell interview, but I’m about to watch the Pearl Jam performance, which is supposed to feature material from their new album. Can’t wait!
So, that’s it for me tonight. I wish you a great week.
For those wondering how long it’s been since I last recorded a bona fide “Laptop Session,” please refer to my YouTube page, and check the length of my hair.
(This has long been one of my favorite aspects of the LS blog, as I can skim through the stills of my cover song music videos posted over the span of months and years and watch my hair grow out, out, out, then get cut, and continue to grow… Well, you get the idea.)
That being said, I decided several months ago that I would only post a cover song again when the time felt right. I’ve been keeping quite active reviewing albums for the Weekend Review and “Yes, No, or Maybe So” segments that are regularly published here at the site. However, I haven’t recorded an official cover song session since April 11th.
It’s now July 6th.
I spent the morning and afternoon this past Saturday driving around the state with a dear friend, windows down with selections from our favorite albums blasting at full volume. All the time, we were singing along and pointing out our favorite sections and solos, etc. in the various songs. Of course, the first album we chose was one with the following line: “I feel fine with the sun in my eyes, the wind in my hair…”
I’m referring to my pick for number one album of the decade and my personal favorite: the Wallflowers’ Red Letter Days.
This is one of those records that incessantly hits you with great songs, track after track. After the rock/pop/alternative rock attack of the first four tracks, the fifth track slows down a notch, but is equally as catchy as the songs that have come before. I’m referring to “Three Ways,” a beautiful little song that I’m featuring here this morning on the blog.
When I heard it again in my friend Mike’s car, I spent part of the duration thinking how much I would like to learn it on acoustic guitar. And that feeling didn’t dissipate days later. Thus, I took a break from reading Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass yesterday to figure out the chords to “Three Ways.” I found chords online, but not surprisingly, they were significantly flawed. This cemented my desire to complete a full session, posting chords and lyrics for others to access that are accurate to the song. For the chords, I spent quite a while playing to the song and experimenting with different options until I pieced together the core components of the song. As for the lyrics, I went to the CD booklet — one of the reasons I love having physical copies of my music — and copied them from there. (In fact, if you enjoy this song at all, I would strongly encourage you to check out this album, either as a download from iTunes or some other service, but PREFERABLY as a physical CD. I’m telling you: this is not only one of the best albums of all time, but it has excellent packaging as well!)
After a few takes, I recorded one that I was happy with, which is the one you’ll see tonight. So, without further ado, I’ll leave you to the actual recording. Enjoy…
E A E
Oh, it’s so funny to be seeing you after so long, girl,
E A G#m C#m
And with the way you look, I understand that you were not impressed.
A G#m C#m
But I heard you let that little friend of mine
D B7
Take off your party dress…
A G#m C#m
I’m not going to get too sentimental like those
A G#m C#m
other sticky valentines.
A G#m C#m
‘Cause I don’t know if you’ve been loving somebody;
D B7
I only know it isn’t mine.
A E A B7 G#m C#m
Alison, I know this world is killing you…
C#m A E A B7 E
Oh, Alison, my aim is true.
Well, I see you’ve got a husband now.
Did he leave your pretty fingers lying in the wedding cake?
You used to hold him right in your hand;
I’ll bet he took all he could take.
Sometimes I wish that I could stop you from talking
When I hear the silly things that you say.
I think somebody better put out the big light,
‘Cause I can’t stand to see you this way
Alison, I know this world is killing you.
Oh, Alison… My aim is true.
My aim is true. (repeat & fade)
** These chords and lyrics are interpretations and transcriptions, respectively, and are the sole property of the copyright holder(s). They are posted on this website free of charge for no profit for the purpose of study and commentary, as allowed for under the “fair use” provision of U.S. copyright law, and should only be used for such personal and/or academic work. **
