“The New Year” by Death Cab for Cutie – Chords, Tabs, & How to Play

“The New Year”
Death Cab for Cutie

(Capo 3rd fret)

C
So this is the New Year,
And I don’t feel any different
The clanking of crystal
C                                                                  F
Explosions off in the distance, off in the distance…

F  –  G
F  –  G

C
So this is the New Year,
And I have no resolutions
For self-assigned pennance
For problems with easy solutions

F
So everybody put your best shirt and dress on
G
Let’s make believe that we are wealthy for just this once
F
Lighting firecrackers off on the front lawn
G
As thirty dialogues bleed into one…

I wish the world was flat like the old days,
Then we could travel just by folding the map.
There’d be no airplanes or speed trains or freeways;
There’d be no distance that could hold us back…

F
G
There’d be no distance that could hold us back…

F
G
There’d be no distance that could hold us back…

F  –  G
F  –  G

C
So, this is the New Year…
So, this is the New Year…
So, this is the New Year…
So, this is the New Year…

** 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. **

“All For You” (Sister Hazel Cover)

For Sister Hazel chords & lyrics, CLICK HERE!

By Chris Moore:

Hello and welcome to another week of brand new cover song music videos!  For me and Jeff, this week isn’t just another week, though.  I’ll be back in school on all but Wednesday this week, so it’s the beginning of the end of summer.

As with every summer in my life, this one wraps up with me having accomplished some tasks that I’m proud of, and yet falling short of doing all that I wanted to.  As Jeff pointed out in last week’s post, the summer certainly does fly by.  If you’re an ambitious person — like myself — and yet a person who puts value on relaxation during the summer — like myself — then you’re bound to feel like you’ve fallen short (watch it!) by the end of August.

On the plus side, I spent an incredible amount of time this summer playing guitar.  I have played my own songs as well as some of my favorite Laptop Sessions cover songs repeatedly until I can now comfortably pick up and play about twenty different songs without worrying about forgetting lyrics or chords.  Unfortunately for me, my mastery of a song — whether a cover version or an original — fades over time, so this practice was a process.  In the midst of all this playing, I’ve been bitten by the writing bug, and I have written ten songs over the past couple months.  Of the ten, five are complete and five have some more work to be done, namely lyrics here and middle eights there.  I’m really excited about this set of songs, and when I combine them with the best from my previous four years of songwriting — yup, it’s been a whole four years since Love Out of Fashion — I have a set of songs that I’m really proud of.

Now the only problem is what to do with them…

Jim offered his services as producer, drummer, and instrumentalist extraordinaire on my next album as a birthday present last year, and I gave him some demos a while back which we talked about a bit.  However, now that I’m not living with him, it presents a difficult situation in terms of really living with the songs and playing, recording, listening, mixing, and otherwise playing around with the tracks as the album is in progress.  At home, I have the facilities via my MacBook to record demo-quality tracks with layered vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, bass, and harmonica, but I really should invest in a higher quality mic.  And, without drums, what’s the point at this, well, point?

So, for now at least, the songs remain as demos.  I’m itching to work with them, though, so it’ll only be a matter of time before I work out a plan for how to put these songs down in some enjoyable format.

Without further ado, I bring you my Laptop Session of the day, a cover of Sister Hazel’s “All For You” from their 1997 album …somewhere more familiar.  This band is most definitely what you would refer to as a one hit wonder, as “All For You” reached #11 on the Billboard Hot 100.  Unless you count #59 as a hit – which is the height reached by their 2000 single, “Change Your Mind,” the highest charting of any subsequent single in their career – then they are one hit wonders indeed.

Just last week, Sister Hazel released Release, and I decided to try it out.  At the same time I was in Newbury Comics, I came across a used and very cheap used copy of their aforementioned 1997 album, so I picked that up as well.  The older album is very ambitious with Lennon/McCartney-esque harmony duets on every song (a la “All For You”).  The instrumentation is very catchy and impressive, even if all the songs do start to sound the same after a while.

Regardless, I’ll be listening to the new album this week and I’ll get back to you.  For now, though, I ask you to direct your attention to the video below, and I kindly remind you not to close this tab until you’ve come back tomorrow for Jim Fusco Tuesday and then again for Jeff’s “Thumpin’ Thursday.”

See you next session!

“Jonathon Fisk” (Spoon Cover)

For Spoon chords & lyrics, CLICK HERE!

By Chris Moore:

Good evening, cover song music video fans.  I’m coming at you this Martin Luther King, Jr. Day with a selection from a band that will be releasing a brand new studio album tomorrow.  The band is Spoon, and the album coming out tomorrow is Transference.  I’ve only heard the single “Written in Reverse,” but that one song was enough to capture my interest.

And I couldn’t be happier, since there is little that makes me as excited as having a reason to go to the music store on a Tuesday afternoon/evening.

So, to help bide my time until tomorrow, I learned and practiced a different Spoon song this weekend and finally recorded it earlier today.  The song is “Jonathon Fisk” and it is from Spoon’s 2002 album Kill the Moonlight.  I had this album recommended to me by a friend just after New Year’s Day, in anticipation of their upcoming new release.  I listened to it a couple times, then put it aside.  Out of nowhere last week, I had the urge to hear it again, and now I can’t get enough of it.  Kill the Moonlight is quirky and upbeat and experimental — all the aspects of great alternative rock music that I love!

So, it is with great pleasure that I pass along “Jonathon Fisk” to you for your consideration.  Apparently, the song was written about a bully that songwriter Britt Daniel had experience with in school.  Later, according to Daniel, the real-life “Fisk” attended a significant number of the band’s shows.

Interesting how life turns out…

Speaking of the oddities of our modern lives, has anyone else seen Up in the Air?  It was every bit as good as I hoped it would be, but what a downer!  Let’s just say that one of the characters turns out to be a…  Well, a big fat doo-doo head, for lack of a better euphemism.  I literally sat through all of the credits just staring at the screen in disbelief.  Really though, without saying too much, I would highly recommend this one, if for no other reason than the fact that George Clooney is awesome.

Some say that we have the same chin, which I take as the highest form of compliment.  Go ahead, try not to stare dreamily at my chin while you’re watching my video tonight.

In unrelated news, I’m coming up on crunch time here, as the second marking period for my school ends tomorrow and midterms run until next Monday.  What does this mean for me?  Well, I have essentially a week to enter and finalize grades for all my classes.  I’m currently in the middle of the pile I wanted to finish by this evening, so I naturally decided that I had plenty of time to kick back and watch a couple hours of television.  Now that that’s over, it’s back to work for me.

Thankfully, I had this Laptop Session post to write, so I’ve been able to procrastinate just a little longer…

But, at long last, it’s back to gradin’ for me.  I hope you enjoy tonight’s video and that you’ll come back soon for another week’s worth of new material at the greatest cover song music video blog on the web today.

See you next session!

“Out Of Our Heads” by Sheryl Crow – Chords, Tabs, and How to Play

“Out Of Our Heads”
Sheryl Crow

(Capo 1)

Am                               F
If you feel you wanna fight me,
C                                             G
There’s a chain around your mind.
When something is holding you tightly,
What is real is so hard to find.

Losing babies to genocide,
Oh, where’s the meaning in that plight.
Can’t you see that we’ve really bought into
Every word they proclaimed and every lie, oh…

CHORUS 1:
Am              C           C              F            F              C
If we could only get out of our heads, out of our heads,
G
And into our hearts…
If we could only get out of our heads, out of our heads,
And into our hearts…

Someone’s feeding on your anger.
Someone’s been whispering in your ear.
You’ve seen his face before;
You’ve been played before.
These aren’t the words you need to hear.

Through the dawn of darkness blindly,
You have blood upon your hands.
All the world will treat you kindly,
But only the heart will understand, oh understand…

CHORUS 2:
If we could only get out of our heads, out of our heads,
And into our hearts….
Children of Abraham, lay down your fears, swallow your
tears, and look to your heart.

(repeat CHORUS 2)

Every man is his own prophet,
Oh, every prophet just a man.
I say, all the women stand up, say yes to themselves;
Teach your children best you can.

Let every man bow to the best in himself;
We’re not killing any more.
We’re the wisest ones, everybody listen,
‘Cause you can’t fight this feeling any more, oh, any more…

CHORUS 2 (repeat)

End on:

Am
Ohhhh….

** 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. **