Tag Archives: acoustic rock

“The Warmth of the Sun” (Beach Boys Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Here’s one plenty of people should know: the classic and beautiful “Warmth of the Sun” by the Beach Boys, written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love.  The story goes that both Brian and Mike were together the night that President John F. Kennedy passed away.  It must’ve been quite a night in America- I can only imagine it.  But, in songwriters’ darkest hours come some great material.  Most of the great songs you hear are a result of heartache- it’s usually due to losing a loved one.  But, Brian Wilson and Mike Love of the Beach Boys were creative in their songwriting and made their feellings for the passing of their President known in song.  Sure, they tailored it into a love-lost song (“The love of my life, she left me one day…”), but you can tell the sentiment in the song, especially considering the night they wrote it.

“The Warmth of the Sun” is a beautiful song in all ways- the chord changes are just great.  Brian Wilson always had a knack at creating chord progressions that were familiar, but had a great twist.  The bass line always moves in the opposite direction of where you expect it to go.  In addition to great music (and the instrumental track, which I’m pretty sure was played by the Beach Boys band members themselves), this song has AMAZING harmonies.  Brian Wilson’s voice simply soars in this song.  With the addition of the dead-on background vocals, you’ve got a pretty perfect song.  I’m just glad I found a way to put a solo acoustic performance together and record it with just an acoustic guitar for a cover song music video.

This video is fulfilling a request I received in my first week of doing the Laptop Sessions. I waited until now because I knew I had to get this one right. I had to practice the chords (not too easy, and this is my own interpretation- I didn’t even use a book), plus get the intricate tune correct. There’s so many subtleties to this tune and NO ONE was writing pop music like this in 1963. Talk about ahead of their time.

Please visit my website at http://jimfusco.com for more great music–original songs! One of the main ideas behind doing all of these cover songs for the Laptop Sessions is that if you like the style of music that I do live performances of, you’ll also love my original music, too!  I really think that’s true- my original songs aren’t just throwbacks or anything like that.  They’re unique songs that put a modern twist on my favorite influences, including The Beach Boys, the Byrds, the Beatles, and the Moody Blues.  I hope you enjoy tonight’s Beach Boys cover song and I hope you’ll stay tuned for more.  Make sure to follow me on Twitter @jimfuscomusic so you always know the latest on my songwriting endeavors, too!

“And I Love Her” (Beatles Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Here on this edition of The Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog is a version I’m really proud of. My roommate and I did this version of the classic Beatles song “And I Love Her”. I think having two people perform the song (even though there’s only one vocal) really helps because it allowed me to play the solo and the little guitar riff at the beginning and end.

You know, I think “And I Love Her” would’ve been the perfect song to do on my “gut-string” (nylon, basically) guitar.  But, there’s no way the sound of the solo would’ve risen above the steel-string guitar we used for the rhythm part.  So, I was forced to use my steel-string acoustic guitar, as well.

One interesting aspect of “And I Love Her” is the key change in the middle.  It’s almost indiscernible because the key change happens during the guitar solo.  That made the second half of the song harder to play, of course.  I noticed this same phenomenon in the Beach Boys’ #1 Hit, “I Get Around”.  The same exact thing happens- the key changes in the song as soon as the guitar solo starts.  The only difference?  “And I Love Her” actually goes back to the original key at the end!  Now, that’s a good piece of songwriting there.

I love this Beatles song, it’s fun to sing, and really shows how great the Beatles were, even at the beginning of their popularity.  I know there are a lot of people that prefer the later Beatles work over their early stuff.  But for me, the early Beatles music was something magical.  These guys knew, from a very young age, exactly how to write a hit song.  And, even for songs that weren’t necessarily hits, like “And I Love Her”, they were able to write an impressive tune that was as good (or better) than anything else at the time.  In the Beach Boys, you had Brian Wilson writing all of the songs (Mike Love helped with lyrics, of course) for the first five or six years.  It was only later in 1968 that the rest of the band members (especially Dennis Wilson) started contributing and showing their own genius as songwriters.  But with the Beatles, you had both Paul McCartney and John Lennon at the top of their game right from Day One and that continued throughout the Beatles’ 8-year run.  It was only an added bonus to get classic songs by George Harrison and Ringo Starr in there.

One funny thing: In the Beatles, obviously Paul McCartney and John Lennon were the big-shots.  But, for me, post 1970, I prefer the solo music of George Harrison and Ringo Starr over almost anything that John and Paul did during their solo careers.  You know that old phrase, “The whole is greater than the sum of the parts”, right?  I think John and Paul were much better together than apart.  I think the same goes for the members of the Beach Boys, including Brian Wilson.

By the way, sorry I missed Original Wednesday this week- I’ll make sure to post TWO videos next Wednesday!  And stay tuned for more Beatles cover songs each and every week here on the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog!

“Never Comes the Day” (Moody Blues Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Welcome to another edition of the Laptop Sessions!!

Anyway, this song, “Never Comes the Day”, is a Moody Blues tune from “On the Threshold of a Dream” that I absolutely love. Plus, it works great with two people. Justin Hayward (who wrote this song) has a great way of writing a nice, slow song…then busting out to a faster section of the song. Despite the fact that “Threshold” is one of my favorite Moodies albums, this tune always stood out to me because of the way Hayward sings the line, “If only you knew what’s inside of me now…”

I hope you enjoy my first duet here on the Laptop Sessions! Stay tuned for more and keep those requests coming!

“Somewhere Near Japan” (Beach Boys Cover)

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Okay, request time here at The Laptop Sessions! This one’s going out to Peter (aka thebeachboys on YouTube).

This is one of my favorites and I thought no one else really ever paid any attention to it. “Somewhere Near Japan”, written by Mike Love and Terry Melcher, is one of the only saving graces on the 1988 EP/album “Still Cruisin”.  Actually, I like the album a lot, but it’s not really a full album.  There are a few old Beach Boys songs tacked onto the end of the album because they were “featured” in movies out at the time.  And, you can pretty much throw away the Fat Boys’ version of “Wipeout” which featured Brian Wilson singing the backing vocals.  It’s nice to hear Brian in there, but honestly, why did that song end up on a Beach Boys album anyway?  You’ve also got “Kokomo”.  Love it or hate it, it’s one of the biggest songs they ever did.  So, the album had some notoriety behind it.  Songs like “Still Cruisin'” are just fun songs to me, and the Beach Boys even played that song during their 2012 tour!  Personally, I really like the songs “Make It Big” and “Island Girl”, especially because they feature Carl Wilson and Al Jardine, respectively.

Carl Wilson, Al Jardine, Mike Love, and Bruce Johnston are all featured on lead at some point on “Somewhere Near Japan” (ala “Add Some Music” from the Beach Boys’ 1970 classic album, Sunflower) and I think that always added to my enjoyment of the song.  I’ll admit it- when Terry Melcher and Mike Love wanted to write a good song, they really hit it on the nose.  Think of the classic song “Gethca Back” from the Beach Boys 1985 album.  Even a couple years after the Still Cruisin’ album on 1992’s “Summer In Paradise”, Melcher and Love wrote a few great songs.  Now THAT is an album that doesn’t get any respect.  I think songs like “Island Fever”, “Lahaina Aloha”, and “Strange Things Happen” are really great songs.

Tonight’s acoustic cover song music video is one of those “let’s hear how it sounds stripped-down” versions. The late-80s production might have turned some people off to this Beach Boys song, but I think the song stands up great on it own!   So, these 80s/90s Beach Boys songs may have cheesy lyrics now and again (and that 1992 drum machine is pretty bad).  But, that’s one of the reasons why I record cover song videos here on the music blog.  I’d like to think that I’m pretty good at spotting a good song, even if it’s hidden underneath terrible production and synth instruments.  And, with that ability, I strip all of that stuff away to give you an acoustic-guitar-driven version.  I hope these videos open people to songs they otherwise wouldn’t listen to.

I hope you enjoy tonight’s cover video, and keep those requests coming! I’m doing a new music video every two days this year. If you request something, please be patient, but we’re always here to please at The Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog!