Tag Archives: acoustic

“Overwhelming Question” (Chris Moore original; Lyrics adapted from T.S. Eliot) – Original Wednesday

Posted on by
Reply

By Chris Moore:

It may have only been two days since I posted my last session, but it’s been far too long since I’ve recorded a video for Original Wednesday!

I’m here to break that streak!

This is a song I began writing a long time ago to play with a couple colleagues from work.  I was inspired by my friend Larry’s “My Mistress’ Eyes,” a bluesy take on the Shakespearean sonnet.  My friend Dan had shared an excellent acoustic number of his own, an original called “Wasting Time.”  Thus, I set to work on translating T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” one of my favorite poems, to music.

The result is “Overwhelming Question.”

Of course, in what has become typical fashion for me, I wrote the first two verses, the chorus, and the middle, stopping short of finishing off the song with a third verse.  Then, I left the song stranded until I began playing regularly again.  This weekend, we pulled out all three of these songs and tried to scrape the rust off our performances.  It was a lot of fun, but I was a bit embarrassed that I had never just finished this one off.  So, Sunday morning I finally wrote the verse, effectively completing “Overwhelming Question.”

I clearly remember recording my first demo of this song with the birds chirping behind me for all three minutes of my video.  However, I don’t remember exactly when I wrote it.  I went back and watched the demo, but the date information is missing.

Wow!  I just remembered to check my Word file with the lyrics and chords, and the “Created” date is listed as July 25, 2008.  It’s quickly approaching two years old!  While I’m surprised that it’s that old, the date does make a lot of sense.  The last time I played regularly with these friends was the summer of 2008.

So, with that, I leave you to this week’s Original Wednesday music video.  I hope to post many more this summer as I work on some new music, and perhaps Mike will share some new material as well as he records his first long play album this summer!  (Don’t forget to check out his all new iPhone-ready site at MikeFusco.com.)

See you next session!

“Winter Wooskie” (Belle & Sebastian Cover)

Posted on by
2

By Rodrigo Palhano:

Greetings from Brazil.

** EDITOR’S NOTE: **

I’m happy to welcome not only a new band but also a new performer to the best acoustic cover song music blog in the universe.   Today’s Guest Session reaches deep into Belle & Sebastian’s catalog to a b-side on their “Legal Man” single.  When it was released in 2000, it quickly became their highest charting single up to that point, so fans of the band are likely to remember “Winter Wooskie.”

If not, here’s your reminder…

Seeing as how we have no Belle & Sebastian covers here on the Laptop Sessions blog, I probably would have featured Rodrigo’s video if it had been halfway decent.  I was thrilled to find that it was not only decent, but an outstanding performance of this song.  There is a natural reverb effect on his acoustic guitar that adds a beautiful texture to his recording, and his vocal is strong and fitting for the track.

Thus, without further ado, I give you Rodrigo Palhano’s first featured video on the site.  I know I enjoyed it, and I hope you will, too!

“I’ve Been Delivered” (The Wallflowers Cover)

Posted on by
1

By Jeff Copperthite:

Welcome to Thumpin’ Thursday!  I’ve returned with a classic band that I’m very used to covering – The Wallflowers!

Fronted by Jakob Dylan, this band has been around for what seems to be nearly 20 years and has always seemed to impress me in the variety of music they have written and recorded.  There are songs for nearly every mood you can think of, and I have always been able to put this band on the Ipod (Yeah, i’ve got one now – review will be coming in the next week or two) regardless of my mood.

The song I have selected tonight is called “I’ve Been Delivered” from (Breach).  This song is unique in that there is no bridge, and the song follows the unconventional chord progression/pattern of verse chorus rinse repeat.  Naturally, like a lot of The Dylan family’s lyrics, the lyrics do not repeat.

I am very close to the 93K mark as of this evening, and I estimate that in two weeks I will tell y0u that I have joined the 6 digit club.

And tomorrow is my wife’s birthday.  Only those who know me and her know how old she will be.  But I won’t say it here.

Enjoy our latest cover video, and stay tuned for tomorrow’s guest session.  I can’t wait to see who it is and what they’re covering!

Editor’s Note: Unfortunately, Jeff’s acoustic cover song music videos are no longer on YouTube, but we decided to keep his cover song blog posts up.  We figured these music blog entries would be good for posterity’s sake and because Jeff always gave such insightful posts each Session.  We hope to see Jeff’s impressive catalog of acoustic rock songs here on the Laptop Sessions cover songs and original music blog again in the future.  But, for now, please make sure to check-out hundreds of other acoustic cover songs from all of your favorite bands here on the Laptop Sessions music blog!

“For What It’s Worth” (Buffalo Springfield Cover)

Posted on by
Reply

By Chris Moore:

Hello and welcome to yet another all-new cover of an all-new band to the blog!  Straight from the treasure trove of genre-crossing singles and album tracks that is Dana Camp’s iTunes library, this is Buffalo Springfield’s early hit “For What It’s Worth.”  This is one of those songs with a title that is not used at any point during the lyrics, so my initial response to the title was, “How does that one go?”

Of course, from the first strum of the first verse, I instantly recognized this hit sixties protest song.

I’ve always loved this song, and I loved it all the more this afternoon as I realized it was right in my vocal comfort zone!  Still, as fun as it was to learn and play it, I do wish there had been some way to include that awesome reverberating lead guitar and solo.  I guess you’ll just have to imagine it as you listen…

About a week ago in one of my posts, I started out by saying it would be a short one.  Then, I proceeded to write one of my lengthier posts.  This time, however, I’m going to cut my writing short, as I’m fading fast and need my sleep on this final night of the weekend.  I spent the last forty-five minutes or so helping Jim with the new cover songs branch of the Laptop Sessions music blog series.  He put me in charge of finding good photos for each band/songwriter to use for the new site.  Probably the most fun so far has been searching for the best Britney Spears photo — and, yes, we DO have a Britney Spears category!  Meanwhile, Jim was doing the hard work (i.e. making the site run, run properly, and look good while doing it!).

And, on a final note, this is my final in a series of political songs.  I like these unnofficial themes I’ve been doing, first with three female lead songs in a row, now with three political songs in a row.  I’d probably find another one to record, but my next session will land on a by-now-infamous Original Wednesday!

With that, I’m closing my laptop and closing my eyes to the sounds of R.E.M.  What better band to encourage a healthy sleep cycle?…  Get it?…  Okay, that was bad, and I apologize.  At least you’ll be safe for at least a couple days, as I’d challenge Jeff and Jim to make a pun worse than the aforementioned REM cycle one…

See you next session!