[Editor’s Note: We received this video from the performer’s daughter a few days ago, and it seemed like the perfect note on which to kick off a new season of Guest Sessions videos on the Laptop Sessions blog. The LS Blog was originally founded by one man with a guitar, a laptop, and a living room as his stage. Over 600 music videos, hundreds of music reviews, and dozens of special features later, the Laptop Sessions continues to be a source for quality commentary on music. After all, what is a cover song if not an attempt to interact with and add ourselves into the conversation about our favorite original music? So, check out the video below, and check back every other week for more from the best cover song music video blog in the universe!]
A note from his daughter, Jordane:
My papa singing and playing guitar to one of his favourite songs. I feel like it shouldn’t just be me admiring his talent in his living room, but I feel other people from all around the world should admire him too. Please enjoy!
Well, it’s been a while since I posted a music video, so I figured I’d better make certain my YouTube account was still functional…
This week, instead of recording a cover song, I felt that it was time to kick off The 2010 Project music video series I’ve been planning for a while. You may be wondering, what exactly is The 2010 Project? It is the working title — and, based on a recent conversation, very possibly the official title — of my forthcoming album.
Thus far, as of April break, I’ve chosen the thirteen songs that I plan to record and completed the writing of both music and lyrics. Since then, I’ve recorded acoustic demos of each song and begun listening them in order to help me think of and decide on arrangements and various aspects of how I’d like the final products to sound. I’ve been experimenting with GarageBand drum loops, and I’ve been practicing the songs quite a bit since April. Every weekend since then, I’ve taken an hour to sit down and play through the album in order.
As with any big project like recording an album’s worth of material, anything’s liable to change by the time the final product is ready to be heard. That being said, I plan to string together thirteen installments in this music video series, each featuring one of the aforementioned songs. And, understanding that anything can change, I’ll be releasing them here on the blog in the order I plan to sequence them on the album.
The first song up is “No Lights, No Sound.” Laptop Sessions regulars may recognize this as a video I’ve already recorded and posted over a year ago. However, this is the finalized version, with some slight lyric changes and additional verses. This song is a rare case of old lyrics re-emerging on a new song. The story here is that, a few months ago, I came across the lyrics for an old song that I never really committed to, but had always liked a few lines from. I thought they might fit nicely into this song, and with a few alterations, I think they do.
In a lot of ways, this is one of the simplest songs on the list, a tune that started as I walked around my room in the dark almost two years ago. I was home alone, my capo on the second fret from having played another song (which I’ve since forgotten), and the first line sort of came to me: “The lights are off; there’s no one around…” I wrote this and the first chorus, but that was it for a while. It wasn’t until months later that I added the middle section and new verses. Then, this past April, I deleted a verse and added two more in.
“No Lights, No Sound” is a song that has weathered several phases in my recent life, a track that has been conceived, shaped, and reshaped by these phases and survives in its current form with a scheduled slot as the opening track of The 2010 Project.
I hope you like this one. For some reason, even though my allergies haven’t been hitting me as hard as they probably will soon, my voice wasn’t at its peak today. That being said, I feel that worked for this solo acoustic performance.
So, without further ado, here is the first installment in the series — hurry back every day this week and both days of the weekend for new posts!
C D# F C
After midnight, we’re gonna let it all hang down.
After midnight, we’re gonna chug-a-lug and shout.
C
We gonna stimulate some action,
F
We gonna get some satisfaction,
F G
We gonna find out what it is all about…
After midnight, we’re gonna let it all hang down.
After midnight, we’re gonna shake your tambourine.
After midnight, it’s all gonna be peaches and cream.
We gonna cause talk and suspicion,
We gonna give an exhibition,
We gonna find out what it is all about…
After midnight, we’re gonna let it all hang down…
SOLO (over one full set of chord progression)
After midnight, we gonna let it all hang down.
After midnight, we gonna shake your tambourine.
After midnight, it’s all gonna be peaches and cream.
We gonna cause talk and suspicion,
We gonna give an exhibition,
We gonna find out what it is all about…
After midnight, we gonna let it all hang down.
After midnight, we gonna let it all hang down.
After midnight, we gonna let it all hang down.
After midnight, we gonna let it all hang down…
** 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. **
Wow, it’s really been two weeks since the last video? Well, if you haven’t seen it, search at the top of the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog for “Elderberry Wine” and you’ll see what I’ve been up to lately! It’s my second video back from a very long four-month absence.
Tonight, I bring you a video that shows you what the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs blog is all about. It’s a song sung by someone with a raspy voice and it’s totally an electric, rockin’ song. So, I took my non-raspy voice, sat down with my Martin acoustic guitar, and put a new twist on this tune!
It’s a song off of the Goo Goo Dolls newest album, “Something for the Rest of Us” from 2010. Let me tell you, it’s a GREAT album. I can’t stop listening to it. Every song is single-worthy. These guys have gotten so good at writing a catchy pop/rock song and it shows on this album. Honestly, I think it’s my favorite from last year. And there were a TON of albums I heard for the first time last year.
I’ve become quite the Goo Goo Dolls fan ever since I first heard some of their songs on WCJM Internet Radio shows. My friend (and former Laptop Sessions contributor) Jeff Copperthite would pick a song for each radio show we did. After a while, I noticed that I liked those songs, so I bought a couple of their older albums from the early 90’s. Now, I have all of their albums and I love them all! Well, I should say that I love all of their “rock” albums. They actually started in the late 80s as a punk band! I have one of those albums (“Jed”) and let me tell you- it ain’t great. It’s hard to believe that just a couple of years later, they came out with my personal favorite, “Superstar Car Wash”. That album is almost 20 years old now, but if you don’t have it (and like the Goo Goo Dolls), it’s really a neccesity.
Tonight’s song is “Say You’re Free”- it’s one of two Robby Takac songs that are on the new album. In fact, that’s about the standard now, as it has been for the last three albums. Back in the earlier days, Robby and Johhny would split the songs. I really liked that format- it seemed like they were trying to outdo each other. Of course, Johnny is the guy who wrote their most famous songs like “Iris”, so I suppose he’s considered the “better” songwriter. But, as we’ve learned from SO many bands here on the music blog, popularity doesn’t necessarily mean greatness. Now, I won’t sit here and say that I’m not a John Rzeznik fan- I absolutely am. But, for some reason, I absolutely love Robby’s songs, too! My favorite from him, other than the new stuff, is “Already There” from Superstar Car Wash- it’s a great tune with some really introspective lyrics. That’s a bit surprising, considering his punk roots and his incredibly raspy voice. Normally, I wouldn’t like that, but I don’t think he’s doing it on purpose. For instance, you can just tell that John Mayer sings like that on purpose, so I can’t stand it. Same with Dylan. But, people like Dennis Wilson and Robby Takac just have raspy voices for one reason or another and can’t sing any other way. That I can deal with.
I chose this song instead of the better tune, “Now I Hear” from the same album because I wanted to hear how this song would come out acoustically. I love the results and I hope it shows how great of a song it is on its own. And, I hope Robby somehow watches this someday- I want him to know that there are fans out there that love his songs and that want even more per album! I hope you enjoy tonight’s Laptop Session and I’ll be back in a couple of weeks with another great new acoustic cover song music video!
