Tag Archives: acoustic

“Friend of the Devil” (Grateful Dead Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Well, as promised, I’m back with your Wednesday edition of Jim Fusco Tuesdays!  Don’t understand that?  Then you should be visiting the blog more often! 🙂  Tuesdays are my usual day to post, but unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera last night, so I had to put-off doing the video until today.  I also recorded another video for next week that you’re going to LOVE.  It’s from a guy you probably haven’t heard of, but he’s new to the blog and he’s a well-respected musician.  I guess you’ll have to wait in suspense until then!

I can’t believe it- this blog has been up for well over two years and there hasn’t been a Grateful Dead song done yet!  Late last year, I decided that I wanted to learn more about the Grateful Dead.  Back in high school and early college, I used to work at the now defunct Cheshire Video and Disc (a local video store).  I used to work with this hippy girl named Karen.  She was cool- we used to work on Sunday mornings together and always had a nice time.  She used to play this Grateful Dead VHS tape during our shift every week.  It was from the 80’s.  It was a trippy kind of concert- crazy 80’s video effects and extended drum solos.  But, I really enjoyed the songs.

Fast-forward about seven years to the present-day.  I finally got my Grateful Dead “Best Of” for Christmas from my mother in law and I was so excited to play it for the first time.  My boss had re-ignited my interest for the band, as he put a few of their songs on a mix CD for me.  So, I got the CD and played it at work for the first time.  I LOVED IT!!

It’s 17 songs and, believe me, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better overall “Best Of”.  It has all of my favorite elements: harmonies, good guitar, everyone plays their own instruments, and (my personal favorite) multiple band members writing songs!!  Actually, my favorite song on the whole “Best Of” CD (which I will definitely cover in the future) is “Box Of Rain”, written by bassist Phil Lesh.  (On another note, I hear he and former Dead member Bob Weir are now touring as “Furthur”, but the show in my hometown of Wallingford, CT is SOLD OUT!  Grrr….)

Anyway, there are so many great songs on this disc- from the ones you’ve heard of (and probably didn’t know they did them) like “Truckin'”, “Casey Jones”,  and “Touch of Grey” to the ones that you haven’t heard of yet, this is a top-to-bottom rare “Best Of” find.  The last times I felt this great about a “Best Of” was when I purchased the America and Doobie Brothers’ discs.  So, what I’m saying is, if you haven’t purchased the Grateful Dead “Best Of” (the one with 17 tracks- NOT the cheap 10-track version), then you should really give it a try.

Tonight’s song is “Friend of the Devil”.  At first, this wasn’t one of my favorites, but it’s catchy and the story is pretty cool, so it grew on me quickly.  I love singing it in that Jerry Garcia drawl.  Plus, this was an easy one to convert to acoustic.  Most of their songs aren’t so easy because of their great harmonies.  I’ve wanted to do so many of their songs, but it just won’t sound right without someone else singing with me (who knows the song really well, too).

So, whatever idea you had of the Dead (I thought it was just a stupid stoner band that jammed nonsensical songs for hours on end…which may be true for the live sets, as I’ve heard), throw it away!  They’re a tight band that last quite a while and came up with some great songs.  And now I’m even more excited that I can build my vinyl record collection with some of their interesting albums, such as their lone 60’s record (from 1967, which I’m INCREDIBLY interested in hearing) and their all-time classic from 1970, American Beauty.

Enjoy tonight’s LSHD video and make sure to come back next week for my newest obsession in music!

“Sundown” (Gordon Lightfoot Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Oh…My…GOD!!  I am so angry right now!!  THREE TIMES- that’s right, three perfect takes of “Sundown” by Gordon Lightfoot it took before I could render tonight’s video and publish to YouTube.  Why?!?!  Because, for whatever reason, my computer corrupted my video TWICE!  It’s so much later than I want it to be.  And, if you know anything about me, you’ll know that I like to (and most times ONLY will) do things once and that’s it.  Tonight, I brought home Noreen’s 1967 Gibson 12-string acoustic and needed to get this song done.  Grrrrrr…..

And, of course, this happens on GROUNDHOG’S DAY!!  Wait, am I Bill Murray?

Anyway, onto the shorter (due to the late post) description of tonight’s video.

The legend of the guitar I’m playing in this video is that it was actually OWNED by Gordon Lightfoot at some point!!  I don’t know if that’s really true, but wouldn’t it be crazy?  I just had to ask Noreen to borrow it tonight.  Someday, I may inherit this beautiful guitar…but, seriously, I’m not hoping that day comes anytime soon at all.

I’ve always known this song, and always kind of knew Gordon Lightfoot did it, but I never knew the name (thank you Shazaam App on my iPhone!) and when I heard it again on the radio last week, I knew I had to do it.  Listening back, I noticed that it was recorded using a 12-string guitar.  Imagine if it was the same one on the recording…

This song is so easy- just slap a capo on the second fret and play E and B for the verse.  Then, do E, A, and D for the chorus and you’ve got it!  But, even in its simplicity, I find “Sundown” to be a very powerful song.  It’s got such a great tune.  And the original has really cool harmonies on the chorus.  I was hoping to round-up a posse to sing with me, but remembered that I live in Connecticut and would be nowhere near any semblance of a “posse” for at least 500 miles…

So, you get the standard one-man Laptop Session version of “Sundown” by Gordon Lightfoot here on the best blog ever created!

I have some new plans (that’ll cost me some money) to promote both the blog and my original music.  I save emails that interest me (advertisements, etc.) and then I let them stew in my mind for about four months.  After that, I have a pretty good idea of what I want to spend my money on.  And I think I’ve come up with two great ways of promotion that will help get me fans of my original music and help give the Laptop Sessions music blog some better search engine traffic.  If I play my cards right, I can do it all for under $100, which in terms of internet promotion is a STEAL.

On a final note, my brother Mike suggested today that he and I record the brand-new Barenaked Ladies single, “You Run Away” from their upcoming album in March.  I cannot wait for this album to come out.  It’s so exciting to get a new album from BNL and I’m excited to hear them as a four-piece band with more contributions from the “secondary” (if you can even say that with them) band members.  I hear there’s THREE Jim Creegan songs on the album!  He’s like the George Harrison of the group now. 🙂  Anyway, “You Run Away” came out on iTunes today and it’s AWESOME.  You really have to buy it.  They sound great.  They didn’t try to change their sound too much.  It’s just great rock’n’roll with great vocals.  And that’s the way to please me musically, folks.

I’ve been listening to some new stuff lately and can’t wait to share it with you- hopefully I’ll get some time soon.  Until next post, have a great week!

NOTE: This video was remastered in 2020 for improved video and sound.

“Dream Lover” (Bobby Darin Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Hello everybody and welcome to your Tuesday night fix of Jim Fusco’s Cover Song Experience!  No, that’s not my new one-man band name- I’ve just been watching ‘Arrested Development” and was thinking of “Dr. Funke’s 100 Percent Natural Good Time Family Band Solution”, which I find incredibly funny.

Anyway, tonight I bring you a song that’s over 50 years old in Bobby Darin’s self-penned classic, “Dream Lover”.  And I can’t believe it’s our first Bobby Darin song on the music blog!

There’s this radio show I listen to on WHUS radio (at the UCONN campus in Storrs, CT).  It’s called “Rockin’ With Wayne” and I can’t get enough of it.  He just plays all these songs from the 50s and very early 60s.  So, I get to hear Ricky Nelson, Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly, etc.  I just love those old songs.  They’re so simple and all kind of sound alike, but they’re happy and innocent.  Even the “downer” songs are just so lightweight that I can’t help but smile when I hear them.  So, I’m on a bit of an oldies cover song kick.

Next week’s post will also be a song that’s over 50 years old- it’s even older than “Dream Lover’!  After that, I have a lot of possibilities, including my new “deadly” musical interest that will appear on the blog soon…as soon as I can find someone who can sing and play guitar to help me out.

Getting back to tonight’s song, we’re talking about a fairly formulaic tune for the late 50s here, especially that middle section.  But, what always made me love this tune is the great start-stop beat in the chorus.  It’s so unique.  And even though it uses only C, G7, C, and F chords (in that order), something about the melody there and the beat always gets me.

In other news, I had a great day on Sunday- Dana came over for “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2” and we had a good time, even though I’m not that great at it yet.  After that, my father came over and we all watched the Jets game.  It was amazing!  Mike came over, too, and we all had pizza and snacks.  After that, we ordered TNA’s “Genesis” Pay-Per-View.  And even though there were some startling moves like the new 4-sided ring, the new entrance ramp (which I saw in a WCW pay-per view back from 1991), the addition of Misterrrrrrrr…..Anderson, and a couple of title changes, it was a pretty good show.  The AJ Styles heel turn was very unexpected- he’s aligned with none other than the Nature Boy, Ric Flair!

Lots of work this week, both at home and at my day job, so I’ll keep this post a bit briefer than usual.  Is “briefer” a word?  Sounds like someone who makes underwear…

Anyway, I hope you have a good time watching “Dream Lover” and will come right back here next week for another “Roots of Rock’n’Roll” acoustic cover song music video.  Until then!

“Iris” (Goo Goo Dolls Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Welcome, welcome to another edition of The Laptop Sessions with me, Jim Fusco!

I have a big announcement that will come very shortly after this post, so I hope you’ll stay tuned and check it out.  It’s quite a milestone!

First, let me say that I had a GREAT weekend.  We had my best college friends over for the first time on Saturday night and ate, talked, played a Family Guy DVD trivia game, and watched “The Hangover”, which I loved even more the second time around.

Then on Sunday, I went to my favorite little Mexican restaurant in Wallingford with my father, then we both hiked up to Danbury for the TNA Wrestling show at WCSU.  IT WAS AWESOME!!  They had great matches, there were a ton of stars there, and I got to meet many of the wrestlers.  Turns out that Velvet Sky and Madison Rayne are two of the nicest ones–and they play the meanest ones on TV!  I also got to meet Jeff Jarrett and got my photo taken with The Phenomenal AJ Styles.  I even got to hold the Championship belt!!

It was quite a weekend, so I knew it would be a tough week to make up for it.  Things are very busy at work and I’ve been keeping a steady pace on my nighttime work, as well.  It’s a new strategy I’m trying that’s working well so far.  Thankfully I recorded this video last week- my mood would’ve been much different if not.

Which finally brings me to tonight’s video:

“Iris” is one of those songs that I kind of knew, but never knew who did it.  I was surprised to find out what a big hit it was.  In fact, it holds the record for consecutive weeks as the Number One played song on the radio (13) according to Billboard.  It made it to the Top 10 on the charts and stands as Goo Goo Dolls’ biggest hit.

After Laptop Sessions alumnus Jeff Copperthite introduced me to this band on WCJM Free Internet Radio shows many years ago, it took me about ten years to actually break down and buy an album.  I purchased “Dizzy Up the Girl”, which was their biggest album (probably because it had “Iris” on it).  Actually, I didn’t realize this song was on it- not exactly the best name for a song when it doesn’t even mention that word in the lyrics.  I bet it would’ve gotten to #1 if people knew the stinkin’ title!

Actually, Jeff played many tracks (especially on our personal BSYNHO shows for our wives) from the Goo Goo Dolls that were album cuts and lesser hits.  So, I knew a few others, including a couple Jeff’s already posted here on the music blog.  I really, really enjoyed “Dizzy Up the Girl”, so I went out and bought two more of their albums (for like four bucks apiece, too): “A Boy Named Goo” and “Superstar Car Wash”.  But, I haven’t listened to them yet because I’m currently in a phase from another band we haven’t covered yet on the blog.  Let’s just say I’m “dying” to record a video from them!  You’ll find out soon.

Anyway, like I said, “Iris” isn’t my favorite tune from Goo Goo Dolls so far, but I couldn’t believe Jeff hadn’t done their biggest hit (I’m assuming it’s because of the high range in the chorus), so I wanted to snatch it up.  It’s always great to claim a video you know will be popular.

Well, I’m running lean on time tonight, but am really enjoying the amount of sleep I’ve been getting.  I mean, I worked today, cooked dinner, worked again tonight, and posted a Laptop Session.  Now, I’m off to watch some more “Arrested Development” with my wife and brother, then it’s off to bed for 8 hours of sleep.  Now THAT’S some Operations Planning if I do say so myself! 🙂  Anyone from work would be cracking-up at that one…

Until next week!