Welcome to your Sunday, Sunday, Sunday edition of the Laptop Sessions here with me, Jim Fusco!
Onto tonight’s video. Tonight, I bring you yet ANOTHER “new” band to the Laptop Sessions. I know this song mostly because of the Beach Boys’ superb version on their popular album, “15 Big Ones”. That album isn’t great and I really hate those synthesizers in this song, but the vocal power of Carl Wilson (along with the wonderfully strained sound of Brian’s voice on the bridge) make this a standout track. Plus, it’s a great ending song to the album. I LOVE the harmonies on the middle 8, too. It seems like they channelled vocals from the early 60s on that section of the song- something you really don’t get on the rest of the album. By that time, the Beach Boys’ voices had “manned-up” quite a bit. But in that section of the song, you’d think they were all 20 again.
It’s funny that the Righteous Brothers aren’t even brothers. But how many people really do have the last name “Righteous”?
You might notice that this video both looks and sounds a bit different than my others. The audio sync is off and the quality isn’t great. Just do me a favor: DO NOT upgrade to iMovie 2008. It cripples the program and truly ruined this video for me. It took me an hour just to figure out the technical aspect. But, the sound is great and the audio is nice and loud. That’s the one thing the new version of the program did right. So, I hope you can suffer through the video quality and just LISTEN for this video, as I think it’s one of my better performances.
Never in my life have I felt that this song was more relevant than it is tonight and–especially–tomorrow. This is Bob Dylan’s classic protest song, “The Times They Are A-Changin.’” I’ve always appreciated the song, but I don’t think I’ve ever related to it as much as I did tonight as I was recording this music video. Personally, I have always been more interested in the other songs on Dylan’s album of the same name, such as “Only a Pawn in Their Game” and “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll.” Yet, on the eve of the 2008 Presidential election, I could think of no song more fitting to record than this one.
And, God save me, I will be recording “With God On Their Side” for my Thursday video if McCain wins! (Just search the lyrics to this song if you’ve missed the reference…).
I’ve tended to stay away from Dylan’s protest songs. I have a great deal of respect for them, but as Dylan himself, I hate to see him labeled simply as “the voice of a generation.” I am most interested in his more recent material — for instance, I’m still blown away by the new Bootleg Series release.
But tonight is a special occasion. As I began practicing this song, I found that (although I haven’t heard or played this song for months and months) all the words came to me easily. Line after line, verse after verse, this song rings so exceptionally true to me. It doesn’t take a literary critic to connect lines like the following ones to contemporary society:
“Admit that the water around you has grown…”
“Don’t speak too soon, for the wheel’s still in spin…”
“Come senators, congressmen; please heed the call…”
“Don’t criticize what you can’t understand; your sons and your daughters are beyond your command. Your old road is rapidly aging…”
“Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend a hand!”
There is indeed a reason why Dylan’s lyrics have been lauded for decades, and this song is one of the many that have stood the test of time. I hope that you’ll listen to the words and consider their meaning, and then think about “the state of this great nation of ours” (to quote the great Ben Folds) — it’s interesting and not so much of a coincidence that Obama’s campaign calls not only for change, but for “Change we can believe in.” I haven’t been this hopeful for real change for a good long time!
In fact, I was just flipping through a book I bought before the 2004 elections, as I decided who to vote for. I did a lot of research, reading that book and deciding between Bush and Kerry. Looking back, I can’t believe I even hesitated on that particular choice.
This year, I saved the ten bucks I would have spent on a new campaign book, as I didn’t need to do any further research beyond the Presidential debates and subsequent news reports and fact checks, not to mention the SNL skits.
Well, I’m just rambling now, as I’m tired and currently in bed, listening to acoustic Dylan and dreaming of… well, dreaming! Sleep is good. Change is also good. As my super-cool sister reminded me today, how could Obama not win with a catch-phrase like “BA-ROCK the vote!”
Tonight, I continue Chris’ trend of female vocalists with a song from yet another “new” artist to the series: Diana Ross and the Sumpremes! I hope Jeff will follow with another woman-sung song this weekend. Will he come through? Hey, I’m sure he never thought I’d actually use the special symbols for Thumpin’ Thursday!
Diana Ross and the Sumpremes had so many hits- and listening back to them, there were quite a few that I really loved growing up. She had such a great voice in the 60s. I usually find something I don’t like about women’s voices (ie, the INCREDIBLY annoying voices of Tegan and Sarah), but Diana Ross actually sits in the very exclusive category of women singers I like, which also incudes Brian Wilson’s daughters, Carnie and Wendy.
And, yes, I’m keeping the streak alive: not only have I done every single Laptop Sessions video in the original key, I’ve also done each video in the original OCTAVE, too! For this reason, I think this video came out especially great- one take, and a chance to really falsetto-it-up. I think it’s a really natural performance, too, which helps. That makes two videos in a row that I’m especially proud of.
I never thought I would do a song from Diana Ross, but I’ve always found that the best videos (and the ones that get us the most YouTube hits) are the ones where we take a song and really make it our own. No one would ever expect me to bust out a Motown hit from a 60s female singer. But, I did it and I’m proud of it!
Now, as a final note- my Original Wednesday song will be the first one after the big presidential election Tuesday night. I’m so anxious/nervous/hopeful and I’m looking forward to posting a video knowing who our next President will be. So, we’ll see what happens. I hope you have a good night and a great Halloween. Maybe Chris will sing a Cher song or something truly scary to match his equally scary choice of a Tegan and Sarah song two days ago! 🙂
Welcome, welcome to yet another edition of the Laptop Sessions here with me, Jim Fusco!
Oh, yeah, keeping the dream alive tonight with yet ANOTHER “new” band to the Laptop Sessions. This one is probably the biggest shame left that we haven’t covered because…they’re ACOUSTIC! Simon and Garfunkel stand as one of the most influential and popular acts of all time. I was just talking to my father about them the other day. He pointed out that they’re the best of friends, but just can’t seem to work together. That’s the way it’s always been with my brother Mike and I. We get along so well…as long as we’re not working on anything together. I ‘m always so steadfast in realizing this fact, but Mike tends to either forget or just disregard it. Thus, we end up working together again and the whole cycle begins.
Anyway, even though Paul Simon went on to some more, let’s say, interesting works in his later career (still waiting for his big rock comeback album), he did some pop classics with Art Garfunkel, also known as the luckiest man in the music business. I mean, the man not only didn’t write any of S&G’s songs, he didn’t even play the guitar in the band!
I heard this song again while listening the WCJM Free Internet Radio show, “The All-American Show”. I realized how great this tune really is. And, especially because we’re on the brink of the most important presidential election in many years, this song is all the more important to play now. “America” takes us on a journey of a couple going on a cross-country trip to “find” the real America. I think the man realizes that everyone is out on their own trips, finding America…even on the bleak New Jersey Turnpike.
I think this video stands as one of my favorites now because it just works so well with one person and a guitar. The tune is great. The guitar part is cool (I love that walking down C chord), too. I hope you’ll enjoy it and come back for more.
