Tag Archives: acoustic

“Runaway Feeling” (The Thorns cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

So, I’ll admit it- that messup in the beginning of the video wasn’t left in there on purpose.  Why didn’t I catch that?  Must’ve been in a rush to render the video…

Anyway, this is my first entry into “New Bands Week”.  Jeff set the bar pretty high yesterday with a great cover of a David Bowie song.  I bring you a song from a MUCH lesser-known artist in The Thorns.  This band, which consists of 90s pop artists Shawn Mullins, Matthew Sweet, and Pete Droge, made only one album and this is the opening track.

I’m not going to lie and say that this is the best album ever, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.  My brother Mike had heard one of their songs and got me into the group.  I listened to this album about 100 times, and even though it has some “eh” songs on it (which is consistent with just about ANY debut album), there’s a lot of great songs, too.  The band was clearly influenced by Brian Wilson with their harmonies and usage of great instruments like the bass harmonica.

But, the band also has Traveling Wilburys ties.  All three members played acoustic guitar, just like the Wilburys members did, they used famous session drummer Jim Keltner (known as the sixth Wilbury), and this song, “Runaway Feeling”, sounds like it’s taken from the Tom Petty songbook.  I tried to keep the Petty impersonation to a minimum, but with this song, you don’t really have that much of a choice.

That’s my fiancee Becky in the background clapping for me at the end.  This is the last of my “outdoor” videos.  I have so many songs I’m ready to record from literally TEN new artists, but I can’t right now because I’m in that “no voice” phase of my cold.    Thankfully, I already have next week’s Original Wednesday original song video recorded from one of my last sessions.

I’m so excited to see what songs Chris and Jeff are going to do from new artists this week.  Remember last time we did a New Bands Week?  It extended out almost a whole week afterwards.  That’s why I like doing this- it makes us think.  And once a new artist or song pops in, others seem to come very quickly.

Enjoy the video — and check out Chris’s new video here on the best music video blog of all time: The Laptop Sessions!  (Oh, and by the way, over the past three days, I’ve gotten TEN more YouTube subscribers!)

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“New Kid On The Block” (Barenaked Ladies Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Hey HEY!  Welcome to your, as Jeff put it, Fantastic Friday edition of the Laptop Sessions here with me, Jim Fusco!  Glad to be here today, but I’ve been incredibly sick the past few days.  I have the worst head cold…  I’ve already lost two nights’ sleep to it.  I was actually saving this video because we Mike did a BNL song recently, but I put this one first because I’m not sure how well I’ll be by Monday when we’ll be doing “New Bands Week” here.  I have a new band video already recorded and ready to go, so I bought myself until Thursday when I have to record another video.  I can only assume I’ll be better by then!  Actually, I have literally sixteen or seventeen songs ready to record.  I’ve been practicing like mad over the past month and these videos, once recorded, will provide me with almost two full months worth of videos.  In that pool of songs, there’s also TEN new bands!  So, I’m working hard every day to bring fresh viewers to the music video blog and to keep all the regular viewers excited.

Today, I bring you a song that I really love called “New Kid On The Block”.  What perfect timing, too, as the “classic” early 90s band “New Kids on the Block” is in the middle of their “anticipated” reunion.  They have a new album out and everything.  This song is literally about being a member of the band.  Steven Page of Barenaked Ladies wrote this song for their first album, “Gordon”.  What a great satire.  At the time (1992), the New Kids were both “new” and “kids”…well, not really, as you’ll hear in the lyrics of the song.  But, they were popular, nonetheless, and Page must’ve thought it would be funny to write a song from the point of view of one of the band members.

Some of my favorite all-time BNL lines are in this song, including “Well we may not write the songs we sing, but look at Elvis, he sold his soul and you crowned him King.”  The New Kids are pretty much everything I hate in a band, and BNL is truly everything I love in a band.  That’s why this song is just about perfect in my eyes.

One of the other parts of the song I love is at the end with the inclusion of a few New Kids on the Block songs.  I don’t know how I did it, but I managed to incorporate those parts into my solo acoustic cover version here, and all on the first try!

Enjoy the video — recorded just before New Bands Week here on the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover and original songs music video blog!



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“I’m Just Waiting” (Original Wednesday Jim Fusco acoustic song)

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By Jim Fusco:

Welcome to another “Original Wendesday” edition of The Laptop Sessions!  I hope this once-a-week treatment is becoming a favorite of yours, because we truly believe our original tunes can stand alongside the other major-label bands’ songs we play on the music video blog.

If you want to hear any of our original music, make sure to visit the websites of Jim Fusco (me), Chris Moore, Jeff Copperthite, and our band (with Mike Fusco) Masters of the Universe.

Today, I bring you a “classic” Jim Fusco tune from the epic album, “My Other Half”.  This album is a unique concept where it takes you on a journey from the beginning to the end of a relationship.  How did I get my inspiration?  Well, I lived through it and wrote a song each step of the way.  I didn’t do it on purpose- it just happened.  Strong emotions always make me want to write.

I’ve never had trouble coming up with tunes for my songs.  I’ve always had them floating around, waiting to be written out.  The trouble I have sometimes is coming up with something substantial enough to write about.  That’s why you’ll notice many of my songs are about some sort of big event or emotional period in my young life.

During the days of the “My Other Half” album, relationships were so new to me- I wanted to write about every facet of them.  That’s probably why I ended up with over 25 tracks…

Nowadays, things (as far as relationships go, at least) have definitely settled down.  I’m happy, but comfortable, too.  So, you’ll notice that the songs off of my upcoming album (who knows when that will come out…) are mostly about when something or someone bothered me in some way.  I think you can learn a lot about me, my life, and my emotions by listening to my albums in order.

This song was written in one night with another song that I’ll be bringing to you next Original Wednesday in three weeks.  I was in a very bad mood back in January of my senior year in high school.  I knew my first ever relationship was going to end, but it hadn’t yet.  I didn’t want it to because ANYTHING was better than being alone at that point.  But, I didn’t know when things were going to happen.

Isn’t it funny to have those moments when you know something is going to happen, you can’t stop it, but you’re not sure when it’s all going to come to pass?  Well, that’s how I felt then, and it ended up in a simple, yet heartfelt song.

I think some may think this is a kind of “suicide-song”.  It isn’t and was never meant to be.  “The end” that I speak of is the end of the relationship, not my life.  And for that matter, if I ever felt that way, I wouldn’t end my life- I would continue living just to get back at all the people that made me so miserable in the first place! 🙂

Okay, enough of the explanation: get to watching this video!  I hope you enjoy it.  I’ll be on the “cover song” track on Saturday with another great tune from Paul McCartney.  Stay tuned to the best music blog on Earth!

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“What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?” (REM Cover)

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By Jeff Copperthite:

Good evening to you!  I just had a wonderful run of Dynamis, then realized “Oh yeah, I am fresh out of videos for today!”  Thankfully, I had one ready to play and record, and you are in the right place to listen to it!

The song I have selected for today is by one of my favorite bands from my entire life, REM.  This song “What’s the frequency, Kenneth?” was a single from their album “Monster”, which is home to some of my favorite REM songs.  The album itself has a wide range of sound, but a common element is the “fuzz” guitar sound that seems constant in nearly every track.  This song is not an exception to that trend, but naturally here at guitarbucketlist.com, we give you acoustic guitar and an in-tune voice to go along with it!

There’s been some debate to the last line of the song.  Most places i’ve read lyrics to the song say the last line is “I’ve never understood, don’t f*** with me, uh-huh”.  However, the radio play version I have heard countless times does not alter this last line that is in the CD version.  It leads me to believe the last line does not include the f word.  However, I still can’t figure out what it is.  So you will notice a change in the last line which does not change the meaning of the line at all.

This is also unique because the song has no acoustic guitar track, so hearing this played back is quite unique to me as well.

I hope you enjoy this latest installment!

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!

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 origianal 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!

More Laptop Sessions covers