Welcome to another edition of the Laptop Sessions!
Tonight, I give you one of the Beach Boys’ greatest and most famous songs, “Surfer Girl”!
Of course, the Boys’ version has those great harmonies, but imagine this version as if Brian Wilson was the only one singing. Plus, it’s fun to sing the harmony parts while listening back to it.
I love the chords- those old-fashioned chords that rock music just doesn’t have anymore. It was fun to learn and Chris and I have been playing this for months.
Actually, I love playing this on Chris’ Fender electric, but I think it translates well on the nylon strings.
Hopefully I do this song justice because playing a huge hit like this always means there’s pretty big expectations.
Back again for another edition of the Laptop Sessions, this time a first: with a band! Here with me are Chris Moore, Mike Fusco, and Cliff Huizenga- all members of the band Masters of the Universe (or MoU, as we call it). You can check out all of our original music on our website at http://jimfusco.com/albums.html! There, you’ll find everything we’ve ever recorded. And, it’s all free to listen to online before you buy. I can personally guarantee that the original songs you hear on MoU’s website are top-notch. There’s just something magical that happens when five creative people get together and make music. It’s like when the Traveling Wilburys were formed. They just all wanted to make music together and had a good time doing it.
Speaking of “good times”, you can clearly tell we’re having a ball singing “The Man With All The Toys”, originally played by the Beach Boys. MoU did a great live version in concert last year, so we wanted to reprise that with this live acoustic version in my basement studio. Cliff normally plays bass, but decided to provide only vocals for these sessions. But, you’ll hear his great bass playing abilities (plus Mike’s full drum set and guitar work) on MoU’s normal studio and live efforts. One interesting thing is that the live version MoU did of “The Man with All the Toys” for our Christmas album was actually in the wrong key! I didn’t realize it at the time, but we were actually singing the song a half-step higher than the Beach Boys did in 1964. We rectified that problem for this music video.
I’ve said it a million times before, but the Beach Boys Christmas Album is one of my favorite albums (Christmas or otherwise) of all time. It’s got such a great style and charm to it. The members of the Beach Boys sound so young and happy- it’s just a great album if you want to put a smile on your face. And, for the first side of the album, the Beach Boys themselves play all the instruments. So, you get a really special sound. The original songs, with the likes of “The Little Saint Nick” and “Santa’s Beard” have become hits, and “The Man With All The Toys” is no exception. It’s such a short song- it wasn’t until about 40 years later when Brian Wilson re-recorded this song (I guess a self-cover song of sorts) for his solo Christmas album, “What I Really Want for Christmas”, that he extended the tune by adding a rocking instrumental break. But, I’m happy with the sub-two minute original version, as well. It’s a little slice of musical heaven. Their voices were perfect on the vocal breaks and it’s really just a great holiday song.
I hope you enjoy tonight’s Beach Boys cover song and over the years, we’ll be bringing you many more Christmas songs here on the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog!
Hi all! It’s shaping up to be a busy Christmas season, but I wanted to come on and post a Christmas tune in preparation for that year’s annual Fusco-Moore party.
Part 3 of this four part Laptop Sessions extravaganza comes to you with a Christmas song. I’ve always loved the way the Beach Boys did this tune, so I’m doing it in the key they sang it in. Like I’ve mentioned before, Christmas music just makes me excited about this time of year, and this tune always kind of sets that mood for me.
It’s an interesting song because there’s really no pattern. It’s just like one long musical sentence. That makes it pretty difficult to play, but now that I’ve got the hang of it, I’ll be able to play it every year. I hope you enjoy and I hope this helps make your season great, if only in your dreams. 😉
