Tag Archives: best cover songs

“Hey, Johnny Park!” (Foo Fighters Cover)

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By Chris Moore:

Hello and welcome to this weekend edition of the Laptop Sessions video blog! Today’s acoustic cover song is from the Foo Fighters, a band that my fellow songwriter Jeff Copperthite has covered several times before. I’ve only gotten into this music within the past few months, after a faithful YouTube viewer and fan of the Laptop Sessions requested that I cover the Foo Fighters song “Everlong.” I went out to the store, bought the album The Colour and the Shape, and immediately got into it. For those of you who don’t know me, you need to understand that I’m a big fan of well-packaged CD’s, and this was the 10th anniversary remix with a nice, lengthy booklet and a shiny cover. Now, this may have coloured (pun intended) my perception of it, but what I really liked about the album was its overall progression. It begins with an electric guitar and Dave Grohl’s subdued vocals on “Doll,” a song that gradually builds up and suddenly ends after about a minute and a half. The next song, “Monkey Wrench,” is pure energy and rock’n’roll. The album continues to rev up and slow down and vary as it goes. Previously to this, I had only heard their In Your Honor album. I love the concept — one disc of electric songs, one of acoustic music — but I found it unremarkable.

I haven’t quite perfected my version of “Everlong,” but this is another great track from the album to tide you over while I practice that one. “Hey, Johnny Park!” is a title that I have yet to understand — Foo Fighters fans please help by commenting here!! — and it certainly made me stretch my range a bit, but I love the guitar intro/riff and it really translated pretty well as an acoustic cover song, as the other Foo Fighters covers by Jeff did.

Without further ado, here’s your official Saturday Laptop Session — don’t forget to check back tomorrow for another quality Copperthite cover…

See you next session!


“About A Girl” (Nirvana Cover)

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By Jeff Copperthite:

And a happy Thumpin’ Thursday to you as well!  I hope this evening finds you healthy, warm, and enjoying the awesome weather we are supposed to receive for the next few days.  I can finally say “So Long and Farewell” to Winter, and to the hope of any more snow days from school.

Of course, I may be smitten for saying that.

Well, anyway today’s song is one that I actually heard a couple of days ago and said “Hmm…that song would be a good one to cover”, so here you are!  It’s another song by Nirvana and is called “About A Girl”.  It is from their debut 1989 album “Bleach” (wonder if it was clean…).

I did some reading about the history of this song and there’s a few cool stories about it.  First off, when presented to the band the then-drummer Chad Channing asked Kurt Cobain what the song was about, and Cobain replied “It’s about a girl”.  Cobain didn’t want it put on the album for fear of it being too pop sounding, and having it overwrite their perceived grunge image from their fanbase.  Eventually they decided to put it on the album, citing the producer’s image of it even being a single.

There was a girl that he wrote it about.  It was his then-girlfriend Tracy Marander.  She had asked him at one point why he hadn’t written a song about her, and that was among the inspirations that helped him write this song.  Funny thing is it took 10 years for her to find out that the song was about her, and she only found out by reading the biography of Nirvana called “Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana”.

The song is a rather light number and is perfect for our covering style.  I hope you enjoy it!  I’ll see you next week, and be sure to check back throughout the week for more covers from all of us!

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!

“Big Me” (Foo Fighters Cover)

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By Jeff Copperthite:

Laptop Sessions Historian UpdateOn the day 6 years after he recorded this song, Jeff has reuploaded it to his Youtube channel and it is now available for your viewing pleasure or displeasure (hopefully pleasure). Enjoy!

Welcome, for the first time in 6 weeks, to Thumpin’ Thursday!  That’s right, after a brief hiatus for an awesome acoustic cover song by Mike, I am back for my regularly scheduled Thursday video.  I’ve got a short but awesome one for you today.

One of my favorite albums in my teenage years was the album “Foo Fighters” by the band of the same name.  At the time, I listened to this album countless times.  I can probably play most of the songs on the album and the lyrics are easy to recall.  The song I have chosen is “Big Me”, which was a single from the album.  You may recall the music video (yeah, like MTV plays music videos anymore – they used too) is a spoof of old Mentos’ commercials.  I’m sure you can find it on Youtube on countless users’ channels.

I usually don’t record short songs, but my next video will be a slightly longer song, and could be a new band as well!  You’ll have to wait and see.

Come back tomorrow for Friday’s edition, where Jim will wow us again.

“Indifference” (Pearl Jam Cover)

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By Jeff:

Welcome to Thumpin’ Thursday!  My first as a 29 year old.

I decided tonight, after much deliberation, that I would record a song from a band that has seen plenty of exposure on this site.   That band of course is Pearl Jam.

My friend Marc from high school had introduced me to most of the songs by Pearl Jam from their first two albums.  Him and his brother were huge fans and had even saw them in concert.  I found out my own brother was also a fan and let me listen to “Ten”.  I loved it and it set me off on a Pearl Jam kick that I think i’m still on – at least for the albums I have currently.

The song I have chosen is the last track from their 2nd album “Vs.”   The best of these songs are ones that I wouldn’t want to play on acoustic guitar.  Even this one is meant for a softer electric guitar, but still works.  “Indifference” is the name of the song.  I’m not positive that I performed this song to the best I could.  But the nice thing is the people who would watch this either a) know the song, or b) are frequent visitors to this site and love what we do.

It’s business as usual on my end.  Still setting stuff up, and still teaching 4 classes instead of 3.  And while I love the extra money it’s bringing in, I will be looking forward to the 1 1/2 weeks off i’m going to take at some point next month.

Enjoy this song and keep checking back for more songs from the three and only – Chris, Jim, and I!

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!