Tag Archives: capo

“Do It Again” (Steely Dan Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Yes, yes, it’s Jim Fusco bringing you yet another new band to the Laptop Sessions music video series!  Tonight, I bring you an acoustic cover song from Steely Dan.  This “band” is really more of a studio act, however, I heard that they’re touring again this year.  I’d LOVE to see if this song is still sung in the same key because it’s a stretch even for a 24-year old Jim Fusco.  I’ve been sick lately, so I couldn’t sing it until now.  I’ve had the lyrics on my kitchen table for about two months, it seems.

This song, which I know will be the case with Becky, is one of those ones you’ve heard a thousand times on the radio, but had no idea who did it.  That was the case with me, too, before I sat down and decided to do the Laptop Session of it.  Steely Dan is also famous for “Ricky Don’t Lose That Number”, another very recognizable one.

I love this song.  It’s got such a great tune, is sung in a high register, and has some cool chords on the chorus.  Don’t be fooled by those other “cover artists” out there that sing the song without a capo- this song is sung MUCH higher, as my version will attest to.  The lyrics are cool, too, as they tell of a real low-life guy that seems to have a combination of a bad attitude and bad luck.

Enjoy tonight’s Laptop Sessions music video and you know I’ll be bringing more and more new bands straight to your eyes and ears in the coming weeks as we look towards the end of the Session-A-Day project here on the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover (and original) songs music video blog!

“A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You” (The Monkees Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Welcome to your Friday edition of the Laptop Sessions with me, Jim Fusco!

Today, I’m doing a great tune written by Neil Diamond, but performed by the Monkees, “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You”. Not only does this song have a great message (like “it’s not all my fault, but SOME of it is”), but has a catchy tune and chord progression.

Actually, it’s that classic 3-chord Neil Diamond style, just shifted up a few frets on a capo.

I hope you like my whistling solo in the middle there! 🙂

BIG things are happening at Fusco-Moore Productions and I hope you’ll visit the blog (and our newly completed other suite of websites) today!

“The Red, White, and Blues” (original Jim Fusco song)

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By Jim Fusco:

Welcome to the Laptop Sessions’ Original Wednesday. I’m guessing some people will be new to the Laptop Sessions because of this original song video, and we welcome you aboard!

This song, a pun on the “Red, White, and Blue”, is my first and only “protest” type of song.

The song was written in early 2002 after 9/11 about the hypocritical actions of Americans automatically becoming “patriotic” as soon as a disaster hit. This original song is just me wondering why people weren’t just ALWAYS patriotic!

This song is still as relevant today, six years later, as it was when I wrote it. I even talk about Easter in the song (it was that time of year), and I thought this would be the perfect week to bust it out again.

Basically, I’m giving the point of view of an 18 year old kid (at the time) from Connecticut because all the hardship and fear seemed so distant from my everyday life at the time.

To say this song is still relevant today shows how stagnant the country’s been lately.  We still are fighting a never-ending war on terror and the patriotism of the country is waning once again.

Oh, and the verse about California: it’s in reference to when they didn’t have the Red-Carpet festivities for a big award show that year. I didn’t think that was helping anyone. Letting the terrorists know we’re scared? That’ll really help…

“The Red, White, and Blues” is from my double-album set, “That’s All…” that I released in 2003.  I say “double album” in a different way than you would normally think of it.  For instance, the Beatles came out with a double album with their “White Album” (simply titled, “The Beatles”) in 1968.  That album consisted of over 20 original songs and couldn’t fit on just one vinyl record.  For “That’s All…”, it’s a bit different.  You see, I had just gotten a guitar- my first real acoustic guitar, an Ibanez Artcore.  I instantly wanted to play everything on the acoustic guitar and quickly went to playing folk songs.  I even came up with a bunch of my own.  I thought a blues song like “The Red, White, and Blues” would be a perfect way to start off an album of folk songs.

But, I also had a bunch of original songs that I’d written in my normal rock’n’roll style, too.  So, I decided to record everything at once and split up the whole project into two original albums: “That’s All Folks”, which featured all of the folk songs I’d written, and “That’s All Jim” that featured all of my songwriting efforts in my normal style.  I put both albums on one CD, but each album had it’s own cover.  Plus, the combo-pack of both albums called “That’s All…” had it’s unique album cover!

I hope you all enjoy this original song music video. If you want to hear the original recorded version and buy the double-album online, you can go to my website: http://jimfusco.com/albums/thats_all.html

“Marie” (Chris Moore original song cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Here’s my second entry for “Original Wednesday” here on the Laptop Sessions. By the way, did you notice we now have www.guitarbucketlist.com? Give it a look!

“Marie” has always been one of my favorite Chris Moore songs.

Every time we play this in concert (which has been MANY times), I always look forward to it. Of course, this version is without the dueling harmonica and guitar solos, but I think the song stands up on its own (the mantra of the Laptop Sessions).

Chris always thought of this song as an experiment for him because he had never really written a love song before quite like this. Truly, when he wrote it, he didn’t even have any real inspiration. But, Chris is a professional writer and this song shows that he didn’t need a real “Marie” to show he could feel this way.

In concert I’ve previously done a very slow version of this song. But for the Laptop Sessions version, I wanted to keep it true to the original- the one I heard in the background on Chris’ car CD player that really started it all. Once I heard this song, we started to think that a band might be possible. See http://jimfusco.com/albums.html for the rest of the story…

I hope you enjoy part 1 of my Original Wednesday installment.