So, here I am at work taking a break to eat lunch and thinking about which song I will choose and record for my upcoming installment of Chris Moore Monday.
Instead of simply thinking about it, I figured I would try out this new app for the iPhone…
…which is pretty amazing!
The fact that I can sit here at work and type some thoughts into my phone that will instantly appear on the Laptop Sessions site is fabulous. That’s right – it’s a fabulous fact. It’s a shame that I don’t really have anything of substance to write about. Let’s leave it at this: I’m looking forward to recording my weekly video and writing a post, and it just kills me to think I’ll have to wait many more hours before I can focus on that particular task.
Welcome to my first Original Wednesday original acoustic song music video for the year 2009! It’s Jim Fusco here with a great song that we chose to kick-off our (and by “our”, I mean the band Masters of the Universe, or MoU) second album, “Homestead’s Revenge”. The song is “Only A Dream” and it’s a chorus I wrote the tune to, but never did anything else with.
I remember the day very vividly. It was one of our band songwriting sessions and I remember finally fleshing-out the chorus with the help of Chris, Mike, Becky, and Cliff. Then, I ran over to the piano and started to work out chord progressions for the verses. I came up with the very interesting Em7 to Bm chord progression and I really love the tune that goes along with it. I remember sitting there working and hearing Becky and Chris deciding on words to go into the chorus of the song.
I took my ideas over to the rest of the band and we worked out the words. We came up with this image of a man in a jail cell. The conversation went something like this: “How about a man locked in a jail cell that’s dreaming about getting out?” “Oh yeah- like he’s locked in there!” “Okay, let’s see- ‘Locked in solitary confinement…’” “No, that doesn’t work with the tune…” “Locked in solidarity…” “That doesn’t make sense, though.” “Oh, but it does! The guy is locked up AND he’s all alone!” “Perfect!”
And that’s how the writing session went- we scrutinized everything but were able to paint a very realistic image of the idea we were getting across. Why don’t you just listen and find out what that message is?
I also remember Mike returning from the back room, playing his middle-8. I love that part of the song and it leads right back into the chorus very well. He did that on “These Streets” from the same album. The lyrics are great on the middle-8 to “These Streets”- we were thinking about that kind of great fast-paced life you think you have in high school and threw in, “Live like it’s 1999,” because I was a freshman/sophomore in 1999.
Also, I was very excited when we all did the vocals. On the original (which you can hear by going to MoU’s Official Website), you’ll hear double-tracked vocals from each of the five members of the band on the choruses and backgrounds, PLUS the lead vocals.
Some fun facts: Chris, Cliff, Mike, and I recorded our vocals together and we dubbed Becky’s much softer voice later on two other tracks so I could handle it better in the mix. It isn’t easy blending a female voice into four other male voices. But, my voice must not be too far off from a female’s voice, which made it easier to mix. Why do I say that? Well, on the middle-8, you’ll hear the backing vocals come in. I love that part. Well, on that section, Becky doesn’t sing- it’s just Mike’s lead, then Mike, Chris, Cliff, and I on backing vocals. I sang the high part (doing my best Becky impression) because we seamlessly wove the backing vocals around Mike’s lead, allowing us to use only four other backing vocal harmony parts. I remember doing those backing vocals that night with the boys and we were all so incredibly excited. After we finished each good take, we’d get so stoked about it. The greatest backing vocals I think I’ve ever heard are during the second half of the second verse. The way that some of the vocals move around and some stay the same…it’s really a stroke of genius on my part! 🙂 Want to hear just the vocals-only section? Click HERE and you’ll go to the Albums page on the MoU website. The clip of only the vocals from that section will play in the background. Click around to the other pages on the site and you’ll hear more rare vocals-only clips from the album!
Well, I hope you enjoy this great original song. It was truly a collaborative effort- a great, catchy song- that was the perfect album-starter. Until next Tuesday, I hope you have a great week. Make sure to come back tomorrow for your Jeff Copperthite Thumpin’ Thursday acoustic cover song music video!
And the award for most spirited contribution to a Laptop Session goes to…
Jim Fusco!
Yes, that’s right, for my FINAL video of 2008, I called in the big guns (plural) — not only Jim, but also Dana. The video that resulted is a one take, gather ’round the ol’ laptop spontaneously kind of video. At its core, this is what the Laptop Sessions are all about — recording a performance as if you were just sitting around the house with us. Break out a guitar, tune it, and start strumming. That’s what we do here. And that’s what we’ll continue to do in 2009!
For tonight, I chose “Feliz Navidad” in honor of the quickly approaching new year. Jose Feliciano recorded this song in 1970 and when it was released on CD in 2001 it quickly became one of the most played and recorded Christmas songs, according to ASCAP. Now, it has been added to the massive “session-a-day” catalog at the Laptop Sessions music blog, soon to be 366 music videos strong from this year alone!
Tonight was a lot of fun. Not only did I get to go to my English department Christmas party, but I also got there on time and without getting lost, thanks to the GPS that Jim and Mike got me for Christmas! I’ve been saying for years that I don’t really need one, that it wouldn’t get used, and epecially with the iPhone, that a GPS seems unnecessary. Well, not so. This was extremely easy to use and it was more fun than it should have been to drive to Hamden and back. Anyone who knows me will understand how great this is, as it combines my dorkiness with technology AND my dorkiness for loving to drive places!
Anyway, the party was extremely relaxing and fun (I am grateful for an amazing department of people to work with), and when I got home, I went out for some late night Burger King and Jim and I kicked back to watch some YouTube Videos. First, he showed me the little kid screaming as he opened his Nintendo 64. “NINTENDO SIXTY-FOOOOOUUUUUURRRRR!!.” So funny. (YouTube search: kid opening nintendo 64)
Then, I showed him a video I just came across today. It’s Jeff Tweedy, front man for Wilco, playing an acoustic show and talking to the crowd in between songs. About midway into the video, he explains “the game” to the crowd. Essentially, the game is to name a band — Three Dog Night, for instance — and then to consider the bowel movement that might have inspired the band name. There are so many good ones! Just think — Green Day, the Rolling Stones, String Cheese Incident, etc… The list goes on. (YouTube search: Jeff Tweedy banter and the game)
When we were done and Dana had arrived, we were all fighting unconsciousness. At least I was. And I think Jim a bit too. So, Jim suggested I record my video before we went our separate ways (tangent: anyone remember that American Dad episode with screaming “Debbie and I went our separate WAAAYS!). Even I didn’t need more than a quick glance at the chord sheet for this song before I joined them in the other room to record what is probably one of the most fun sessions I’ve done. It won’t win any awards, but I hope you enjoy the energy and the simplicity of the message.
Truly, I wish you a happy new year and the best of happiness, health, and success in 2009. Thank you for all your support, for watching our videos, and I hope you’ll continue to come back next year. With any luck, our numbers will continue to grow!
2008 was a great year for music; there were lots of great albums. There were also disappointments, but those were weighed out by the good songs and albums that were released. Personally, it was a year of up and downs for me. Musically, I found one of my new favorite bands, Wilco. In other aspects, I’m certainly hopeful that 2009 will be a better year — that I will catch up with my grading and do well on my BEST portfolio, that I will record my album with Jim (hint, hint, nudge, nudge 🙂 ), and that I will deal with some personal issues that need to be dealt with, oh, I don’t know… months ago!
Okay, this one was for fun, and I implore you- just for fun! I was planning on doing this one all day. I needed one more Christmas song before the big day and I’ve always enjoyed singing this one. For the most part, I can sing the whole song without going into falsetto. Of course, I usually have to project (a nicer word for scream) when I sing this song, so it was nicer to be in a quiet environment.
This was a LANDMARK day for the Laptop Sessions- we reached our highest view total yet for one day- 263 visitors! Thank you to all who came to the site today and we sincerely hope you’ll continue to come back. There are no plans of stopping here on the best music video blog in the universe. Every time I say that, I think of those TV political news shows. They always claim they have the “Best political team…” and then add: on television, in America, in the world, in the solar system, in the universe, of all time…
“Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” is the perfect album closer to probably the best Christmas album of all time- “A Christmas Gift For You from Phil Spector”. That album was so innovative and actually featured GOOD original songs in a holiday mood. Everyone whose been reading this blog for a while knows that I’m a fan of great album closers. I hate when a band just shoves some plain old solo acoustic number at the end of the album. It’s always such a downer and makes you long for Track 1 all over again. Tonight’s song is one of those album closers that gets you goin’ again! Plus, it’s the best song on the album, which is a rarity being right at the end. I do need to point out that after this song, there is a special “Silent Night” track wiht a Christmas message from a very wimpy sounding Phil Spector, so that’s technically the closing track. But not until I got the album on CD (we just always listened to a compilation of a hundred great Christmas songs my father put together) did I even know that track existed. And, I shouldn’t have doubted my father’s choice to leave it off of his compilation- that track stinks.
Darlene Love’s vocals are just great on this track. I hope I didn’t miss her singing this song on David Letterman this year. She always sings it and she still sounds great. Although, the pitch of the song has dropped down considerably over time.
I guess this song tonight just proves that I will go to great lengths to sing songs in the original key. You may have noted that I sang the high parts in my last Christmas music video (Happy Xmas, War is Over) in a lower octave, albeit in the same key. But, as always, I had a reason for that rare exception to my hard-and-fast rule. Singing that part in the high register just sounded WAY too much like Yoko Ono, so I decided to salvage the song by taking Yoko out of the equation completely! 🙂
Enjoy tonight’s cover song music video. I’m very excited, of course, for Christmas. I know Chris and Jeff will make you proud with their holiday offerings over the next two days. I can’t wait to see what I got, but more importantly, to see the reactions on the faces of people I got gifts for. This is shaping up to be a nice Christmas. I won’t talk to you until after the holiday, so I wish everyone the very best and I thank you all for such a great and exciting year!
