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“Christmas Vacation” by Jim Fusco – FREE mp3 Download – Day 2 of 14

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By Jim Fusco:

Welcome to Day 2 of Jim Fusco’s Rock’n’Roll Christmas!  I think you’ll all agree that getting a brand-new recording of a Christmas song you can download for FREE is MUCH better than getting a couple of turtle doves.  I mean, what do you even feed those things??

Today’s song is a unique one- it’s a cover of Mavis Staples’ “Christmas Vacation” that she recorded for the movie, “Christmas Vacation”, one of the absolute classics.  In fact, we just had our yearly watching of this movie the other night with our friends Bob and Sue.  Of course I have the high-definition Blu-Ray version.  I just had to see Clark Griswold fall off that ladder in glorious HD!

I actually noticed that Mavis Staples sings a different final verse in the version that begins the movie.  I chose to go with the version from the soundtrack, which is the one I’ve been listening to for about ten years now.  Over at WCJM Free Internet Radio, we actually named our final Christmas show after the movie and featured this song!

I hope you enjoy tonight’s song.  I think I did a pretty good job of recreating the sound without going too late-80s (like the original).  This was a fun one to do and really stretched out my vocal chords.  And you KNOW I did it in the original key. 🙂  Take care, everyone, and come back tomorrow for Day 3!

“Santa’s Beard” by Jim Fusco – FREE mp3 Download! – Day 13 of 14

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By Jim Fusco:

Let’s pretend for a moment that it’s still Friday night, shall we? 🙂

Day 13 is here and I’ve got my last Christmas cover song for you!  It’s a tune I’ve been singing to my 4-month old son since he was born.  For some reason, I got it in my head that he would like it, so I started singing it to him.  Now, it seems like he recognizes it and likes to hear it.  So, I may sing it year-round!

“Santa’s Beard” by the Beach Boys is one of those songs you’ve probably heard in passing here and there over the years.  It’s a cute tune and I really like the vocals, as always.  This ended up being one of the hardest songs to record because of the awesome walking bass line in it.  What a project!  It really took me a long time to get that down, but now that I did, it’s pretty spot-on to the original, if I do say so myself.

Enjoy “Santa’s Beard” and remember to download all of the rest of the Christmas songs.  I’ll be back shortly with the last song in Jim Fusco’s 14 Days of Rock’n’Roll Christmas 2015!

“Bethlehem” by Jim Fusco – FREE mp3 Download! – Day 9 of 14

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By Jim Fusco:

It’s Day 9 here on the 14 Days of Rock’n’Roll Christmas 2015 on the Laptop Sessions music blog!  Tonight, I bring you a song that you probably haven’t heard of before. But, that’s okay- as George Carlin said, “When are gonna write some more Christmas songs?”

Today’s song is “Bethlehem”, originally done by the band Chicago.  They actually came out with three Christmas albums!  I guess they really got into putting that “Chicago sound” onto the holiday classics.  But, there were a couple of originals and “Bethlehem” is a really cool tune.  It has an interesting beat and some difficult chord changes.  The chords themselves are easy ones, but they change very quickly.

The overall sound was a difficult one to get down.  My version doesn’t sound exactly like the original, but then again, you haven’t heard the original, so who’s to call me on it? 🙂

I hope you like this song- give it a chance!  It’s free to download, so it’s not taking much of a chance.  I’ll see you tomorrow for Day 10!

“Run Rudolph Run” by Jim Fusco – FREE mp3 Download! – Day 12 of 14

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By Jim Fusco:

Hello and welcome to Day 12 of Jim Fusco’s 14 Days of Rock’n’Roll Christmas 2015!  Only a couple songs left, but I’ve saved some good ones for last!

Tonight is my cover of Chuck Berry’s Christmas song, ‘Run Rudolph Run”.  What a guitar player Berry is.  The opening and solo to this song are both very difficult.  They’re not necessarily difficult scales to play, but he plays them so smoothly and with those harmonies.  I guess he was talking about himself when he said, “He could play the guitar just like ringin’ a bell.”

This song is also in a higher register (for singing) than it would appear.  I’m used to singing this live and really letting loose, but in a studio setting, it was a bit harder to get the energy needed without messing up the recording levels.  So, I opted to stand a bit further away from the microphone and sang with more passion, even though the notes might not be 100% right all the time.  It didn’t sound right singing it too “sweetly’.

Okay, come back tomorrow for the penultimate release in my Christmas series.  Don’t forget to download each song you can listen every year!