And so we come to the final installment of the ever-so-cleverly titled “Christmas” playlist series.
I don’t have much to say here, as I’ve already explained the process I went through and the purpose of these three Christmas playlists I’ve posted on the blog. I will mention that this third volume seems to be a more relaxing, laid-back set than the previous two, especially after the first couple songs. I didn’t mean for it to work out that way, but I’ve found this one quite soothing to listen to as I do some work around the house tonight.
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading through them, and don’t miss next Saturday, when I’ll publish the final “Playlists on Parade” post of the year, which will serve to wrap up my work with Christmas music this season.
1. “Angels We Have Heard on High” – Relient K
2. “Elf’s Lament” – Barenaked Ladies
3. “Christmas to Remember” – America
4. “The Christmas Guest” – Johnny Cash
5. “December Snow” – The Moody Blues
6. “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” – The Beach Boys
7. “Mele Kalikimaka” – Bing Crosby
8. “The Christmas Blues” – Bob Dylan
9. “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” – Brenda Lee
10. “Jingle Bell Rock” – Bobby Helms
11. “Santa Claus is Back in Town” – Elvis Presley
12. “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” – Elmo and Patsy
13. “What I Really Want for Christmas” – Brian Wilson
14. “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen / We Three Kings” – Barenaked Ladies (with Sarah McLachlan)
15. “Merry Christmas Darling” – Mike Fusco (with Jim Fusco)
Hello and welcome to a special Christmas Eve edition of your best bet for excellence in cover musicianship on the web — the Laptop Sessions home page!
For tonight’s video, I had initially planned on recording my original Christmas song “Moment.” I have written two original Christmas songs in the past, and I already recorded the other (“Christmas Cards”) last year. Thus, I began practicing “Moment.” And I wish I had taken the time to record it earlier, because I really do like that song. I take issue with some of the lyrics now, as I find them much too cheesy at points, but the overall feel of the song is one that I love.
Then, a song started coming to me. And I’ll break my general silence on my songwriting process here, as there is such an amalgamation of influences and ideas that came together to forge this song. First, you should know that I am purposely tipping my hat to the classic Christmas tune “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” with the beginning of my chorus lines. Also, I used a chord pattern that Jim and I found to be recurrent in a lot of our favorite Christmas songs. It’s a cycle of sorts with barre chords, starting with a major, going down two frets to a minor, then the lower minor on the same fret, and finally jumping back up to a higher fret. Then, the same pattern is repeated.
In terms of what the words mean, I started off writing about my feelings about a very important person — my girlfriend of three years — who I’m no longer with. I haven’t really resolved the situation, so there’s a lot on my mind and I think the emotion got this song started.
Then, I began to think about Christmas in general. The past few years, I’ve really missed being able to spend the Christmas Eve festivities with my close friends. Thus, the song shifted to be about reclaiming my Christmas traditions with my friends.
As the lyrics progressed and I changed lines, the song shifted again to be about my grandmother, who passed away a little over a year ago. This is only my second Christmas without her, and I can’t understate how big a part she has always been of my Christmas. As a kid, she and my grandfather would come over on Christmas Eve and we would have a really relaxing, enjoyable night — nights that I will forever remember with great fondness. As a young man and up until last year, Christmas became an increasingly more important opportunity to spend quality time with her. I don’t quite have the words right now in this format to describe what those days were like or what our relationship was like, and that’s what I tried to accomplish in the song.
Thus, I dedicate this song to my Grandma Moore, a person that I am truly better off for having known and grown up with. I’m going to miss her a lot tomorrow, but writing this song really did help me to express some of that emotion.
As a final sidenote, I spent tonight at the second annual Fusco-Moore Experience Christmas Eve party. I didn’t attend last year, but I figured I should probably attend this year, as my name is in the title and all… According to Jim, the real reason I attended was because I didn’t have anything better to do. Now, this may be true, but… Seriously, though, tonight was really relaxing and fun, the food was amazing, I’m somehow still full from the multi-course meal, and thankfully, Jim’s mom cleaned the dishes. It was a Christmas miracle, as far as I was concerned, that I didn’t have to clean them. I always expect to, and there was more than double our average amount of dirty dishes tonight! Thank you again, Mrs. Fusco!!
Jim, Mike, and I are planning a little get-together we’ll call “Mas Christmas” — or, for those of you who do not habla espanol, “More Christmas.” I’m definitely looking forward to that!
For now, I’m off to get ready for Christmas morning. It will be a full day, capped off by an all-new episode of TNA Impact! at 9pm in the Fusco Theatre. And YOU will have an exciting new yuletide Jeff Copperthite video to look forward to…
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!
Really getting down to the wire now, as I bring you Day 11 of 14 here at Jim Fusco’s 14 Days of Rock’n’Roll Christmas! I hope you’ve been liking all of this free music so far. Let’s keep it rolling tonight with a great little tune that Elvis Presley sang all the way back in 1957. “Santa Bring My Baby Back (To Me)” is one of my favorites because of the good beat and that awesome bass line. That line took me a LONG time to master and my fingers were so sore I couldn’t play the bass again for a couple of days! But now I think I can play it in my sleep.
The backing vocals were a little trickier than I thought they’d be. There’s a couple of parts that I didn’t realize were in there, but you listen to a song a lot differently when you’re trying to recreate it. I was able to use some of my nice guitars and amps for these songs to give the proper sound and I think they really sound good.
So, add this song to your growing collection and come back for the final three days starting tomorrow!
