Tag Archives: cover song

“Elderberry Wine’ by Elton John (Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Welcome once again to a brand-new edition of The Laptop Sessions with me, Jim Fusco!  It’s been quite a while- since this past Christmas, in fact, and I’m finally back with a set of new videos.  Since my last video about four months ago was an Elton John cover song, I figured it was appropriate to come back with another one!  This one is non holiday-themed, however, in “Elderberry Wine”.

“Elderberry Wine” is off of the “Don’t Shoot Me, I’m Only the Piano Player” album.  I have been in such an Elton John phase lately and have listened to many of his early albums.  I have plenty of favorites and plan on bringing more to you, too.  I always had a different view of Elton John: I only knew the hits and they were taken out of context.  In a way, I wasn’t a big fan because some of Elton’s big hits are kind of dated at this point.  But, I also didn’t hear them overplayed when they came out, which is similar to how much I loved Wings when I first listened to their Best Of in 2002.  I hear these songs that most other people already know (like “Elderberry Wine”, for instance) and I fall in love with them.  They just don’t come with the same stigma as they did in the 70s when they first came out.  I used to love “Another Day” by Wings.  Of course, even I can admit that it’s not that great of a song, but again, I didn’t hear it on the radio in the early 70s with all of my friends telling me how much it sucked. 🙂  The same goes for many Elton John songs, including “Someone Saved My Life Tonight” and “Rocket Man”- those are GREAT songs!  Even “Benny & the Jets” is an amazing song, especially considering how innovative it was for the time.  That beat and the sounds he used may be dated now, but when I hear it, I hear innovation.

So, I’ve been really into early Elton John albums, my favorite being “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”.  That album is amazing and has everything.  But “Don’t Shoot Me, I’m Only the Piano Player” is pretty good, too!  Fun fact: the title of the album was actually a quip from Elton John to none other than Groucho Marx!  That’s why there’s a movie poster on the cover of the album from the Marx Brothers’ “Go West”.

This song isn’t exactly the hardest song to play, but it certainly took me plenty of takes.  I must’ve been rusty.  I really wanted to make this comeback a memorable one, so I kept trying to get the perfect take.  Sometimes I wonder if anyone knows how much effort goes into each one of these videos- I really don’t just sit down and produce them for the heck of it.  I want to make something I’m consistently proud of.  Remember the old “Laptop Sessions” mantra: “We put an end to bad cover songs forever!”  Well, at least I’m trying to…

Finally, you’ll notice my new surroundings.  Part of the reason why I’ve been absent is because we had a 400 square foot addition put into our house by finishing our above-ground basement.  It came out GREAT and is a man cave for the ages, complete with all of my guitars, drums, a 58″ tv, and a computer room, which I’m sitting in during this video.  It’s been a lot of work over the past few months, but it’s so rewarding to see it all done now.

I hope you enjoy tonight’s video of “Elderberry Wine” by Elton John and come back for another edition of the Laptop Sessions with Jim Fusco!

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“She Belongs to Me” (Bob Dylan Cover)

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We’re looking for more Guest Sessions submissions! So, sit down, pull up your acoustic guitar and camera, post the video on YouTube, and CLICK HERE!

As I always say, it’s never too soon for another Bob Dylan cover video!  Personally, I’ve attempted to restrain myself from recording a comfortable, enjoyable Dylan cover this year.  However, tonight’s installment of the Guest Sessions is a Dylan cover song music video with an interesting twist.

First of all, this is a song from Dylan’s 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home.  This is perhaps one of his best albums, and it was a transition point for him, half of the album being full band renditions and the other half being classic acoustic-only compositions.  (For his next album, Highway 61 Revisited, he would dive deeply into the world of electric rock…)

So far, I’ve recorded two covers from this album — “Subterranean Homesick Blues” for the members-only area of the site and “Love Minus Zero/No Limit.”  No one here has yet dared to take on the more noteworthy songs, such as “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” or the song that the Byrds launched to chart success, “Mr. Tambourine Man.”  This being said, I was truly impressed with the apparent ease with which Stan Denski, our guest tonight, played “She Belongs to Me.”  Granted, this is a fairly straightforward song, but he changed the tuning and plays in an interesting fashion.  His version is true to the original, yet very much his own and sung well.

Thank you, Stan, for sending this very entertaining video!

I’ll let him introduce the video — Stan writes,

This is a cover of Bob Dylan’s “She Belongs To Me.”  It is played on an old Guild 12-string tuned to an open D and played by barring chords from the top of the neck which allows the highest strings to ring open and create diminished chords.  It also uses a lot of harmonics struck at the 12th fret.

I was showing a friend how to play this version and he videotaped it and, later, stuck it up on YouTube.

Stan Denski, Indianapolis

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“Laughing” (Goo Goo Dolls Cover)

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By Chris Moore:

So, in the middle of the second biggest, busiest weekend of my semester, I decided to record a Laptop Session.  A couple years ago, this would have been no surprise, but it’s been a long time since the “session-a-day” workaholic’s regime ruled this blog.

July 26th.

That’s the date I posted my last acoustic cover song music video.  I’ve recorded performances of original songs since then, but it’s been since before the premiere of Steven Page’s “Indecision” that I posted a true Laptop Session.

Back in July, I had based my cover on an acoustic performance by Page that a fan had posted on YouTube.  That pretty much sums up my working philosophy concerning covers: I’m not on a schedule so much as I’m waiting for the interest to strike.  Of course, I keep plenty busy in between writing music reviews and publishing playlists, as well as facilitating the Guest Sessions division of the blog, and I’m happier about my work here than I’ve been in a long time.

Still, there was an appeal to those days when cover songs were the sole focus of our efforts, and we were excited about expanding our repertoires at a breakneck pace.

That being said, I’ve learned fairly recently that the past is a nice place to think about and even visit, but I wouldn’t want to stay.

Today’s session is born out of how pleasantly surprised I was to find how much I like the Goo Goo Dolls’ early nineties work.  I’ve been a fan of the band since I first heard “Iris” on the KISS 95.7 morning radio show in early 1998.  I remember saving up my allowance so I could pick up the song the next time my parents took us out to the mall.  This being before I understood and appreciated albums, I picked up the first CD I could find with “Iris”: the City of Angels soundtrack.  (If I remember correctly, Dizzy Up the Girl hadn’t been released yet.)  This wasn’t a complete loss, as this is the disc that introduced me to other great songs like Jimi Hendrix’s “Red House,” Eric Clapton’s “Further On Up the Road,” and one of the few U2 songs I truly love, “If God Will Send His Angels.”

Needless to say, I fell even more in love with “Slide” when that was released as the follow-up single.  Looking back, I took this time period entirely for granted: excellent rock bands like the Goo Goo Dolls were on the radio all the time and their music videos were being played — sometimes at full length (gasp!) — on MTV.  To this day, I can’t listen to “Iris” without imagining clips from the video, like in the tower or under the over pass.

At the end of the day, though, I’ve always felt Dizzy Up the Girl to be an okay album and not much more.  There are some outstanding songs — “Broadway” became and remains my favorite song from the album and “Acoustic #3” is utterly, heartbreakingly beautiful — but there are also a handful of “okay’s” and throwaways.  Compared to other albums I was listening to at the time — BnL’s Stunt and Matchbox20’s Yourself or Someone Like You — Dizzy Up the Girl took a back burner, and I never bought a follow-up album.  By the time I was old enough to know about and be interested in back catalogs, I had left the Goo Goo Dolls behind.

Fast forward to 2010.  Something For the Rest of Us is released, and interestingly, my review of Dizzy Up the Girl could be duplicated here, with only the specific song titles needing to be changed.  (For the record, “Still Your Song” is in the running for my favorite GGD song and there are others, like “Sweetest Lie,” that I love.)  My friend Mike kept singing the praises of this new album, so I gave it another chance (thus falling in love with the aforementioned songs that I hadn’t paid more than one listen), but the result still falls flat in comparison with his enthusiasm.

Then, Mike, my girlfriend Nicole, and I saw the Goo Goo Dolls in concert.

Several songs into the setlist, something clicked.  I finally “get” the Goo Goo Dolls.  Unlike Third Eye Blind (another late nineties favorite of mine that promptly faded from my radar when I “got” them and consequently got bored), the Goo Goo Dolls have such depth and energy that I had partially forgotten and partially missed.  So, I set out to find albums from their back catalog.  The first two I’ve been able to find are 1995’s A Boy Named Goo (discussion of which I will reserve for a future post) and 1990’s Hold Me Up.  The latter is such a boneheaded album filled with boneheaded little rock songs like “Laughing,” but I loved it instantly.  Almost immediately, I began singing a quieter version of “Laughing” to myself, eventually figured out the chords, and have played it now and then over the past week.  Finally, I got the urge to record it today and voila!

It should be noted that I’m rusty and the consequences are as follows: I didn’t comb my hair, I didn’t think to hook up my new USB microphone that I’ve been using to mic sessions for my new album, and I absentmindedly dragged over the nearest item that would hold my cheat sheet at the proper level.  The results?  I look disheveled, it’s harder to hear me than it should be, and I smelled the vague whiff of cat poop throughout my two takes (turns out the aforementioned item is the cat’s poop bin, moved into the spare room while the bathroom is being worked on).

So, without further ado — and there’s been much ado, many parentheticals, and a slew of sidebars — I bring you my first authentic Laptop Session in over four months.  My acoustic arrangement is certain to drum up a compliment or two and a much greater number of grammatically nonsensical rants about my talent (or lack thereof) and sexual orientation, but that’s the only way to know I’m back on the blog!

See you next session!

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“You and Your Heart” (Jack Johnson Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Hello everyone and welcome to another new edition of the Laptop Sessions with Jim Fusco!  Glad to be back for my regularly-scheduled Thursday timeslot.

I went into a bit of a Jack Johnson phase recently because I ordered his new album, “To the Sea” on vinyl.  I was home cleaning or working one Saturday morning and decided to fire-up the record player.  I instantly liked the album and decided to add it to my car rotation.  However, I still hadn’t listened to Johnson’s previous album, “Sleep Through the Static”, from a couple of years ago.  I even bought it on the first day it came out, but was in another phase at the time (can’t remember what band).  My brother Mike didn’t give “Sleep Through the Static” great reviews, so I thought others should come first.  And there the album sat.  First at the condo, then in my car, and finally in my new house.

So, I listened to “Sleep Through the Static”.  It’s not a bad album.  But, it’s not a great album, either.  I mean, the songs are fine- I really have yet to find a Jack Johnson song I don’t like.  But, and I’m being completely honest here, there’s not too many Jack Johnson songs I truly “LOVE”.  “Sitting, Waiting, Wishing” is probably the closest.  But, all of Johnson’s songs have that same vibe and are semi-simple, for the most part.  Now, if you know anything about my musical tastes, you’ll know that those two traits are things I like in music.  But, on “Sleep Through the Static”, the music is very low-key.  There’s a lot of slow songs and nothing too catchy.

But on “To The Sea”, you start with “You and Your Heart”, which (in my opinion) is the catchiest, most single-worthy song since “Upside Down” off of the Curious George soundtrack.  And since this isn’t a kids’ song, it should get a bit more respect.  Mike doesn’t like the way Johnson sings the verses to “You and Your Heart”, so I hope I did a “better” job with that. 🙂

The song, as I mentioned earlier, is pretty simple to play.  If I had accompaniment, I would’ve played the riff the whole way through, though it’s very difficult to do while singing lead.  I chose to do rhythm guitar for most of the song because it sounds better on a solo performance and helps me keep time better.  It took quite a few takes to get this one right- those fast-paced words during the verses are very tricky.  The first line starts with, “Watch you when you say what you…”  That’s three “you”s in the first seven words of the song!  But, Jack Johnson’s alliteration has always been his strong point, lyrically.

I hope you enjoy tonight’s video.  I’ve got the next three videos planned-out already and they’re sure to please.  A quick note on my musical ambitions: The new website is coming along nicely after a tedious start (coding!) and I’ve started creating a new Facebook page just for me and my music.  Also, please remember to follow me on Twitter @jimfuscomusic!  You’ll get up-to-the-minute news and will always be notified of new videos and blog posts.

I’ll be back sooner if I can get the new website done first, but if not, I’ll see you in two weeks.  For now, enjoy, “You and Your Heart”!

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