Tag Archives: cover song

“Private Eyes” (Darryl Hall and John Oates Cover)

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For public eyes tonight, I bring you the classic song “Private Eyes” from Hall and Oates!  I can’t believe this is the first Hall and Oates song here on the blog.  I think it’s a vocal range issue (I’m thinking of doing another band who stretches their vocal chords for a future Session), so I’m happy to be the one to bring this band officially onto the music blog.

My father bought a CD entitled “12 Great Artists, 12 Great Songs” a long time ago from BMG Music Service.  He listened to it a lot in the car and it had a bunch of big hits (including “Aimee” by the Pure Prairie League, which is now on the Cover Song List for me).  My brother Mike and I would always love singing to this CD, especially to Hall & Oates’ song, “Private Eyes”.  Something about it- I just love the vocals, the tune, and those crazy keyboard chords Darryl Hall plays.  I was able to replicate the all-important F chord with a G bass into the song to give it the proper sound.  See if you can spot it!  It’s the chord that makes you know it’s a Darryl Hall song.

Which brings me to my next point: what is the purpose of Oates?  He’s like the Garfunkel of the band.  He doesn’t appear to play any instruments or even write any songs.  He’s basically a backup singer that rode Hall’s coattails for the past 30 years.  Someone, please correct me if I’m wrong- I wanna like Oates, but I’m not really finding any reason to!

Back to my brother Mike, I ran my first 5k race with him this year (I stuck with it for three weeks, which breaks a record previously held back at the condo of one day…).  He helped me out and ran with me, took me to the gym, etc.  It was good to hang out with him more often.  I finished the race in about 36 minutes, which isn’t too bad.  But, don’t look at the standings- a bit more than a baker’s dozen finished the race ahead of me…

Also, as I’m sure you’ve been noticing, the promotion of my original music has been amped-up recently.  I’m submitting my music to radio stations, reviewers, and record labels now.  I’m getting “Halfway There” on iTunes, and I’m getting my songs some internet radio airtime.  It’s costing a bit of money, but it’s been long enough, don’t you think?  The store is back up and running, as you saw yesterday here on the music blog.  That was a big step for me, as it was one of those things where I worked so hard, just to see it break.  Then, I got so disgusted (and confused by the problem) that I didn’t want to fix it.  I’m glad it’s back up and running, but please drop me a line if you see anything malfunctioning.

Personally, I’ve been trying out this new Sleep Cycle program for the iPhone.  It’s pretty cool, as it monitors you sleep movements and detects the best time (within a half-hour window) to wake you up.  I think I’m getting low grades, though, as sleep has been a bit hard to come by lately.  I hope to start a more normal cycle tomorrow night.

Just a quick note on TNA Wrestling last night- what an interesting show.  Not sure what the Sting angle is yet, but it can’t be a straight heel turn, as he always has an explanation.  He wouldn’t just come out and beat down Hulk Hogan and Abyss without some previous vendetta.  So, we’ll see.  I just hope they can keep up the excitement on a weekly basis to compete with the WWE.

Finally, I’ll say that I really hope tonight’s video gets a bunch of views, because it took me about 15 takes to get it right.  It’s a TOUGH song to play and sing- a lot of chord changes and a very high range without much falsetto.  And when I would finally get a take right, it would be listless because I was trying so hard to play it correctly.  So, I’d try it again with more energy and then the cycle would start over.  Finally, I got a take I liked.

Oh, and that’s the t-shirt they gave out at the “WPLR Sham-Rock’N’Roll” 5k race, in case you were wondering about the leprechaun on it.  Not usually my style…

I hope you enjoy tonight’s Laptop Session acoustic cover song music video and hope you’ll stop back next Tuesday evening for another Laptop Session in HD!  Until then, I hope you have a relaxing week.

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“Tomorrow Never Knows” (Bruce Springsteen Cover)

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By Federico Borluzzi:

Acoustic cover of “Tomorrow Never Knows,” from Bruce Springsteen’s Working On A Dream album (2009).

** EDITOR’S NOTE: **

Tonight, I’m happy to add another cover song from Federico. This time around, he’s picked a beautiful little gem from Bruce Springsteen’s latest album. “Tomorrow Never Knows” may conjure memories of the classic Beatles tune of the same name, but it’s an entirely different track, believe me. If you’ve heard the original, then you know that this is an excellent choice for an acoustic cover song.

We hope you enjoy Federico’s Guest Session — leave comments, submit a session of your own (click on “The Guest Sessions in the weekly calendar above), or simply kick back and listen!

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“Dream Angel” (Brian Wilson Cover)

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Hey, hey everyone and welcome to your “no bad stuff” edition of the Laptop Sessions.  Geesh, say one thing about your current state of well-being and they jump all over you… 🙂  Anyway, I’m back tonight with another acoustic cover song music video for you all to enjoy!

Things have been crazy lately, but what else is new.  I’ll be happy when my 2009 taxes are all done and the end is in sight.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed on a couple of fronts.  Work has been busy, as usual, but manageable.  I’m getting a bit worried about my after-work work (lack of productivity in recent days), but I hope to rectify that tomorrow night.  My 5k, that I’m running with my brother Mike, is coming up this weekend and there’s still plenty of training to do.  Also, we’ve set up three parties/get-togethers here at the new house for those who haven’t seen it yet.  Considering that we’ve lived here for four months now, these are people we haven’t seen in a long time, so it’ll be great to host them here.  This weekend, as well as the next two weekends after that, look to be fun and eventful.  It’ll be nice talking with my friends from my Italy trip and my old college buddies.

On the music front, I did three very important things tonight that I want to share with you before I get into the body of the post:

1. I got The Laptop Sessions music blog listed on about 200 Social Bookmarking sites (like Digg and Del.ic.ious).  This will give the site more inbound links and will give it a chance at some real popularity.  I’m hoping it will bring the site to new heights.  And it wasn’t too expensive (besides, I’ve been saving-up!).

2. I also submitted the music video blog to 195 directories with a Google PageRank 2 or higher!  This is really good, as these will count as 1-way inbound links that are categorized, so we should see some major increases in Google traffic soon.  I really hope many eyes will be seeing this site soon.  I’m really hoping for 2,400 views a day (we got almost 2,200 yesterday).

3. Finally, I did something I should’ve done about seven months ago- I registered my new album, “Halfway There” on CD Baby.  This allows me to sell the album digitally on services like iTunes and Amazon MP3.  I’m getting anxious (and a bit excited) to play shows again.  My brother and I are planning on attending a local open mic night in the next couple of weeks.  I’ll keep you posted on that.  There’s a couple more areas of promotion I want to try, but until the FMP Store is back up and running, I don’t want to spend the money.  Also, I’m hoping that I can get some new fans and finally sell some copies of “Halfway There”, as the production (not to mention the packaging and the album cover) is really good.

Okay- onto tonight’s acoustic cover song music video!

Everyone knows that Brian Wilson is my musical hero.  I’ve met the man, met his band, and was a big part of the online community.  That is, until life stepped-in.  After I moved-out, there was little time to read the message board and post my thoughts.  I hope those folks there will understand that a 25 year old just needs a bit of “growing up” time before he can join a community like that again.  We’ll see if they’re understanding.

A few weeks ago, I wanted to play Becky a song from Brian Wilson’s second solo album, “Imagination” from 1998.  I then realized that it wasn’t on my iPod!! How could this be??  With over 11,000 songs, I didn’t have one of my absolute favorites of all-time??  Then, I remembered- the family copy (that my father owns) is now scratched and/or just won’t rip into my iTunes.  I tried it a couple times back when I was making my collection, but it wouldn’t work.  So, while I was on a nice weekend trip with Becky over Valentine’s Day, we stopped at this cool (but kind of overpriced) underground (literally) record store in Northampton, MA.  They had a copy of “Imagination” on CD!!  So, I bought a used copy (that had never been played before) and we got to listen on the way home.

The album rekindled my love for the song “Dream Angel”.  This is a great tune with some amazing harmonies, all sung by Brian Wilson.  This is really a perfect song- a great sound, great vocals, and even a nifty guitar solo.  No, it’s not going to win any lyrical awards, but it’s a happy tune and that’s good enough for me.  Brian is really at his best, vocal-wise, in this song.  I’ve even placed it in my Top 10 songs list in the past- looking back, I think it was a wise decision.

If you’ve heard the song before, you know what I’m talking about.  If not, then you’re about to hear a great tune and I hope you’ll listen to the rest of “Imagination”, too!  I hope you enjoy my acoustic cover version of this song- I’m back on the nylon string guitar tonight.  It gave a more smooth sound and it was so fun to play.  Make sure to watch it in HD, too!  Because not only is the picture clearer, but the audio is done at a higher quality, as well.  I hope you enjoy tonight’s Laptop Session and come back next Tuesday for an all-new video from a new artist on the blog.  And this is a big one- they’ve had NUMEROUS Number One hits and they’re one of the most popular acts of the past 30 years.  Why haven’t we covered a song from them yet?  Well, I’ll explain that next week.  And, see if you can guess in the meantime.  First correct guess gets a free CD!  Talk to next Tuesday.

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“Good Enough” (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers Cover)

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For Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers chords & lyrics, CLICK HERE!

By Chris Moore:

Wow! I can’t remember the last time I posted a Laptop Session video on a day other than Monday! Why, you ask? Well, if you’ve come to the blog over the past year or so, you may have noticed the weekly schedule posted above. It’s pretty clear that Mondays are my day…

Unfortunately, I won’t have Internet service at home until Tuesday evening, and I just don’t have the energy on a Sunday night to type a 750 – 1000 word review on my iPhone, even if it IS based on one of my favorite albums of all time.

So instead of posting the Weekend Review as per usual tonight, I’m flip-flopping the schedule. Tonight, I present to you for your consideration my acoustic rock cover song performance of a track from the upcoming 2010 Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers album “Mojo.” This is a big deal, as far as I’m concerned, since this will be their first studio album in eight years. That’s a long wait! Mudcrutch was good and I do love Petty’s solo work, but there’s just no substitute for a bona fide Heartbreakers record. It’s been a little over a year since I finally picked up a used copy of “Long After Dark” and thus completed my TPATH (as the band is referred to on their official website’s message board) collection. Just a month ago, I was thinking about how much I’d like to hear a new Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers album…

For a few days now, they’ve been streaming “Good Enough” on their website, and although it is heavily electric — bordering on jam band-esque in fact — I thought I might try my hand at translating it to acoustic guitar. While I had more fun playing it on my Washburn electric, I did eventually record it on acoustic guitar for tonight’s session. As you’ll hear, the song is pretty straightforward. Now, you might be thinking: well, so is every other Tom Petty song. The only difference is that this one sounds a bit different than what you’d expect from the band. In fact, it’s caused some disagreements between fans as to whether it is promising or foreboding for the new release. As for me, I think it’s great — fun, loud, and highlighted by a real killer lead guitar by Campbell. That being said, I certainly hope the whole album isn’t variations on this bluesy style.

I’ll just have to wait for “Mojo” to arrive…

That being said, I hope you enjoy my cover of this brand-new, yet to be released song, and that, if you do, you’ll take the time to listen to the real thing.

See you next session!

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