“Just A Dream” (Nelly Cover)

By Pat Noonan:

My first impression of “Just A Dream” by Nelly was how big and full the hook sounded for such a ballad-ish song, so I wanted to try to really strip it down to just two tracks for an acoustic version, pretty much the opposite approach to covering “Just The Way You Are” last week (see YouTube). I ended up cutting some of the song out, slightly altering the melody/lyrics in some places, writing a fitting acoustic guitar part and changing some of the chords. The ending I did seemed appropriate because that’s actually the song that gets stuck in my head whenever I hear the Nelly song haha so I hope you like it; let me know what you think!

** EDITOR’S NOTE: **

It’s not every day that I check my inbox and find a link to an acoustic cover version of a Nelly song.

Well, it apparently happens sometimes, because I’m here to welcome back Pat Noonan for his second featured video on the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover song music video blog. He’s chosen an interesting track to cover, and his performance highlights his impressive vocals. I have the strong suspicion that you’ll enjoy this as much as I did.

Happy Friday, and browse the archives for more from the blog!

Editor’s note: this post was originally published before December 2015; the exact original date is uncertain.

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“Suzanne” (Leonard Cohen Cover)

By Chris Moore:

Hi all!  I’m coming to you tonight on time for once, well before the midnight mark on my day to record an acoustic cover song music video.  Yes, it’s just after 5:00pm.  Now, you may be wondering, what act of God has caused Chris to post on time for once?

Well, the answer is quite simple.

I’m on my way out with Jim and Becky to follow up on an invitation from his cousin Sarah to have a holiday get-together.  I don’t know what that exactly entails, but I DO know that we will be watching National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.  That’s just what I need to jump-start this Christmas.  It’s been kind of difficult to get into the spirit of the season for a couple reasons.  Even our perfectly symmetrical (with only a little work from Jim with his hacksaw) Christmas tree hasn’t brought the Christmas spirit into my soul.

So, what better way to fix that problem than to watch one of my favorite yuletide films?

Also, I keep forgetting to grab my Christmas CDs from the shelf, so I haven’t been listening to holiday music.  I can’t wait to break out the Moody Blues, Beach Boys, Brian Wilson, Barenaked Ladies, and America albums.  And, I didn’t mean to at first, but I pretty much listed them in order from my absolute favorites to my favorites.

Okay, I’m rushing this post because we really have to go.  I’m — big surprise — the only thing making us late right now, so it’s time to end this cheesy un-proofread post with a simple final paragraph…

This is my cover song version of Leonard Cohen’s classic sixties acoustic song “Suzanne.”  I’ve been listening to the 30 song PLUS “essential” Leonard Cohen songs the past two weeks, and this is certainly one of my favorites.  This song and the one I recorded a couple sessions ago, “No Way to Say Goodbye,” are so different from his later sound, but there’s plenty more Laptop Sessions left…  I’ll probably cover “Ain’t No Cure for Love” among others in the future.

For now, though, enjoy this early Leonard Cohen song and I’ll see you next session!

Editor’s note: this post was originally published before December 2015; the exact original date is uncertain.

More Laptop Sessions covers

“Breaking The Girl” (Red Hot Chili Peppers Cover)

By Jeff Copperthite:

Welcome to ANOTHER NEW BAND here on the Sessions!  It’s time for a band we have wrongfully neglected on the site, and among the greatest Alternative rock acts of all time.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers!

From their awesome album “Blood Sugar Sex Magik” is their 2nd single “Breaking The Girl”, which is a fun tune to belt out on the acoustic.  The guitar part is very well orchestrated and brings out the emotion of the song.

I am using a capo for this song, but Chili Pepper purists will be the first to tell me that it’s not supposed to be played with a capo.  Well, it CAN be played with a capo, and I did.  So there.

We got to go to Fusco Moore Studios for the recording of the 10th anniversery show — you know i was all over that.

And the next day, Jim came out of post-production hiding to give us another great acoustic cover!

Editor’s Note: Unfortunately, Jeff’s acoustic cover song music videos are no longer on YouTube, but we decided to keep his cover song blog posts up.  We figured these music blog entries would be good for posterity’s sake and because Jeff always gave such insightful posts each Session.  We hope to see Jeff’s impressive catalog of acoustic rock songs here on the Laptop Sessions cover songs and origianal music blog again in the future.  But, for now, please make sure to check-out hundreds of other acoustic cover songs from all of your favorite bands here on the Laptop Sessions music blog!

Editor’s note: this post was originally published before December 2015; the exact original date is uncertain.

More Laptop Sessions covers

“Extra Pale” (Goo Goo Dolls Cover)

By Jeff Copperthite:

This is the second time thsi year that i’ve been unable to post because of health reasons.  Earlier in the year (near the start of this project) I had food poisoning that put me out of my scheduled day, and last week I felt a cold coming on.  I got around that by posting an instrumental (that a lot of people liked, which was good), but on Thursday, I could barely talk.  How I taught this past week is beyond me.  Even today my voice is not 100%.

But the posts must go on.  And therefore, i’m making up for lost time by posting 4/7 of the days of this week!

And yes, I used a fraction.

Today I’ve got an obscure album cut from The Goo Goo Dolls’ album “Dizzy Up The Girl”, which is called “Extra Pale”.  One thing i’ve always been amazed by is that every single this band has released has had their guitarist Johnny Rzeznik singing the song.  The people who do not own any GGD albums will think Johnny is lead singer/guitarist.  However, the bassist Robby also sings on many of the tracks and writes or co-writes as well.  This is one of those songs.  Robby’s songs are also shorter than most of the other songs.  This may be the shortest video i’ve ever done!

I tried my best to sing this song, but as you will hear my voice is not 100%.  I decided to throw in that caution in the beginning because I would worry people think I sound like that all the time!  It works for this song because it’s a naturally lower register.

Enjoy this tune, and thank you for coming out consistently to check out every video every day!

The next day’s session brought another new band!

Editor’s Note: Unfortunately, Jeff’s acoustic cover song music videos are no longer on YouTube, but we decided to keep his cover song blog posts up.  We figured these music blog entries would be good for posterity’s sake and because Jeff always gave such insightful posts each Session.  We hope to see Jeff’s impressive catalog of acoustic rock songs here on the Laptop Sessions cover songs and original music blog again in the future.  But, for now, please make sure to check-out hundreds of other acoustic cover songs from all of your favorite bands here on the Laptop Sessions music blog!

Editor’s note: this post was originally published before December 2015; the exact original date is uncertain.

Editor’s Note: Unfortunately, Jeff’s acoustic cover song music videos are no longer on YouTube, but we decided to keep his cover song blog posts up. We figured these music blog entries would be good for posterity’s sake and because Jeff always gave such insightful posts each Session. We hope to see Jeff’s impressive catalog of acoustic rock songs here on the Laptop Sessions cover songs and origianal music blog again in the future. But, for now, please make sure to check-out hundreds of other acoustic cover songs from all of your favorite bands here on the Laptop Sessions music blog!

More Laptop Sessions covers