To see how it’s played in the cover song music video, CLICK HERE!
“Exit Music (For A Film)”
Radiohead
(Capo 2nd fret)
Am E C D/F#
Wake from your dreams, the drying of your tears;
Am E Asus2 Am
Today we escape, we escape…
Pack and get dressed before your father hears us,
Before all hell breaks loose…
Gm D
Breathe, keep breathing;
Asus2 Am Asus2 Am Em7
Don’t lose your nerve.
Gm D
Breathe, keep breathing;
Asus2 Am Asus2 Am Em7 E
I can’t do this alone.
Sing us a song, a song to keep us warm.
There’s such a chill, such a CHILL…
Am B E F
You can laugh a spineless laugh.
F Bb E
We hope your rules and wisdom choke you…
Am E C D/F#
Now we are one in everlasting peace…
Am E Asus2 Am
We hope that you choke, that you choke…
We hope that you choke, that you choke…
We hope that you choke, that you choke.
** These chords and lyrics are interpretations and transcriptions, respectively, and are the sole property of the copyright holder(s). They are posted on this website free of charge for no profit for the purpose of study and commentary, as allowed for under the “fair use” provision of U.S. copyright law, and should only be used for such personal and/or academic work. **
Oh…My…GOD!! I am so angry right now!! THREE TIMES- that’s right, three perfect takes of “Sundown” by Gordon Lightfoot it took before I could render tonight’s video and publish to YouTube. Why?!?! Because, for whatever reason, my computer corrupted my video TWICE! It’s so much later than I want it to be. And, if you know anything about me, you’ll know that I like to (and most times ONLY will) do things once and that’s it. Tonight, I brought home Noreen’s 1967 Gibson 12-string acoustic and needed to get this song done. Grrrrrr…..
And, of course, this happens on GROUNDHOG’S DAY!! Wait, am I Bill Murray?
Anyway, onto the shorter (due to the late post) description of tonight’s video.
The legend of the guitar I’m playing in this video is that it was actually OWNED by Gordon Lightfoot at some point!! I don’t know if that’s really true, but wouldn’t it be crazy? I just had to ask Noreen to borrow it tonight. Someday, I may inherit this beautiful guitar…but, seriously, I’m not hoping that day comes anytime soon at all.
I’ve always known this song, and always kind of knew Gordon Lightfoot did it, but I never knew the name (thank you Shazaam App on my iPhone!) and when I heard it again on the radio last week, I knew I had to do it. Listening back, I noticed that it was recorded using a 12-string guitar. Imagine if it was the same one on the recording…
This song is so easy- just slap a capo on the second fret and play E and B for the verse. Then, do E, A, and D for the chorus and you’ve got it! But, even in its simplicity, I find “Sundown” to be a very powerful song. It’s got such a great tune. And the original has really cool harmonies on the chorus. I was hoping to round-up a posse to sing with me, but remembered that I live in Connecticut and would be nowhere near any semblance of a “posse” for at least 500 miles…
So, you get the standard one-man Laptop Session version of “Sundown” by Gordon Lightfoot here on the best blog ever created!
I have some new plans (that’ll cost me some money) to promote both the blog and my original music. I save emails that interest me (advertisements, etc.) and then I let them stew in my mind for about four months. After that, I have a pretty good idea of what I want to spend my money on. And I think I’ve come up with two great ways of promotion that will help get me fans of my original music and help give the Laptop Sessions music blog some better search engine traffic. If I play my cards right, I can do it all for under $100, which in terms of internet promotion is a STEAL.
On a final note, my brother Mike suggested today that he and I record the brand-new Barenaked Ladies single, “You Run Away” from their upcoming album in March. I cannot wait for this album to come out. It’s so exciting to get a new album from BNL and I’m excited to hear them as a four-piece band with more contributions from the “secondary” (if you can even say that with them) band members. I hear there’s THREE Jim Creegan songs on the album! He’s like the George Harrison of the group now. 🙂 Anyway, “You Run Away” came out on iTunes today and it’s AWESOME. You really have to buy it. They sound great. They didn’t try to change their sound too much. It’s just great rock’n’roll with great vocals. And that’s the way to please me musically, folks.
I’ve been listening to some new stuff lately and can’t wait to share it with you- hopefully I’ll get some time soon. Until next post, have a great week!
NOTE: This video was remastered in 2020 for improved video and sound.
Hello everyone- it’s a Tuesday, so that mean’s it’s another edition of The Laptop Sessions and another acoustic cover song from me, Jim Fusco! Tonight, I bring you an oldie, but a goodie in Buddy Holly’s classic tune, “Maybe Baby”. You know, it’s funny- I can almost picture how Buddy wrote this song. He started playing an A chord, followed by an F#m chord, which is a nice change. I can tell that he really liked it and kept playing it over and over until the tune of, “Maybe baby, I’ll have you…” came into his head. The rest of the song is pretty formulaic after that.
But, that’s what I love so much about these very early rock’n’roll songs- it must’ve been great to have a wide-open slate because no one had done it before! So, even the simplest chord changes (like the one I just mentioned) became opportunities for new rock songs. I’m sure someone used that progression in jazz or another form of earlier music, but since Buddy was such a pioneer, he was the first to utilize such chord progressions in rock music.
Now, of course, Buddy Holly had the advantage of being one of the first to write modern rock’n’roll songs in this style, but it wasn’t easy. Having a blank slate seems great- “Oh, okay, I have every chord and no one has taken any of the potential melodies yet- this will be easy to write a song!” But, you have to remember that Buddy, unlike the rest of us, didn’t have a lot to draw from. He didn’t grow up listening to similar music like I did. He had to do it first, which is infinitely more difficult to do than when you have some prior knowledge to draw on.
So, even though “Maybe Baby” may not be the hardest or most complicated song, I still give the man all the credit in the world because he paved the way for so many others. I plan on starting a little Buddy Holly collection- I saw a really great CD retrospective once with all of his original, earliest recordings. That blows me away- there’s some songs in there from the early 50’s!
For this video, I tried to sing the song true to the original, but it’s tough to do that on a Buddy Holly song without having it sound like an imitation. Of course, I never want that. So, I tried singing just like myself, but threw in a few “hiccups” of Buddy Holly’s style in there. It was a lot of fun to record!
The busiest month of the year so far…and it’s only the first one! I keep telling myself, “Well, as soon as (insert major event here) is over, then things will go back to normal.” But, as soon as home life returns to normal, work life goes crazy, and vice-versa.
I hope you have a great week and stop back, if for nothing else than my next post next Tuesday!
Hello everybody and welcome to your Tuesday night fix of Jim Fusco’s Cover Song Experience! No, that’s not my new one-man band name- I’ve just been watching ‘Arrested Development” and was thinking of “Dr. Funke’s 100 Percent Natural Good Time Family Band Solution”, which I find incredibly funny.
Anyway, tonight I bring you a song that’s over 50 years old in Bobby Darin’s self-penned classic, “Dream Lover”. And I can’t believe it’s our first Bobby Darin song on the music blog!
There’s this radio show I listen to on WHUS radio (at the UCONN campus in Storrs, CT). It’s called “Rockin’ With Wayne” and I can’t get enough of it. He just plays all these songs from the 50s and very early 60s. So, I get to hear Ricky Nelson, Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly, etc. I just love those old songs. They’re so simple and all kind of sound alike, but they’re happy and innocent. Even the “downer” songs are just so lightweight that I can’t help but smile when I hear them. So, I’m on a bit of an oldies cover song kick.
Next week’s post will also be a song that’s over 50 years old- it’s even older than “Dream Lover’! After that, I have a lot of possibilities, including my new “deadly” musical interest that will appear on the blog soon…as soon as I can find someone who can sing and play guitar to help me out.
Getting back to tonight’s song, we’re talking about a fairly formulaic tune for the late 50s here, especially that middle section. But, what always made me love this tune is the great start-stop beat in the chorus. It’s so unique. And even though it uses only C, G7, C, and F chords (in that order), something about the melody there and the beat always gets me.
In other news, I had a great day on Sunday- Dana came over for “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2” and we had a good time, even though I’m not that great at it yet. After that, my father came over and we all watched the Jets game. It was amazing! Mike came over, too, and we all had pizza and snacks. After that, we ordered TNA’s “Genesis” Pay-Per-View. And even though there were some startling moves like the new 4-sided ring, the new entrance ramp (which I saw in a WCW pay-per view back from 1991), the addition of Misterrrrrrrr…..Anderson, and a couple of title changes, it was a pretty good show. The AJ Styles heel turn was very unexpected- he’s aligned with none other than the Nature Boy, Ric Flair!
Lots of work this week, both at home and at my day job, so I’ll keep this post a bit briefer than usual. Is “briefer” a word? Sounds like someone who makes underwear…
Anyway, I hope you have a good time watching “Dream Lover” and will come right back here next week for another “Roots of Rock’n’Roll” acoustic cover song music video. Until then!
