Tag Archives: good

“Good” (Better Than Ezra Cover)

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By Jeff Copperthite:

Good evening, and welcome toThumpin’ Thursday!  I’ve got a brand new band to bring to the blog tonight!

The band is somewhat well-known, called “Better Than Ezra”.  They released an album that I have somewhere in my library called “Deluxe”.  On it was a song called “Good”, which is tonight’s cover.  It’s a very cool song that I actually never really understood the meaning of.

You know how there are songs that you really don’t “listen” to the lyrics?  This is one of them.  I mean, don’t get me wrong.  I’ve long knew the words, but I never really bothered to figure out what the song means.  It wasn’t until I was reviewing the lyrics for the session that I realized it’s a “damn she left and wrote a note about it”.

This song is still a solid one from what I call “My Alternative Library”.  It’s going to be drawn from throughout the year, so you get to look forward to that.

I’m watching a really cool special right now on TV.  Apparently George Carlin has been posthumously awarded the “Mark Twain” award.  It’s a commercial free 90 minute special where multiple comedians are paying tribute and they are showing various clips from his television career – all the way from his very early Tonight Show appearances, Smothers Brothers set, HBO specials, and other things I haven’t seen.  It was on a channel called WLIW21, so if you get it (or have heard of it before), you will have to watch it.

George has always been a favorite of mine.  Sorry for the diversion from tonight’s session.  I hope you enjoy it, and come back next Thursday for what I hope is the first cover video of a great song!

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!

“Good Times” by Marcy Playground – Chords, Tabs, & How to Play

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To see how the song is played in the cover song music video, CLICK HERE!

“Good Times”
Marcy Playground

Intro: D   Bm   F#   G   Bb – A – D  (sing: “Do-do-do…”)

VERSE:
D
When life has got you down
Bm                      F#                        G             Bb – A – D
And everything about it makes you blue:
Pick up, keep moving on,
‘Cause that’s the very best thing you can do.

BRIDGE:
D                             A                G    F#
Say, hey, Woz, whatever this is, it’s all right.
D                 A                     G              F#                 Bm
Hey, John, this too shall pass; it’s a season in your life.
F#      G
Yeah, yeah, well, I’m…

CHORUS:
D                                              A                                     Bm             G – F#
Kickin’ down the back streets; people wanna break my stride.
D                       A                                  Bm              G – F#
Everyone has a time when they lose their pride,              but…
Bm          F#         G        D
When I’m old and in my chair,
A            Bm     F#        G
Thinking back, looking back,
A               D
What will I remember?
D         Bm           F#                      G              Bb – A – D
All the good times — they were all right…

(Intro)

VERSE:
When every morning brings
A struggle just to get up from the bed…

BRIDGE:
Say, hey man, whatever this is, it’s all right.
Hey man, this too shall pass; it’s a lesson in your life.
Yeah, yeah, well…

CHORUS (once)
(different chords for last line, as below:)
D         Bm           F#                      G           A(hold)     D
All the good times — they were all right…                    Do-do-do, do-do.

** 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. **

“Good Times” (Marcy Playground Cover)

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For Marcy Playground chords & lyrics, CLICK HERE!

By Chris Moore:

Hello and welcome to the second installment of a double header here at the Laptop Sessions, two sessions in honor of Marcy Playground singles, both past and present. Tonight I’m standing in for Jim, who’s away for one more week on his honeymoon. I can only imagine what kinds of photos and songs he’ll bring back with him from his exotic — yet domestic — locale for next week’s Jim Fusco Tuesday.  Don’t miss it!

My cover song music video tonight is from Marcy Playground’s latest album, Leaving Wonderland… in a fit of rage, just released last month. “Good Times” is a song about accepting whatever difficulty or hardship you may face and moving on from there.  He invokes the classic phrases, “It’s all right” and “This too shall pass,” and although the lyrics are extremely simple, “Good Times” has a Jack Johnson-esque feel-good vibe to it and I enjoyed playing it.

My one hesitation in endorsing this as a great track is that lead singer John Wozniak refers to himself twice in the song.  (I tried inserting my name into my version, but it just didn’t feel right…)  In the first bridge, he refers to himself both as “Woz” and “John.”  Initially, this was distracting for me.  Then I realized, after playing it over and over again before recording my session today, that his personal reference works in the context of the song as a whole.  In the first half of the song, he’s essentially singing a song about and for himself.  By the end of the song, however, he refers much more generally and universally, inviting all people to join him in appreciating the “good times” and dealing positively with the bad.

Right about now, I think all three core members of the Laptop Sessions are enjoying the good times.  After all, Jim is on his honeymoon and Jeff and I are on summer break from school.  Sure, life is always going to be busy for guys like ourselves who are constantly working and writing and playing, but that only makes our leisure time all the more enjoyable and relaxing.

Speaking of free time, I’m off to do laundry and vacuum!

Seriously, though, I hope you’ll come back soon for all-new sessions, starting with Jeff’s “Thumpin’ Thursday.”  As for me, I’m picking up some real creative steam now that the moving process is complete and the summer is in full swing.  I’m working on finishing my third poetry book (FINALLY!), a couple novels (which translates to a lot of writing, jumping back and forth, and thus a very slow process), and songwriting for my next album (I’ve written eight songs in the past three weeks that I’m very proud of — I think some of these are the best songs I’ve ever written, and I’m anxious to find a way to translate them to tape or, in this day and age, to computer).

This all adds up to some great new updates by the fall and some new Original Wednesdays for me in the near future.  For now, though, if you’re interested in hearing what my new material sounds like, you can check out a file that I “tweeted” a few weeks ago: CLICK HERE.  The song is called “Work Time, Get In Line,” and it’s a taste of what it sounds like when I tinker around with GarageBand, my MacBook’s built-in mic, and my Fender acoustic guitar.

See you next session!

“If This Is It” (Huey Lewis & The News Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Welcome to the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music blog for Monday! I’m back with a video that’s not only one of my best performances (if I do say so myself) but one of my favorite tunes. This song, “If This Is It”, is an underrated song and Huey Lewis and the News are a very underrated band.

I think Huey Lewis loses points in many reviewers’ minds because he doesn’t write the songs he sings.  But, there are members of his band (you know, the News!) that write the songs he sings.  It’s kind of like a Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons thing.  So, when you look at the band in that light, Huey Lewis is just a really cool guy and a good singer, too!  I love the style of their songs- it’s kind of like my music, but back in the 80s.  You can tell that the songwriters loved a bygone era of music (especially with the doo-wop style of “If This Is It”) but updated it for the times.  Obviously, “If This Is It” wouldn’t have sounded right in 1956, but somehow the song gives off that vibe while still sounding fresh…for 1983, that is…

The whole “Sports” album is very entertaining to me.  I know songs like “The Heart Of Rock & Roll” have actually been put on “Worst Song Ever” lists in the past, but I’ve always liked that tune!  Plus, “Heart and Soul” is one of my absolute favorite songs of all time.  And, you’ve even got the song that was stolen for the Ghostbusters theme song in “I Want a New Drug”!  If you’re into music from that era, please give “Sports” from Huey Lewis and the News a shot.  You’ll be glad you did!

“If This Is It” wasn’t the easiest song to learn- the chord changes and the special strumming pattern made it a tough one to get correct while singing.  But, the singing wasn’t too easy, either.  I recall messing up near the end of the song on a couple of occasions.  Why?  Because Huey Lewis had (and still does) an amazingly powerful voice.  Of course, he wasn’t playing guitar at the same time during his performances!

I always thought this would be the perfect album closing song.  It just has that “ending” feel to it, even though it’s not a slow song like most albums feature at the end.  The sentiment here is that a person knows all of the telltale signs of a relationship ending are there and that person wants the truth.  But, what makes this song great is the hesitation- yes, he may know it’s over, but he still doesn’t like that fact.  He knows he should save himself from more heartache, but he wants her to be the person to break it off.

I hope you all enjoy tonight’s acoustic cover song, played on my nylon stringed acoustic guitar, as our week of brand-new bands to the Laptop Sessions continues!  This Huey Lewis and the News song is one of my favorites and I knew it would be a great pick for another cover song music video here on the best music blog around: The Laptop Sessions!