“You’re So Good To Me” (Beach Boys Cover)

By Jim Fusco:

Hello all, and welcome to your weekend edition of The Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog with me, Jim Fusco. After two strong outings from Jeff and Chris, I decided to pull my ace-in-the-hole and do a Beach Boys song.  I always have good luck doing a Beach Boys cover song, as growing up, I would constantly sing these while in the car.  After a while, I think my voice just grew into the Beach Boys tone, so I’m able to bring you fairly accurate cover song videos here on the music blog!

This is an earlier Beach Boys song that doesn’t have way too much emphasis on the background vocals, so it was a nice transition into Laptop Sessions form.  Normally, I like to take more produced songs and turn them into cover song videos, but tonight, I’m taking a lesser-known song and bringing it to the public’s attention again.

I love the way Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys sings this song. It’s like he’s semi-screaming it at some points, but he’s singing about how someone is “so good” to him! I think this might have been an attempt to sound a bit more “macho” on Brian’s part, and if I were in his shoes, I would completely understand.  Of course, I think the “macho” aspect goes away on the falsetto, “And I love it, LOVE it!” line.  That’s okay, though, as it’s my favorite part of the song.  I’ve noticed lately that one of Brian Wilson’s strengths as a songwriter (and there are many) is his ability to write a great bridge.  Those catchy transition periods between the verses and choruses are usually my favorite parts of a song.  I’ve been putting a lot of focus on them in my original songs, as well.  For instance, in “Good Enough” off of my album, “Those Around Us”, I love the way the bridge came out.  It features really cool harmonies and a catchy tune.  Plus, I like the line, “And now my heart is hardened like a heart of gold.”

I hope everyone likes this one, even though it doesn’t have my favorite Mike Love low part in there. Gotta get Chris to stop correcting high school English papers one of these nights and do some more collaborations!  Actually, this cover song video doesn’t feature any of the background vocals.  The “la-la-la” part in the chorus can be considered annoying by some people.  In fact, it took away from my love of the song until just recently.  I guess it grew on me.  But, here I give you a version with no background vocals for the acoustic cover songs music video blog so you can hear just what a great little song “You’re So Good To Me” is!

See you Tuesday with another Session, but stay tuned for Chris and Jeff’s entries over the next two days! Haven’t missed a day in ’08!

“Marie” (Chris Moore original song cover)

By Jim Fusco:

Here’s my second entry for “Original Wednesday” here on the Laptop Sessions. By the way, did you notice we now have www.guitarbucketlist.com? Give it a look!

“Marie” has always been one of my favorite Chris Moore songs.

Every time we play this in concert (which has been MANY times), I always look forward to it. Of course, this version is without the dueling harmonica and guitar solos, but I think the song stands up on its own (the mantra of the Laptop Sessions).

Chris always thought of this song as an experiment for him because he had never really written a love song before quite like this. Truly, when he wrote it, he didn’t even have any real inspiration. But, Chris is a professional writer and this song shows that he didn’t need a real “Marie” to show he could feel this way.

In concert I’ve previously done a very slow version of this song. But for the Laptop Sessions version, I wanted to keep it true to the original- the one I heard in the background on Chris’ car CD player that really started it all. Once I heard this song, we started to think that a band might be possible. See http://jimfusco.com/albums.html for the rest of the story…

I hope you enjoy part 1 of my Original Wednesday installment.

“Christmas Morning” (Original Christmas Song by Jim Fusco)

By Jim Fusco:

The second half of my “Original Wednesday” kicks off the holiday season with an original Christmas song!

I wrote this song at least five or six years ago, probably more.

I could never play it right on the piano, so when I learned guitar, I switched the main instrument. I’ve always been proud of the repeating chorus at the end. You HAVE to hear the version I did with MoU bandmates Chris Moore, Mike Fusco, and Becky Daly on our album, “Our Christmas Gift To You”. You’ll love it- we all sing on the chorus at the end and it sounds great! Check it out at http://jimfusco.com

Anyway, I’ll be adding many more Christmas songs over the next few weeks, so if you have any holiday favorites, please drop me a line or leave a comment and I’ll be glad to fulfill the request!

Christmas time is my favorite part of the year. This week of Thanksgiving is so exciting, and it seems like every day there’s something to do. For instance, tomorrow, I’m having “the guys” over late at night. Then it’s Thanksgiving. Then I’m waking up incredibly early to go Black Friday shopping with friends. Then my cousin Sarah is sleeping over at my condo on Saturday, ready to watch multiple Christmas/Jim Carrey movies. Then after that, I’m finally free to listen to all my favorite Christmas radio shows I’ve done with my best friends of all time on WCJM.com Free Internet Radio.

Well, enough of my Christmas rant- I’m just looking forward to everything!