By Jim Fusco:
Welcome to another edition of the Laptop Sessions with me, Jim Fusco! Tonight, I bring you an original song that first appeared on my 2009 album, “Halfway There”. Let’s get the promo stuff out of the way first: You can buy the album “Halfway There” with 12 original songs on my website at http://jimfusco.com/albums/halfway-there.html. I play all of the instruments on the album and sing all the vocal parts, though there are a couple of guest appearances throughout. The album, which you can buy on iTunes as well as on CD, features a beautiful album cover painting from Ben Quesnel. I made him a website for his original artwork at http://bqartstudio.com. The album cover ties the whole album together- the feeling of being only “halfway there” in life.
“Tuning In”, tonight’s original song music video, is about two people that are having a tough time finding time for each other. As we all grow up and start to work for a living (after graduating school, hopefully), we find it hard to fit in all of the things we were accustomed to doing. I know I found it difficult. All of a sudden, your days are completely filled. Plus, when you get home, there are chores to do around the house, plus cleaning, cooking, and the laundry. No time is left over for anything fun anymore! My future wife and I were in that situation for a while. We eventually made everything work, but for a time, we would barely ever see each other.
I can recall the exact moment when I came up with the idea for this song, “Tuning In’. Every week, we would get together and watch the TV show “Boston Legal”. But, during this time period, we were both very busy, as I mentioned earlier. I recall seeing a pattern: the ONLY time we’d see each other was to watch this one-hour long TV show! Thus the line, “I’m tuning you in an hour a week…” Of course, looking back on it all, I’m sure I was exaggerating a bit. But, like I said, it was tough getting used to being so busy all of the time. We went from spending every waking moment together to only seeing each other when all the chores, homework, and day jobs were done…hardly ever.
I chose to do “Tuning In” tonight for a few reasons:
First, I like the song! Of course I do- I wrote it, right? But, this one always gets me because I love the style. I came up with that interesting strumming pattern (kind of start-stop thing I do with the guitar) and it’s got some cool chords thrown in there. Plus, I think it’s one of my best choruses up to that point in my musical career. It’s got a good hook and in the recording, I was able to use a neat vocal effect, too. I got three vocal background parts and recorded each of them twice. The result was a nice full effect that I borrowed from Bareknaked Ladies- they used the technique on their “Barenaked Ladies Are Me” album (specifically the song, “Bank Job”).
The second reason I chose “Tuning In” as my original song of the night was because I’m not quite ready to debut a new song from my upcoming album, “Those Around Us”. Yes, all of the songs are recorded, mixed, and mastered. But, I’m waiting for the album cover (again painted by Ben Quesnel- and it’s AMAZING) so I can produce the discs. I’m so excited, but I want to debut Laptop Sessions acoustic music videos of the new songs once I have a release date set for the new album. I’ll keep you posted- it’s going to be soon!
I hope you enjoy my original song, “Tuning In”, another step forward (in my opinion) as a songwriter and producer. And I hope you’ll check out the album “Halfway There”, as well- it would mean the world to me if you listened (and bought, of course) the album. Let me know what you think of “Tuning In” in the comments section!