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“Up in the Air” by Kevin Renick – Chords, Tabs, & How to Play

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To see how it’s played in a music video, CLICK HERE!

“Up in the Air”
Kevin Renick

C    G            C
I’m up in the air,
C                       G                C
Choices drifting by me everywhere.
C       Am                Em
And I can’t find the one
Em             Am                                        Em
That would help me do the work I’ve left undone,
Em            G            C
‘Cause I’m up in the air.

I’m making some plans,
Finding out there’s always new demands.
And I can’t be precise;
When people ask me what I’m doing with my life,
I say, “It’s up in the air.”

C    G                  C
I’m hearing from friends.
C                   G                C
It’s that tired, old advice again:
C      Am                                        Dm
“You just cannot keep floating all around.
Dm        Am                                             Dm
Oh, you got to get your feet back on the ground.”
Dm      Am                Em
But it’s hard to come down
Em               G             C
When you’re up in the air.

C         G                    C
Daaaa, da-da, da, da-da.
C         G                    C
Daaaa, da-da, da, da-da.
Am      Em     Am             Em
Daaaa, daaa; daaa, da-da-da
C
Mmm-mm…

I’m traveling in my car,
Always lost, though I don’t go that far.
I find that I can live most anywhere.
Everyone I meet has so much they can share.
But I don’t settle down,
‘Cause I’m up in the air.

I’m thinking of my past,
The comfort in my home that couldn’t last.
Now my family tells me work for your success,
And they want to see me find some happiness.
But I’m not sure where that is,
‘Cause I’m up in the air.

I’m talking with my peers,
Listening to them tell their inner fears.
Some have lives that haven’t gone the way they planned,
And some are trapped in situations they can’t stand.
But I don’t want the same for me,
So I stay up in the air.

Daaaa, da-da, da, da-da.
Daaaa, da-da, da, da-da.
Daaaa, daaa; daaa, da-da-da
Mmm-mm…

I’m out in the woods;
Something here does my heart so good.
I breathe the air, and I know that I’m alive.
And I stare at all the birds as they fly by.
I guess it all comes down to them,
‘Cause they’re up in the air…

** 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. **

“Society” (Eddie Vedder Cover – Song by Jerry Hannan)

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For Eddie Vedder chords & lyrics, CLICK HERE!

By Chris Moore:

Hello and welcome to the first installment in a fresh new week of brand new material at the Laptop Sessions, the best cover song music video website in the universe!

I was FINALLY able to find the Into Thin Air soundtrack on sale — thank you, Best Buy — so I’ve been listening to it all week.  Although I have discovered several other songs that I like very much, Eddie Vedder’s cover version of Jerry Hannan’s “Society” is still my favorite track on the album.  It was very disappointing for me to discover that it is a cover, but it’s such a great track that I have to stifle my desire for original material, at least temporarily.

I first heard this track from my friends and colleagues Dan and Larry over the summer as we played some music of our own.  At the time, I had not yet immersed myself in Pearl Jam, but I was immediately drawn to Vedder’s simple but powerful vocals on this track.  Apparently, as they told me, Vedder had contributed eleven songs (9 originals and 2 covers) to the soundtrack of the film Into Thin Air, based on Jon Krakauer’s book of the same name.  Although some of the songs are very short and there are two tracks without lyrics, the Into Thin Air soundtrack is essentially an Eddie Vedder solo album — his first full length solo project since he began singing with the other members of Pearl Jam.

Whether you’re a Pearl Jam fan or not, I think everyone here at the Laptop Sessions will be able to appreciate this great acoustic tune.  It was a pleasure to record, from beginning to end.  In fact, I ended up with several early takes that I could have settled for, but kept playing and playing until I arrived at this version, which I felt was most loyal to the original version.  (Well, maybe not the original version — rather, the Eddie Vedder version of the Jerry Hannan original.  Although, Hannan provided background vocals and guitars for this track, so it’s closer to an original than your average cover.)  When I finished recording, I had the sort of sadness I always get when I’ve figured out a song and yet, the recording being finished, don’t have any real reason to keep playing it.

The bright side here is that I’ll get to play it a little bit today during school, as I’m bringing my guitar in to practice for our big Writing Club / Creative Writing open mic night.  This is the first time (at least since I’ve been at the school) that the Writing Club has teamed with the Creative Writing classes to put on the open mic.  The result?  To begin with, we’re in the theater instead of the cafeteria and it promises to draw a more significant crowd.  The only downside — and it’s a significant downside, if only for me — is that the show runs from 6 to 10pm…  This Thursday.  And Thursdays mean baseball, fast food, and wrestling with my friends.  We had originally scheduled the show for a Friday — which I was excited about — but there was a scheduling conflict and the best available day for everyone else was Thursday.

Either way, it’s only one week and it’s for a good cause.  With some luck, I’ll be able to catch the second half of wrestling.  If not, there’s always the iTunes download if I hear I’ve missed a great episode (as last week’s was!).  Until next Monday, I hope you have a great week.  Don’t forget that you’ve got at least two things to look forward to: Jim Fusco Tuesday and Jeff Copperthite’s “Thumpin’ Thursday.”

See you next session!

“Moment” (Chris Moore Original)

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For Chris Moore chords & lyrics, CLICK HERE!

By Chris Moore:

Good evening and welcome to what has become a Christmas tradition for me here at the Laptop Sessions.  Each year since 2007, I have posted one yuletide original during the month of December.  Last year, I wrote and recorded a song on Christmas eve, so this year I wanted to post another on the last Original Wednesday before Christmas Eve.

This year’s selection is one I wrote years ago and was first included on the Chris, Jim, and Mike holiday album Our Christmas Gift to You.  To be honest, I don’t remember exactly when I wrote this song, but I certainly remember my first recording.  I had never recorded using a multi-track mixer, so Mike lent me one that he had inherited from a local photographer.  In its day, it had been a really nice system.  Unfortunately, some of the controls were off and there were certain tracks that would become spliced together — I’m not sure how else to describe this.  Essentially, I couldn’t lower or raise the volume on one track without another following it.

That being said, it felt like Mike was handing me a portable professional studio!

I rushed home late from Mike and Jim’s house that night, quietly snuck into my house (my parents were fast asleep), and set up in the small bathroom in the basement.  After about twenty minutes of silent trips up to my bedroom, the mixer had been set up on the toilet, the microphone stands near the shower, the keyboard by the towel rack, and I was sitting on my stool with my back against the sink.

And yes, I am holding myself back from making the obvious stool/bathroom pun here…

The version I recorded that night was quiet and a bit sloppy, but it really wasn’t as sloppy as it should have been for my first recording.  To be certain, many songs that I would record later on more reliable equipment seemed, at least to me, to be inferior to the overall feel of my first “Moment.”

The next version that I recorded was for the November 25, 2004 release of Our Christmas Gift to You.  I felt very much like the rawer, indie cousin of my future bandmates, as my two songs weren’t as fully produced as Jim and Mike’s were.  Still, it felt — and still feels! — exciting and, to be honest, like an honor to hear “Christmas Cards” and “Moment” alongside some of my all-time favorite Christmas originals, like “The First Snow” and “Christmas Evening.”

Although “Moment” sounds very quirky and I salivate just thinking about a day in the future when I might re-record it with a minimalist drum kit keeping time, I always liked it (and, of course, I’ll always have the MoU Christmas Concert 2006 CD to hold me over…).  “Moment” is one of those songs that makes me feel something when I listen to it.  Even now, years and years after writing it, I remember exactly how I felt the day I wrote it.  It’s like being able to pick up a guitar or put on a CD and go back in time to the end of high school/beginning of college.  As you’ll hear, it’s a song about a person who has just learned that the love of his life is returning to town after being away for a year, ostensibly as a journalist overseas.  The narrator hasn’t heard from the person, only rumors, and is frustrated that no one seems to understand how important this news is to him.  As the song continues, we get some flashbacks to the previous Christmas and a vague but satisfying real-time encounter set during a Christmas eve church service.  The final line explains the title: “Hay was all they had in the manger — hay was all that Mary had; but that didn’t matter none to Mary ’cause Mary had Joseph to share each and every moment…”

If you’ve ever found yourself at Christmastime, connected to what used to be close friends merely by rumor and third-hand report, then you’ll understand where this song is coming from.  For this recording, I tried to harken back to my first off-the-cuff, essentially one-take recording by staying in my pajamas and simply playing it once to rehearse it before hitting the “record” button.

The result?  My third Original Wednesday post on the eve of Christmas.

The problem?  I’m fresh out of original Christmas songs for next year…

I’ll just have to hope inspiration strikes before then!

Merry Christmas, and I’ll see you next session!

Bob Dylan FREE mp3! – “Beyond Here Lies Nothin'” from his forthcoming album, Together Through Life!

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For the lyrics, chords, and cover song music video, CLICK HERE!

By Chris Moore:

Hurry!  Don’t wait!  There’s only three more hours to surf over to bobdylan.com and download the free mp3 of the new Dylan song “Beyond Here Lies Nothin.'”  It’s track one off of the upcoming release of Together Through Life, an album that will hit the shelves on Tuesday, April 28th, 2009.

When I woke up this morning to an email from Bob Dylan’s official website, I was pretty excited.  After all, this is a sneak peak at the album a full month before I thought I would hear any of the new songs.  Of course, there are other ways to find previews, such as searching YouTube for live versions of the new songs.

But I’d rather wait and be surprised.

The best part of this track is that, as the first song on the album, “Beyond Here Lies Nothin'” will be the first song you hear on the new album when you put the CD in (or download the album), then the rest of the songs will be brand new.  If it were track five, for instance, you would listen to several new songs and then come across a song you know before getting back to more new ones.

Anyway, get yourself over to bobdylan.com and check this song out before it’s too late.  This is a deal that only comes around for 24 hours…  Well, until April 28th, of course!