“When You’re On Top” (Wallflowers Cover)

By Chris Moore:

Hello and welcome to the next installment of “Track One Week” at https://guitarbucketlist.com ! Today, I’m taking a temporary break from playing songs from new artists to play track one off of one of my favorite albums of all-time, “Red Letter Days.” This is the Wallflowers’ “When You’re On Top.”

For anyone who has heard the studio version before, you may miss the synthesized effects, but all I had was my acoustic guitar, so I made due with what I had… And this should help me to prepare for Jakob Dylan’s new album, “Seeing Things,” which is going to be a very acoustic affair (judging from tracks he’s already released, such as “Something Good This Way Comes,” which I hope to record in the near future!).

I hope you enjoy this video, and I especially hope you’ll stop by tomorrow for an all-new track-one selection from our very own Jeff Copperthite!

See you next session!



“Three Ways” by the Wallflowers – Chords & How to Play

“Three Ways”
The Wallflowers (Jakob Dylan)

F#                                     B
There’s three ways out of every box:
Fall out the bottom, or you crawl out the top.
F#                                     B                  F#                   B
There’s three ways out of every, every box.
B              Bb                          B
But if you can’t find your way out,
Then you just burn it to the ground,
B                           Bbm – Abm       B – Bbm – Abm                    F#         B
Then you’ll disappear              like smoke                   into the clouds.

There’s three ways off a merry-go-round:
You either jump, or you let it slow down.
There’s three ways off a merry-go, merry-go round.
But if you can’t put your foot down,
Then you just burn it to the ground.
Then you walk away real slow back into the crowd.

Abm                           B
There’s always somebody there for a laugh.
Then you’re the only one that’s left.
B                                 Bbm                        F#
Now that’s what you get left behind in the wreck.

There’s three ways off a burning bridge:
You pray for rain or you learn how to swim.
There’s three ways off of every burning bridge.
But if you can’t find strength and you quit,
Then you can just burn up and sink.
Then you’ll drift away real slow down into the ground.

** 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. **

“If You Never Got Sick” (The Wallflowers Cover)

By Jeff Copperthite

Chris, Jim, and I are part of an internet radio station called WCJM.com Free Internet Radio, and one of the shows that we did (but currently can’t find) was called the “Get Well Mike” show, because at the time Jim’s brother Mike was sick and we wanted to lift his spirits (this is before the “Ronco automatic face lifter” came into existence) (Note: the preceding joke would only be fully understood by 6 people on this planet – 2 of them write on this blog as well).

Well, the first song on the show was this one, and thus my introduction to this song.

It is a personal favorite of mine, and has helped make the Wallflowers one of my favorite bands. I figured because of this that this song would be the perfect introduction for me into FMP’s “Laptop Sessions” as well.

I think I do the song justice. I had the lyrics on the laptop just in case, but I didn’t need ’em.

This also marks my introduction into video making and on to youtube as well, so if you like it (or hate it), let me know!

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!

Barenaked Ladies & Wallflowers Non-Album Tracks – Playlists on Parade

By Chris Moore:

While I always have been and always will be an “album guy,” I have to admit that the ability to download singles does indeed have its merits.  Until recently, music fans haven’t had very good options when their favorite artists and bands record non-album tracks.  We’ve essentially had two options: 1) buy the soundtrack, import, etc. that the song was released on, or 2) wait years for an official compilation album to come out.  In the first case, you’ve spent more money than it’s probably worth and you’re left with a handful of songs that you don’t want and won’t listen to.  In the second case, well…

Who wants to wait that long?

So, I’ve just recently been putting aside my distaste for downloading music and started scavenging iTunes for songs I’m interested in.  What I never expected to find was a wealth of non-album tracks from two of my all-time favorite bands: the Barenaked Ladies and the Wallflowers.  I was thrilled to find twenty songs that weren’t forgettable throw-aways.  For the most part, the twenty songs I found and downloaded were well worth the price of admission.

Of course, I couldn’t help myself:  I just had to create a playlist!

The twenty songs you’ll find below run the gamut from demos to covers to generally unheard gems.  I couldn’t get enough of the Wallflowers’ take on the Rubber Soul classic “I’m Looking Through You,” so that quickly became the lead-off track.  Odd as it may seem coming from a guy who regularly contributes to a cover song music video blog, I don’t consider myself a fan of covers.  (You’d better believe, for instance, that I laughed out loud about two sentences into a serious article about an upcoming Phil Collins album of Motown covers.)  That being said, there are some phenomenal ones here, not the least of which are BnL’s cover of “Oh Yoko” and Jakob Dylan and Dhani Harrison’s take on “Gimme Some Truth.”  There’s something special about hearing a performance by the sons of two of the best singer/songwriters in rock music history, one of whom is a distinguished singer/songwriter in his own right.

I was blown away by the Barenaked Ladies originals that I found.  Typically, a band saves their crummiest little numbers for this sort of fare, so I certainly didn’t expect a BnL song on the Simple Life soundtrack to be anything stellar.  Go ahead, though:  listen to “The Other Day I Met A Bear” and just try to stop yourself from dragging and dropping it into your BnL music folder.  While “One Little Slip” isn’t anything outstanding, it’s a fun track, as much as “La La La La Lemon” is a funny track.

What weaves these covers and originals together on this playlist are the great live takes, particularly the iTunes Originals versions.  “After the Blackbird Sings” hails from the Wallflowers’ forgettable self-titled 1992 debut, but it is more than resurrected here.  I was thrilled to finally get a live version of “It’s All Been Done,” made all the more enjoyable for me because it reminds me of singing backup during MoU performances of this great track.

If you’re a Barenaked Ladies and/or Wallflowers fan, and especially if this year’s All in Good Time (BnL) and Women & Country (Jakob Dylan) releases weren’t enough to satiate you, then I know you’ll love the songs on this playlist.

1)  “I’m Looking Through You” – The Wallflowers

2)  “One Little Slip” – BnL

3)  “After the Blackbird Sings” (iTunes Originals Version) – The Wallflowers

4)  “The Other Day I Met A Bear” – BnL

5)  “Everything I Need” (iTunes Originals Version) – The Wallflowers

6)  “Easy” (acoustic) – BnL

7)  “6th Avenue Heartache” (Live) – The Wallflowers

8)  “La La La La Lemon” – BnL

9)  “God Says Nothing Back” (Demo Version) – The Wallflowers

10)  “Gimme Some Truth” – Jakob Dylan (feat. Dhani Harrison)

11)  “It’s All Been Done” (Live) – BnL

12)  “Whispering Pines” – Jakob Dylan

13)  “Sleepwalker” (iTunes Originals Version) – The Wallflowers

14)  “Oh Yoko” – BnL

15)  “Here He Comes (Confessions of a Drunken Marionette)” (Original Demo) – The Wallflowers

16)  “Into the Mystic” – The Wallflowers

17)  “Eat You Sleeping” – The Wallflowers

18)  “They Long to Be Close to You” – BnL

19)  “Letters from the Wasteland” (iTunes Originals Version) – The Wallflowers

20)  “Don’t Cry No Tears” (Live) – The Wallflowers