Tag Archives: Jim Fusco Songs

“Exception” (Jim Fusco Original Song)

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By Jim Fusco:

It’s finally on its way: April 7th, 2009 will mark the release of my new album, Halfway There.  Every time I release a new album, I think it’s about 100 times better than the last.  The same thing goes with this album- truly a “no regrets and no holding back” type of effort that I’m sure will end up being a bright spot in my musical career.

Before the album’s released, I’ll be making some acoustic music videos of songs from the album, continuing with “Exception” here tonight.

“Exception” is the only sappy love song on the album.  Okay, it’s not THAT sappy.  But, if you listen to the album, you’ll hear me bashing (whether it be fair or not) a very dear person, blaming that person for making me feel “Halfway There”.  But, I recant later on in the album, saying that, yes, that person makes me feel “halfway there”, but I made the cognitive decision to stay that way, so it must be what I’ve wanted all along.

“Exception” is the song that tells about my decision to stick by, even though in many other aspects in life, I feel “halfway there”.  I hope it makes sense- this post actually made even more sense when I typed it all last week.  But, the stupid iPhone WordPress app decided to remove all the buttons from the bottom of the screen (some glitch) and it deleted my post.

So, we have a redo here tonight and I hope it makes my point about this song.  This song is full of hooks and little catchy parts, combined with a cool guitar solo and harmonies throughout.  It’s truly a unique cut on the album and sort of harks back to my earlier work in its style.  The rest of the album is much “deeper”, but still manages to sound happy and peppy- you just have to actually listen to what I’m saying!

Okay- that’s all for me tonight.  I have my plate full over the weekend with web work to do, so I hope that I’ll get to trick out the Laptop Sessions site with advertisements for “Halfway There”.  I guess we’ll have to wait and see!  Have a great night and see you all again on Tuesday.

“Shoe Box” (Barenaked Ladies Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Tonight, another event in my ongoing tribute entitled, “Steven Page, we hardly knew ye.”  Steven Page leaving Barenaked Ladies has been traumatic for me, musically.  It’s like if John left the Beatles and the band went on without him.  They’d still be a great band with three songwriters, singers, and musicians, but you would always wonder if they’ll ever get back together, etc…

At first, I likened Steven Page leaving Barenaked Ladies after 20 years to Brian Wilson taking a self-inflicted leave from the Beach Boys starting in late 1967.  But, I then realized that Page leaving BNL is much worse in a way, but better in another.

You see, when Brian Wilson stopped making music with the Beach Boys on a regular basis (and being the producer), the other Boys (Carl, Dennis, Mike, Al, and Bruce) hadn’t really been accomplished songwriters yet.  I mean, it took them until 1968 to really put together an album and it definitely sounds like a first effort in many ways.  We were all just lucky to discover five brilliant songwriters behind Brian Wilson.  In many ways, for me, Brian recessing in the Beach Boys contributes to my love of the band because, well, they really became a band after that.  You had five songwriting members that played instruments and sang and went out and played concerts- that incarnation of the Beach Boys is almost unsurpassed, for me.

With Steven Page, he leaves the band with three accomplished songwriters (especially Ed Robertson, with a #1 single in “One Week” under his belt) and some fine singers, to boot.  So, BNL has a bit of a head-start.  In fact, there shouldn’t be too much of a hiccup, other than Page’s recent flurry of depressing songs and over-the-top oparetta vocals.

The thing that makes Page’s absence worse is that, at least for the forseeable future, it’s permanent.  With the Beach Boys, Brian was always still around in some form.  He always contributed at least one song to every album, even if they had to dig it up and force him to complete it.  Fans would always hope for the next Brian Wilson gem and it was comforting to know he was there, readying himself for a possible comeback that never really came.  Of course, I say this like I was there- I wasn’t even alive until after Brian’s amazingly talented brother Dennis died- I’m just speaking from what I’ve read in the past.

So, after that whole explanation, I’m really trying to say that I’m having a hard time getting over the restructuring of my second-all-time favorite band.  Tonight’s video is a little tribute to Steven Page.

“Shoe Box” (which I always thought was “Shoebox”) was a single and had its own EP (with includes a decent song in “Trust Me’) and served as a bridge between the style of the first three albums and the albums to follow (starting with “Stunt”).  The song was also on “Born On A Pirate Ship” in a much more subdued tone, much to that version’s detriment.  The rockin’ single version is my choice, and that’s what I did my video after.  How can you tell them apart?  Well, the album verison just starts off with the instruments and vocals at the same time.  The single goes through the chord progression before Steven Page starts in.

Listen to the words closely on this one- a very interesting message to it.  Also, you may have to look up the words, as it took Chris and I about five years to realize that he’s not saying, “And Rumplestiltskin side my shoe box!” and is in fact saying, “When talk turns to single malts and Stilton and my shoe box!”  Who would’ve thought?

Okay- a long post tonight to make up for last week.  Tomorrow night, I have a BIG announcement about my new album and that just means more work for me.  So, you’ll have to stay tuned until another all-new Original Wednesday comes your way!  Have a great night and I’ll catch you all tomorrow!

“Margaritaville” (Jimmy Buffett Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Welcome, Parrotheads, to the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog!

Now, don’t get too excited. I, like most people, pretty much know just this Jimmy Buffett song and not much else.  But, I was at Mohegan Sun casino last week and walked by the new Margaritaville club and bar they have.  I, of course, thought of this song and decided it would be a nice fit for the Laptop Sessions!

But, for a three-chord song, this certainly took me a few tries to get it right.  I really do feel like I should be wasted away again in Margaritaville after that recording session…

What a life Jimmy Buffett must have.  He wrote a song about lounging around in the tropics while sulking over some unmentioned tragedy, and now he’s the king of a Margaritaville empire!  They have hats, t-shirts, a whole food and drink line, and now a line of bars.  His site is known as Margaritaville- it’s almost like the song comes first and the man comes second.  It’ll be an interesting surprise to see if any of the guys here on the music video blog do a different Jimmy Buffett song in the future…

Tonight, I feel a bit like sinking away, as I learned that my brand-new Mac Pro computer, which I haven’t even gotten to pay the bill for yet, is already obsolete.  A new version came out, just as I said it would, and is twice as fast, just as I said it would, for the same price…just as I said it would.  How depressing.  I mean, I still love my computer, but I got a bad enough deal on the thing as it was.  Now I feel like I could be getting things done even faster.  And the amount of time I spend down here working on side projects, I think that sounds good to me.  Well, here’s to waiting until the next version comes out and making a lot of money to buy one in the interim.

But here’s a slightly interesting fact about today- today is Square root day!  I’m sure you’re all excited.  It’s the day where the numbers of the month and the day are multiplied together, creating the number of the year.  So, today: 03 x 03 = 09!  It only happens like 7 times a century, and the next one isn’t until 4/4/16.  So, there’s another “milestone” we’ve all lived through…

Sorry I can’t write a bit more tonight- it’s been a tough and long week already…and it’s only Tuesday.  It’s not going to stop, either, and I already have important plans into next week.  It’s been a crazy time lately- I’m either working away endlessly, or I’m out having a great time, going to the casino, going on weekend trips, etc.  I guess I need some super-fun times to balance out my dull, 15 hour a day working times all week.  I’m already plotting a great weekend…

I’m taking Original Wednesday off this week and will attempt to come back with another next week.  I hope to find some time to finish up the album over the weekend so I can send it out once and for all.  You know I’ll keep you updated on my progress, and I hope you’ll also join me on my quest (in the very near future) of reaching a quarter-million views on YouTube!  Have a great night and see you all next week!

“A Night Away” (Jim Fusco original song)

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Another Wednesday means another new original song acoustic music video here on the Laptop Sessions music video blog!  The site is more popular than ever and I’m very happy to have my new original music featured in front of so many eyes and ears.

In the midst of working an eight hour day and another almost full-time night job, I got a minute to record this video.  I’ve been working on my new album, “Halfway There” for almost two years now and it’s been a whole four years since my last effort. Well, we did have a band in the middle there, so that’s where all of my creativity went for a couple years.

This song actually branches off of that sentiment.  The band was a great idea in theory.  We were even great on stage.  But, when everyone in the band is close to each other friend-wise, then it makes it really difficult to mix work with it.  If I had met the other band members at a job somewhere, it probably would’ve worked out better.  Tonight’s original song is one that tells the story of the night that signaled the end of the band as we knew it.

I’m not angry.  I’m a bit more ashamed, as I say in the song.  I really wanted the band to work, but realized it wasn’t working and really couldn’t work with the personell we had.  I felt ashamed because I always finish what I start and never got that satisfaction with the band.  We even released an album that was credited to the band last year, but in actuality, it was a compilation of what each member was doing at the time.  When I think of what might have been…

On my new album, this song is probably the most rockin’ out of the 11 tracks.  It’s short, but there’s a pretty cool guitar solo in there that always makes people’s eyes light up whenever I play it for them.  I guess they never pegged me as the Guitar Hero type.  Well, it’s off to work for the rest of the night- I’ll be back for another Jim Fusco Tuesday cover song music video in a short six days.  I hope you enjoy tonight’s video and hopefully sometime in the next week I’ll be sending all of the files and music to the CD company for production.  I still want to remix and remaster four songs because I want this one to be as near-perfect as I can get it.  See you then!