Tag Archives: Jim Fusco Songs

“Teenager In Love” (Dion & The Belmonts cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Oh yeah, another Jim Fusco night and ANOTHER “new” band to the Laptop Sessions!  Incredible.  It’s almost hard to believe we haven’t done a song from a band starting with every letter in the alphabet.  I think we haven’t done Q yet…

I tell you, I have to do more songs from Dion.  He had some amazing hits and he was pretty prolific with them, too.  This song is a classic 4-chord doo-wop style number.  Even though the song was that “easy” to play, I still found myself doing take after take to get the inflection of the words right.  Plus, I play an “F” chord so much like a “C” chord, I was actually switching between the two accidentally!

But, practice made perfect and I got through the video without too much more trouble.  This is another one of my fading-out songs, as the single version of the original song is just a perfect recording and I wanted my video to reflect the same.  The way Dion sings with such youthfulness and the way the Belmonts give those great supporting vocals makes for a timeless single.

And hasn’t EVERYONE felt this way in the past?  Chris and I have had countless conversations on this topic, asking why we would even do this to ourselves in the first place.  The answer?  Because it made life interesting, which is a theme through many of my early songs.

Even though I’m not a teenager now (and incredibly surprised that it’s been five years SINCE I’ve been one!), I could still channel the sentiment in this song.  I don’t think Dion had that in mind when he recorded this number, but I think every time someone who was a teenager back when the song was released hears it again, it takes them right back.  That could be a scary thing, but any three minute song that can do that is more than just a four-chord song- it’s a classic.

Enjoy tonight’s video and I’ll be back with you on Sunday!

“San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)” (Scott McKenzie Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

And the winner, yet again, is Jim Fusco!!!  (AHHH, Jiiiiimmmm Fuscooooo, AHHHH, undefeated champion of the world, AHHHH)

What am I the winner of?  Well, the song with the LONGEST title ever on the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog!

“San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)” is a great tune that symbolized the Summer of Love in 1967.  The song was written by Scott McKenzie’s friend John Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas.  McKenzie was slated to form the band with Phillips earlier, but then decided to be a solo artist.  Well, McKenzie is the true definition of a “One Hit Wonder”, as this song reached the Top 10 and that was his only big hit.

Chris said to me, “I konw the song, but I’ve never even heard of Scott McKenzie!”  Well, he doesn’t realize it, but he has.

The classic Number 1 hit for the Beach Boys in 1987, “Kokomo”, was actually written by the following: Mike Love, Terry Melcher, John Phillips, and…Scott McKenzie!  I don’t know what hand he actually had in it, but it’s funny to learn of the connection.  That song became a hit a solid 20 years after he hit it big with his only well-known song…and it was a song he didn’t even write!  I’m sure McKenzie is still seeing royalties from “Kokomo”.

I came up with a big project that I call “The Cover Songs Initiative” today that outlines the progress I’d like to see this site make, along with the steps to get there.  I’ll be rolling it out tomorrow night, so I’m excited to see some great progress!  See you on Thursday night!

“Shine” (Trey Anastasio Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Hey HEY!  Welcome to your Friday night Laptop Sessions fix here with me, Jim Fusco!  I simply can’t believe it’s my night again…  Now, I’m going to be going away this weekend for another overnight trip.  The last time I did that, the entire Laptop Sessions site (not to mention all my other ones) went down for three days!  We lost all of our Google rankings- it was a mess.  So, I’ve invested time and money to ensure that it doesn’t happen again, and I pray for 36 hours without my computer and a site that still works when I get back.  Cross your fingers!

Tonight is another new night, and I’m bringing you yet ANOTHER new band!  Do I ever run out of these things?

I challenge the other three guys on here to do a song from Trey Anastasio’s band “Phish”, as I’ve taken a song from his solo career after the band originally broke up.  I got into this band via a friend of mine who was a big Phish phan…I mean, fan.  The album (also called “Shine”) was new at the time and was Trey’s second solo studio album.  I instanly fell in love with it.  The songs are very accessible and they trim out the minutes upon minutes of jam-band soloing that was so popular in Phish’s work.

I’m more of the three minute song kinda guy, and the album “Shine” delivers just that: three minute pop gems from a guy with amazing guitar skills, a great hand at songwriting, and the classic too-much-drugs-over-my-career wobbly voice.  The album isn’t perfect by any means, but there are just some great songs up and down the boards that I truly enjoyed for an extended play in my car’s rotation.

My band, “Masters of the Universe” covered this song in concert and we used to kick some rear.  We had five part harmonies going on the chorus and the song really rocked.  I believe it’s on our first DVD.

I’m looking forward to my trip tomorrow.  Maybe I can do some mobile blogging on my iPhone!  Then you can experience scenic Lenox, MA, too.  Until (dreaded) Monday, have a great weekend and enjoy tonight’s acoustic cover song music video!

“You Showed Me” (The Turtles cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Tuesday…what a day.  Not enough to be mid-week, and not far enough away from the past weekend to let you forget about it.  At least Chris got the day off today, so he texted me updates on his (nothing) day every half hour.  If only I didn’t only have 200 texts a month…and if only Chris were home every day.

Onto tonight’s video- actually posted before midnight for once!

I told you that you’d get a twin-spin with The Turtles, and here it is.  “You Showed Me” is a song I’ve known for most of my 24 years, hearing it on the oldies radio station 102.9 “Big D 103” here in Connecticut.  But I got to revisit the song after my family and I got into the Byrds.  We listened to every single released (and unreleased, for that matter) Byrds song and loved every minute…except for David Crosby’s “Mind Garden”, my vote for the ABSOLUTE worst song of all time.  Go ahead- go search for it and tell me it isn’t.  I dare you.

So, how do the Byrds fit in here?  Well, we came across this song again on the Byrds “Preflyte” sessions box set, which is awesome, by the way.  It’s a collection of all of their songs before they ever recorded their first album with Columbia Records.  It’s a great collection, especially because the band wrote most of the songs.  The lead singer and songwriter at that time was Gene Clark.  He wrote some of the world’s best songs and it’s been a pleasure to cover his songs on multiple occasions here on the best music video blog on the internet!

Gene Clark and Roger McGuinn (Jim at the time) of the Byrds wrote “You Showed Me”.  They recorded mutliple versions of this song with the Byrds during the “Preflyte” sessions, but the song never showed up on an official Byrds album.  Instead, they gave it (or maybe Columbia gave it- I’ll have to check that out) to The Turtles to turn into a HUGE hit.  Well, I’m glad it became a hit either way and it’s just another example of Gene Clark’s amazing songwriting abilities.  It makes it all the more sad that he barely ever got recognition for it.

I hope you enjoy tonight’s video, as I gear up for yet another “new” band to the Laptop Sessions on Friday.  Which one?  Well, let me give you a hint.  This man was (and I think may actually be getting back) with one of the most famous “stoner” bands of all time.  You know, ridiculously long concerts, etc.  Which band?  Which man?  You’ll just have to wait until Friday to find out!  Thankfully we have Chris and Jeff posting their great videos in between to tide us over!  See you then.