Tag Archives: laptop sessions

“Bulletproof…I wish I was” (Radiohead Cover)

Posted on by
Reply

By Jeff Copperthite:

Good evening to you!  I hope this evening finds you well and happy.  I’m bringing another familiar band (for me) for today’s session, and matter of fact, a familiar album.

Even though I love the more recent albums from Radiohead, I just can’t seem to find a song that would make a good acoustic cover outside of the songs I know on “The Bends”.  I’ve covered three from that album, and this song marks the fourth i’ve covered.  This could possibly be the most covered album on the sessions!

The song I have chosen is not a single on the album, and the song itself is known for it’s “spacy” feel.  The song is “Bulletproof…I wish I was” which I love for the Bb6 chord that is played at the end of the chorus.

I’m not saying I’m tired of covering this album, but if you think there’s a Radiohead song from another album that would make a good acoustic cover, please request it.  I’m seriously lost on what else I could cover from this band.

I also make no claim to sound like Thom Yorke, and if you’re reading this chances are you are not a person who watches an acoustic cover of a video expecting it to sound exactly the same.  And if it doesn’t, then the video is subpar.  We do quality covers on this site, and as long as you expect a cover, you will be a happy viewer.

Sorry, had to rant a bit – I haven’t historically gotten very positive comments on Youtube about my Radiohead covers in the past.

Well anyway, I think this is my best of the four songs from this album.  I hope you agree!

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!

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 origianal 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!

More Laptop Sessions covers

“I’m Into Something Good” (Herman’s Hermits Cover)

Posted on by
Reply

By Jim Fusco:

Welcome to your Sunday, Sunday, Sunday edition of The Laptop Sessions here on the best (explitive) music video blog on planet earth.  Don’t believe me?  This is my 120th Laptop Session, Chris debuts his 100th music video cover song tomorrow, and I’m sure Jeff is knocking on that door very soon…  All this adds up to over 300 music videos all done to perfection with love and care for the music that made us who we are.  I suggest, if this is your first time here, clicking on the band categories in the left sidebar and clicking on your favorite band.  I’m sure you’ll find at least one great acoustic cover music video in there!

On to tonight’s video.  Well, after a long day at the Big E fair in West Springfield, MA, I had to come home to do my video.  Regulars to the video blog know that I usually have quite a backlog of videos handy, but with my recent cold, that stash was depleted.  I’m still not at 100%, but I can fake it, as I did tonight.

I didn’t realize that Brian Wilson did a cover of this song on his new album, “That Lucky Old Sun”.  I guess it was on the Best Buy exclusive disc.  I ended up buying the CD/DVD version, so I’m without the bonus tracks, but luckily Chris has them, as he bought the standard edition (some fan HE is! j/k) at Best Buy.

I saw Herman’s Hermits, or at least some derivitive of them, at the North Haven, CT Fair a couple years ago.  They were really good.  At least they had Peter Noone.  I learned the Creed from the Office was actually a real member of Herman’s Hermits back in the 60s, and he plays a character of himself on the show.  Needless to say, I don’t think Creed was at the North Haven Fair show.

This is an easy song to play, but it’s a lot of fun.  It’s definitely one that you should learn if you’re just starting on guitar and also have a tenor voice.  I’m sure Brian doesn’t sing it in this original key, but who knows- no one expected an album like TLOS during this stage of his career.

Stay tuned, folks.  I, of course, extended New Bands Week by a day, but sadly, Chris will be ending that streak tomorrow.  It’s okay- he’s been planning his big 100th Post Bash for a long time.  And if his camera is still functional after seeing his chest hair, he’ll be back for Thursday’s video, as well.  Until then!

More Laptop Sessions covers

“Walt Whitman’s Niece” (Billy Bragg & Wilco Cover)

Posted on by
Reply

By Chris Moore:

As promised, I’m back after my second Jack Johnson acoustic cover song (posted on Saturday) to bring you my first installment for “New Bands Week.”  Since I wanted to make sure that I’m pulling my weight around here (and considering that Jim is swiftly adding to a list of at least ten new artists he plans to cover!), I decided to bring not only one but two new bands in one day to the best cover song music blog in the universe!

Okay, so maybe I’m talking up my contribution here, since the song I chose — “Walt Whitman’s Niece” — was recorded as a collaboration between the two artists, songwriter Billy Bragg and alternative rock band Wilco.  But, still… in the spirit of “New Bands Week,” two new bands!

There’s a really interesting story to go along with this cover song.  This is the first track on Billy Bragg and Wilco’s Mermaid Avenue album, a collection of songs based on the lyrics of Woody Guthrie.  Guthrie essentially ended up writing countless songs over his years as a songwriter, many of which he never put to music.  He literally had boxes of them.  I read that Guthrie actually offered them to a young Bob Dylan when Dylan went to visit him in the hospital.  He even made the long trip out to Guthrie’s house, but there was only a babysitter at home and she did not want to let a stranger in.  (Little did she know he would soon be anything BUT a stranger!)  Then, decades later, Billy Bragg and Wilco got their hands on the lyrics, chose their favorites, and wrote music for the words.  The result is an amazing album that I first learned about through my Journalism II teacher, who was also a big Dylan fan.

They came out with a sequel a few years later, simply called Mermaid Avenue Volume II, but it really wasn’t as strong as the first time around.  This is simply one of those moments in rock music, in my opinion, that came down to initial inspiration.  That first album is such a strong, enjoyable, and interesting collection of music.  In fact, I initially wanted to record “Ingrid Bergman” (which I did and stored away for later), but then remembered about “Walt Whitman’s Niece.”  I figured it would be a much stronger choice, as it is the first track on the album, upbeat, and of course, highlighted by a crazy harmonica solo that I could never duplicate.  All in all, a really fun song to sing.  As Jim and I figured out, it was a lot of fun to improv lyrics to the tune!

As a final note, Jim and I saw the latest Woody Allen movie, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, tonight.  Although I’m always a big fan of seeing him in the movies, this was a really interesting film even if he didn’t play an acting role.  I wasn’t sure how I felt about the voiceovers initially, but I really got into the characters and especially the situation.  I think this is one of those movies that will cause viewers to think about their own ideas about love, trust, and what their lives will be like in several decades.  How do you find happiness?  I don’t want to give anything away, so I’ll stop here.

This may be all for today’s post. If you haven’t already, you should scroll down the home page and check out Jim and Jeff’s first picks of the New Bands Week.

See you next sesion!

More Laptop Sessions covers

“Runaway Feeling” (The Thorns cover)

Posted on by
Reply

By Jim Fusco:

So, I’ll admit it- that messup in the beginning of the video wasn’t left in there on purpose.  Why didn’t I catch that?  Must’ve been in a rush to render the video…

Anyway, this is my first entry into “New Bands Week”.  Jeff set the bar pretty high yesterday with a great cover of a David Bowie song.  I bring you a song from a MUCH lesser-known artist in The Thorns.  This band, which consists of 90s pop artists Shawn Mullins, Matthew Sweet, and Pete Droge, made only one album and this is the opening track.

I’m not going to lie and say that this is the best album ever, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.  My brother Mike had heard one of their songs and got me into the group.  I listened to this album about 100 times, and even though it has some “eh” songs on it (which is consistent with just about ANY debut album), there’s a lot of great songs, too.  The band was clearly influenced by Brian Wilson with their harmonies and usage of great instruments like the bass harmonica.

But, the band also has Traveling Wilburys ties.  All three members played acoustic guitar, just like the Wilburys members did, they used famous session drummer Jim Keltner (known as the sixth Wilbury), and this song, “Runaway Feeling”, sounds like it’s taken from the Tom Petty songbook.  I tried to keep the Petty impersonation to a minimum, but with this song, you don’t really have that much of a choice.

That’s my fiancee Becky in the background clapping for me at the end.  This is the last of my “outdoor” videos.  I have so many songs I’m ready to record from literally TEN new artists, but I can’t right now because I’m in that “no voice” phase of my cold.    Thankfully, I already have next week’s Original Wednesday original song video recorded from one of my last sessions.

I’m so excited to see what songs Chris and Jeff are going to do from new artists this week.  Remember last time we did a New Bands Week?  It extended out almost a whole week afterwards.  That’s why I like doing this- it makes us think.  And once a new artist or song pops in, others seem to come very quickly.

Enjoy the video — and check out Chris’s new video here on the best music video blog of all time: The Laptop Sessions!  (Oh, and by the way, over the past three days, I’ve gotten TEN more YouTube subscribers!)

More Laptop Sessions covers