Tag Archives: laptop sessions

“Maybe Katie” (Barenaked Ladies Cover)

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Welcome to your Terrific Tuesday edition of the Laptop Sessions!  Tonight, I’m the first person to post using our brand new WordPress 2.6.1 version of the blog.  Of course, on your end, you shouldn’t see any difference, but on our end, the difference is vast…and great.  For one thing, our visual editor won’t mess with our code anymore, so we’ll be able to post chords to our cover songs more often than before.

Okay, on to tonight’s video.  Tonight is a classic one in terms of my live performances.  The “band” of Chris, Jim, and Becky (see Chris’ post a few days ago) was formed in 2004 and we loved to sing this Barenaked Ladies song, “Maybe Katie” in concert.  Then, we didn’t realize we were singing it in the wrong key- a half step below the original key.  Rest assured that for this video, we fixed the error, as all the Laptop Sessions songs are always in the original key- the ONLY way it should be!  Listen up, cover song musicians on YouTube and elsewhere: YOU REALLY STINK IF YOU DO IT IN THE WRONG KEY!!!  There’s no exception to this- if it’s out of your range and you change the key, then you don’t deserve to do the song.  I sang “Baby Please Come Home” by Darlene Love at our Christmas party in the original key and that song is ridiculously high.  You didn’t see me take the easy way out.  And this is why our motto is “Putting an end to bad YouTube covers FOREVER!”  Wow, the tangents tonight…

Moving on, this song is off of one of my favorite albums, “Everything To Everyone”.  I do believe that it’s probably their fourth best album behind “Gordon”, “Barenaked Ladies Are Men” (the almost 30-track version), and “Maroon”.  This album has some input from the other band members, which if you’ve read some of my past rants, means a lot to me in a band.

We do “Maybe Katie” a bit differently than the album’s version in the sense that the BNL version has some heavy electric guitars on the chorus and middle sections.  Our version is completely acoustic and has more of a “folk” feel to it.  That’s what happens when you don’t have a drummer handy…that isn’t already reserved to play the solo like I am.

I hope you enjoy tonight’s Laptop Session.  Thanks again and see you tomorrow!

“The Girl I Knew Somewhere” (Monkees Cover)

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This video was recorded a few weeks ago in my big Monkees phase, which was brought on by getting the deluxe edition of the Monkees album “Headquarters”.  While the album as a whole isn’t perfect (there are more than a couple throwaway tracks), there are some great band-written songs, especially those by Mike Nesmith.  Actually, this song is sung by drummer Mickey Dolenz, which I think is the right choice. One of the bonus tracks on the CD is the original sung by Nesmith, but it’s in a lower key and is nowhere near as upbeat. My second-favorite song of all time in “You Just May Be The One” is on this album.

I couldn’t get “The Girl I Knew Somewhere” out of my head.  I’ve known the song for so many years, but never knew how to play it.  So, I started by teaching myself that deceptively simple riff and then the whole song took off from there.

Tomorrow will truly be a day of mourning after Jeff’s imminent crushing Homerun Derby defeat at the hands of the future 3-time (in a row) champion, Jim Fusco.  I plan on doubling Jeff’s total…from all three prior games combined.

For now, enjoy this edition of the Laptop Sessions and this great Monkees acoustic cover song.  I hope you’ll come back tomorrow for the next long-awaited Chris Moore cover song.  Maybe Chris will do Patsy Cline’s “I’m Sorry” to console Jeff…

“Sweet Dream Baby” (Roy Oribison Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Welcome, welcome to another edition of the Laptop Sessions with me, Jim Fusco!

We’re all very excited here in Fusco-Moore Productions Land because of our upcoming Homerun Derby Show for WCJM Free Internet Radio this Friday.  I sincerely hope it pans out.  We should be able to get six of the seven original members of the cast to play!  Expect appearances by Jim Ross and Howard Cosell, too.

Today, I bring you another Roy Orbison tune called “Sweet Dream Baby”.  It’s a really easy song to play, so it might be a good choice if you’re just starting out on guitar.  The only problem is the guitar strumming beat, which is a little tricky.  The lyrics are simple, but again, how can you argue when it’s a good tune and was  a hit on top of it?   And yes, my version is devoid of the slightly out of place female background singers that are in the original.

I can’t believe I’m not putting a new artist on the Sessions today.  Actually, I won’t be putting a new one on for probably the next month, but who knows when the inspiration will strike.  Chris, Becky, and I did some collaborations the other day that you’re going to love, so I hope you’ll keep coming back to check us out!  Remember to use the “Share This” link at the top of every post to send these songs to your friends and loved ones- you are really our best hope for making the Laptop Sessions as popular as we all think it should be!  See you tomorrow with a great Chris Moore Acoustic Cover Song here on the greatest music and video blog in the world: The Laptop Sessions!

“Let It Grow” (Eric Clapton Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Welcome, welcome to yet another edition of “I Can’t Believe It’s My Night Already” here on the Laptop Sessions with me, Jim Fusco!  Tonight, I bring you a great song from Eric Clapton, and yes, his solo work counts as yet ANOTHER new band here on the best music video blog in the universe!

So, we keep the hits on comin’ and I’m here tonight to slow it down a bit with this song, “Let It Grow”.   It’s got a great tune with a nice feel to it.  I hope you’ll also like my rendition of Jim Fusco’s classic “vocal guitar solo”.  I think it came out great and I’m pretty proud of this Laptop Session, mostly because of how great my Zoom H2 microphone picks it all up.

I’ll be doing more from Clapton in the future, although I wouldn’t really consider myself a “fan”.  I just have these random obsessions, and it’s great to have the Laptop Sessions as an outlet to get it out of my system for a while.   I’ve had an obsession with this song for many years- one of those ones that comes up on random and I scream, “Oh YEAH!”

Anyway, enjoy tonight’s Laptop Session, on time, as usual, and come on’ back tomorrow for Chris’ next acoustic rock cover song ya’hear? 🙂