Well, my first request fulfilled tonight! Of course, it’s one from a genre we’ve become known for here on the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog: Beach Boys cover songs. Talk about obscure- here’s a song from the Beach Boys “Wild Honey” album. It’s called “Country Air”. I love the Boys’ harmonies on this song, but this take kinda gives it that down-home “country” feel to it.
I’ve always loved the dark sounding piano they used in this song, but, of course, I’ll take it on guitar. If I had a better sounding keyboard, I’d use that.
For all these videos so far, I’ve used my classical-stringed guitar that I bought in Sicily. I don’t know why, but it’s fun to play. It also kind of replicates that darker sounding piano that’s in the original. You just get to hear this song played a bit differently- and isn’t that what the cover songs music blog is all about?
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this song, and maybe next one will be a little more “known”.
But, if you have ANY Beatles, Beach Boys cover songs, Moody Blues, or Byrds songs you’d like me to do, I DEFINITELY will! (Unless it’s Good Vibrations or something that would sound ridiculous with just one person…).
This song is from the Beach Boys self-titled 1985 album. It’s called “I’m So Lonely” and was Brian Wilson’s only solo lead on the album. Why would I pick such an obscure song? Well, for one thing, my roomate dared me to figure it out on my own, and this is also the way I’ve been feeling lately (bust out the violins). But can you blame me? I mean, living away from home is tough. Factor that in with just starting to work full-time for the first time. Plus, add in running a condo for the first time. When all of those things combine, you find that you don’t have a lot of time for yourself. But that’s where music comes in. Singing, playing and recording these cover song music videos for the Laptop Sessions music blog is a great way to keep the passion of music in my life without taking up too much time. Honestly, I don’t have that much time to take up anymore!
Most people don’t like the Beach Boys’ 1985 self-titled album. But, I don’t understand why. To me, this album has just about everything. It’s not without its flaws, but I’d love to hear a redone version of this album with real instruments. I think people would have a much different take on the album. But, it was 1985 and the Beach Boys were using cutting-edge technology to record their songs. They wanted to do all of their new songs digitally, so they went over to England. There, they found one of the only studios in the world with the equipment to pull off such a task. Maybe the Boys wanted to sound “hip” and not like they were a bunch of guys in their 40s. The result was one of the first albums released on compact disc- a revolution, but not well-received.
For one, the fans definitely noticed the change in style (except for “California’s Calling”, featuring real drums by Ringo Starr- the only person worthy enough to take Dennis Wilson’s place on a Beach Boys record). But, I like the style. Sure, I was born in 1984, but honestly, I love the style of these songs- especially Carl’s contributions. “Maybe I Don’t Know” is one of my all-time favorite songs. It features great lead vocals and an amazing mid-80s guitar solo. I’ll agree- it’s hard to believe it’s from a Beach Boys song.
With “I’m So Lonely”, the Beach Boys got Brian Wilson to contribute a song. You know, I think Brian sounds pretty good on the recording. He sounds passionate (unlike his lackluster performance in “Crack At Your Love”). The song is simple, but it’s great to hear Brian’s falsetto once again. If you haven’t listened to this album for a while, I strongly suggest you give it another chance.
This video is EXACTLY what the Laptop Sessions are all about. These acoustic cover song videos are meant to take songs and strip-down their production (in this case, the synthesizers of the mid-80s). I want to make videos where people say, “Wow, I never liked the studio version of that song, but since you just made it an acoustic version, it’s actually a really good tune!” I think I do the song justice and I hope you enjoy!
Welcome to a new era in online music videos: The Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog!
Modeled after Ed Robertson’s (of Barenaked Ladies) incredible “Bathroom Sessions,” YouTube acoustic music video series, we will be recording songs on video using the built-in camera on our Macbook laptops. So, wherever the laptop goes, we’ll record a new cover song video!
Tonight, I start the series off with a song from the Beatles, “Here, There, and Everywhere,” a great tune by Paul McCartney (and John Lennon, for copyright’s sake). I recorded it at 2 am in my living room. This is a great song from the “Revolver” album- it shows Paul’s softer side. I remember reading a story about this song. The Beatles wanted to do some nice harmonies for the background vocals. So, George Martin (their producer) helped them out and came up with the nice background vocal part you hear on the original record. Well, the Beatles loved it and that’s what you hear on the final record. When asked about the harmony part, though, George Martin pointed out that there really was nothing to it- he basically just played a chord and gave a note to each member. They call that a “block” harmony. Simply put, each member just sings the next note (up or down, depending on the tune) in sequence. There isn’t any cross-harmonies or anything complex. If the melody goes up, your note goes up. It’s the easiest way of doing harmony. But, for “Here, There, and Everywhere”, it was exactly what the Beatles wanted.
I’m not sure why I chose this as my first video. I think it’s one of those songs that I always loved and when I saw how to play it, I really just wanted to give it a try. In the process, I thought I would record a live acoustic version of it. This song was played at my parents’ wedding and it’s always had some importance to our family. I know the recording quality isn’t great, but when I recorded this, they had an option of recording live right onto YouTube’s video servers. So, I had little control of the video quality or (especially) the sound. You can hear the whirl of my Macbook laptop’s fans in the background and the color (and the video angle) leaves much to be desired. But, every great project must start somewhere and I’m glad it could be with such a great song in “Here, There, and Everywhere”.
These videos are meant to show our passion for music and our love to play constantly, so look for updates every couple of days. That’s right: days!!
Enjoy and we hope to see you back here on the music video blog often. We’ll be featuring many acoustic cover songs and original music for your enjoyment. Please remember to subscribe to the music blog so you can be the first to know when a new video is uploaded! And make sure to check out all of our Beatles cover songs– I’m sure there will be many!
So, this is how the whole “Laptop Sessions” acoustic cover songs music video blog got its humble start. It’s also the first edition of a Beatles cover songs here on the music blog. This is the day I decided to change the face of cover song videos forever! You see, on YouTube, there’s a video of a guy playing “Let It Be” by the Beatles on piano. He’s got like 12,000 views on it. It’s not bad, but it’s not even in the right key!
So, I posted a comment to that effect, and someone wrote back that I was being nitpicky (is that even a word?) and that not many people can sing in the range of the original key. Let me tell you- if you can’t sing it in the original key, you can’t sing the song at all and you shouldn’t be doing a cover of it. How “high and mighty” of me. I’ve always thought that was a good barometer for a musician, especially one getting on in age. You see, I’m all for older musicians to keep playing, but they can’t just go up there and be shadows of their former selves. Especially when they’re charging well over $100 a ticket! Anyway, it seems to me that if you can’t sing your own song in the original key, you should probably just hang it up. That’s one of the things that really impressed me about seeing the Monkees in concert. Those guys have been playing for over 40 years and they STILL sing all of those songs in the original key! And the Monkees’ songs were pretty high-pitched, especially the ones Mikey Dolenz wrote.
Anyway, I had to back up my statement about that cover song in the wrong key on YouTube with a video performance of me playing and singing the song in the original key. I chose to do this cover song music video on guitar because it was the most handy at the time. I think it’s what helps make the Laptop Sessions great- taking a song everyone knows and turning it into an acoustic interpretation. You’ll notice that I’m playing my Arrow nylon-stringed acoustic guitar. It’s a classical guitar that I purchased while on vacation in Italy. I love how mellow it sounds and it’s incredibly easy to play. It also allows me to sing over the music without having to shout. That’s especially helpful when you’re trying to get more emotion out of the performance. Even though it doesn’t sound as good as a steel-string guitar, I think it’s a great fit for the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs video series here on the music blog.
You’ll also notice that this video isn’t exactly of the best quality. Well, when starting the Laptop Sessions, I wanted to make it a way to record a music video that wouldn’t require a ton of setup- it would allow for a spur-of-the-moment performance. At the time, YouTube had a “Capture Now” feature that would record directly off of a webcam. Well, my Macbook has a webcam and that’s what I ended up doing. The only thing is that recording live like that degraded the quality. But, I keep this acoustic performance here on the music blog to show the start of the Laptop Sessions and tell you what it’s all about: great acoustic cover songs!
