Em
She was hell on her mama, impossible to please;
Am
She wore out her daddy, got the best of me.
C B
And there’s something about her that only I can see,
B Em C – B
And that’s good enough.
You’re barefoot in the grass, and you’re chewin’ sugarcane.
You got a little buzz on; you’re kissin’ in the rain.
And if a day like this don’t ever come again,
That’s good enough.
C B A – G – F#
Good enough for me; good enough for right now, yeah.
Good enough for me; good enough for right now, yeah.
SOLO: Em Am C B Em C#m Bbm Gm – F#m – Em
God bless this land, God bless this whiskey.
I can’t trust love: it’s far too risky.
If she marries into money, she’s still gonna miss me,
And that’s good enough. Gonna have to be good enough…
SOLO: Em Am C B Em C#m Bbm Gm – F#m – Em (x2)
OUTRO: Em C#m Bbm Gm – F#m – Em (x6)
** These chords and lyrics are interpretations and transcriptions, respectively, and are the sole property of the copyright holder(s). They are posted on this website free of charge for no profit for the purpose of study and commentary, as allowed for under the “fair use” provision of U.S. copyright law, and should only be used for such personal and/or academic work. **
Hello and welcome to another week of new material from the best acoustic cover song music video blog in the universe! We’re glad you’ve chosen to stop by and we hope you’ll read the posts, watch our music videos, and leave us some comments and requests.
Let me begin my post tonight by explaining the new background. Although I think I will eventually establish the living room as my backdrop — better lighting, better acoustics — I wanted Laptop Sessions regulars to see that my “wall 0′ CD’s” has been rebuilt in the condo. I just recorded this video, so there wasn’t any natural light to speak of. Thus, the image is a bit yellowed. Additionally, I spent the weekend working on installing surge protectors, organizing my bookshelf, maximizing space in the closet, etc., so there aren’t any posters. The walls look pretty plain, but I promise there will be a more complete backdrop soon. I have a cool Beatles poster that came free if you bought two or more Beatles remasters at Newbury Comics, and I’ve been itching to put that up. And, of course, there are the Bob Dylan posters that have been with me since I lived with my parents, so it will be nice to get those up soon, as well.
Until then, let’s just focus on the music…
I’ve wanted to record this song since I heard it in the closing credits of Up in the Air a month ago. I had planned to record it right away, but Spoon’s new album, an Elvis Costello phase, and the aborted Locksley new release all intervened. I had considered milking the Who publicity for a session and I was looking for a fitting Jimi Hendrix song for today, but I just couldn’t put this one off any longer.
If you haven’t heard of Kevin Renick, well, that’s kind of the point. Apparently, he wrote “Up in the Air” a couple years before he heard that director Jason Reitman was working on a film adaptation of the book. The version you hear in the film is the original recording Renick handed to Reitman after he heard Reitman speak. The cassette recording begins, “Hi, Jason. My name is Kevin Renick, and I’ve written a song called ‘Up in the Air.’ I wanted you to hear it. It goes like this…”
What follows is a home recording that is simple and wonderfully suited for the film. Of course, it was literally no work to translate this into a Laptop Session as, for all intents and purposes, it already is. When I read more about Renick tonight, I became even more excited about posting this session. He is not signed to a record label. He has never released an album before. Being unemployed himself, he sings his song with conviction, and it was relaxing to learn, play, and record.
The lyrics, like the song, are deceptively simple. There are some great lines here — “When people ask me what I’m doing with my life, I say, ‘It’s up in the air'” and “I’m hearing from friends; it’s that tired, old advice again: ‘You just cannot keep floating all around; oh, you got to get your feet back on the ground.'”
I can’t understate how well this song encapsulated the feel of the film and of the other excellent music chosen for the soundtrack. The Up in the Air soundtrack includes one of my favorite Elliott Smith songs, “Angel in the Snow” (from the New Moon posthumous release), a couple of cool Graham Nash songs (one with Crosby and Stills, one solo demo), and Dan Auerbach’s “Goin’ Home” (from Keep It Hid, my pick for the #10 best rock album of 2009).
So, that’s the story behind “Up in the Air.” Once I’ve finished posting this session, I’m off to grade some senior papers before dinner, and then I have two things I’m looking very much forward to. The first is watching — and yes, your nerd-o-meters are about to go crazy — Star Trek: Voyager with Nicole. I haven’t watched Voyager for YEARS, not since I watched from the sixth season or so on with my mother. Every week, we’d meet and watch that show until it went off the air. And I loved it! But I never thought to go back, so that’s been my recent television indulgence.
In music-related “news,” the second activity I’m looking forward to tonight is finally being able to relax and read the booklet to the posthumous Jimi Hendrix collection First Rays of the New Rising Sun. I unfortunately had to return a Christmas present, and although I put it off for weeks, I finally exchanged it last Friday for this Hendrix CD. I’ve been mildly interested in it for a few years, but I wasn’t sure what it would be like. I’m generally of the opinion that the overall consistency and quality of Hendrix’s albums started at near-perfection with Are You Experienced? (1967) and declined from there, particularly on Electric Ladyland (1968). That’s not to say that he didn’t make some tremendous, outstanding music after his debut album — “Wait Until Tomorrow,” “Castles Made of Sand,” “Bold as Love,” “Crosstown Traffic,” and his cover of “All Along the Watchtower” — but the second and third albums themselves just weren’t as tight or compelling as the first.
Let me tell you: it’s a SHAME that Hendrix never finished First Rays of the New Rising Sun. Even as a 17 track collection compiled “under the direct supervision of the Hendrix family,” this disc is easily the best, most dynamic work he released after Are You Experienced? Given the time, Hendrix may very well have topped even that. Anyone who owns the greatest hits collection Experience Hendrix already knows the rocking “Freedom,” the jaw-droppingly beautiful “Angel,” and “Dolly Dagger.” If you like those tracks, you should check this out as well, especially for great work like “Night Bird Flying,” “Hey Baby (New Rising Sun),” and “In From the Storm.” Great stuff indeed.
Well, that about does it for me this week. Of course, you should hurry back every day of this week for fun new material — you can bank on another full Laptop Session, a three-part “Yes, No, Maybe So, Retro” series, a Guest Session of a great Buddy Holly song, and an all-new Weekend Review. Don’t miss any of these great music-related posts — you’re only going to find them here…
B
It’s only when your poison spins into the life you’d hoped to live
and suddenly you wake up in a shaken panic
B A B
now…
You had set me up like a lamb to slaughter,
Garbo as a farmer’s daughter.
Unbelievable. The gospel according to… who?
I lay right down.
F#
All your sad and lost apostles
A E
hum my name and flare their nostrils,
F# A
choking on the bones you tossed to them.
F#
Now I’m not one to sit and spin because
A E
living well is the best revenge, and
D A E
baby, I am calling you on that.
Don’t turn your talking points on me.
History will set me free.
The future is ours and you don’t even rate a footnote.
now…
So who’s chasing you?
Where did you go, you disappear mid-sentence in a judgement crisis…
I see my in and go for it. You weakened shill.
All your sad and lost apostles
hum my name and flare their nostrils,
choking on the bones you tossed to them.
Now I’m not one to sit and spin
because living well is the best revenge,
and baby, I am calling you on that.
You, savor your dying breath.
I forgive but I don’t forget.
You work it out. Let’s hear that argument again. Camera 3. Go. Now.
All your sad and lost apostles
hum my name and flare their nostrils,
choking on the bones you tossed to them.
Now I’m not one to sit and spin
because living well is the best revenge,
and baby, I am calling you on that.
baby, I am calling you on that.
baby, I am calling you on that.
** These chords and lyrics are interpretations and transcriptions, respectively, and are the sole property of the copyright holder(s). They are posted on this website free of charge for no profit for the purpose of study and commentary, as allowed for under the “fair use” provision of U.S. copyright law, and should only be used for such personal and/or academic work. **
Hello and welcome to another installment of “Chris Moore Monday.” It is my priviledge and responsibility to start off each week right, usually with a selection that is in “new music” news. I figure this is appropriate, since tomorrow is “New Music Tuesday” – what better role is there than to turn you on to great new music?
Okay, so tonight’s song is technically a week old…
Dan Auerbach is better known as one half of the blues rock music group the Black Keys. The band formed in Ohio in 2001, and in less than a decade, they have accumulated an impressive resume — including opening for Beck and Radiohead, playing on Late Night with Conan O’Brien and The Late Show with David Letterman, and receiving accolades from Rolling Stone such as one of the “10 best acts of 2003.” Although the band has not broken up, this year has found Dan Auerbach making a name for himself by releasing his very first solo album titled Keep It Hid. I almost transcribed and played this, the title track, but I couldn’t resist “My Last Mistake,” the subsequent track. Auerbach might agree with this choice of songs to record and play, as he performed “My Last Mistake” on the Friday, February 13th episode of Conan O’Brien.
So, you may be wondering how I heard of this release. Well, aside from receiving a coupon for the first-week purchase in my favorite email each week — the Newbury Comics e-newsletter!! — I was tipped off to the release by someone who has his finger on the pulse of all things modern and alternative rock. (So, thank you again, Geoff!) He’s the same person who strongly suggested I check out the 2008 albums of Beck and Cold War Kids, both of which I would never have purchased on my own.
And I would have missed out!
Now, they’re not my favorite records of the year, by any means, but there are some killer songs that would have passed me by entirely. So, hopefully I’ll continue to receive new rock music insight from Newbury Comics, Geoff, and who knows who else!
Speaking of new music, I constructed a fairly impressive “Albums of 2008” iTunes playlist. It contains 341 songs, ranging from the Barenaked Ladies children’s album to Ben Folds’ album (which was certainly NOT kid-friendly!). I hadn’t really listened to the playlist since the New Year, but I just turned it on yesterday and fell in love with it again. I’m listening to it now, and even now, Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida” just faded into Brian Wilson’s “Oxygen to the Brain.” Where else can you find that sort of variety?! I cling to my playlists and albums these days, as the popular media has only embraced an extremely small and profoundly unrepresentative sample of what modern rock music has to offer. Take the aforementioned Coldplay, an overrated and — until recently, in this writer’s opinion — mediocre band. Chris Martin and his band have received more Grammys than all of my favorite bands combined. No kidding! Meanwhile, Brian Wilson got a Rolling Stone article for his amazing 2008 album That Lucky Old Sun, and that was all. I understand that he is older and there perhaps isn’t a market for his music, but I find it sad that more people couldn’t have been exposed to the bright, brilliant, and uplifting rock tunes that pour forth from that album.
Enough ranting for one day’s post…
As a final note, I finally picked up and watched the Sam Jones documentary I Am Trying to Break Your Heart. I had planned on watching it with Dana last night, but he hadn’t returned home, so I got ready to watch it alone. Then, Mike texted and sounded interested. So, before I knew it, Mike had arrived with apple juice and saltines (food for sick people — my personal choice is G2 and wheat toast!) and we cranked up the volume on the big screen. What a great documentary — not only is the filmography reminiscent of Don’t Look Back, but Jeff Tweedy is looking very Dylan-esque. Scruffy, bearing harmonica rack, singing poetic lyrics — what more could I ask for? Also, he seems like he would be a difficult guy to live and/or work with. But that being said, I like Jeff Tweedy a great deal, and it was really interesting to see him candidly in the studio. And thanks to Dana and Mike for making last night an event in and of itself — when Jim returns from vacation, I just may have to join them for their late night sessions that I miss so much since I’ve become an “old man” with a wakeup time of 5 or 5:30am…
And now to tie this ALL together…
Wilco switched to Nonesuch records after the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot fiasco (the situation filmed and described in I Am Trying to Break Your Heart), and Dan Auerbach is also on the Nonesuch label. So, as you see, it all comes full circle…
Don’t miss an all-new Jim Fusco Tuesday tomorrow. Until then…
