By Chris Moore:
I recorded this one “last night”!
Okay, too cheesy?
Seriously, this is a simple but fun one from the Traveling Wilburys. A little Tom Petty-esque lead and a special guest tribute to Roy Orbison…
By Chris Moore:
Hello and welcome to not only a brand-new Laptop Session, but the introduction of a new artist to our list of covers! Today, I’m playing “Waltz #2 (XO)” from Elliott Smith’s XO album. I actually just realized a couple weeks ago that he did indeed have an album between my two favorites from him — Either/Or and Figure 8 — and I had to get it. I’ve been listening to it ever since, and it feels kind of like a new album to me, considering that I thought I had heard all of his studio material.
Like I said, I’ve been listening to the album for over a week, and even though I still have several Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash “Laptop Sessions” videos, I just had to sit down and record this one (thus, the late-night, down-to-the-wire posting).
I hope you enjoy it; I certainly enjoyed learning it and playing it! Don’t forget to check out an all-new session from Jeff tomorrow, right here at https://guitarbucketlist.com !
By Chris Moore:
Although the music video may have slid significantly farther down in relevance since its heyday in the eighties and nineties, there are still artists making them. In fact, it seems to be fairly standard procedure, and the venue of choice appears to have become YouTube’s VEVO provider. I spent a long time watching more videos than I’m willing to admit here. The result, below, is a streamlined list of only the best. To be truthful, I have recognized more than I believe are truly notable, if only because I felt they were worth mentioning after I had taken the time to watch them.
If you like music videos and miss them, I encourage you to take the time to watch those listed below, especially the top ten, all of which are available via YouTube.
1) “Give It All Back” – Noah and the Whale
2) “Calamity Song” – The Decemberists (Inspired by David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest)
3) “Perform This Way” – “Weird Al“ Yankovic
4) “This is Why We Fight” – The Decemberists (Directed by Aaron Stewart-Ahn)
5) “Call” – Joseph Arthur (Directed by Joseph Arthur)
6) “Stay Young, Go Dancing” – Death Cab for Cutie
7) “Born Alone” – Wilco (Directed by Mark Greenberg)
8) “Monarchy of Roses” – Red Hot Chili Peppers (Directed by Marc Klasfeld; inspired by the work of Raymond Pettibon)
9) “Wake and Be Fine” – Okkervil River (Directed by Daniel Gibb)
10) “Thunder on the Mountain” – Wanda Jackson (Directed by thirtytwo)
11) “Jejune Stars” – Bright Eyes (Directed by Lance Acord)
12) “Suck It and See” – Arctic Monkeys
13) “Rope” – Foo Fighters
14) “Get Away” – Yuck (Directed by Michael)
15) “Lotus Flower” – Radiohead (Directed by Garth Jennings)
16) “CNR” – “Weird Al” Yankovic
17) “White Limo” – Foo Fighters
18) “Casting Lines” – Jack’s Mannequin (Directed by Claire Marie Vogel)
19) “Monsters Anonymous” – Kevin Hearn (Directed by Dr. Minz)
20) “Words I Never Said” – Lupe Fiasco
21) “Louder than Ever” – Cold War Kids
22) “Comeback Kid (That’s My Dog)” – Brett Dennen (Directed by Ben Moon)
23) “Paradise” – Coldplay (Directed by Mat Whitecross)
24) “Summer Place” – Fountains of Wayne
25) “Longing to Belong” – Eddie Vedder
26) “You and Me” – Parachute
27) “Amy, I” – Jack’s Mannequin (Directed by Chloe Fleury)
28) “Waiting for My Chance to Come” – Noah and the Whale
29) “What I Know” – Parachute
30) “The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie” – Red Hot Chili Peppers (Directed by Marc Klasfeld)
Honorable Mention:
“Satisfied” – Tom Waits (Directed by Jesse Dylan)
“Blue Tip” – The Cars
“Royal Blue” – Cold War Kids (Live at Third Man Records)
Also of Note:
Nine Types of Light – TV on the Radio (60 minute feature)
By Chris Moore:
Hello and welcome to not only another Laptop Session music video, but also a special treat from the three songwriters who bring you an acoustic cover a day EVERY day in 2008…
This is a little something we like to call Triple Threat Tuesday. What this means is today you will receive not one, not two, not four, but THREE video blog entries. Each video will be a cover version of Bob Dylan’s 1969 song “Tonight I’ll Be Stayin’ Here With You.” It’s such a great track that we couldn’t agree on just one person to record an acoustic cover of it… so all three of us will take a stab at it! This song originally appeared on the first fully country-rock Dylan album, appropriately titled Nashville Skyline. This album is filled with very simple, upbeat, and brief (under 3 minutes each) songs, not to mention they’re all sung in his “Lay, Lady, Lay” voice and Johnny Cash himself makes a special guest appearance on the opening track. I’ve heard better duets, but there are few things better than hearing two giants like Cash and Dylan harmonize (however loosely) on such a great song as “Girl from the North Country.” Dylan actually originally released that song on his 1962 acoustic album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.
Personally, my favorite version of this song is Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue version, recorded in 1975 and released in the Bootleg series. He changes the words around and, although they’re a bit more blunt than the original, I love them and think they work well for this acoustic cover rendition. But that’s the beauty of cover songs — they give songwriters like us endless opportunities to perfect our own skills and to end some of our own style to the track. For instance, I can bet that Jim’s version will be faithful to the original, as he loves that album. He could have bet money that I would go for the obscure live lyrics, since I love Bob Dylan and have probably heard more live versions of this song than the average person should.
As Jim explained yesterday, I must follow up — it’s great to be back online. This music blog has been a lot of work for us and I can’t imagine losing the session – a – day promise this far into the game! We’re building more and more each day, and now that I’m on summer break from teaching, I’ll be able to devote all my attention toward my creative pursuits.
See you next session!
Jeff’s version is no longer on YouTube, but here’s…
Jim’s version: Recorded the night of, using my new video filters and amazing USB microphone- just listen to the audio quality of this acoustic cover song!