Tag Archives: music video

“Must Be Santa” (Bob Dylan / Christmas Cover)

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For Christmas songs chords & lyrics, CLICK HERE!

By Chris Moore:

It’s official: the Christmas season is upon us yet again!  I, for one, found it difficult to concentrate on the work I brought home this weekend, choosing instead to listen to Christmas music — specifically that on Bob Dylan’s new 2009 holiday album Christmas in the Heart (see my review here!) — and playing some of my favorite seasonal songs on acoustic guitar.  One of my new favorites is a song written by Hal Moore and Bill Fredricks titled “Must Be Santa.”

Now, before you get too excited, I should begin by making it very clear that tonight I am covering Bob Dylan’s rendition of “Must Be Santa” and NOT the performance “popularized” by Mr. Music and the Cool Kids Chorus.

Please don’t be disappointed…

Seriously, though, if you would like to hear that rocking version, you’ll just have to download it for yourself.  Or the versions by Mitch Miller, Raffi, Point Sebago Resort, Glen Burtnik, Miss Lisa, Miss Molly, The Friel Brothers, The Angel Choir, The Holly Players Orchestra, The Hit Crew, Mary Lambert, Bob McGrath, Kids Sing’n, the Pokemon Christmas Bash band, or Lorne Greene with the Jimmy Joyce Children’s Choir — good luck finding that last one.

If you’re craving a good polka, then don’t miss out on the Brave Combo version (which, ironically, is the closest in style and arrangement to Dylan’s).

And who could forget the Kids Rap’n the Christmas Hits version?

These cover songs range from boring to funny to vomit-inducing and back again.  This brings me to the Bob Dylan version, which is a breath of fresh air when played beside these other covers.  Dylan’s “Must Be Santa” is a frantic, polka-inspired three minutes of Christmas spirit, accordions, and bright choral vocals built up around Dylan’s gruff lead.  Recorded nearly half a century after Mitch Miller first recorded the song in 1961, it is interesting to see how our image of Santa and the general sound and style of Christmas music (i.e. both sets of chord changes as the song progresses a la so many other seasonal favorites) really haven’t changed much in all this time.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Dylan’s album — and his recent work in general — is an homage to a simpler time in American popular music.

That is perhaps why Dylan’s new album, time-ravaged vocals and all, has slipped in so quickly among my favorite Christmas albums of all time.  Although it was recorded earlier this year, there is a sense of nostalgia and even timelessness in each of its tracks.  Somehow, he has managed to record the songs in a style that seems very natural from his current studio band.  Indeed, Dylan has seemingly reached further and further into the past for the styles of his past several albums.  In this sense, 2009 was the ideal year for him to record an album of traditional favorites and holiday songs from earlier in the century.

I don’t think any music will ever usurp the positions that The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album and the Moody Blues’ December currently hold in my heart.  The Barenaked Ladies’ Barenaked for the Holidays, Brian Wilson’s What I Really Want For Christmas, and America’s Harmony are certainly the next runners up.  Some of my attachment to this music is admittedly due to my own personal memories, such as listening to the Beach Boys each year as my family decorated the tree and attending a Moody Blues Christmas concert with two of my dearest friends several years ago.  That being said, there is also a universal element to the music on these records that I can’t imagine any fan of rock music being able to deny.  Somehow, these aforementioned bands have managed to incorporate religious hymns, classic rock Christmas songs, and originals into unified works that I look forward to dusting off each and every year.

For now, I’m wading into the music of season via this new Dylan album.  After all, this is the punchline of a joke I’ve been making for as many years as I’ve loved Bob Dylan — “Imagine if Dylan recorded a Christmas album!”  My friends and I would laugh, but I was always privately jealous that their favorite bands — the Beach Boys, the Moody Blues, etc. — had recorded Christmas albums or at least a Christmas song or two.

Now, I have my secret wish, and I couldn’t be happier!

Yes, Dylan’s voice is rugged, and truth be told, I was a bit hesitant to embrace this album when I gave it one listen upon its release a month ago.  However, it only took a second listen for me to get hooked.

Whatever music you may enjoy listening to at this time of the year, I hope you’re enjoying it, and I hope you’ll come back throughout the week for Jim’s music video tomorrow, a guest session(!) on Friday, and another installment of Weekend Review.

See you next session!

“All of the Time” (Locksley Cover)

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For Locksley chords & lyrics, CLICK HERE!

By Chris Moore:

Hello and welcome to another all-new week of great material at the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover song music video blog!  Before I address my session for tonight, I should begin by announcing that this will be a jam-packed week of sessions, reviews, and other posts.  There’s Monday and Tuesday accounted for as you can always depend on, and rest assured that there is a Guest Session lined up for Friday.  In addition, I have some bonus chords coming your way, as well as a bonus Weekend Review post before the week is out.  All this when I’m beginning one of the busiest weeks of my life!

First of all, let’s get down to the session at hand.  For today, I’ve recorded “All of the Time” from the band Locksley’s second release, Don’t Make Me Wait.  This is one of those rare — but very exciting — CDs I came across quite randomly in the used CD rack at Newbury Comics.  I can’t really explain what possessed me to buy the album, but I was thrilled by what I heard.  Now, before you get your hopes too high, I should admit that their sound is some kind of cross between garage rock and early Beatles.  It’s a bit derivative, but I have a very good feeling about this group of guys, and I feel like they are going to evolve and come out with an album that is all their own in the future.

Hopefully, that “future” will be this March when they release their next album!

Funny enough, the band that gave us Don’t Make Me Wait and the accompanying title track has also, just as of last week, delayed the release of their new album, Be in Love, by nearly a month and a half.  Apparently, an opportunity to engage in a higher-profile marketing campaign arose recently that they couldn’t pass up.  The only problem was that they needed to hold off on the release to complete the necessary preparations.

Of course, I had decided to record this song today based on the Be in Love release date of tomorrow, January 26th, 2010.

Still, this will give me some more time to enjoy this album and wonder what the new one will be like.  I suppose that could be a good or a bad decision, as expectations often have a way of killing the real experience…

To return to the present, my version of “All of the Time” is based on the 2008 reissue version of the aforementioned album.  I was really pleased with the way this song translated to an entirely acoustic live Laptop Sessions performance, complete with my first recorded use of my “G” harmonica.  Unfortunately, I screwed up lyrically; it’s just one word that I missed, but it doesn’t make as much sense the way I sang it.  The most frustrating part is that I was singing it correctly before I hit record!

I think…

Regardless, this was my best take, and I hope you enjoy it.  I know I enjoyed learning and playing it, especially since it was one of my rare two-takes-and-I’m-done Laptop Sessions experiences.  That’s why it truly does help to practice days in advance and sing along in the car a ridiculous number of times!  But, as much fun as it’s been learning and recording the song, posting my Locksley-themed Weekend Review, and writing this post, I’m off to get some work done now so I can sleep well before continuing a week of grading exams and papers, closing out the semester by Thursday, closing in another sense on Wednesday, and moving five minutes closer to work on Saturday.

See you next session!

“Just Breathe” (Pearl Jam Cover)

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For Pearl Jam chords & lyrics, CLICK HERE!

By Chris Moore:

Hello and welcome to an all-new week of cover songs at the best acoustic cover song music video blog in the universe — guaranteed, or your money back!

I guess the guilt falls to me for breaking the Beatles marathon…

It’s been a blast reviewing Beatles albums, recording Fab Four covers, and watching the Traveling Acai Berrys’ and Jeff’s renditions, but now it’s time for me to inject a little fresh music into the timeline of the Laptop Sessions.

“Just Breathe” is track five from the new Pearl Jam album Backspacer, and is truly a perfect fit for the Laptop Sessions format.  The studio version is primarily Eddie Vedder singing and playing acoustic guitar, so it only took memorizing the words and transcribing the chords.  As usual, I started online and found a site with chords and lyrics that were almost right.

Well, “almost right” doesn’t fly around here.

The middle is NOT comprised of C and F chords; that “C” simply didn’t sound quite right.  It should be Am instead of C.  In addition, there were some minor lyrical inaccuracies — “all” instead of “are,” “save” instead of “take,” etc.  The person who transcribed the song included a personal note about the song at the bottom, and he seemed like a really nice guy who truly loved this song.  And he made figuring out this song much easier than if I had simply started on my own.

But that’s what we at the Laptop Sessions pride ourselves about — our commitment to performing songs as faithfully as possible, cross-checking our facts to be certain what we write is accurate, and always knowing when a song has already been recorded as a session.

Oh, right.  About that last one…

I need to apologize to Jeff for recording “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away” as though he had never recorded it.  The funny part is that, when I went back and read his post later, I clearly remembered reading it.  I recalled his mention of Eddie Vedder (whose music I barely knew and wasn’t enthusiastic about at the time), and I remembered being intrigued by his “Semaphore” reference.  Apparently, flag semaphore is a system of symbols for conveying information through waving flags or bare hands.  Although photographer Robert Freeman had the idea to have John, Paul, George, and Ringo spell out “HELP” in semaphore, they decided on a different arrangement — “NUJV”– that was more aesthetically pleasing as the cover art for Help!

Going back to the song of the day, I should acknowledge that I originally planned to record “The End,” and I practiced it a number of times with that intention in mind.  In fact, a former student of mine emailed me with the idea of recording it, so I was reluctant to admit to myself that the chorus is just too far out of my range.  I still posted the chords and lyrics, though, so others might be able to enjoy learning and playing it.  Guest session, anyone?

As I was preparing for my session last week, I had been listening back to some of my recent sessions and realized something.  Since I moved from the Fusco-Moore Experience to my current apartment, I have never worn the same shirt twice while recording a music video.  Here’s a quick retrospective:

July 13 – Bob Dylan Together Through Life t-shirt (thanks again, Fusc!)

July 20 – Vermont t-shirt (thanks, Mom & Dad!)

August 4 – plaid, western-looking collared shirt

August 4 (second video) – Dodge Charger t-shirt (thanks, Jim!)

August 11 – tan and blue striped collared shirt

August 17 – blue and white striped collared shirt

August 23 – 40th Anniversary 1969 Mets t-shirt (thank you, CitiField!)

August 31 – Abbey Road t-shirt from London (thanks, Nicole!)

September 28 -black Bass fishing t-shirt

Today marks my tenth video, and thus it is my tenth shirt.  My goal is to never wear the same shirt twice.  Even though I’m running out of t-shirts, we are heading into winter, so my long sleeve shirts will be featured soon.  When spring comes, it should get interesting.  I wonder if I can fit into Nicole’s shirts…

Anyway, I hope you enjoy my video.  This completes my recent Pearl Jam run, adding both a full album review and a one-sentence review of Backspacer, chords & lyrics to three songs, and now a full Laptop Sessions post.

Aside from an ever-increasing stack of grading on my desk at school, life has been hectic but good recently. I’ve been really excited about the music on my iPod and in my car this past month.  After going through quite the dry spell during the summer — Third Eye Blind and Sister Hazel, anyone? — the Arctic Monkeys and Pearl Jam have added some excitement to my “Albums- 2009” playlist.  In addition, my birthday weekend has been pretty laid back, but a lot of fun.  I heard from just about all my closest friends, and Jaime even came up from New York to visit on Sunday and give me the beautifully designed “Chris Moore Birthday Bash!” mix CD!  I’m itching to start tweeting about the FYE gift card that Mike got me, Nicole bought me (among other awesome items ranging from practical to academic to entertaining) a book of essays about Bob Dylan written by scholars, I got a text message from Alb that brought me back to our summer of video gaming, and I’m officially, finally having breakfast next week with one of my dearest friends who I haven’t seen for over a year.  Good stuff all around.

See you next session!

“Exit Music (For A Film)” (Radiohead Cover)

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For Radiohead chords & lyrics, CLICK HERE!

By Chris Moore:

Hello and welcome to another week of new music and material, brought to you by the best acoustic cover song music video this side of the Alpha Quadrant!  (That’s a little Star Trek: Voyager reference for those of you nerds out there…)

For my song tonight, I’ve chosen my first Radiohead cover.  How did I get to this song?  Well, I’ve been listening non-stop to A Singer Must Die,  Steven Page’s collaboration with the Art of Time Ensemble.  The final track on that album is a cover of Radiohead’s song “Paranoid Android.”  That song is from their 1997 album OK Computer.  Listening to that album today, I came across “Exit Music (For A Film),” a great little track that has a strong acoustic foundation.

And, after all, I realized that Jeff is the only contributor to the blog who has recorded a Radiohead track, and all four of his selections are from their album The Bends.  Now, I’ve never heard The Bends, but of the albums I’ve heard, my favorite has always been OK Computer.

What better reason to pull out a track from that release for tonight’s video?

The other story behind tonight’s session is that I had originally planned to cover a song in honor of the final edition of the Johnny Cash “American” series, American VI:  Ain’t No Grave, which comes out tomorrow.  I would have loved to record Sheryl Crow’s “Redemption Day,” but I couldn’t work out an arrangment I was happy with.  The only other song I was halfway interested in taking on was Kris Kristofferson’s “For the Good Times.”  I had learned, practiced, and planned to record it until I got home and realized I was too bored by it.  It would have been an extremely simple song to record — easy chords, basic country structure, etc. 

But what fun would that be?

So, I kept coming back to Radiohead and the fact that we’ve never recorded a cover from the classic OK Computer.  Figuring out the chords for “Exit Music” was more difficult than “For the Good Times.”  I found a couple different versions online, and what confused me most was how both sets that I found began with the same couple chords but then varied wildly.  In some cases, the first was accurate.  In others, the second was accurate.  In others, neither were accurate.  In the end, that was half the fun of this session: I feel like I got acquainted with the song through having to figure it out, so I felt a lot more passionately about recording it.

I suppose I’ll just have to wait for Johnny Cash’s versions of “Redemption Day” and “For the Good Times”…

Going back to the reason I started listening to Radiohead today in the first place, I wanted to repeat that I have been enjoying Steven Page’s A Singer Must Die much more than I initially thought I would.  When I first learned of this release, the prospect of an album of covers performed with an ensemble did not appeal to me in the slightest.  As time went on, I became more and more interested to hear what it sounded like.  Although I couldn’t bring myself to pay for the shipping that it would have taken to get a physical, autographed copy, I had assumed that Newbury Comics would be stocking it.  Then, last Tuesday, I was shocked to learn that it wasn’t available at any retailer in the U.S., nor was it available on iTunes.  I thought I would have to wait…

…that is, until Steven Page tweeted the link to his online store that had just added the digital version of the album.  As you can read in my review (CLICK HERE!), I found the choice of songs, the performances, and the arrangment of tracks to be outstanding.  To be fair, it’s not an album I’ll be cranking up in my car, but it is certainly an album that has and will continue to get a lot of air time at home.  The most exciting part about this week’s edition of the Weekend Review is the endorsement it was given.  After I wrote and posted the review yesterday, I also posted a tweet with a link so that people who follow me could read it.  Then, Mike retweeted my post and added Steven Page (@stevenpage).  Finally — and this is the exciting part — Steven Page actually retweeted Mike’s post!  So, in summary, Mike and I both managed to be retweeted by, as I wrote in my text to Mike, STEVEN FRICKIN’ PAGE!!!  In all seriousness, I was thrilled that he took the review seriously enough to retweet it, and I was happy to see the increased traffic on the page for yesterday and today.

As a final, non-music related note, I spent my first hour and a half after school today camped out in the living room with snacks and season five episodes of The Office.  The reason?  Not just because I’m lazy, although that was probably a contributing factor.  No, it had to do with the stench coming from my dishwasher.  There’s some kind of issue with the pipes or the dishwasher itself, and nothing I did seemed to help the smell.  So, after retreating for a while and feeling a bit depressed about the whole situation, I got excited about this session, which revived me.  Then, Nicole came home from her class with some advice from her father.  Fifteen minutes later, problem solved!  At least for now, as this will only work permanently if it’s an issue with the pipes.  If it’s the actual dishwasher, then I’ll probably return home today (or, at the latest, when I run the dishwasher next weekend) to a not so pleasant odor.

I’m not sure why I felt the need to share that, other than the fact that it is a great example of the power of the Laptop Sessions — they have the power to ruin a night (computer issues, multiple takes, etc.), or to revive your day.

And, with that, I hope you have a great week, keep checking back for new material this week, and I’ll see you next session!