Hello Laptop Sessions music video blog viewers! It’s been quite a while, but it’s officially time to get back to the music. And I start with a major release: that’s right, it’s the music video for the lead track off of my new album, “The Easy Ways”, entitled, “The Easy Way”!
The video features the actual track you’ll hear on the album, plus visuals of some of the guitars in my growing guitar collection. Those that have seen my videos are probably wondering why I chose my Seagull acoustic for this music video instead of my Martin. Well, I actually wrote the song when I first got the Seagull and wanted to feature it in the video for the song, too. “The Easy Way” is also the only track on the album that has the Seagull acoustic on it, so that’s a bit of Jim Fusco Trivia for you!
“The Easy Ways” (the plural is the album title) is an ambitious album of 16 tracks where all the songs run together. Various musical and thematic elements are intertwined throughout- the album is meant to be listened-to as a whole. That’s not to say there aren’t some catchy “single-worthy” songs (like this one) to grab your interest! I think I’ve finally achieved the good balance of serious, fun, happy, sad, fast, and slow over a full 55-minute album. I can’t wait to release it and blow some minds. 🙂
Okay, enough talk- let’s get to the music! Enjoy the music video for “The Easy Way”- I hope you’ll share it and comment on it.
E A E
Oh, it’s so funny to be seeing you after so long, girl,
E A G#m C#m
And with the way you look, I understand that you were not impressed.
A G#m C#m
But I heard you let that little friend of mine
D B7
Take off your party dress…
A G#m C#m
I’m not going to get too sentimental like those
A G#m C#m
other sticky valentines.
A G#m C#m
‘Cause I don’t know if you’ve been loving somebody;
D B7
I only know it isn’t mine.
A E A B7 G#m C#m
Alison, I know this world is killing you…
C#m A E A B7 E
Oh, Alison, my aim is true.
Well, I see you’ve got a husband now.
Did he leave your pretty fingers lying in the wedding cake?
You used to hold him right in your hand;
I’ll bet he took all he could take.
Sometimes I wish that I could stop you from talking
When I hear the silly things that you say.
I think somebody better put out the big light,
‘Cause I can’t stand to see you this way
Alison, I know this world is killing you.
Oh, Alison… My aim is true.
My aim is true. (repeat & fade)
** 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. **
D
With everything ahead of us
We left everything behind
But nothing that we needed
At least not at this time
D G
And now the feeling that I’m feeling
G D
Well it’s feeling like my life is finally mine
Em G D
With nothing to go back to we just continue to drive
Em
Without you I was broken,
Em G D
But I’d rather be broke down with you by my side. (x2)
I didn’t know what I was looking for
So I didn’t know what I’d find
I didn’t know what I was missing
I guess you’ve been just a little too kind
And if I find just what I need
I’ll put a little peace in my mind
Maybe you’ve been looking too
Or maybe you don’t even need to try
Without you I was broken,
But I’d rather be broke down with you by my side. (x2)
INSTRUMENTAL
With everything in the past
Fading faster and faster until it was gone
Found out I was losing so much more than I knew all along
Because everything I’ve been working for
Was only worth nickels and dimes
But if I had a minute for every hour that I’ve wasted
I’d be rich in time; I’d be doing fine.
Without you I was broken,
But I’d rather be broke down with you by my side. (x4)
** 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. **
Good evening and welcome to what has become a Christmas tradition for me here at the Laptop Sessions. Each year since 2007, I have posted one yuletide original during the month of December. Last year, I wrote and recorded a song on Christmas eve, so this year I wanted to post another on the last Original Wednesday before Christmas Eve.
This year’s selection is one I wrote years ago and was first included on the Chris, Jim, and Mike holiday album Our Christmas Gift to You. To be honest, I don’t remember exactly when I wrote this song, but I certainly remember my first recording. I had never recorded using a multi-track mixer, so Mike lent me one that he had inherited from a local photographer. In its day, it had been a really nice system. Unfortunately, some of the controls were off and there were certain tracks that would become spliced together — I’m not sure how else to describe this. Essentially, I couldn’t lower or raise the volume on one track without another following it.
That being said, it felt like Mike was handing me a portable professional studio!
I rushed home late from Mike and Jim’s house that night, quietly snuck into my house (my parents were fast asleep), and set up in the small bathroom in the basement. After about twenty minutes of silent trips up to my bedroom, the mixer had been set up on the toilet, the microphone stands near the shower, the keyboard by the towel rack, and I was sitting on my stool with my back against the sink.
And yes, I am holding myself back from making the obvious stool/bathroom pun here…
The version I recorded that night was quiet and a bit sloppy, but it really wasn’t as sloppy as it should have been for my first recording. To be certain, many songs that I would record later on more reliable equipment seemed, at least to me, to be inferior to the overall feel of my first “Moment.”
The next version that I recorded was for the November 25, 2004 release of Our Christmas Gift to You. I felt very much like the rawer, indie cousin of my future bandmates, as my two songs weren’t as fully produced as Jim and Mike’s were. Still, it felt — and still feels! — exciting and, to be honest, like an honor to hear “Christmas Cards” and “Moment” alongside some of my all-time favorite Christmas originals, like “The First Snow” and “Christmas Evening.”
Although “Moment” sounds very quirky and I salivate just thinking about a day in the future when I might re-record it with a minimalist drum kit keeping time, I always liked it (and, of course, I’ll always have the MoU Christmas Concert 2006 CD to hold me over…). “Moment” is one of those songs that makes me feel something when I listen to it. Even now, years and years after writing it, I remember exactly how I felt the day I wrote it. It’s like being able to pick up a guitar or put on a CD and go back in time to the end of high school/beginning of college. As you’ll hear, it’s a song about a person who has just learned that the love of his life is returning to town after being away for a year, ostensibly as a journalist overseas. The narrator hasn’t heard from the person, only rumors, and is frustrated that no one seems to understand how important this news is to him. As the song continues, we get some flashbacks to the previous Christmas and a vague but satisfying real-time encounter set during a Christmas eve church service. The final line explains the title: “Hay was all they had in the manger — hay was all that Mary had; but that didn’t matter none to Mary ’cause Mary had Joseph to share each and every moment…”
If you’ve ever found yourself at Christmastime, connected to what used to be close friends merely by rumor and third-hand report, then you’ll understand where this song is coming from. For this recording, I tried to harken back to my first off-the-cuff, essentially one-take recording by staying in my pajamas and simply playing it once to rehearse it before hitting the “record” button.
The result? My third Original Wednesday post on the eve of Christmas.
The problem? I’m fresh out of original Christmas songs for next year…
I’ll just have to hope inspiration strikes before then!
