Tag Archives: music videos

“You Just May Be The One” (Monkees Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Welcome to another “new bands week” edition of the Laptop Sessions! Today’s song comes from a band that’s anything but “new”, but since I haven’t played a song from them before, I figured this would be the week to bust one out!  That band is the Monkees, and they’re one of my favorite bands of all time.  The Monkees were the soundtrack to my early life.  Remember when they started playing the reruns of the TV show back in the late 80s?  Well, I used to watch it then and also listened to their Greatest Hits collection constantly.  I always gravitated to the music of Michael Nesmith, probably because he was a songwriter and musician.  The songs that Davy Jones sang were almost always cover songs or songs that were written for the Monkees’ TV show.

Tonight’s acoustic cover song, as I’ve mentioned before, ranks as my second favorite song of all time, right behind “I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better” by the Byrds. But, if you listen to this song and the Byrds song, you’ll hear that they’re very similar. They both have pretty much the same chords, and “I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better” wins because of its great guitar solo and its harmonies.  And, the songwriter of “I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better”, Gene Clark, was very similar to Mike Nesmith.  The both were the first ones to leave their bands.  They wrote the melancholy songs of the group with a bit of country-rock flair.  And they were by far and away the best songwriters of their groups.  I think it’s pretty funny that I gravitate so much towards such similar musicians like them.  I wonder if I share any of those characteristics (or at least THINK I do…).

“You Just May Be The One” is the song I play for people when I get the tired old “the Monkees didn’t write their own songs or play their own instruments” line. Well, on this song, they did both. In fact, on the entire “Headquarters” album, they did both. These guys were very talented and don’t get a lot of credit for that.  Of course, everyone knows that the band was manufactured for the TV show only.  This “band” was never supposed to happen.  But, I think the band worked hard over the years to prove their worth as musicians.

I hope you’ll agree that this is one of the best songs of all time.  I’m very happy to add it to my collection of cover songs here on the video blog.  And let me be the first to welcome the Monkees to the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog!

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“Shadows Of Your Dreams” (New Music – Indie Music Songwriter Jeff Copperthite!)

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By Jeff Copperthite:

I have looked forward to this edition of Original Wednesday for quite some time. I get to world premiere a song from my album Greenlight.

The song is the first track, and it is called “Shadows Of Your Dreams”. The song is interesting to play on the acoustic guitar because in the recording I do not have a track for acoustic guitar. Therefore, you are watching me play this song for the first time on acoustic since I wrote the song almost a year ago.

It essentially is my first solo effort, and I am proud of the end product of nearly a half a year of work.

Editor’s Note: Unfortunately, Jeff’s acoustic cover song music videos are no longer on YouTube, but we decided to keep his cover song blog posts up.  We figured these music blog entries would be good for posterity’s sake and because Jeff always gave such insightful posts each Session.  We hope to see Jeff’s impressive catalog of acoustic rock songs here on the Laptop Sessions cover songs and original music blog again in the future.  But, for now, please make sure to check-out hundreds of other acoustic cover songs from all of your favorite bands here on the Laptop Sessions music blog!

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Ranking every Beach Boys album/song: “Shut Down Vol. 2” (by Songwriter Jim Fusco)

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By Jim Fusco:

Each song gets a ranking out of a possible 10.

ALBUM – SHUT DOWN, VOL. 2

Fun, Fun, Fun – 8
The Warmth of the Sun – 10 (doesn’t get much better than this)
Don’t Worry, Baby – 10 (see last song)
Pom Pom Play Girl – 4 (too Jan and Dean for me)
Why Do Fools Fall in Love – 6 (again, not a big fan of covers, but this one is very well done, especially that vocal break in the middle)
*I Do – 6 (even though the verse is a clear re-tooling, the chorus is pretty amazing)
In the Parkin’ Lot – 8 (I really like this song- it’s got great harmonies and I love the tag at the beginning and end)
This Car of Mine – 6 (I love Denny’s vocals on this one!)
Keep an Eye on Summer – 9 (just wow)
Louie, Louie – 1 (ugh- why guys, why??)
Shut Down, Part II – 3 (okay, but only because Carl wrote it!)
“Cassius” Love vs. “Sonny” Wilson – 2 (Can this even count? They can’t even get the jokes right! But, it is cute.)
Denny’s Drums – 4 (I hate that Dennis doesn’t get a lot of credit for his drumming, but he clearly has the chops here)

** You have five or six songs that are not only great, but classic on this album and it makes this album a great listen. In my opinion, the Boys really honed the harmonies on this album- not a bum note to be found. Plus, showing off the talents of Dennis (singing and playing) and Carl (writing and playing) is just great. Brian was truly in his prime starting with this album. I find it hard to talk down to any album with the likes of Don’t Worry Baby and The Warmth of the Sun on it. Their greatness truly cancels out any mediocrity the few clunkers on the album express. **

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“If This Is It” (Huey Lewis & The News Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Welcome to the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music blog for Monday! I’m back with a video that’s not only one of my best performances (if I do say so myself) but one of my favorite tunes. This song, “If This Is It”, is an underrated song and Huey Lewis and the News are a very underrated band.

I think Huey Lewis loses points in many reviewers’ minds because he doesn’t write the songs he sings.  But, there are members of his band (you know, the News!) that write the songs he sings.  It’s kind of like a Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons thing.  So, when you look at the band in that light, Huey Lewis is just a really cool guy and a good singer, too!  I love the style of their songs- it’s kind of like my music, but back in the 80s.  You can tell that the songwriters loved a bygone era of music (especially with the doo-wop style of “If This Is It”) but updated it for the times.  Obviously, “If This Is It” wouldn’t have sounded right in 1956, but somehow the song gives off that vibe while still sounding fresh…for 1983, that is…

The whole “Sports” album is very entertaining to me.  I know songs like “The Heart Of Rock & Roll” have actually been put on “Worst Song Ever” lists in the past, but I’ve always liked that tune!  Plus, “Heart and Soul” is one of my absolute favorite songs of all time.  And, you’ve even got the song that was stolen for the Ghostbusters theme song in “I Want a New Drug”!  If you’re into music from that era, please give “Sports” from Huey Lewis and the News a shot.  You’ll be glad you did!

“If This Is It” wasn’t the easiest song to learn- the chord changes and the special strumming pattern made it a tough one to get correct while singing.  But, the singing wasn’t too easy, either.  I recall messing up near the end of the song on a couple of occasions.  Why?  Because Huey Lewis had (and still does) an amazingly powerful voice.  Of course, he wasn’t playing guitar at the same time during his performances!

I always thought this would be the perfect album closing song.  It just has that “ending” feel to it, even though it’s not a slow song like most albums feature at the end.  The sentiment here is that a person knows all of the telltale signs of a relationship ending are there and that person wants the truth.  But, what makes this song great is the hesitation- yes, he may know it’s over, but he still doesn’t like that fact.  He knows he should save himself from more heartache, but he wants her to be the person to break it off.

I hope you all enjoy tonight’s acoustic cover song, played on my nylon stringed acoustic guitar, as our week of brand-new bands to the Laptop Sessions continues!  This Huey Lewis and the News song is one of my favorites and I knew it would be a great pick for another cover song music video here on the best music blog around: The Laptop Sessions!

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