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“Good Enough” (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers Cover)

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For Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers chords & lyrics, CLICK HERE!

By Chris Moore:

Wow! I can’t remember the last time I posted a Laptop Session video on a day other than Monday! Why, you ask? Well, if you’ve come to the blog over the past year or so, you may have noticed the weekly schedule posted above. It’s pretty clear that Mondays are my day…

Unfortunately, I won’t have Internet service at home until Tuesday evening, and I just don’t have the energy on a Sunday night to type a 750 – 1000 word review on my iPhone, even if it IS based on one of my favorite albums of all time.

So instead of posting the Weekend Review as per usual tonight, I’m flip-flopping the schedule. Tonight, I present to you for your consideration my acoustic rock cover song performance of a track from the upcoming 2010 Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers album “Mojo.” This is a big deal, as far as I’m concerned, since this will be their first studio album in eight years. That’s a long wait! Mudcrutch was good and I do love Petty’s solo work, but there’s just no substitute for a bona fide Heartbreakers record. It’s been a little over a year since I finally picked up a used copy of “Long After Dark” and thus completed my TPATH (as the band is referred to on their official website’s message board) collection. Just a month ago, I was thinking about how much I’d like to hear a new Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers album…

For a few days now, they’ve been streaming “Good Enough” on their website, and although it is heavily electric — bordering on jam band-esque in fact — I thought I might try my hand at translating it to acoustic guitar. While I had more fun playing it on my Washburn electric, I did eventually record it on acoustic guitar for tonight’s session. As you’ll hear, the song is pretty straightforward. Now, you might be thinking: well, so is every other Tom Petty song. The only difference is that this one sounds a bit different than what you’d expect from the band. In fact, it’s caused some disagreements between fans as to whether it is promising or foreboding for the new release. As for me, I think it’s great — fun, loud, and highlighted by a real killer lead guitar by Campbell. That being said, I certainly hope the whole album isn’t variations on this bluesy style.

I’ll just have to wait for “Mojo” to arrive…

That being said, I hope you enjoy my cover of this brand-new, yet to be released song, and that, if you do, you’ll take the time to listen to the real thing.

See you next session!

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“Good Enough” by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – Chords, Tabs, & How to Play

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“Good Enough”
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

INTRO:   Em     Am     C     B     Em     C#m    Bbm   Gm  – F#m  –  Em

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. **

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“Who Says” (John Mayer Cover music video)

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For John Mayer chords & lyrics, CLICK HERE!

By Chris Moore:

Hello and welcome to a very special Monday edition of the Laptop Sessions! What makes tonight so special, you might ask? Well, for the first time in months, I’m bringing you a cover song music video of a song that has yet to be released.  No worries, though — if you like this song, then you’ll be able to buy it in stores tomorrow. 

The song I’m bringing you tonight is “Who Says,” the first single from the forthcoming 2009 John Mayer studio album Battle Studies.  There’s a little bit of a story behind this one, so here goes…

I first learned about this album when I happened upon Mayer’s video blog established to document the recording sessions.  The first video was a tour of his newly designed and built home recording studio.  Do I even need to describe it?  Believe me, it’s drool-inducing.  Although a couple of the entries were only jams or just a bit weird, I ended up searching YouTube for some of the new songs.  As I expected, most were available as live concert performances that someone videotaped and uploaded.  I listened to a couple, including “Who Says,” and I started to get excited about this release. 

I have a general rule against hearing too much of an album before it comes out.  After all, it’s more than half the fun of buying a new album to be able to get in the car, put it on the CD player, and discover the music for the first time.  Sometimes this is an exciting, expectation-defying journey (a la last week’s Echo & the Bunnymen album The Fountain).  Other times, it can be just as disappointing an experience as one can have (i.e. U2’s No Line on the Horizon deluxe edition CD). 

I should also comment on my recent opinion of Mayer. 

As I wrote in my review of Where the Light Is, I am a big fan of Mayer’s first three releases — the independently released EP Inside Wants Out, his debut Room For Squares, and his follow-up Heavier Things.  And yet, just as he gained “credibility,” I lost interest.  Yes, his third album Continuum offers some interesting guitar parts and melodies, but I resented the idea that he needed to become a blues afficionado in order to be accepted by those outside his stereotypical audience of young girls.  In my mind, this was a step backward in his songwriting.  Did no one notice or appreciate the effort he put into the album design for the first two albums, or the backing vocals in “Your Body is a Wonderland” that echo the chorus lyrics of “My Stupid Mouth”?  There was so much care taken with those releases that the minimalism of his last release was disappointing.  From the title of Heavier Things alone, one could imply that Mayer was interested in tackling more “important issues” and being taken more seriously. 

But, even in Heavier Things, he retained his sense of what was important — interpersonal relations, perspective, ambition, etc.  On Continuum, political and social issues apppeared as the subjects for his songs, which always seemed out of place to me. 

Anyone who knows me knows that I have an intense sense of loyalty, sometimes to my own detriment. But I had told myself I wouldn’t buy future Mayer releases to spare myself further disappointment, as I did with Where the Light Is.  That being said, I can’t deny that this single “Who Says” sounds more to me like the John Mayer that I enjoyed listening to on earlier works.  It’s simple, catchy, and tackles the same desires that my favorite John Mayer songs always did — namely, the desire for freedom from personal and social expectations (think: “No Such Thing,” “Not Myself,” “Bigger Than My Body,” and others). I don’t read the reference to marijuana as a literal desire to get high, but rather as a symbol for what society or one’s friends and family members think you shouldn’t do because “it’s not like you.”

So, I’ll give the album a try. 

And you better believe there will be a review forthcoming.

Until then, I hope you enjoy my video tonight.  I’m not sure what came over me, but I made this one a real production.  I tacked on a purposely goofy intro and follow-up documentary that I hope you laugh at — either because it’s funny or because you’re laughing AT me, as long as the result is the same!

And I know that I have other news and ideas on my mind that I wanted to share tonight, but I can’t remember what they are.  So, for now, I hope you enjoy this video. 

See you next session!

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Music Review: Weezer’s “Raditude”

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RATING:  1 / 5 stars

By Chris Moore:

I was the first to scoff at early negative reviews of the new Weezer album.  It seemed there was an inordinate number of swipes at the admittedly odd title, Raditude.  After all, I reasoned, Rivers Cuomo hasn’t exactly built his career by being serious.

So, it was with high hopes that I started listening to Raditude.  From the opening track — “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To” — it became immediately apparent that the lyrics would be juvenile.

And yet this was never a turn-off.

I had heard this song, the first single, about fifteen or twenty times before the album was even released.  It had been leaked on YouTube, then removed, then reposted by another source, and finally released officially as the single.  And, each time I heard it, I liked it more and more.  This is saying a great deal, considering that the song includes references to watching Titanic and eating meat loaf as key plot points.

The way I see it, there are two types of great Weezer songs:  introverted, introspective ballads and catchy, fun rock/pop gems.

Any serious Weezer fan who will disparage the quality of Cuomo’s lyrics in 2009 needs to think back to such earlier tracks as “No One Else” — “My girl’s got a big mouth, with which she blabbers a lot…” — and “Getchoo” — “Sometimes I push too hard; sometimes you fall and skin your knee…”  And can anyone even begin to transcribe the lyrics to “Hash Pipe”?

I didn’t think so.

Weezer's "Raditude" (2009)

Weezer's "Raditude" (2009)

So, the credibility and entertainment value of “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To” being established, the other nine songs on Raditude should be addressed.  In a nutshell, the new album is generally a mixed bag — one part catchy guitar hooks, one part derivative stylistic choices, and two parts juvenile and (to be frank) ridiculous lyrics — that all amounts to a mediocre collection of material.

I’ve always been drawn to Rivers Cuomo’s firm embrace on the simple, pure, and raw emotions that we generally attribute to the innocence (and immaturity) of youth, but this time around, there is little for me to relate to or feel moved by.

“I’m Your Daddy” is about as two dimensional a song as you’ll ever find, stripped of Cuomo’s trademark quirky innocence to reveal an inexperienced Romeo.  It is also a bit creepy to listen to after learning that he began writing it while watching his daughter.

“The Girl Got Hot” is driven by catchy, distortion-drenched guitars, but again the lyrics fall short.  I kept waiting for a moral to the story — I would have settled for something as simple as “don’t judge a book by its cover” — but all I ended up with was the singer’s revelation that, when it comes to Kiki Dee’s friends, “She got hot, and they did not.”  Oh, and the phrase “buyer beware” is potentially problematic, but I won’t even go there.

Then comes the piece de la resistance, “Can’t Stop Partying.”  Again, I waited for the subtext that the lyrics must surely contain, considering the minor chords and Cuomo’s diction — “can’t stop” implies addiction.  And again, I was met with lines like “If you was me, honey, you would do it too” and “Screw rehab; I love my addiction.”  Just when I thought it couldn’t get less redeemable, Lil Wayne lays down a chauvinistic, obscenity laden ode to excess.

The remainder of the album is divided between forgettable, inane tracks — like “In the Mall” — and solid, albeit middle-of-the-road songs — like “Put Me Back Together.”  The latter track is one of my favorites from the new album, even though it is difficult to shake the feeling that this would have been a filler track on any earlier Weezer release.

Other tracks like “Let It All Hang Out” and “Love is the Answer” are debatable — on the upside, they do tap into the aforementioned pure, raw emotions that the band’s best material always has, yet there is nothing extraordinary about them.

At the end of the day, I have to reluctantly admit that my opinion is not so divergent from that of Slant reviewer Huw Jones — strictly in his opinion of this album, but NOT his opinion of Weezer’s overall career arc (he’s seriously off there).  Weezer has finally released an album that I can’t endorse — and that I, unfortunately, can’t listen to for very long without feeling disappointed.

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