And here it is- the end of the line. I can’t believe we’re already through all 14 days of my Rock’n’Roll Christmas celebration! Remind me to never do this again. 🙂
Today’s song is my original Christmas tune, “Christmas Morning”, that I wrote back in high school! I personally think every artist has ONE good Christmas song in them. And, to be honest, I’m not exactly sure that I’d ever be able to come up with another one as catchy as this one, so I don’t think I’m going to try!
I recorded this song for the first time back in 2004 for our Christmas album, “Our Christmas Gift To You”. At the time, I was just getting used to playing the guitar and recording with my digital 24-track. I had basic microphones, too. Now, I have a Cab Clone to record my guitars, various tube amps, high quality mics, compressors, preamps, and…the same 24 track mixer. But, if you’ve heard both versions, you can really tell a big difference. I’ll probably end-up recording this again in the future after my equipment gets even better!
My wife Becky helps me sing on this tune, too. I was going to have my brother Mike help out, but he was sick when he came home for Thanksgiving, so he couldn’t sing on it. Next time, though!
I hope you’ve had as much fun reading and listening to these Christmas songs as I have making them. It’s a pretty big accomplishment for me to do all of this while being so busy otherwise. I hope I can maybe just do one song a year from now on, just to keep me into the recording process. Enjoy “Christmas Morning” and have a Merry Christmas!
Welcome everyone to a special holiday edition of the Laptop Sessions cover songs music video blog with me, Jim Fusco! It’s become a Laptop Sessions music blog tradition to do at least one Christmas song every year. This is my fourth Christmas doing the blog and I’ve amassed a great collection of my favorite Christmas songs in acoustic guitar and piano cover video form. In fact, if you go to my YouTube page at http://youtube.com/jimfusco, you’ll see I’ve made a video playlist of all my Christmas song videos. So, if you’re in the holiday spirit (in December, or any other time you need some Christmas cheer), you can click on that playlist and go through every cover song video I’ve done for Christmastime!
Before I get started with tonight’s music blog post, allow me to wish you a great Christmas (or any other holiday you may be celebrating this time of year). It’s been a crazy year for me and I’m glad I’m back doing the Laptop Sessions videos on a regular basis. I really do get a lot of joy doing these cover song videos. Getting to a million views was a big deal for me, as it seemed to reinvigorate my efforts to make the Laptop Sessions the best music blog on the internet. Next year promises to be another banner year, as my new album, “Those Around Us” is released in January. For more details on “Those Around Us”, please visit my website at http://jimfusco.com.
Onto tonight’s cover song video. You know, it’s rare to find a new Christmas song that isn’t overly cheesy and especially over-produced. The problem with Christmas songs is that there’s only a finite amount of things to write about. And, believe me, every single one of those things has been written about. So, after a while, every new Christmas song starts to sound the same with very, very similar lyrics. Every artist these days has to have a Christmas album. I guess I can’t blame them- it’s a built-in excuse to have people play your music at least once a year. Look at the older artists like Bing Crosby. I honestly don’t know one Bing Crosby song that isn’t Christmas-related. To me, in pop music, Christmas songs make you somewhat immortal. I mean, who listens to Perry Como anymore? But, come the day after Christmas, “Home for the Holidays” plays on every radio station across the country. Even Elvis Presley’s music is now considered too “old” for even our local “oldies” station, as they only play music from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. But, they break their own rule and play “Blue Christmas” about ten times a day. Christmas songs, if they’re popular enough, are the great musical equalizer.
Maybe that’s why I love Christmas music so much- my favorite artists, like the Beach Boys, are brought back into the public’s consciousness every Christmas with song like “The Little Saint Nick”. Speaking of the Beach Boys, I was given an early Christmas present this year with the announcement of the Beach Boys’ 50th anniversary reunion tour and album. I cannot even begin to express how excited I am about this. It’s a dream come true.
Tonight’s video also has to do with the Beach Boys because it’s one of Brian Wilson’s original Christmas songs! I’ve loved this song ever since I first got a semi-bootleg copy off of his website a few years ago. Brian used to come out with a Christmas song each year and put it on his site for his fans. So, I recorded it off of the site. Thankfully, though, it came out as a bonus track on his recent Christmas album, “What I Really Want For Christmas”. “On Christmas Day” is a great tune and has a nice chord progression to it. I’m not sure if I’m the only one who notices this, but to me, it sounds an awful lot like “Belles of Paris” from the Beach Boys’ “MIU Album” in 1978. Anyway, “On Christmas Day” is a better arrangement and is in a better key- Brian sounds great on his recording.
I chose to do this song on piano because I thought it would translate better than on acoustic guitar. Plus, it felt more Christmasey (to quote another Brian Wilson Christmas song) to sit at the piano and sing a Christmas song. I hope you enjoy my rendition!
I hope everyone has a healthy and happy New Year, too. I’ll be back after the first of the year with an original song from my forthcoming album, “Those Around Us”. Then, we’ll all celebrate the release of this new album on January 13th! Take care and see you in 2012!
