“Transitions” (Original Wednesday Acoustic Song by Chris Moore)

By Chris Moore:

Hello and welcome to my first Original Wednesday since Christmas Eve!  This is an exciting week for me, as I’m off from work.  There have been plenty of things to keep me busy — really, too many to list — but I woke up this morning and, despite the work I should be doing, I decided to work out this song and record it for tonight’s session.

The song is called “Transitions” and this is a Laptop Sessions world premiere.  It may make it to my next album, it may not…  Only time will tell!  I hope you like it.  This is the first fully recorded version of it, so it’s a demo of sorts.  It’s not perfectly arranged yet, to be sure, but I’m pretty happy with the overall structure of it.  Some of the words may change, some of the rough edges will be smoothed out, but this is your sneak peak at the first complete version of it.  I messed around with the harmonica even after I finished recording this video, and I have to say that this song has (and/or will have) one of my favorite harmonica parts that I’ve written in a very long time.  It’s a very deliberate aspect, but not so note-for-note that it sounds scripted.

Outside of writing and recording this song, I’ve been busy during my February break with some grading for my classes, jury duty yesterday (I was released after “a day’s service”), preparing logs for my BEST portfolio, reading three things (Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Pro Wrestling, and the 40-page booklet to the Sam Jones film I Am Trying to Break Your Heart), and listening to several albums, including MoU’s Homestead’s Revenge (I think “Worlds Apart” is my favorite song we’ve ever done!), Pearl Jam’s Binaural, and Dan Auerbach’s Keep It Hid.  Oh, and I can’t forget to mention my favorite playlist that I referred to in Monday’s post — the “Albums of 2008” iTunes playlist.  Good stuff all around…

We’ve gotten a decent number of views to the blog for the chords and cover video of Dan Auerbach’s “My Last Mistake.”  That’s exciting because I wasn’t sure what to expect with this fairly obscure song choice.  It’s all the more incentive for me to keep on top of new rock music, bringing whatever I can to the blog as my contribution to this, the best acoustic cover song blog in the universe!  No kidding!

Okay, that’s it for me for this week.  But, even as I write that, I’ll be back to choose and post a Guest Session for Friday.  We’re accepting submissions every day, so don’t wait — record a video on YouTube and send the link to us today with an interesting description.

See you next session!

“Opportunities” (Original song by Jim Fusco) – The Open Mic Sessions

By Jim Fusco:

Welcome everyone to another installment of the Open Mic Sessions with Jim Fusco!  Today, I bring you another session from my gig at Sam Ash Music Store in New Haven, CT back on April 3rd, 2013.  I went with my brother Mike while he was visiting home for his birthday.  I remember wanting to go to another venue, but chose Sam Ash because they gave me a $10 gift card just for playing!  Yeah, I go where the “money” is…

Anyway, it gave me an opportunity to play another original song from my 2012 album, “Those Around Us”.  This is one of the faster tracks on the album, “Opportunities”, which features a great drum track from my brother Mike.  As we know, tracks like that are great for pairing-down into the famous “Laptop Sessions” style of performing- just me and an acoustic guitar!

So, I hope you enjoy my original song, “Opportunities”.  Stay tuned as I bring you more of the “Open Mic Sessions” here on the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs and original music video blog!



“I Know A Girl” (Mike Fusco Original Song)

Hey there!  Well, it’s Original Wednesday, and Original-ly this post should have been Jeff!  But he was nice enough to call me and offer the spot to get back on blogging.  So, out from the bullpen I come, (hopefully more effectively than the Mets bullpen!) with this original acoustic laptop session for you to enjoy.  I remember everything about writing this song- I remember being embarassed by the oddity of the tune.  But, as some of you may know, songs come to me.  So I don’t really have control of the style or genre or tune…and most of the time the words!  It hits me like a sack of bricks.  So what you get are raw and honest tunes, with simple lines that end up being my favorite.

This song has a spanish-feel to it, and the middle where chords ring out is very Dennis Wilson sounding.  Some of my favorite lines are “She’s easy to love, and you can bet she’s so good lookin’…but in this case there’s more than meets the eye…”  All of these words were auto-biographical, and you can hear it in the lyrics, like you’re a fly on the wall for these interactions- “And sometimes when I look in your eyes, I see confusion”…  “When she sits across from me”…”Sometimes when I sleep, your eyes- they look so deep,..and in them I can see nothing but love”.

It was about the stress of romance and the meaning of dreams (where this song was written) and how during the day, facades can be put on, but at night, your conscience isnt always there to protect you from talking in your sleep.  One of my favorite lyrics, in its simplicity, is “And somehow I know that I’ll never stop loving you”.  The last verse, after a pause- was a joke in music form… when people think it ends, I hop in saying I wasn’t through speaking (hope i got you on it!)  I remember playing it for Jim when it was recorded, saying “Wanna hear this stupid, weird song I just did?” and when he finished listening to it, he kept the headphones on and said, “Are you kidding me?  Are you kidding me?…that’s the best song you’ve ever written” =)

oh jim, this is for you… you’ll be the only one that gets it.

3 = ooO



“The One For Me” (Chris Moore original) – Original Wednesday

By Chris Moore:

Welcome to September, a truly promising month for new music from the likes of Steven Page, Ben Folds, and Weezer!

Today, I’m taking a break from our regularly scheduled Original Wednesday program of previews from The 2010 Project to bring you a song I just wrote last week.

Specifically, a song I wrote on Monday of last week.

You may be wondering, why Monday?  Well, August 23rd — aside from being my friend and sometimes-collaborator Alberto Distefano’s birthday — marked the fifth anniversary of my first date with my girlfriend Nicole.  Because we broke up for three months in late 2008, we’ve decided to officially celebrate our anniversary on the day we got back together for the first time, January 2nd.  (I’m personally a fan of this date for all its implications of the new year, fresh beginnings, resolutions to be made, and all the promise this invokes.  And, although it’s only a week after Christmas, the original date was only a week before her birthday, so proximity to other occasions is not a factor.)

Thus, August 23rd has become the anniversary that we’ve promised to honor, but without monetary expense in the name of gifts.

We never said anything about not spending time to make something like, say, a song!

I spent the better part of my morning last Monday writing, playing, and perfecting “The One For Me.”  It is one of the — if not the — best love songs I’ve written, in my opinion.  And, for those that don’t know, my opinion is that my love songs are generally sub-par.  The version which you will hear in the video below is the first full performance I committed to tape last week.  I’ve been playing it numerous times each day since and it has progressed considerably from the form it is in on this session.

Why post an out-of-date version?

For one, I like the idea of showing off a fresh song, without having practiced it or worked on it.  What is Original Wednesday, after all, if it is not a place to celebrate the writing process?  In addition, I’m trying to imagine a spot for this song on The 2010 Project, so it may show up there.  If it does, you will hopefully be able to tell how much it has progressed since this video.  (And, it will have turned out that today is indeed another installment of the preview series.)

So, without further ado, I give you “The One For Me.”  I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you’ll tune back in for more exciting new material here at the Laptop Sessions as we move into the fall season.

See you next session!