Tag Archives: Paul McCartney Songs

“Young Boy” (Paul McCartney Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Hello everyone and welcome to your Thursday fix of the Laptop Sessions music blog!

I’ve been sick with a cold these past couple of days- good thing I had a couple of cover song videos in reserve! I should be back to my healthy self again over the weekend, and I have a list of literally 40 different songs to record cover song music videos for the Sessions…hopefully not all in one day…

This tune is a great one from Paul McCartney’s late 90’s album, “Flaming Pie”. That album stands as one of my all-time favorites because it came out right when I was really getting into music seriously. My family listened to it constantly. I plan on doing most of the songs off this album eventually because of it.  “Flaming Pie”, for me, will always be the “vacation” album.  I remember the summer that this album came out.  My family went on vacation- a road trip to one of the New England states.  We listened to this album constantly while on the trip.  It was so exciting to go into a music store and see this album being promoted.  I remember listening to the album on headphones in one of these stores (remember those kiosks?).  But the weird thing was- we were listening to it in the car!  I guess I was just excited to see an album I liked getting some popularity for once.

Paul McCartney’s songs, dare I say, are much better when he’s in a bad mood.  Unfortunately, his wife was suffering from cancer at the time he wrote and recorded “Flaming Pie”.  The emotions Paul put into this album range from sweet (“Little Willow”) to edgy (“Really Love You”).  I think “Flaming Pie” features some of the best songs he’s ever written.  “Heaven On A Sunday” is one of my absolute favorites- it’s just got that perfect peaceful sound.  And “The World Tonight” is just a great rock’n’roll song- the perfect single.  Paul even makes mention of his old friend John Lennon.  You remember John’s story of how the Beatles got their name, right?  “A man on a flaming pie came down and told me to spell “Beetles” with an “a”.”  Yeah, right.  Anyway, it made for a great song (and album) many, many years later.

This tune is a great one on acoustic guitar and was one of the first songs I leaned to play on guitar. It’s fun to sing and has a great melody, but most of all, I love the message in the song. “He’s gotta do it for himself.” How many times have I tried to steer someone in the “right” direction, only to learn that the person needed to learn on his own. I love when people learn from others’ mistakes, but I also accept the fact that it doesn’t happen that often.

I hope you enjoy tonight’s Paul McCartney cover song.  “Young Boy” is a great one for you to learn, too.  Just start with C – Am – Em – F – G.  There- you’ve got the verse and you’ve mastered five different chords!  Stay tuned for many more Paul McCartney songs here on the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog!

“And I Love Her” (Beatles Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Here on this edition of The Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog is a version I’m really proud of. My roommate and I did this version of the classic Beatles song “And I Love Her”. I think having two people perform the song (even though there’s only one vocal) really helps because it allowed me to play the solo and the little guitar riff at the beginning and end.

You know, I think “And I Love Her” would’ve been the perfect song to do on my “gut-string” (nylon, basically) guitar.  But, there’s no way the sound of the solo would’ve risen above the steel-string guitar we used for the rhythm part.  So, I was forced to use my steel-string acoustic guitar, as well.

One interesting aspect of “And I Love Her” is the key change in the middle.  It’s almost indiscernible because the key change happens during the guitar solo.  That made the second half of the song harder to play, of course.  I noticed this same phenomenon in the Beach Boys’ #1 Hit, “I Get Around”.  The same exact thing happens- the key changes in the song as soon as the guitar solo starts.  The only difference?  “And I Love Her” actually goes back to the original key at the end!  Now, that’s a good piece of songwriting there.

I love this Beatles song, it’s fun to sing, and really shows how great the Beatles were, even at the beginning of their popularity.  I know there are a lot of people that prefer the later Beatles work over their early stuff.  But for me, the early Beatles music was something magical.  These guys knew, from a very young age, exactly how to write a hit song.  And, even for songs that weren’t necessarily hits, like “And I Love Her”, they were able to write an impressive tune that was as good (or better) than anything else at the time.  In the Beach Boys, you had Brian Wilson writing all of the songs (Mike Love helped with lyrics, of course) for the first five or six years.  It was only later in 1968 that the rest of the band members (especially Dennis Wilson) started contributing and showing their own genius as songwriters.  But with the Beatles, you had both Paul McCartney and John Lennon at the top of their game right from Day One and that continued throughout the Beatles’ 8-year run.  It was only an added bonus to get classic songs by George Harrison and Ringo Starr in there.

One funny thing: In the Beatles, obviously Paul McCartney and John Lennon were the big-shots.  But, for me, post 1970, I prefer the solo music of George Harrison and Ringo Starr over almost anything that John and Paul did during their solo careers.  You know that old phrase, “The whole is greater than the sum of the parts”, right?  I think John and Paul were much better together than apart.  I think the same goes for the members of the Beach Boys, including Brian Wilson.

By the way, sorry I missed Original Wednesday this week- I’ll make sure to post TWO videos next Wednesday!  And stay tuned for more Beatles cover songs each and every week here on the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog!

“Do You Want To Know A Secret” (Beatles Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Hello everyone- time for another episode of “The Laptop Sessions”. Boy, do I have a lot of these in the works for you. I have two more requests for Beach Boys cover songs, plus Chris and I still have to do our Moody Blues song and another Beatles cover song. Somewhere down the line I’d like to throw in one of my original songs, too.  Oh, you didn’t know that I was a songwriter? 🙂  Well, that’s one of the reasons I do the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog.  I’m hoping that the people who like the cover songs I play will take a chance and listen to my original music, as well!  So far, it’s been a great success.

Tonight’s cover song video is the Beatles song, “Do You Want To Know A Secret”, originally sung by the great George Harrison. This is a fun song to play and sing, especially because it’s got those minor 7th chords that make it sound a bit “old fashioned”.  People just don’t write songs like this anymore.  It’s one of the earliest Beatles songs released, so it was written during their period of relative innocence (you know, before the drugs).  John Lennon wrote this song and gave it to George to sing.  His heavy British accent really comes through on this track.  I sang, though, in my normal New England American accent, as I do with all my cover song videos.  My goal here at the music blog is not to imitate the artists I cover, but to reimagine my favorite songs in a stripped-down acoustic solo performance.

I chose to go with my nylon-stringed acoustic guitar for this song.  Why?  Well, for one, it’s much easier to sing over than a steel-stringed guitar.  For this cover video, I wanted to sing a bit softer and sweeter (just like George Harrison did!), so I thought this guitar was the right choice not to overpower my voice.  Also, and I’ve gotten a lot of compliments about this, the strumming pattern I used works so much better on this guitar than steel-string acoustic guitar.  Because I don’t have the solid drumming of Ringo Starr behind me, I had to come up with a way of playing that incorporated the unique beat of “Do You Want To Know a Secret” while playing by myself.  The “hops” that are in the chord progression really move the sog along well and I found it to be an easy way of switching chords, as well.  Plus, sliding down like that gave my version that cool retro sound I was talking about before.  It sounds like a song from the 40s when played that way!

Of course, requests are welcome for any other Beatles or George Harrison song you’d like to hear!  Everyone knows pretty much all of the Beatles songs, so my “to-do list” is pretty extensive at this point.  I hope you enjoy tonight’s cover song video and stay tuned for more Laptop Sessions music videos in the coming days!

“Let It Be” (The Beatles Cover)

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So, this is how the whole “Laptop Sessions” acoustic cover songs music video blog got its humble start.  It’s also the first edition of a Beatles cover songs here on the music blog.  This is the day I decided to change the face of cover song videos forever!  You see, on YouTube, there’s a video of a guy playing “Let It Be” by the Beatles on piano. He’s got like 12,000 views on it. It’s not bad, but it’s not even in the right key!

So, I posted a comment to that effect, and someone wrote back that I was being nitpicky (is that even a word?) and that not many people can sing in the range of the original key.  Let me tell you- if you can’t sing it in the original key, you can’t sing the song at all and you shouldn’t be doing a cover of it.  How “high and mighty” of me.  I’ve always thought that was a good barometer for a musician, especially one getting on in age.  You see, I’m all for older musicians to keep playing, but they can’t just go up there and be shadows of their former selves.  Especially when they’re charging well over $100 a ticket!  Anyway, it seems to me that if you can’t sing your own song in the original key, you should probably just hang it up.  That’s one of the things that really impressed me about seeing the Monkees in concert.  Those guys have been playing for over 40 years and they STILL sing all of those songs in the original key!  And the Monkees’ songs were pretty high-pitched, especially the ones Mikey Dolenz wrote.

Anyway,  I had to back up my statement about that cover song in the wrong key on YouTube with a video performance of me playing and singing the song in the original key. I chose to do this cover song music video on guitar because it was the most handy at the time.  I think it’s what helps make the Laptop Sessions great- taking a song everyone knows and turning it into an acoustic interpretation.  You’ll notice that I’m playing my Arrow nylon-stringed acoustic guitar.  It’s a classical guitar that I purchased while on vacation in Italy.  I love how mellow it sounds and it’s incredibly easy to play.  It also allows me to sing over the music without having to shout.  That’s especially helpful when you’re trying to get more emotion out of the performance.  Even though it doesn’t sound as good as a steel-string guitar, I think it’s a great fit for the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs video series here on the music blog.

You’ll also notice that this video isn’t exactly of the best quality.  Well, when starting the Laptop Sessions, I wanted to make it a way to record a music video that wouldn’t require a ton of setup- it would allow for a spur-of-the-moment performance.  At the time, YouTube had a “Capture Now” feature that would record directly off of a webcam.  Well, my Macbook has a webcam and that’s what I ended up doing.  The only thing is that recording live like that degraded the quality.  But, I keep this acoustic performance here on the music blog to show the start of the Laptop Sessions and tell you what it’s all about: great acoustic cover songs!