Tag Archives: songwriting

“With or Without You” (U2 Cover)

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By Jeff Copperthite:

Welcome to what feels like “just another manic monday” (damnit, I just had to quote the Bangles – shoot me now).  One of the busiest days of my…entire…existence.  And I still found the time to bring a session to you today.  Session-a-day must roll forth.  Getting right there to the end of 2008 will see the release of 365 videos between four performers.  Simply amazing that we are nearing the end of the year.

Ok, away from that, today’s session.  I have to admit, this is a song i’ve known how to play for a long time, and i’ve kept it in store for a day like today where practice time was small at best.  A hit by U2 from their album “The Joshua Tree” is the song “With or Without You”.  This song, similar to a previous session by Tom Petty “Learning to Fly”, features a repeated four-chord pattern that plays through the entire song.  Again, however, the original song is not based on an acoustic guitar so again, making it a Laptop Session is really interesting.

I did a decent job singing this one, but did mistime one word, and one chord slightly.  Since I imagine many youtube viewers don’t read the entire description, i’m sure i’ll have to filter out some comments in the near future about those very small mistakes.

Anyway, enjoy today’s session, and make sure you’re here tomorrow for 100KJim’s newest session!

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!

“Living Well is the Best Revenge” (R.E.M. Cover)

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By Chris Moore:

Hello and welcome to an all-new weekend edition of the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover song video blog! We’ve been doing a lot of work on the site recently, in terms of adding new features and new material to the Laptop Sessions site as well as promoting it so that we will bring in new fans to this great venture. For instance, by this weekend, we will be adding category descriptions for each of the artists we have covered — these will provide interesting background information on their songwriting, information on both original and cover songs that the artists have produced, and share some information about what material has been used for the Laptop Sessions thus far.

And now, without further ado, on to the Laptop Session of the day! I am pleased to bring you the album starter from this year’s R.E.M. release, Accelerate, “Living Well is the Best Revenge.” When the album first came out, I was interested in it, but I had my doubts. I do own both volumes of R.E.M.’s greatest hits, but I really only love about half of the tracks — I would have personally preferred a one disc greatest hits, but that’s just me. Suffice it to say that I wasn’t sure how I would feel about an entire album, especially when their last few albums have received mediocre music reviews. Still, I was interested, so I took a shot…

And I’m so glad that I did! The album is one of my favorites from this year. The music is upbeat and rocking, the vocals are strong and the lyrics interesting, and there is really only one song on the album that I’m not crazy about. The packaging of the deluxe edition (which, yes, I bought — I’m a sucker for attractive CD packaging…) is impressive. There is a booklet tied together loosely with string and a subtitle on the front cover that reads “This will fall apart.” And I don’t doubt that it would if I pulled on the pages too hard…

This song, “Living Well is the Best Revenge” is a great album starter. The verse is really only one chord, so I hope I’ve done it justice. Without the fullness of the other instruments, it just doesn’t sound the same, but you need to watch one other YouTube video after mine — the official R.E.M. music video for the song. They recorded it while driving in a car — the drummer, who is driving, is literally using the steering wheel for the percussion in the song. It’s a great idea that I wish my band MoU had thought of before, as we have been known to rehearse for gigs in the back of our bassist’s van!

That’s all from me for now; make sure to check back tomorrow for an all-new, amazing video blog entry from Jeff…

See you next session!



“What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?” (REM Cover)

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By Jeff Copperthite:

Good evening to you!  I just had a wonderful run of Dynamis, then realized “Oh yeah, I am fresh out of videos for today!”  Thankfully, I had one ready to play and record, and you are in the right place to listen to it!

The song I have selected for today is by one of my favorite bands from my entire life, REM.  This song “What’s the frequency, Kenneth?” was a single from their album “Monster”, which is home to some of my favorite REM songs.  The album itself has a wide range of sound, but a common element is the “fuzz” guitar sound that seems constant in nearly every track.  This song is not an exception to that trend, but naturally here at guitarbucketlist.com, we give you acoustic guitar and an in-tune voice to go along with it!

There’s been some debate to the last line of the song.  Most places i’ve read lyrics to the song say the last line is “I’ve never understood, don’t f*** with me, uh-huh”.  However, the radio play version I have heard countless times does not alter this last line that is in the CD version.  It leads me to believe the last line does not include the f word.  However, I still can’t figure out what it is.  So you will notice a change in the last line which does not change the meaning of the line at all.

This is also unique because the song has no acoustic guitar track, so hearing this played back is quite unique to me as well.

I hope you enjoy this latest installment, and I know you’ll be back tomorrow for our favorite day of the week, as Jim dips into his library of original goodies for a great session installment.  I’ll be here to watch it, and I know you will be as well!

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!

“Hey Jealousy” (Gin Blossoms Cover)

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By Jeff Copperthite:

Good evening to you on this Friday.   Jeff Copperthite here today with your latest edition of The Laptop Sessions.  Today I am bringing you another song from a previously covered band.

From their album “New Miserable Experience” I bring you my acoustic cover video of Gin Blossoms’ hit song “Hey Jealousy”.  Again from Colchester, VT (for the last time this year) as you can tell by the background.  Acoustics are interesting in the room to say the least.  Also, the lighting isn’t the greatest, but I view that as a plus – you don’t have to look at my ugly mug in as much detail!

The song came out fine, although I did time some for the vocals a bit differently than the recording.  I also used  a capo when I could’ve gotten away with doing it in standard position.  However, the song is much much easier to play on 2nd fret capo.  I hope you enjoy it.

I would’ve posted earlier but my wife & I attended a casino night in the hotel and came out only down $20 after 3 hours – a win in my book.  However, I did miss the thrilling Michael Phelps’ 7th gold medal by .01 seconds on TV.

Stay tuned tomorrow for the latest session from Jim Fusco!

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 origianal 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!