D G
Who says I can’t get stoned,
Em A
Turn off the lights and the telephone?
Bm E
Me in my house alone —
G A D
Who says I can’t get stoned?
Who says I can’t be free
From all of the things that I used to be?
Rewrite my history —
Who says I can’t be free?
D G D A
It’s been a long night in New York City;
A G D A
It’s been a long night in Baton Rouge.
G D F#m Bm
I don’t remember you looking any better,
Bm E A
But then again I don’t remember you…
Who says I can’t get stoned,
Call up a girl that I used to know?
Fake love for an hour or so —
Who says I can’t get stoned?
Who says I can’t take time,
Meet all the girls in the county line?
Wait on fate to send a sign —
Who says I can’t take time?
It’s been a long night in New York City;
It’s been a long night in Austin too.
I don’t remember you looking any better,
But then again I don’t remember you…
INSTRUMENTAL
Who says I can’t get stoned,
Plan a trip to Japan alone?
Doesn’t matter if I even go —
Who says I can’t get stoned?
It’s been a long night in New York City;
It’s been a long time since twenty-two.
I don’t remember you looking any better,
But then again I don’t remember, don’t remember you…
Outro: D
** 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. **
The best part about contributing to this blog is that, every so often, all the pieces fall together at just the right time. For example, I still have the remnants of a cough that just doesn’t seem to want to leave me entirely, yet I really wanted to record a new video for tonight. Meanwhile, over the weekend, I was listening to Jack Johnson on shuffle when this song — “Broken” from his Sing-a-Longs and Lullabies from Curious George soundtrack CD — and immediately felt the urge to learn and record it.
Fortunately, the register is fairly low and the chords are very simple, so this was a joy to lay down as a session.
Of course, every cover song music video is not without its challenges when it involves me…
The only difficult aspect of this song is that, although I’ve heard it dozens of times and could sing along to the chorus in my sleep, I really don’t know the verse. Thus, I put “Broken” on repeat in my car on the way home. After listening to it seven or eight times straight, I didn’t seem to be much closer to nailing the lyrics. Still, I soldiered on — I typed up the lyrics from the booklet and practiced a few times to the music. Finally, I practiced a few times on my own before I hit the “record” button.
And, a few takes later, you have a session to watch!
The reason I was listening to Jack Johnson in the first place was that Mike showed Jim and I his copy of En Concert, the new live CD/DVD, this past Thursday at wrestling. Based on my disappointment at his last record, I hadn’t purchased the CD myself, but Mike had nothing but great things to say about it, so it’s only a matter of time before I find my way back to the “J” section of my local Newbury Comics store…
Speaking of new music, I am wildly curious about tomorrow’s new Weezer release. The title alone has caused some controversy. Based on a recommendation from The Office actor Rainn Wilson (who plays Dwight Schrute), Rivers Cuomo and company titled their latest studio album Raditude. I’ve heard the first track, “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To” and it may be cheesy, but it sounds great and it’s fun to listen to. That being said, the other titles on the album alone are enough to make one question what Raditude will be like — tracks like “I’m Your Daddy” and “Girl Got Hot.”
All I will say for now is that TheRed Album seemed very weird at first, and it quickly grew on me. I was just listening to it this weekend, in fact, and realizing that it is truly one of my favorite Weezer releases. I can’t imagine that this new album will be up to that level, but I have promised myself that I will reserve judgment until after I’ve heard it a few times. Based on their incredible catalog alone, Weezer really does deserve the benefit of the doubt.
More on that next time…
And that about does it for me, at least for now. This week is crazy for me, as my grades are due this Friday. In addition, I have meetings today and now Thursday, a full day of professional development (i.e. no time to grade) tomorrow, and I’m monitoring the selling of tickets at the drama production on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Add in some wrestling on Thursday night and a whole lot a gradin’ goin’ on, and I’ve got one busy week! I am looking forward to the weekend, as I’ll be completing a swap with my former student Geoff — some Ben Folds for some Tom Waits. It’s bound to give me some more interesting listening and perhaps some more interesting Laptop Sessions songs…
It is my pleasure to welcome you once again to a brand-new week of all-new acoustic cover song music videos here at the Laptop Sessions. Following up my version of “Just Breathe” from Pearl Jam’s new 2009 album, I’m happy to present to you a new band to the blog and a new 2009 single.
If you’ve visited our site before, then you know that “New Music” is my niche here at the blog. I get a great deal of direction in terms of what to learn, record, or write about from the new music that I’m listening to, week by week. Up until last week, it had been a while since I delved into the new release racks for a session, so I’m attempting to make up for that tonight and later this week.
My video tonight is the mid-album cut “Cornerstone” from the Arctic Monkeys’ 2009 release Humbug. Previous to hearing this record, I didn’t know all that much about the Monkeys, and frankly, there wasn’t much that I found appealing. Since their rise to fame via the Internet in 2006, their work has been praised by some — Rolling Stone, for one — as outstanding, and it has also been disparaged as overrated. In addition, they received a backlash of criticism upon releasing their Who the Fuck are Arctic Monkeys EP merely three months after their debut album. Some called it a greedy move, while the band maintained that they wanted to release new material that they would be adding to their live shows. Now, I’ve certainly never been one to defend EP’s (Ben Folds and the Supersunnyspeedgraphic nonsense, anyone?), and I don’t plan to start here. Still, one should keep in mind that an album is typically recorded a significant time before its actual release — in this case, the EP was released seven months after the band finished recording their debut album.
Anyway, this album was recommended to me by a former student and friend who has tuned me in to some great material from Beck, Cold War Kids, and Harvey Danger — in other words, bands that I wouldn’t have listened to on my own. He described it as being more “slow and contemplative instead of just in your face punk music” which, for anyone who knows me, immediately got my attention!
While I rated this album as a “Maybe So,” it really is one of my favorites this year. It’s the type of album you can listen to again and again without it getting old. I love their style here: the songs are unique, and yet reminiscent of some of the greatest rock of the sixties, and their lyrics really make the music stand out to me.
Which brings me to “Cornerstone.”
I will never forget driving to school, listening to this song for the first time. I had been enjoying the album, but this song really made me stop and take notice. There is this devious tone in Alex Turner’s voice as he sings the story of a man searching for a girl who has left him. Did she break up with him? Has she died? Regardless, he is prowling the dirtiest-sounding dives, flirting and engaging with women of whom he soon makes an odd request.
He asks if it would be acceptable for him to refer to them by the name of his ex-lover.
No big deal. It doesn’t hurt to ask, right? Well, that’s not the case for most of the song. But you’ll have to listen until the end to find out how he fares.
In other new music news, I’m excited about picking up Bob Dylan’s first ever Christmas album, Christmas in the Heart. Of course, this is a mixed bag. After all, contrary to the fact that several holiday albums are coming out tomorrow, I think that it’s far too soon to start listening to Christmas music. I’ll probably end up listening to it once before I tuck it away for the day after Thanksgiving… The other question in my mind is whether or not the deluxe edition is worth the extra money. From what I can tell from the limited descriptions I’ve been able to find online, there are some greeting cards attached in the special edition. Well, how many? Do you save them or do you send them? How many people would truly appreciate a Bob Dylan Christmas card? Is his face on the cards? Could be scary to small children or residents of small New Jersey towns…
Well, that’s enough for tonight. I hope you enjoy my video. If you like it, you should mark your calendars for October 15th when the official music video for “Cornerstone” is set to be released. It has also been scheduled to be released as the second single from Humbug about a month after that.
Hello and welcome to my first traditional “video and a post” Laptop Session in weeks! For the past few posts, I’ve opted to write reviews, but now its back to Beatles cover songs for me! This was actually a lot of fun, but I don’t get to write as directly and personally as I do in a post like this one. Thus, I’m back with a guitar, recording my first cover song music video since “God’s Gonna Cut You Down.” Let’s just say it’s good to be “back”!
You’ve probably already noticed that the Laptop Sessions main page has suddenly been filled with “chords & lyrics” posts. Let me start by explaining these four new additions to the blog.
First, the Beatles chords (for “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away”) are obviously meant to accompany this post. If you enjoy it, then by all means, jump in and start playing it yourself. Actually, you might want to read the rest of my post before you break out your axe…
So, why the added chords and lyrics?
Well, I’ve been itching to record a cover version of a track from the new Pearl Jam album Backspacer ever since I started listening to it last Sunday. Specifically, there are two largely acoustic tracks that are very easily translatable into acoustic music videos — namely, “Just Breathe” and “The End.” The first single, “The Fixer,” is more of a full-band, harder rock affair, but its structure is fairly simple and it is truly a great deal of fun to sing. I’m still deciding which song to record for my session (anyone care to hazard a guess before next week?).
Now, normally I would wait until next Monday to post the chords, but I’ve been learning/practicing all three and going out of my mind attempting to comprehend how anyone could post the chords and lyrics without having even the slightest idea as to what the correct words are. This, in fact, is one of the most profoundly aggravating aspects of the decline of CD’s, at least in my mind — people who download digitally do not necessarily get a booklet, and even if they do, do not necessarily take the time to read the liner notes and lyrics. Has music really become that abundant and easily accessible that we couldn’t care less what the singer is actually saying, or what the album as a whole is actually about? This is the feeling I get when I surf the web for chords and lyrics.
This is also why I enjoy spending time in CD stores like Newbury Comics or — as I visited today — Exile on Main Street. It’s a good feeling to see albums that you had forgotten about, never actually seen in person, or perhaps never even heard of before. I left today with my hands covered in a thin layer of dust, having purchased an album that had collected a considerable amount of that aforementioned dust — the Charlie Sexton Sextet’s Under the Wishing Tree. (Sexton played with Dylan for a few years, left the band a while back, and just recently rejoined — he was perhaps my favorite guitarist that I’ve seen in Dylan’s band, so I had to check it out. More to come after I’ve listened more closely to the album…)
After all this posting, I suppose I should actually take a few moments to address the video you’re about to watch…
Following Jeff’s excellent rendition of “Yesterday” last Thumpin’ Thursday, I decided I couldn’t let the Beatles marathon slip away on my watch. I had been planning to record a Pearl Jam song (as I mentioned earlier), so I opted instead to record a Beatles song that had been sung by Eddie Vedder in a cover version a few years back. “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away” is the third track from the Beatles’ excellent 1965 album Help! — Nicole’s favorite Beatles album. Thankfully, I was able to borrow her copy of the 2009 remastered version of Help! and ensure that I was more than prepared to record this great song.
The video that follows is a perfect example of what seems like a short, simple song but is in actuality a little gem. To me, this song exemplifies how the Beatles really aren’t overrated — even with a simple verse-verse-chorus-repeat-fade song, Lennon and McCartney had to throw in some interesting chords and variations. It’s not simply G or C that you’re hearing — instead, my underworked and not-so-dexterous pinky finger was called into play to make the song sound entirely accurate. Even as I type, my hand is still recovering from the workout! Overall, I’m very pleased with how the recording came out, even if my lips ended up a bit dry and thus led to a few flubs during my “vocal flute” solo at the outro. I hope you can forgive the slight inaccuracies and enjoy this great Lennon/McCartney classic!
My internet was a bit screwy last week and I lost all my progress, so I put it aside temporarily.
It’s been a great Yom Kippur (see my Twitter posts above), and although it’s back to school for me tomorrow, I still have another surprise up my sleeve for later this week. That is, if my internet connection can hold steady…
