Tag Archives: unplugged

“Never Without You” (Ringo Starr Cover – Jeff’s 100th session!)

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By Jeff Copperthite:

Good evening and welcome to your weekend-ending Super Sunday session w/ me, Jeff Copperthite!  I’m happy to expand my personal “bands covered” library with today’s session, which happens during a great landmark.

Tonight is my 100th Laptop Session!

And tonight i’m bringing you a sentimental dedication song by Ringo Starr.  This song is from his recent 2003 album Ringo Rama (though not his latest album) and was composed in remembrance of the late great George Harrison.  The fact that i’m wearing black in the video is just a coincidence, but it is well fitting for this video.

I am well behind on Beatles’ trivia, but Ringo Starr’s name is Richard Starkey.  The whole time i’m reading credits for the Ringo Rama album i’m going “Who is Starkey in the credits?”.  Should’ve guessed that it was him since it sounds a lot like Starr being derived from that.

I am excited that I have reached the 100 session mark.  Through the past year or so I have accomplished a lot during the course of these 100 sessions and I have made a lot of fans and recorded a lot of cover songs.  I’ve had to fight the urge to quit quite a few times, mostly due to negative comments (which we do get from time to time).  I’ve been told to throw my guitar out a window, stop insulting songs, and yes, i’ve even been told to inflict a self-mortal wound (paraphrased naturally).

But aside from the occasional negative comment, I have gotten huge amounts of positive feedback and that is the stuff that makes me continue to bring these videos to you.  I don’t intend for them to “get me anywhere” (as someone so kindly pointed out how i’ll never make it, despite me not really trying to do so) – I do it for fun and for your enjoyment.  And even if it’s a few people who truly enjoy seeing our sessions per day, if we have made it better because of our series, then that’s all the confirmation I need.

Here’s to 100 more sessions!  Come back tomorrow for Jim’s latest session – i’m sure you’ve missed him since his double dose last week.

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!

“Astronomy” (Blue Oyster Cult Cover)

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By Jeff Copperthite:

Good evening to you, and welcome to your newest addition to The Laptop Sessions library!  It’s Jeff here bringing you a somewhat surprising song.  One can make the argument that we have not covered a band like this on this site.  But I hope that, if you never have heard of Blue Oyster Cult before (BOC), that you will enjoy this cover video.

BOC is the topic today (another new band!  I guess we had like New Bands 3.0 this week or something) and I have a great song by them from 1974.  Now if you don’t know who this band is, I will tell you a song that will instantly make you say “oh that’s who you’re talking about” – that song is “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper”.  Yeah, they wrote that song.  It was also the same song that was being portrayed as recorded in an SNL sketch, where the now famous line was uttered by Christopher Walken – “needs more cowbell”.

Well, tonight I am not covering that song – but I am learning how to play it and I will be recording it before the year is out (may save it for a Thumpin’ Thursday – it is an awesome song).

Today I have a song from their 1974 album “Secret Treaties” titled “Astronomy”.  This song has a nice soft feel to it, and a completely kickass solo from their lead guitarist Buck Dharma.  Eric Bloom is their lead singer, and I discovered I can emulate his voice quite well.  Therefore, you’ll notice that my voice is a little different in this session.

I was introduced to this song because I heard a version of this song by Metallica from their 1998 covers album “Garage, Inc.”.  I decided I wanted to stay true to the original BOC version, so if you’re comparing this cover to the Metallica cover, you will notice quite a few differences between them.

For the performance, I tend to be a bit more “forgiving” of myself when the song is long.  This song’s recorded version clocks in at nearly 7 minutes.  I cut out a lot of the last “solo” time so that I would not have to play near-perfect guitar for 7 minutes.  The arpeggiated parts that I play in the song are not as clean as i’d like them to be.  But if I ever wanted to finish recording this video and upload it on time, I had to allow a minor glitch here and there.  I actually think this is one of my better singing performances, however.  I hope you feel the same way.

I am glad I was able to bring a new band your way this evening, and on Monday, i’ve got another new band – heck, let’s make it 4 new bands in a row by me by making next week’s Thumpin’ Thursday a new band as well!

Tomorrow Jim will return to his library of cover songs and lay another on us.  Come back for that – you know I will!

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!

“Waterfalls” (Quilt Acoustic Original Song)

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By Jeff Copperthite:

Welcoem to our favorite day of the week – Original Wednesday! Where we bring to light the various talents of us in the form of an original song.

Today I am doing an “oldie but somewhat goodie” from Quilt’s library. This is a song that I wrote called “Waterfalls”, and while it didn’t see an official Quilt release until “Patchwork”, I originally wrote and recorded this song back in 1999. It was one of my first ever acoustic guitar songs that I wrote. My friend Scott Jordan also helped me with the lyrics way back when.

I’m sorry if i’ve seemed short with descriptions the past week. I’ve been taking a course at the University of New Haven and it’s intensive. 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday since last week. My brain is fried.

Enjoy today’s installment (and enjoy the nice new paint job we just got in the house!), and come back tomorrow for the next acoustic cover song from the one and only 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!

“The Last DJ” (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Cover)

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By Jeff Copperthite:

Good evening to you, and welcome to your Saturday edition of The Laptop Sessions!  Tonight we (finally) return to our regularly scheduled…well, schedule…and we are now posting on nights we were originally scheduled to post.

That being said, sorry, no new band tonight.

Instead, it’s one we haven’t covered in some time – Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers!  From their 2002 album “The Last DJ” is the title track from that album.  I first heard this particular song via (who else) Jim, and I have always been a fan of Tom Petty’s work thanks to my brother.  This is the 3rd song I have covered from this band.

Oddly enough, I think it’s a great cover, and I think the other two are good as well.  It’s a great song to cover on acoustic since the driving track is acoustic on the song.  You have to love the chorus and the message of the song as well.

I think the higher quality I get on my new laptop has been tremendous during the past 3 months, though.  If you view the videos through Youtube, you will see the “watch in higher quality” button and that will make it sound even better!

Be sure to come back tomorrow for another awesome Jim Fusco acoustic cover song!

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!