“Better Man” (Pearl Jam Cover)

By Jeff Copperthite:

Good evening to you all! It’s Jeff Copperthite returning for another Saturday night fever edition of The Laptop Sessions! I’m back to school this week, and i’m sure if you are a student, or have children who are students, I feel your pain. Except mine is the “I have to get back into teaching mode” pain.

However, session-a-day must go on! We are nearing September, which means 2/3 of the year is nearly complete since we started this project. And not a day goes by that Jim, Chris, and myself mutter under our breath “What was Chris thinking?”.

But it will all be worth it – it already all is. That’s because you’re reading this, and have enjoyed nearly 200 videos from the four of us. I also want to thank Mike for jumping in with an awesome original song on Wednesday. Given that I haven’t been doing much writing lately, and Mike had expressed a lot of interest in doing an original, it was the natural thing to do.

Today’s song is one from Pearl Jam – a band that we have seen before on the sessions. I am covering another song from their album “Vitalogy” called “Better Man”. It starts out soft and gets much stronger and emphasized in the last part. This song received (and still does receive) much airplay on the radio.

I don’t feel this is my strongest performance, but it works much better than I thought it did while recording. Note to future artists – never eat a pack of Nutter Butters before recording a video. You’ll have to cancel it out with 1/2 a Gatorade and a Vitamin Water (“Water sucks – Gatorade is better”, to quote the Waterboy).

Anyway, enjoy this entry — the Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! edition featured Jimnelious…er, 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 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!

Editor’s note: this post was originally published before December 2015; the exact original date is uncertain.

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!

More Laptop Sessions covers

“Mourning Train” (The Wallflowers Cover)

By Jeff Copperthite:

I’m back after a short hiatus!  Welcome to your special Friday edition of The Laptop Sessions.

Tonight’s song is the first Wallflowers cover in a long time.  I have selected another song from their 2nd album “Breach”, and I planned on closing out my 2008 run w/ the Sessions with another song from this album (I did mention it in an earlier post which song it was going to be)

As you know by now, I am a huge Wallflowers fan.  I enjoy all their albums and they are so easy to listen to at any time of the day.  My wife enjoys this band as well.  This cover is still a first for me though.  Up until now, i’ve covered their upbeat songs, and this is the first that is among their slower, gentler tunes.  It allows me to really sit back and play a nice, neat song with the cool writing of Jakob Dylan.

And yes, that is Bob Dylan’s son (in case you didn’t know).

We need not go into further detail, but know that we are committed to bringing you the best cover songs!  Jim, Chris, and I will continue our dedication not just through this year, but into the next.  We couldn’t wait to announce when you could look forward to more cover songs from the three of us!

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!

Editor’s note: this post was originally published before December 2015; the exact original date is uncertain.

More Laptop Sessions covers

“Waitress” (Live Cover)

By Jeff:

Welcome to your super special Saturday edition of The Laptop Sessions!  Tonight I bring you a song from the 90’s – and just in time for my return from vacation!

This song is somehow appropriate.  The song is “Waitress” from the band Live, and it is from their album “Throwing Copper”.  I have covered a song from this album previously (Lightning Crashes) and I do have a few more songs on my list to cover from this band.  The album is a terrific one and it is unique in it’s song selection.  You get quite a few types of songs on it such as the fast and angry “White, Discussion”, the commercially appealing “I Alone”, and one of the best song titles of all time “Sh*t Towne”.

This one I decided to post this time because we just came back from vacation and I have to lodge a complaint.  We stayed at a wonderful resort for 4 nights and had terrific food in the main dining room of this hotel.  We were told multiple times that tip is included in the price we pay.  I even went ahead and asked “how much of a tip do the waiter and busboy each get?”, and for our calculations, the waiter gets $32 and the busboy $16, for $48 total.  Now look, my wife and I very restaurant friendly people.  We don’t have too many special requests, and we smile an awful lot when we are eating (especially here – holy crap the food was delicious), so i’d say that this is a sufficient tip for both.  So why is it that when we eat our last meal and we thank our waiter and busboy we get a disappointed look?  Come on, seriously.  The tip that these people get PER MEAL to the people they serve is easily in the $300+ range.  And w/ two meals per day, they’re raking in a really solid amount.  Me deciding not to give you an extra $10 or $20 is not the end of the world.  We were told tip is included.  If there’s  a problem, tell the hotel to not include tip if you really enjoy receiving it directly from the customer.

Ok, as I said the song is about what seems like a very seedy waitress, but the singer decides to implore they give her a tip anyway.  I did omit one of the main curse words in the song, but the song isn’t the same without the other one.  If you’re really turned off my bad words, pretend i’m talking about a female dog ok?

So I hope you enjoy this 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 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!

Editor’s note: this post was originally published before December 2015; the exact original date is uncertain.

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!

More Laptop Sessions covers

“Glide” (Stone Temple Pilots Cover)

By Jeff Copperthite:

Yes!  It’s me again two nights in a row!  I have the privilege of bringing you another previously covered band (yeah I know, it seems like it’s new to cover a band we’ve already covered, but hey).  And not only that, another cover of a song you may not have heard before (just like yesterday).  I hope you enjoyed “Mourning Train”, because it’s just another impressive hit that I am happy to bring to you.

Well today here’s another song I have always liked from another favorite band Stone Temple Pilots.  Despite their rocky past and continually shaky future, they remain a favorite band of mine.  I enjoy their catalog from the beginning to end.  However, their later material has always shone much more to me.  This is because they geared more towards a “bluesy” and guitar-driven sound, rather than the reliance on power chords of the typical 90’s alternative bands.  This made them stand out much more to me.

Tonight’s song is “Glide” from their album “No. 4”. Glide is a very unique song in that the chords are all based on the same root for all the verses.  Despite the countless inversions and add 9s in the guitar part.  Like a song I have covered earlier in the year (“Spies” by Coldplay), it’s a unique guitar part but I am happy I pulled it off (mostly) on video.

I really tried my best to relax and belt this song out.  Combine the guitar part commentary mentioned above with a huge jump in notes and the use of falsetto, and you see I picked a doozy to cover.  I decided to be a bit more forgiving of myself in the mistake department, so you may spot a couple of misfingerings here and there.  To me it does not detract from the flow or the overall feel of the song in any way.

I recorded this song in the same session as the previous cover, and I had also attempted to record another song for a future session, but after this song I was just plum out of energy.  That was ok – that cover still showed up on Tuesday!

The next posts brought our regularly scheduled Jim Fusco acoustic cover, and then Chris Moore made Monday a bit less manic.  For me, i’m just gonna “glide” on upstairs to beat my wife in a game of Gin Rummy!

Until then…

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!

Editor’s note: this post was originally published before December 2015; the exact original date is uncertain.

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!

More Laptop Sessions covers