Welcome, welcome to another video in the Laptop Sessions music video blog series!
Tonight, I bring you my 99th video- yes, my 99th video! It’s from yet another band we haven’t done yet: Badfinger!
This song was one of their first singles, written by Paul McCartney while he was still with the Beatles. A version exists of McCartney playing and singing this song himself on the Beatles Anthology Volume 3. Honestly, it sounds exactly the same. That, for me, lets me know why there were so many rumors that Badfinger was just the Beatles in disguise. Of course, that’s not the case. Badfinger’s members actually have a very sad biography- if you ever get a chance to read about it, I think it would be worth your while.
There are many songs from Badfinger that I’d love to do in the future, including “Day After Day”, “Baby Blue”, and “No Matter What”. Those are all great songs and really showed that this group wasn’t just a Beatles spin-off bunch, but a real musical force and a darn-good band.
Come back tomorrow for another Laptop Session from Chris and come back on Thursday for my big 100th video!
How is it even possible that we can keep rolling out quality new music artists like Bruce Springsteen here on the Laptop Sessions acoustic song music video blog? I mean, we have over 80 categories now on the site, and we STILL have not done a song from such heavy-hitters as the Rolling Stones & Crosby, Stills, and Nash. But, with time, we’ll be adding these great bands and musicians to our catalog of acoustic cover songs.
Tonight, I bring you our first-ever Bruce Springsteen song, dedicated to my good friend, and fellow Mets fan, John Grabar, a huge Springsteen fan. Honestly, there are many songs from Springsteen that I’d like to do for future Laptop Sessions, but this one always struck me as catchy and meaningful. But, I will admit, it was only a few years ago that I learned this was actually Bruce singing the lead to this tune! I mean, it barely sounds like him, especially like he sounds in such hits as “My Hometown”.
“Hungry Heart” is one of those special songs that honestly has four chords (save for the ten second interlude in the middle) and the same chords repeat for the verse and the chorus. I mean, if you can get away with it, make a good song, and sell a ton of copies, then why not?
Well, that’s all for me tonight. You’ll remember it was three weeks ago that I gave the reigns over to Chris and Jeff for the weekend and the website went down for three days. Of course, it wasn’t their fault AT ALL, but it’s still fun to tease them about it. I’m planning on meeting my good friends Dave and Dana tomorrow night for a beer, and I’m really looking forward to it. Now that things are (finally) stable here on the blog, I can start to prioritize my life again…without making “fix the blog” come in at #1.
As the biggest Beach Boys fan (I mean, a true lover of their music- not just a big collector) under the age of 30, I pride myself on being a complete Beach Boys fan. Some people on Brian Wilson’s message board are JUST Brian Wilson fans- they only consider the golden years of the Beach Boys to be when Brian was writing the songs and calling the shots.
For me, that couldn’t be farther from the truth.
Yes, of course, I love the early Beach Boys music. I also love Pet Sounds. And, I’m even “okay” with “Love You” and “15 Big Ones”.
But, my favorite Beach Boys albums are the ones where everyone contributes. Nothing gets me excited than to find a new Bruce Johnston song, a Carl Wilson song, or especially a Dennis Wilson song. In fact, my brother Mike considers Dennis Wilson to be the best songwriter of all time. Okay, so maybe he doesn’t have an extensive enough catalog to prove that claim, but just one listen to songs like “Forever”, “Thoughts of You”, and “Cuddle Up” make the claim all the more believable.
I can sit here all night and rant about how much I love Dennis Wilson’s music. When I found out about the “Pacific Ocean Blue” album re-release for June of 2008, I was ecstatic, even though my family is one of the lucky few with both a CD and vinyl original version that we’ve had for many years. I’m always a fan of remastering old songs and I was especially excited about hearing a true release of his unreleased “Bambu” album. Of course, I even had a bootleg- I’ll admit- that I bought for Mike one year at Christmas. I considered it one of my greatest presents for him and he was so excited.
One thing I can say about Denny during his late 1970s period is that I get really sad listening to how much his voice deteriorated. He had a very nice, yet not perfect, voice in the late 60s and very early 70s. I just couldn’t believe that he had let life ruin his voice like that. Although, his scratchy voice really did lend itself to some powerful and emotional renditions of his solo work.
Tonight, I bring you the first of MANY Dennis Wilson solo songs to grace the Laptop Sessions. I’m very proud of this one, not only because it’s one my favorites off of “Pacific Ocean Blue”, but because I’m doing an acoustic guitar version of this otherwise keyboard-based song. It has an interesting new sound and the lyrics really stand out. Plus, isn’t that tune just infectious? This song, as simple as it is, seems to transcend time- it sounds new now, as I’m sure it sounded innovative then.
I hope you enjoy my first Dennis Wilson solo acoustic cover song here on the Laptop Sessions music video blog. My only hope is that this version can start to give Dennis’ songs the attention they’ve always deserved.
Tonight, I bring you a big hit in “Can’t Buy Me Love”, one of my more energetic Laptop Sessions. Of course, I’ve known this song for probably all of my 24 years, and am very excited about this cover song video. I think I got in a pretty good groove. Plus, with a song this short (“watch it!“) it grabs the viewer’s interest and keeps it there without getting boring. That was a specialty of the Beatles in the early 60s. John Lennon and Paul McCartney were masters of creating short and catchy songs. This particular song, “Can’t Buy Me Love”, is a McCartney-penned tune, though it’s credited to both him and Lennon (as all of their songs were). I tend to lean towards John Lennon’s style of writing. I truly believe that he and Brian Wilson are the greatest rock songwriters of all time. But, every once in a while, Paul’s songs amaze me, like this one. His talent as a songwriter usually came out in the form of love songs and slower ballads. That’s why “Can’t Buy Me Love” is such a unique McCartney song, at least for early in his career. When I think of great Paul McCartney Beatles songs, I think of “I Will”, “Yesterday”, and “Golden Slumbers”. Those songs have a very different feels than the fast-paced pop feel of “Can’t Buy Me Love”.
One thing I didn’t realize about “Can’t Buy Me Love” is how high-pitched it is. I found it to be difficult to sing, especially when done acoustically. Paul had the luxury of double-tracking his lead vocals on the recorded version of this song. On my acoustic cover video, though, it’s just me and my guitar. For a faster-paced song like this one, I chose to go with my standard steel-stringed acoustic guitar instead of the nylon stringed guitar I normally use for “softer” music videos. One thing that surprises me is how Paul McCartney can still sing this song fairly well into his late 60s. I suppose practicing for 45 years helped him out a bit, but I can only hope to sound as good as he does when I’m his age!
I’m unfortunately running low (“oh, another one- giddy up Keckster!”) on my last glut of music videos, so I’ll be doing a new set very soon. But the good news is that I’ll be using my new setup, complete with a Zoom USB microphone and brighter, higher quality video. But of course, you know that the Laptop Sessions music video blog always brings you something new and improved!
Stay tuned here to the video blog, as Chris has been a posting machine lately- with new music reviews and posts about every WCJM Free Internet Radio show, amongst others. Plus, Jeff’s been cranking out solid Sessions, too. And me? Well, you KNOW I’ve been going crazy with the updates and enhancements here on the music blog. Until tomorrow’s Chris Moore Session, take care and enjoy “Can’t Buy Me Love” by the Beatles!
