Tag Archives: Wallflowers

“Three Ways” (Wallflowers Cover)

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For chords & lyrics, click HERE!

By Chris Moore:

For those wondering how long it’s been since I last recorded a bona fide “Laptop Session,” please refer to my YouTube page, and check the length of my hair.

(This has long been one of my favorite aspects of the LS blog, as I can skim through the stills of my cover song music videos posted over the span of months and years and watch my hair grow out, out, out, then get cut, and continue to grow…  Well, you get the idea.)

That being said, I decided several months ago that I would only post a cover song again when the time felt right.  I’ve been keeping quite active reviewing albums for the Weekend Review and “Yes, No, or Maybe So” segments that are regularly published here at the site.  However, I haven’t recorded an official cover song session since April 11th.

It’s now July 6th.

I spent the morning and afternoon this past Saturday driving around the state with a dear friend, windows down with selections from our favorite albums blasting at full volume.  All the time, we were singing along and pointing out our favorite sections and solos, etc. in the various songs.  Of course, the first album we chose was one with the following line:  “I feel fine with the sun in my eyes, the wind in my hair…”

I’m referring to my pick for number one album of the decade and my personal favorite: the Wallflowers’ Red Letter Days.

This is one of those records that incessantly hits you with great songs, track after track.  After the rock/pop/alternative rock attack of the first four tracks, the fifth track slows down a notch, but is equally as catchy as the songs that have come before.  I’m referring to “Three Ways,” a beautiful little song that I’m featuring here this morning on the blog.

When I heard it again in my friend Mike’s car, I spent part of the duration thinking how much I would like to learn it on acoustic guitar.  And that feeling didn’t dissipate days later.  Thus, I took a break from reading Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass yesterday to figure out the chords to “Three Ways.”  I found chords online, but not surprisingly, they were significantly flawed.  This cemented my desire to complete a full session, posting chords and lyrics for others to access that are accurate to the song. For the chords, I spent quite a while playing to the song and experimenting with different options until I pieced together the core components of the song.  As for the lyrics, I went to the CD booklet — one of the reasons I love having physical copies of my music — and copied them from there.  (In fact, if you enjoy this song at all, I would strongly encourage you to check out this album, either as a download from iTunes or some other service, but PREFERABLY as a physical CD.  I’m telling you: this is not only one of the best albums of all time, but it has excellent packaging as well!)

After a few takes, I recorded one that I was happy with, which is the one you’ll see tonight.  So, without further ado, I’ll leave you to the actual recording.  Enjoy…

See you next session!

“Too Late For Goodbyes” (Julian Lennon Cover)

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By Jeff Copperthite:

Welcome to your Monday edition of The Laptop Sessions. Today I bring you a new artist to the sessions with the son of John Lennon, that being Julian Lennon.

Off of his popular album “Valotte”, I am performing “Too Late For Goodbyes”, one of his most well-known songs. However, I must admit, my first exposure to this song wasn’t off the aforementioned album. I first heard this song when my friend introduced me to the cover version from The Wallflowers. Therefore, this song is really a cover of a cover.

The lyrics in The Wallflowers’ version are slightly different, as is the structure of the song. However, the spirit of the song and the offbeat strumming pattern come through in this acoustic cover song. I have practiced this one for a week or two, so this video is another single take.

I always love bringing new bands to the sessions, but I haven’t forgotten all the bands that I love to cover. I will be doing another song from a band I have covered in the past, so come back Thursday for that!

And of course, you better come back tomorrow for Jim’s latest session, and Chris will be doing Original Wednesday this week – I can’t wait to see what he has in store!

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!

“God Says Nothing Back” (Wallflowers Cover)

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By Jeff Copperthite:

I’m back into the mix!

And now back to the Wallflowers – again, one of my favorite bands.

This song is off of their latest album “Rebel, Sweetheart” and is probably in my top 3 favorite Wallflowers songs of all time. It is a terrific song to sing and play on acoustic, and I am proud to enter it into the Laptop Sessions.

On this version, I went with a light strumming method, despite the recording using a more fingered and arpeggiated guitar pattern.

The middle part I tried to do the arpeggiated guitar pattern, but you can see just how difficult it is to sing over something like this. I think I did a decent job of it.

Don’t forget – tomorrow is “Original Wednesday”, as Jim and I will be doing one of each other’s original songs for the Laptop Sessions. Stay tuned for that!

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!

“One Headlight” (Wallflowers Cover)

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By Chris Moore:

Okay, so I have good news and bad news. Good news — MoU has finally released their highly anticipated second album, Homestead’s Revenge. It’s really the next step up from the more “live-in-the-studio” sound of our debut. And the songwriting includes all members. Not only do Jim, Mike, Cliff and I have our own songs, but we co-wrote three as a full band! I hope you’ll listen to album and purchase it at http://jimfusco.com/albums.html !

Now, for the bad news… While it’s been a lot of fun to record these Laptop Sessions, I’m afraid I’ve become far too busy to keep fitting them in. So, today I bring you my final, my farewell Laptop Session…

This Wallflowers song, “One Headlight,” is the first song I ever truly loved. I was in 7th grade, and whenever my dad and I were in the car and heard this song, we would crank the volume. This is saying something, because music wasn’t all that important to me back then. I never did buy the album, as the Sam Goody’s store in my local mall only had a copy with a cracked case. I couldn’t bring myself to spend what was then a lot of money for me on a less than perfect product. Ironically, I would go on to listen to songwriter Jakob Dylan’s father (yes, Bob Dylan!) and he would become my absolute favorite artist.

When I eventually did buy the Bringing Down the Horse album, I fell in love with not only this song, but the band. And I recently recorded “Sixth Avenue Heartache,” another BDTH alum, for a previous Laptop Session.

All right, I can’t go on with the lie — April Fool’s! This is far from my final Laptop Session, as Jim, Jeff, and I continue to record a new session-a-day for all of 2008. That’s right, all 366 days! I hope you’ll come back to https://guitarbucketlist.com tomorrow for a new session from Jeff!

See you next session!