By Jim Fusco:
Welcome to your Tuesday edition of the Laptop Sessions! I love feeling productive, and even though I have a TON of work to do over the next few days (that is, AFTER a full day of work, in addition) I’ve been getting a lot done, so I’m in a good mood. I hope to completely clear my “after-work” schedule after this week so I can focus on having some Christmas fun!
Tonight, I kick off my Christmas song selection for this year with “Last Christmas” by the band Wham! No, I wasn’t excited there at the end of that sentence- the band’s name actually has an exclamation point in it! (For the record, in that last sentence, I really DID want to use an exclaimation point! 
)
I heard this song on XM Radio a couple years ago and remembered this tune. Of course, you’ll hear the terrible 80s sound that goes along with it, but I kinda like that sound…probably because it’s the sounds that were popular when I was very young.
Keeping with my success of the Beach Boys’ “I’m So Lonely” video, I think this video may become pretty popular. Why? Because the Laptop Sessions has three goals: to do songs in the RIGHT KEY, to put an end to bad YouTube videos forever, and to strip down songs to their core and turn them into acoustic performances. In cases like this and “I’m So Lonely”, I took out the cheesy, dated production and performed the song in its purest form. I think people that have previously written this song off will come to like it after my performance!
This is the first in a series of Christmas songs to come this year, mixed in with my normal acoustic covers. I can’t believe we’re in the last month of our “session a day” project. I sincerely hope that Chris can contact some sort of news outlet (or the Guinness book) to report on this amazing accomplishment. I’m certain that it’s unprecedented!
Enjoy tonight’s video, as Christmas time is in full swing. Again, I hope I can start enjoying it more in a few days, and I’m sure my post length will reflect that when things slow down and I have more time to myself. Okay, off to bed now. Stay tuned for a great Chris Moore original song tomorrow and I’ll see you back here on Friday!
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Related posts:
- “Blue Christmas” (Elvis Presley acoustic Christmas cover song) – The Laptop Sessions
- “Must Be Santa” (Bob Dylan / Christmas Cover Song) – The Laptop Sessions
- Christmas Albums and Songs Are Almost Here- A Complete Rundown of My Favorites
- Bob Dylan’s “Christmas in the Heart” (2009) – The Weekend Review
- Free Internet Radio: WCJM.com is Your Free Christmas Music Source!
This is one in a series of acoustic cover songs, original music, and free mp3 downloads here on the Laptop Sessions Music Video Blog.
December 3rd, 2008 at 11:06 pm
I discovered this 80s band when I wanted to look up that song “wake me up before you go go…”—and this song was the only other hit I saw from them—but at least Wham! isn’t a ONE hit wonder! Nice job singing it in the right key, which is usual for the laptop sessions!
December 20th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Hi Jim, I just found your site and I love it. I’m 54 and just getting “back into” guitar after a long absence. I enjoy AND appreciate that you goals are to do songs in there original keys. I’ve also always loved Last Christmas and have had a hard time seeing it done. As you know the youtube stuff out there is all over the place and very incorrect.
Do you guys allow viewers to ask questions? If so is this the place to do it?
I ask because you seem to be performing Last Christmas in Db. After seeing it in many keys I settled on it being in D. Am I wrong or did you tune alter you tuning to play DMaj on the 4th fret? Do you guys respond to putting out the chords you use?
Thank you for a great site..Tim
December 21st, 2008 at 2:43 am
Tim,
It is WONDERFUL to hear from you! We love to get comments and this is absolutely the forum to ask questions and just keep in touch. We’re glad to have you here and hope you stay around.
Actually, I figured out the chords to “Last Christmas” by listening to the original “Wham!” recording. It is in Db. It just uses those four chords: Db, Bbm, Ebm, Ab.
My theory is that people just do it in D to make it easier to play. Those four bar chords do get hard on the hand after a while. Plus, it’s not like you can just slap a capo on there. I could see if the original was in Eb. Just put a capo on fret one and play a D. If we could only be so lucky.
I always run into stuff like this, being a Brian Wilson fan. That man just LOVES writing his songs on all of the “black keys”- ie, the sharps and flats.
I hope this helps you out and if you still have questions- on any of the songs on here- I’d love to help. It’s great to know that someone is looking at all of this stuff on the site- I’m sure you can see how much effort we put in.
We’d love to hear from you again, and have a great night!
~Jim