By Jim Fusco:
Welcome, everyone, to another new edition of the Laptop Sessions with me, Jim Fusco! I’m sorry the post is a bit later today- I was busy yesterday training for an upcoming 5k race with my Traveling Acai Berries member, Steve. It’s tough motivating myself to run every other day, but I know it’s healthy for me to do so, and I’m using that as extra motivation.
The other day, I was searching online for Beatles covers and Beatles cover songs, but The Laptop Sessions page didn’t come up in my searches! Well, that has to change. I’m going to make it a personal goal of mine to get the Beatles category page up in the search engine rankings!
Tonight, I bring you a Beatles song that Ringo got to sing. All the members of the Beatles (especially George and Ringo) were big Carl Perkins fans. So, they took this song, “Honey Don’t”, and gave it the Beatles treatment. I’m glad they let Ringo sing it, as his voice is perfectly suited for it. Something about the chords on the verses gets me every time. This song is pretty easy to play, but it’s got such a great tune. And hearing Ringo sing it in a way only Ringo Starr can, it makes for a great combination.
Apparently, Carl Perkin’s brother even initially refused to play the song, citing its odd chord progression (for a blues song) in the verses. I’m glad he finally came around! The song has such a driving beat, too- I’d love to play this live with a band someday. One of my favorite parts is the guitar solo. I actually got to play it pretty spot-on even though it’s a solo acoustic version. The guitar solo in the Beatles version is basically the E and C chords played as barre chords higher on the neck. I never get to solo during these videos- it was fun!
I’ve wanted to play this song for the Laptop Sessions ever since I heard Ringo singing the song during his concert at the Mohegan Sun this past June. He sounds exactly the same and they do such a good job of reproducing the energy and the sound of the recording live. Actually, if I had my way about it, this would be “The Ringo Sessions with Jim Fusco”- I can’t exactly explain it, but I LOVE Ringo’s music. I especially like his solo albums starting with 1992’s “Time Takes Time”, but there’s something about Ringo’s songs in general that really resonate with me. Heck, he even makes “Honey Don’t”, a sad song when you think about it, into a jolly good time. 🙂
I hope you enjoy tonight’s video and stay-tuned next week for a very, very special Jim Fusco announcement! I think you’re going to love it, but you’ll have to keep checking back to see what it is. See you then!