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Wanda (You're My Only Love): Difference between revisions
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| This track = "Wanda (You're My Only Love)"<br>(10) | | This track = "Wanda (You're My Only Love)"<br>(10) | ||
| Next track = "[[Dude, We're Finally Landing]]"<br>(11) | | Next track = "[[Dude, We're Finally Landing]]"<br>(11) | ||
| Misc = | |||
{{Song lineage:Wanda (You're My Only Love)}} | |||
}} | }} | ||
"'''Wanda (You're My Only Love)'''" is the | "'''Wanda (You're My Only Love)'''" is the tenth track on ''[[Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo]]''. The song was written and demoed by [[Rivers Cuomo]] in [[1995]]. | ||
===Appearances=== | ===Appearances=== | ||
*''[[Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo]]'' (2007) | *''[[Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo]]'' (2007) | ||
==Overview== | ==Overview== | ||
{{Alone liner notes|One of my introductions to the realities of the music industry came when my manager told me that a movie production company wanted me to compose a song for the movie, ''Angus''. I felt honored to be presented with such a big challenge, to write a song to accompany someone else's story. I wanted to do a great job. I studied the script and attained a pretty thorough understanding of the main character and his situation. He was an outcast, like me. I liked him. | {{Alone liner notes|One of my introductions to the realities of the music industry came when my manager told me that a movie production company wanted me to compose a song for the movie, ''Angus''. I felt honored to be presented with such a big challenge, to write a song to accompany someone else's story. I wanted to do a great job. I studied the script and attained a pretty thorough understanding of the main character and his situation. He was an outcast, like me. I liked him. | ||
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I was angry, frustrated, and sad. | I was angry, frustrated, and sad. | ||
In the end, we gave the movie people the upbeat rocker they wanted ("You Gave Your Love"), but for a long time I thought they were wrong for using it. The song had nothing to do with the movie, the characters, or the mood of the scene in which it played. At the time I concluded that the movie people didn't care about the art at all, they just wanted a Weezer rock single.}} | In the end, we gave the movie people the upbeat rocker they wanted ("You Gave Your Love"), but for a long time I thought they were wrong for using it. The song had nothing to do with the movie, the characters, or the mood of the scene in which it played. At the time I concluded that the movie people didn't care about the art at all, they just wanted a Weezer rock single.|''[[Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo]]'' [[Alone liner notes|liner notes]]}} | ||
[[Image:Rivers-fax-wanda.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Chords for "Wanda" ca. August [[1994]]<ref name="pinkdiaries">Cuomo, Rivers. ''[[The Pinkerton Diaries]]''. 2011. Self-published.</ref>]]"Wanda" is an acoustic song written by [[Weezer]] lead singer [[Rivers Cuomo]]. The melodies used in "Wanda" were written by Cuomo throughout the summer and fall of [[1994]]. Cuomo transcribed chords and early couplets ("What's wrong with me / I'm making money") on a fax dated [[August 31]], and a section of what would become part of the chorus melody ("Somebody, please, tell her for me") first appeared in a [[March of the Pipettepedes|counterpoint exercise]] composed by Cuomo on [[October 24]]. The melody for the song's titular line was inspired by the ballet ''[[Wikipedia:The Nutcracker|The Nutcracker]]'' by [[Wikipedia:Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky|Tchaikovsky]].<ref>"Rivers Cuomo." ''Discord''. 2 December 2021 [[:File:Mrn-tchaikovsky.png]]</ref><ref>Royal Opera House "The Nutcracker – Sugar Plum pas de deux: Adagio (Nuñez, Muntagirov, The Royal Ballet)" ''YouTube''. 26 December 2018. https://youtu.be/qy6dlGpC3Ns?t=20s</ref> | |||
The lyrics for "Wanda" are based on the script to the [[1995]] film ''[[Angus]]'' (itself an adaptation of the short story "A Brief Moment in the Life of Angus Bethune" by [[Wikipedia:Chris Crutcher|Chris Crutcher]]). The film follows Angus (Charlie Talbert), an overweight teenage boy who, as part of a prank, is elected king of the school's Winter Ball. The titular "Wanda" refers to a so-named inflatable sex doll used by Angus to practice slow dancing. The song also makes reference to Angus' mother ([[Wikipedia:Kathy Bates|Kathy Bates]]) being a truck driver, and his father being gay (a plot point cut from the final film after an audience member used a homophobic slur during a test screening<ref>"Interview: Patrick Read Johnson" ''That Shelf''. 11 February 2013. https://thatshelf.com/interview-patrick-read-johnson/</ref>). "Wanda" was rejected for use in the film due to being "too literal" of an interpretation of the film's script. Weezer ultimately submitted the song "[[You Gave Your Love to Me Softly]]" instead, which plays during the Winter Ball after the climax of the film. | |||
"Wanda" was briefly revisited by Cuomo in [[1997]], when he performed the song during two concerts billed as "[[Homie]]" (the short-lived side project that would release only the song "[[American Girls]]" for [[Meet the Deedles: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack|the soundtrack to the 1998 film ''Meet the Deedles'']]). "Wanda" is known to have been subsequently rehearsed by Homie as a band,<ref>[[Recording History - Page 10|Weezer Recording History - Page 10]]</ref> though it is unknown if the song was among the songs recorded at Fort Apache Studios in Boston. | |||
Cuomo distributed an MP3 of "Wanda" to fans in the early 2000s. The demo was officially released in [[2007]] as part of the demo compilation ''[[Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo]]''. A brief acoustic rendition of "Wanda," performed by Cuomo, appears on the DVD ''[[Video Capture Device]]'', released in [[2004]]. | |||
==Live performances== | |||
*[[Homie concert: 11/05/1997]] | |||
*[[Homie concert: 11/21/1997]] | |||
==Reception== | ==Reception== | ||
[[Pitchfork Media]] gave a positive review of "Wanda" in [[Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo Pitchfork Media record review|their review of ''Alone'']], comparing it favorably to ''[[Pinkerton]]''.<ref> | [[Pitchfork Media]] gave a positive review of "Wanda" in [[Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo Pitchfork Media record review|their review of ''Alone'']], comparing it favorably to ''[[Pinkerton]]''.<ref>Crock, Jason. "Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo" ''Pitchfork''. 13 December 2007. https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/10981-alone-the-home-recordings-of-rivers-cuomo/</ref> | ||
==Audio== | ==Audio== | ||
<youtube>Ji0_9TA2mvw</youtube> | <youtube>Ji0_9TA2mvw</youtube> | ||
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==References== | ==References== | ||
<references /> | <references /> | ||
[[Category:Rivers Cuomo songs]] | [[Category:Rivers Cuomo songs]] | ||
[[Category:Homie songs]] | [[Category:Homie songs]] | ||