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Pinkerton: Difference between revisions
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In August 1995, just a few days before Cuomo was set to travel to study at Harvard University, the band gathered to record at Electric Lady Studios in New York City,<ref name="pinklinernotes">''Pinkerton'' (Deluxe Edition) liner notes</ref> the same studio where they recorded their debut. Said guitarist Brian Bell, "We're going for the deeper, darker, more experimental stuff,' but assured fans, 'but we'll always be the Weezer you know and love."<ref>Tobak, Vikki. "[[Detroit News interview with Brian Bell - August 10, 1995|Nerd-chic? Weezer trashes the labels and just plain rocks]]" ''Detroit News''. 10 August 1995</ref> The band worked on "[[Tired of Sex]]," "[[No Other One]]," "[[Getchoo]]," "[[Why Bother?]]," "[[Waiting on You]]," "[[Devotion]]," "[[You Gave Your Love to Me Softly]]," "[[Blast Off!]]," "[[You Won't Get with Me Tonight]]," and "[[Longtime Sunshine]]." Although the band was still, at this point, following the ''Songs from the Black Hole'' blueprint, none of the three latter songs—those written with ''SFTBH'' in mind—made it past this stage of recording.<ref name="pinklinernotes" /> The song "You Won't Get with Me Tonight" was famously axed after, as [[Karl Koch]] recalled in the liner notes to the 2003 ''[[Buddyhead Presents: Gimme Skelter|Gimme Skelter]]'' compilation, he explained to Cuomo that it reminded him of another song ("[[Wikipedia:I Shot the Sheriff|I Shot the Sheriff]]" by Bob Marley).<ref>[[Weezerpedia Discord Q&A with Karl Koch - April 2022]]</ref> The band also attempted to record a coda to conclude the song "Longtime Sunshine," wherein Cuomo, [[Matt Sharp]], and Bell sang a medley of "Longtime Sunshine," "Why Bother?," "[[I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams]]," "No Other One," and "Blast Off!" | In August 1995, just a few days before Cuomo was set to travel to study at Harvard University, the band gathered to record at Electric Lady Studios in New York City,<ref name="pinklinernotes">''Pinkerton'' (Deluxe Edition) liner notes</ref> the same studio where they recorded their debut. Said guitarist Brian Bell, "We're going for the deeper, darker, more experimental stuff,' but assured fans, 'but we'll always be the Weezer you know and love."<ref>Tobak, Vikki. "[[Detroit News interview with Brian Bell - August 10, 1995|Nerd-chic? Weezer trashes the labels and just plain rocks]]" ''Detroit News''. 10 August 1995</ref> The band worked on "[[Tired of Sex]]," "[[No Other One]]," "[[Getchoo]]," "[[Why Bother?]]," "[[Waiting on You]]," "[[Devotion]]," "[[You Gave Your Love to Me Softly]]," "[[Blast Off!]]," "[[You Won't Get with Me Tonight]]," and "[[Longtime Sunshine]]." Although the band was still, at this point, following the ''Songs from the Black Hole'' blueprint, none of the three latter songs—those written with ''SFTBH'' in mind—made it past this stage of recording.<ref name="pinklinernotes" /> The song "You Won't Get with Me Tonight" was famously axed after, as [[Karl Koch]] recalled in the liner notes to the 2003 ''[[Buddyhead Presents: Gimme Skelter|Gimme Skelter]]'' compilation, he explained to Cuomo that it reminded him of another song ("[[Wikipedia:I Shot the Sheriff|I Shot the Sheriff]]" by Bob Marley).<ref>[[Weezerpedia Discord Q&A with Karl Koch - April 2022]]</ref> The band also attempted to record a coda to conclude the song "Longtime Sunshine," wherein Cuomo, [[Matt Sharp]], and Bell sang a medley of "Longtime Sunshine," "Why Bother?," "[[I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams]]," "No Other One," and "Blast Off!" | ||
{{Rivers Cuomo quote|[It] was a big change in the way we worked. I decided not to make any demos and instead just to write the basic melodies and chord changes without orchestrating everyone's parts at all. So we went into the studio without really knowing what was going to happen. And it gave everyone a lot more room to be creative and spontaneous on their instruments.|[[Addicted to Noise interview with Rivers Cuomo - 1996|Addicted to Noise interview with Rivers Cuomo - 1996]]<ref>Kleinedler, Clare and Goldberg, Michael "[http://web.archive.org/web/20020111224530/http://www.addict.com/issues/2.12/html/hifi/Cover_Story/Weezer-QA/index.html Weezer Revealed: The Rivers Cuomo Interview]" ''Addicted to Noise''. Archived by ''Wayback Machine''. 1996</ref>}} | {{Rivers Cuomo quote|[It] was a big change in the way we worked. I decided not to make any demos and instead just to write the basic melodies and chord changes without orchestrating everyone's parts at all. So we went into the studio without really knowing what was going to happen. And it gave everyone a lot more room to be creative and spontaneous on their instruments.|[[Addicted to Noise interview with Rivers Cuomo - 1996|Addicted to Noise interview with Rivers Cuomo - 1996]]<ref name="addicted1">Kleinedler, Clare and Goldberg, Michael "[http://web.archive.org/web/20020111224530/http://www.addict.com/issues/2.12/html/hifi/Cover_Story/Weezer-QA/index.html Weezer Revealed: The Rivers Cuomo Interview]" ''Addicted to Noise''. Archived by ''Wayback Machine''. 1996</ref>}} | ||
After insisting that the band hire a producer for their first album, the band's label permitted Weezer to produce their second album themselves.<ref name="pinklinernotes" /><ref name="schoolhouserock">Beaujour, Tom. "[[Guitar World interview with Rivers Cuomo - March 1997|Schoolhouse Rock]]" ''Guitar World''. March 1997</ref> "I've never really wanted to be a producer," said Cuomo, "I just feel that the best way for us to sound like ourselves is to record on our own."<ref name="schoolhouserock" /> To give the album a live feel, members of the band would record the vocals in tandem around three microphones. According to [[Brian Bell]], the band used so much tremolo picking during the recording process that they began to refer to it as "butterfly picking."<ref>[[:File:Brian Bell Instagram Falling for You caption - 08-25-22.png]]</ref> | After insisting that the band hire a producer for their first album, the band's label permitted Weezer to produce their second album themselves.<ref name="pinklinernotes" /><ref name="schoolhouserock">Beaujour, Tom. "[[Guitar World interview with Rivers Cuomo - March 1997|Schoolhouse Rock]]" ''Guitar World''. March 1997</ref> "I've never really wanted to be a producer," said Cuomo, "I just feel that the best way for us to sound like ourselves is to record on our own."<ref name="schoolhouserock" /> To give the album a live feel, members of the band would record the vocals in tandem around three microphones. According to [[Brian Bell]], the band used so much tremolo picking during the recording process that they began to refer to it as "butterfly picking."<ref>[[:File:Brian Bell Instagram Falling for You caption - 08-25-22.png]]</ref> | ||
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{{Rivers Cuomo quote|There are some lyrics on the album that you might think are mean or sexist. I will feel genuinely bad if anyone feels hurt by my lyrics but I really wanted these songs to be an exploration of my "dark side" -- all the parts of myself that I was either afraid or embarrassed to think about before. So there's some pretty nasty stuff on the there. You may be more willing to forgive the mean lyrics if you see them as passing low points in a larger story. And this album really is a story: the story of the last 2 years of my life. And as you're probably well aware, these have been two very weird years.|[[Rivers Cuomo letter to the Weezer Fan Club, July 10, 1996|Letter to the Weezer Fan Club, July 10, 1996]]}} | {{Rivers Cuomo quote|There are some lyrics on the album that you might think are mean or sexist. I will feel genuinely bad if anyone feels hurt by my lyrics but I really wanted these songs to be an exploration of my "dark side" -- all the parts of myself that I was either afraid or embarrassed to think about before. So there's some pretty nasty stuff on the there. You may be more willing to forgive the mean lyrics if you see them as passing low points in a larger story. And this album really is a story: the story of the last 2 years of my life. And as you're probably well aware, these have been two very weird years.|[[Rivers Cuomo letter to the Weezer Fan Club, July 10, 1996|Letter to the Weezer Fan Club, July 10, 1996]]}} | ||
The first four tracks on ''Pinkerton'' (in addition to the album's B-sides) were written before Cuomo's leg surgery and subsequent semesters at Harvard, while the subsequent six tracks were written while attending Harvard. "[[Across the Sea]]" was inspired by a letter he'd received from a Japanese fan. "I had fantasies over this letter," said Cuomo,<ref name="ap" /> "I realized that I’d completely shut myself off from life, but I was still aware of Eros inside me. I hadn’t eliminated that part of me at all. I wasn’t a monk. I was just a perverted hermit." Cuomo subsequently used the contents of the letter to write | The first four tracks on ''Pinkerton'' (in addition to the album's B-sides) were written before Cuomo's leg surgery and subsequent semesters at Harvard, while the subsequent six tracks were written while attending Harvard. "[[Across the Sea]]" was inspired by a letter he'd received from a Japanese fan. "I had fantasies over this letter," said Cuomo,<ref name="ap" /> "I realized that I’d completely shut myself off from life, but I was still aware of Eros inside me. I hadn’t eliminated that part of me at all. I wasn’t a monk. I was just a perverted hermit." Cuomo subsequently used the contents of the letter to write "Across the Sea." "She basically wrote the lyrics to the first verse and part of the chorus, too," Cuomo later said of the girl.<ref name="courant">Catlin, Roger. "[[Hartford Courant interview with Rivers Cuomo - December 4, 1996|Weezer's worry]]" ''The Hartford Courant''. 4 December 1996.</ref> She has since, reportedly, received royalties for her contribution.<ref name="courant" /><ref name="ap">Daley, David. "[[Alternative Press interview with Weezer - January 1997|Happy [cancelled] Days]]". ''Alternative Press'', January 1997.</ref> | ||
"The Good Life" was written about Cuomo's frustration with the prior year's lifestyle following his leg surgery. "I think I was becoming frustrated with that hermit's life I was leading, the ascetic life," said Cuomo, "and I think I was starting to become frustrated with my whole dream about purifying myself and trying to live like a monk or an intellectual and going to school and holding out for this ideal, perfect woman. So I wrote that song. And I started to turn around and come back the other way."<ref>Kleinedler, Clare. "[https://web.archive.org/web/20001009184822fw_/http://www.addict.com/issues/2.12/html/hifi/Cover_Story/Weezer-Story/page_02.html Weezer's Uncomfortable Success]" ''Addicted to Noise''. Archived by ''Wayback Machine''. December 1996</ref> | "The Good Life" was written about Cuomo's frustration with the prior year's lifestyle following his leg surgery. "I think I was becoming frustrated with that hermit's life I was leading, the ascetic life," said Cuomo, "and I think I was starting to become frustrated with my whole dream about purifying myself and trying to live like a monk or an intellectual and going to school and holding out for this ideal, perfect woman. So I wrote that song. And I started to turn around and come back the other way."<ref>Kleinedler, Clare. "[https://web.archive.org/web/20001009184822fw_/http://www.addict.com/issues/2.12/html/hifi/Cover_Story/Weezer-Story/page_02.html Weezer's Uncomfortable Success]" ''Addicted to Noise''. Archived by ''Wayback Machine''. December 1996</ref> The song "[[El Scorcho]]" references a crush on a half-Japanese woman. "I suppose that halfway through writing the album, I started to realize or become aware of a pattern in my life that I seem to be having a lot of disastrous encounters with half Japanese girls." said Cuomo in 1996.<ref name="addicted1" /> The lyrics referring to wrestlers Grunge and New Jack, as well as to {{PN|Madama Butterfly}} Cio-Cio-San were lifted directly from a classmate's essay that Cuomo was tasked with reviewing as part of an expository writing class.<ref name="crimsondc">Riesman, Abe J. "[https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2006/4/26/rivers-end-the-directors-cut-the/ Rivers' End: The Director's Cut]" ''The Harvard Crimson''. 26 April 2006.</ref> "[[Pink Triangle]]" was written about a girl Cuomo befriended who he (erroneously) believed to be a lesbian after seeing her wear a [[Wikipedia:pink triangle|pink triangle]] button on her backpack.<ref>Sandor, Steven. "[[Vue Weekly article - July 10, 1997|Weezer leader finds out she ''wasn’t'' a lesbian]]" ''Vue Weekly''. 10 July 1997</ref> | ||
''Pinkerton'' is named for the character B.F. Pinkerton from ''Madama Butterfly'', a U.S. naval officer (acknowledged by Cuomo to be similar to a touring rock star)<ref name="thepinkertondiaries" /> who marries a 15-year-old Japanese girl named Cio-Cio-San (the eponymous "Butterfly," from the Japanese word 蝶々, ''chōchō'') and then abandons her. Cuomo has referred to character as "the perfect symbol for the part of myself that I am trying to come to terms with on this album."<ref name="thepinkertondiaries" /> Other considered titles included "Playboy" and "Diving into the Wreck" (a reference to the poem of the same name by feminist poet Adrienne Rich).<ref name="thepinkertondiaries" /> | |||
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===Artwork=== | ===Artwork=== | ||
[[Image:Kambara yoru no yuki NYPL.jpg|thumb|325px|The original artwork adapted for the cover: ''Kambara yoru no yuki'' ("Night Snow at Kambara") by [[Hiroshige]].]] | [[Image:Kambara yoru no yuki NYPL.jpg|thumb|325px|The original artwork adapted for the cover: ''Kambara yoru no yuki'' ("Night Snow at Kambara") by [[Hiroshige]].]] | ||
The artwork on the album's cover is "[[Kambara yoru no yuki]]" ("Night Snow at Kambara"), a print by Japanese ukiyo-e artist [[Hiroshige]]. Cuomo chose the cover after seeing it on a postcard sent to him by [[Jennifer Chiba]], finding that it "captured the feeling of winter loneliness" he was feeling living in Cambridge.<ref>https://books-r-fun.herokuapp.com/wiki/Pinkerton%20Cover%20Art</ref> | |||
The artwork on the album's cover is "[[Kambara yoru no yuki]]" ("Night Snow at Kambara"), a print by Japanese ukiyo-e artist [[Hiroshige]]. Cuomo | |||
There are other references to Japanese culture and Puccini as well throughout the packaging. In some pressings, when viewed at an angle, the back of the album's jewel case has an opaque image of a Japanese woman. A more direct reference to Puccini may be found on the CD itself; text inscribed along the edge of the disc reflect lyrics from Puccini's opera in their original Italian. The words translate to English as: "Everywhere in the world, the roving Yankee takes his pleasure and his profit, indifferent to all risks. He drops anchor at random…" | There are other references to Japanese culture and Puccini as well throughout the packaging. In some pressings, when viewed at an angle, the back of the album's jewel case has an opaque image of a Japanese woman. A more direct reference to Puccini may be found on the CD itself; text inscribed along the edge of the disc reflect lyrics from Puccini's opera in their original Italian. The words translate to English as: "Everywhere in the world, the roving Yankee takes his pleasure and his profit, indifferent to all risks. He drops anchor at random…" | ||