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Wanda (You're My Only Love): Difference between revisions
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"Wanda" is primarily acoustic home demo written by [[Weezer]] lead singer [[Rivers Cuomo]]. It was leaked several years prior to its eventual release on ''[[Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo]]''. In [[1995]], Cuomo was approached by the producers of the film "[[Angus]]" to write a song for the their soundtrack. He read the script and wrote the song "Wanda (You're My Only Love)" (the verses of which summarize the movie's plot). This acoustic ballad was rejected by the producers for not sounding enough like Weezer. Rivers was hurt by this rejection but eventually submitted "[[You Gave Your Love to Me Softly]]", a more up-tempo number. | "Wanda" is primarily acoustic home demo written by [[Weezer]] lead singer [[Rivers Cuomo]]. It was leaked several years prior to its eventual release on ''[[Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo]]''. In [[1995]], Cuomo was approached by the producers of the film "[[Angus]]" to write a song for the their soundtrack. He read the script and wrote the song "Wanda (You're My Only Love)" (the verses of which summarize the movie's plot). This acoustic ballad was rejected by the producers for not sounding enough like Weezer. Rivers was hurt by this rejection but eventually submitted "[[You Gave Your Love to Me Softly]]", a more up-tempo number. | ||
In Pinkerton Diaries, in a 1994 entry, there is a handwritten couplet of lyrics "What's wrong with me? / I'm making money" on a photocopy of a fax letter, one can assume that this was a very early draft of Wanda before Rivers completely changed the lyrics when approached by the producers of the film "[[Angus]]". | In [[The Pinkerton Diaries]], in a 1994 entry, there is a handwritten couplet of lyrics "What's wrong with me? / I'm making money" on a photocopy of a fax letter, one can assume that this was a very early draft of Wanda before Rivers completely changed the lyrics when approached by the producers of the film "[[Angus]]". Also featured in the book is the sheet music for a musical exercise titled "[[March of the Pipettepedes]]", which features a section greatly resembling the melody from ''Wanda''. | ||
The song was later rehashed for Rivers' [[Homie]] project a few years later in 1997, where it was played at Homie concerts. Whether the song was recorded in a full-band setting during the Homie recording sessions at Fort Apache is unknown. | The song was later rehashed for Rivers' [[Homie]] project a few years later in 1997, where it was played at Homie concerts. Whether the song was recorded in a full-band setting during the Homie recording sessions at Fort Apache is unknown. | ||
==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. | |||
I poured my heart into the song. I used details from the characters' lives in the movie, but really the emotions were mine, the incredible love I would feel for the woman, the person, the world that could accept me and love me as I was. I was bowled over by the song when I was finished. I sent it to my manager. | |||
A few days later, he called and said the movie studio had rejected the song. It was "too literal" an interpretation of the movie. And besides, they wanted a more upbeat, rock number, something in the spirit of the other Weezer singles, like "Buddy Holly". | |||
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. | |||
==Reception== | ==Reception== | ||