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Undone - The Sweater Song: Difference between revisions
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*''[[Not Alone: Rivers Cuomo & Friends Live at Fingerprints]]'' (Live) | *''[[Not Alone: Rivers Cuomo & Friends Live at Fingerprints]]'' (Live) | ||
*[[List of Official Bootlegs|Several Official Bootlegs]] (Live Version) | *[[List of Official Bootlegs|Several Official Bootlegs]] (Live Version) | ||
==Overview== | ==Overview== | ||
Lead singer [[Rivers Cuomo]] has commented many times on | Lead singer [[Rivers Cuomo]] has commented many times on the song's inception. Said Cuomo, "I took typing, Psych 101, and English 101 that semester. It was in my English class that I heard the analogy of the unraveling sweater. Dr. Eisenstein used the image to demonstrate the effectiveness of focused thesis statement in an essay. 'All I have to do is hold a single thread in your sweater and it will unravel as you walk away.' [https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/readers-poll-the-10-best-weezer-songs-23051/4-undone-the-sweater-song-253809/]" Additionally, Cuomo has stated, "'Undone' is the feeling you get when the train stops and the little guy comes knockin' on your door. It was supposed to be a sad song, but everyone thinks it’s hilarious." | ||
Additionally Cuomo has stated, "'Undone' is the feeling you get when the train stops and the little guy comes knockin' on your door. It was supposed to be a sad song, but everyone thinks it’s hilarious." | |||
In [[2009]], Cuomo admitted to Rolling Stone that "Undone" was an "almost complete rip-off" of "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6Dfo4zDduI Sanitarium]" by the band Metallica. Said Cuomo, "I was trying to write a Velvet Underground-type song because I was super into them, and I came up with that guitar riff. I just picked up that acoustic guitar and the first thing I played was that riff. And it just feels so classic to me, even now when the band starts to play it, it just takes over the energy in the room and you’re just transported into the world of Weezer. It wasn’t until years after I wrote it that I realized it’s almost a complete rip-off of ‘Sanitarium’ by Metallica. It just perfectly encapsulates Weezer to me – you’re trying to be cool like Velvet Underground but your metal roots just pump through unconsciously." | |||
Early concepts for the dialogue sections in the song was to utilize a sound collage assembled by longtime friend of the band, [[Karl Koch]]. This concept was carried through the recording of ''[[The Blue Album]]'', but [[Geffen Records]] were wary of the cost of licensing the samples, and put a halt to that version. Late in the album's production, a spoken version of dialogue was recorded at the Amherst house, by bassist [[Matt Sharp]] and Koch, as well as a dialogue between Koch and [[Mykel and Carli Allan|Mykel Allan]]. The tapes were then sent overnight to New York to be 'flown in' to the final mix. When performed live, these sections typically featured improvised banter by the band. In the 2010s, however, the band began simply playing a recording of the dialogue heard on the album version. | |||
==Music Video== | ==Music Video== | ||
The music video for "Undone" was Weezer's first music video. According to ''Rivers' Edge: The Weezer Story'' by John D. Luerssen, the band insisted that the video not have anything to do with a sweater. Yet, Geffen received twenty five treatments for the video, all involving sweaters, including one in which the band played in a sweater factory, and another wherein all four band members were together in one giant sweater. The video marks one of the early directorial efforts of [[Spike Jonze]], whose pitch was simply "A blue stage, a steadicam, a pack of wild dogs." The $60,000 video was shot on a steadicam in one unbroken take, featuring the band playing to a sped up version of the song. When played at a slower speed, the illusion is created that the band is playing the song in the correct time, yet moving in slow motion. The one take was shot over twenty five times and the final version is somewhere between shot #15 and shot #20, in which the band had abandoned the idea of taking the video seriously at all. The humor was brought on by the frustration of shooting the same take over and over to a sped up version of the song as well as the fact that one of the dogs defecated on [[Patrick Wilson]]'s bass drum pedal. The video became an instant hit on MTV. | The music video for "Undone" was Weezer's first music video. According to ''[[Rivers' Edge: The Weezer Story]]'' by John D. Luerssen, the band insisted that the video not have anything to do with a sweater. Yet, Geffen received twenty five treatments for the video, all involving sweaters, including one in which the band played in a sweater factory, and another wherein all four band members were together in one giant sweater. The video marks one of the early directorial efforts of [[Spike Jonze]], whose pitch was simply "A blue stage, a steadicam, a pack of wild dogs." The $60,000 video was shot on a steadicam in one unbroken take, featuring the band playing to a sped up version of the song. When played at a slower speed, the illusion is created that the band is playing the song in the correct time, yet moving in slow motion. The one take was shot over twenty five times and the final version is somewhere between shot #15 and shot #20, in which the band had abandoned the idea of taking the video seriously at all. The humor was brought on by the frustration of shooting the same take over and over to a sped up version of the song as well as the fact that one of the dogs defecated on [[Patrick Wilson]]'s bass drum pedal. The video became an instant hit on MTV. | ||
<youtube>LHQqqM5sr7g</youtube> | <youtube>LHQqqM5sr7g</youtube> | ||
An alternate take of the video can be found on the band's ''[[Video Capture Device]]'' DVD. | An alternate take of the video can be found on the band's ''[[Video Capture Device]]'' DVD. | ||
==Musical composition== | ==Musical composition== | ||
The song is notable for its seemingly basic chord progression which repeats through the verse and chorus of I, IV, V, IV. However, the song does experience a key change modulation for the guitar solo after the second chorus, modulating from the key of F# Major to A Major, and thus following the same I, IV, V, IV progression. Also, the main guitar lead played over the chords of the intro and the outro contains a raised second pitch which resolves to the third. | The song is notable for its seemingly basic chord progression which repeats through the verse and chorus of I, IV, V, IV. However, the song does experience a key change modulation for the guitar solo after the second chorus, modulating from the key of F# Major to A Major, and thus following the same I, IV, V, IV progression. Also, the main guitar lead played over the chords of the intro and the outro contains a raised second pitch which resolves to the third. | ||
==Reception== | ==Reception== | ||
"Undone" is one of Weezer's most popular songs. | "Undone" is one of Weezer's most popular songs. The track reached 57 on the US Billboard Hot 100 List of 1994. Allmusic.com gave "Undone" a [[Undone - The Sweater Song Allmusic track review|5 star rating]] and also named it an "AMG Track Pick." | ||
==Audio== | |||
== | ===Demos=== | ||
<youtube>VMO5d-_x4mQ</youtube> <youtube>oD0JS0gi0Fs</youtube> | |||
===Live=== | |||
<youtube>o_FqVnY6eYo</youtube> | |||
= | |||
==Track listing== | ==Track listing== | ||
{| class="wikitable" | {| class="wikitable" | ||