I Don't Want to Let You Go: Difference between revisions

*''[[Alone II: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo]]'' (Demo)

*''[[Raditude]]''

 

In the summer of 2005, Weezer went to Europe to do a festival run. I arrived a few days early in order to spend some time with my half-brother, Gabe, and step-brother, Shannon, both of whom grew up in Germany and have a strong European sensibility, though being American citizens. I was always amazed at how different their musical perspective was from mine or from anyone else that I knew–it was all about house music for Gabe. As we screamed down the Autobahn at 130MPH, he played the latest house hits for me and explained the genre.

"It's gotta have that beat and some cool riffs. It's gotta have a simple, cool lyrical phrase that the singer says over and over like that."

I couldn't believe that this music was so popular–as popular in Europe, it seemed, as Black Eyed Peas or Gwen Stefani in the States. I couldn't believe it because there was hardly any singing or lyrics! "Trust me," said Gabe. "This is going to be the biggest hit of the summer." He played a track called "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3kkNfH4yco The Weekend]" by some unknown-to-me guy named Michael Gray. It had a jammin' beat for sure, but without a strong vocal presence and personality, without many lyrics, I couldn't help but think it was only half a song, that it was missing the main point of connection. I kept an open mind, though, remembering the fact that Weezer's success in America had never translated to Europe. Sure we'd done all right there, but we'd probably had only one or two gold records in twelve years throughout all of those countries, as compared to multi-millions sold in the U.S. Clearly, I concluded, I had missed something as a writer. My songs couldn't translate beyond my border in the way that the songs of some other American writers had, for example, Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day. I concluded that I had something to learn about relating to European sensibilities through my music. I told myself, "I'll write a new song over this Michael Gray song, "The Weekend", using his beat as a template, and see if that produces a song that Europeans will like." Gabe gave me the CD.

When I got back to Connecticut for a short break in the midst of all the touring, I set up a little recording area in my mom's basement, buying a cheesy Casio keyboard, and a small Marshall amp and I set up my laptop to record into. I ripped "The Weekend" into my computer, dragged it into Vegas, chopped out a piece of the beat, made a loop, ran it, played the first chords that came to my mind with a synthy sound on the casio, and started singing, not knowing what I was going to sing about. When I was finished with the demo, I simply muted the loop from "The Weekend" and I was left with my song, '''"I Don't Want To Let You Go" (Track 7)'''.

===''Raditude'' sessions===

<youtube>puQfse8p8N4</youtube>

::<small>''This stream is viewable only in North America.''</small>

<youtube>3TGs45Dy4UQ</youtube>

::<small>''This stream is viewable outside of North America.''</small>

[[Category:Songs on Alone II]]