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The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn): Difference between revisions
The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn) (view source)
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At the time of the release of ''The Red Album'', Cuomo called the song his favorite song on the album, and one of his favorite songs he's ever written.<ref name="ytgreatestman2">Rivers Cuomo interview with [[KROQ]], "Rivers Cuomo - Greatest Man 2" ''YouTube'' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIj6RRXtGX0 Archived from original: http://www.kroq-data.com/wah/wah/dcvideo/avc-view.aspx?v=3446</ref> Bassist [[Scott Shriner]], in [[WarwickBass.com interview with Scott Shriner - June 2008|an interview]], called the song "a masterpiece that includes ten different styles of music based around a common theme. It's awesome."<ref>Titus, Dale. ''Warwick Bass Survival 101''. 2008. Archived by ''Wayback Machine'' https://web.archive.org/web/20080507095906/http://www.warwickbass.com/basssurvival101/artist_ScottShriner.htm</ref> | At the time of the release of ''The Red Album'', Cuomo called the song his favorite song on the album, and one of his favorite songs he's ever written.<ref name="ytgreatestman2">Rivers Cuomo interview with [[KROQ]], "Rivers Cuomo - Greatest Man 2" ''YouTube'' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIj6RRXtGX0 Archived from original: http://www.kroq-data.com/wah/wah/dcvideo/avc-view.aspx?v=3446</ref> Bassist [[Scott Shriner]], in [[WarwickBass.com interview with Scott Shriner - June 2008|an interview]], called the song "a masterpiece that includes ten different styles of music based around a common theme. It's awesome."<ref>Titus, Dale. ''Warwick Bass Survival 101''. 2008. Archived by ''Wayback Machine'' https://web.archive.org/web/20080507095906/http://www.warwickbass.com/basssurvival101/artist_ScottShriner.htm</ref> | ||
The song's title includes the parenthetical "Variations on a Shaker Hymn," referring to the 1848 [[Wikipedia:Shakers|Shaker]] song "[[Wikipedia:Simple Gifts]]," generally attributed to [[Wikipedia:Joseph Brackett|Joseph Brackett]]. As explained in the liner notes for the deluxe edition of ''The Red Album'': | The song's title includes the parenthetical "Variations on a Shaker Hymn," referring to the 1848 [[Wikipedia:Shakers|Shaker]] song "[[Wikipedia:Simple Gifts|Simple Gifts]]," generally attributed to [[Wikipedia:Joseph Brackett|Joseph Brackett]]. As explained in the liner notes for the deluxe edition of ''The Red Album'': | ||
{{Red liner notes|'''''The subtitle of the song for "The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived" is "Variations on a Shaker Hymn."'''''<br> | {{Red liner notes|'''''The subtitle of the song for "The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived" is "Variations on a Shaker Hymn."'''''<br> | ||
{{#tag:span style="color:#990000"|''Rivers:}} Yes, actually, I didn't realize I was ripping off a shaker hymn. It wasn't until we were in the studio and Brian's mom came by one day and she heard us play "Greatest Man" and said afterward, "You know that melody sounds like this hymn we sing in church." So indeed we checked it out and it's very similar. I knew people were going to come at us after and say, hey you guys ripped off that hymn. So I put the credit in there off the bat.''}} | {{#tag:span style="color:#990000"|''Rivers:}} Yes, actually, I didn't realize I was ripping off a shaker hymn. It wasn't until we were in the studio and Brian's mom came by one day and she heard us play "Greatest Man" and said afterward, "You know that melody sounds like this hymn we sing in church." So indeed we checked it out and it's very similar. I knew people were going to come at us after and say, hey you guys ripped off that hymn. So I put the credit in there off the bat.''}} | ||
===Recording=== | ===Recording=== | ||
"The Greatest Man That Ever Lived" was recorded in the "War Room", a space backstage at the Malibu Performing Arts Center in Malibu, California. The band taped butcher paper to the mirrors to write down ideas and plans for recording songs. According to [[Brian Bell]], the band used about 20 feet of butcher paper just for "The Greatest Man" and spent about as much time discussing how to record the song as they did actually recording it.<ref>''[[Weezer (The Red Album)]] Deluxe Edition'' liner notes.</ref> According to Cuomo, the band rehearsed the song for about a month before embarking on the [[Troublemaker Tour]], and that about half of the rehearsal process was dedicated to learning "The Greatest Man."<ref name="ytgreatestman2" /> | "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived" was recorded in the "War Room", a space backstage at the Malibu Performing Arts Center in Malibu, California. The band taped butcher paper to the mirrors to write down ideas and plans for recording songs. According to [[Brian Bell]], the band used about 20 feet of butcher paper just for "The Greatest Man" and spent about as much time discussing how to record the song as they did actually recording it.<ref>''[[Weezer (The Red Album)]] Deluxe Edition'' liner notes.</ref> According to Cuomo, the band rehearsed the song for about a month before embarking on the [[Troublemaker Tour]], and that about half of the rehearsal process was dedicated to learning "The Greatest Man."<ref name="ytgreatestman2" /> | ||