My Name Is Jonas: Difference between revisions
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"'''My Name Is Jonas'''" is the first track from Weezer's self-titled debut album. | "'''My Name Is Jonas'''" is the first track from Weezer's self-titled debut album. | ||
===Appearances=== | ===Appearances=== | ||
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*[[List of Official Bootlegs|Several Official Bootlegs]] (Live Version) | *[[List of Official Bootlegs|Several Official Bootlegs]] (Live Version) | ||
==Overview== | ==Overview== | ||
===Composition=== | |||
{{Comp elements|song=My Name Is Jonas|key=B|bpm=186|timesig=3/4}} | {{Comp elements|song=My Name Is Jonas|key=B|bpm=186|timesig=3/4}} | ||
"My Name is Jonas" was inspired by | The song does not appear to have undergone many lyric rewrites<ref>[[:File:MNIJhwlyrics.jpg]] Officially-released handwritten lyric sheet.</ref><ref>[[:File:My name is jonas (1).jpg]] Draft lyric sheet</ref><ref>[[:File:My name is jonas2 (1).jpg]] Additional draft lyric sheet</ref>, with one notable exception: the [[1992]] ''[[The Kitchen Tape|Kitchen Tape]]'' demo ended with the line, "My name is Weezer." Cuomo has also explained that "My Name is Jonas" was at least partially inspired by his brother, [[Leaves Cuomo]]. Says Rivers, "'Jonas' explains how The Plan is reaming us all, especially my brother."{{citation needed}} | ||
====Music==== | |||
Composed by [[Rivers Cuomo]], [[Patrick Wilson]] and [[Jason Cropper]], "My Name Is Jonas" is one of only a handful of early Weezer tracks with a co-writing credit. Cropper came up with the song's fingerpicked intro, resulting in his only official songwriting credit on a Weezer song until ''{{PN|Van Weezer}}'' "[[I've Thrown It All Away]]." Cropper recalled the songwriting process in a [[Yahoo! Music interview with Jason Cropper - May 9, 2019|2019 interview with Yahoo! Entertainment]]: <ref>[[Yahoo! Music interview with Jason Cropper - May 9, 2019]] [https://www.yahoo.com/amphtml/entertainment/only-in-dreams-meet-the-founding-member-who-became-the-pete-best-of-weezer-164724591.html Link to original]</ref> | |||
{{Jason Cropper quote|I got home from work [at the Italian restaurant], and I remember I was still wearing my cook's outfit. I picked up the guitar and played that first part of what became the intro to ‘My Name Is Jonas,’ and Pat [Wilson] said, ‘Stop. Just do that. Just don't keep going to different chords, just do those three notes, those three chords!’}} | |||
Cropper goes on to explain how the song changed hands multiple times between his bandmates, a style of writing that was used numerous times<ref>[[Rational Alternative Digital interview with Patrick Wilson - March 1995]] ''Rational Alternative Digital'' interview with [[Pat Wilson]] - [http://www.radcyberzine.com/ Link to original].</ref> during Wilson and Cuomo's "[[The 50 Song Project|50 Song Project]]." The 50 Song Project was an informal attempt to collect fifty songs before convening the yet-unnamed Weezer for regular rehearsals, and "Jonas" was its last entry. Wilson turned Cropper's riff into the song's basic chord progression and structure, then delivered it to Cuomo for lyrics, melodies and solos. | |||
===Demoing and release=== | |||
The bridge of "Jonas" was demoed under the title "Port O'Jonas," separately from the rest of the song. This mostly-instrumental sketch, included on Cuomo's ''[[Don Slacks]]'' demo tape, features a harmonica solo, the refrain "the workers are going home," and a variation on Cropper's fingerpicking intro that would serve as the song's eventual solo. Fans have also speculated that portions of "Jonas" are included in the 8th track of ''[[Rivers's Opera]]'', a loose, unstructured collection of demos spanning [[1991]] to [[1992]]. | |||
At one point, the song was erroneously named by [[Geffen Records]] as the ''Blue Album's'' third single. Before "[[Say It Ain't So]]" was officially chosen as a single by consensus among the band, [[Todd Sullivan]], and the label, Geffen had printed up limited runs of a "My Name is Jonas" one-track promo CD, and distributed them, primarily in Canada<ref>[https://www.discogs.com/release/8938958-Weezer-My-Name-Is-Jonas Discogs entry] for MNIJ Canadian single release</ref>. These CDs are among some of the rarer Weezer collectibles. | |||
===Live performances=== | |||
"Jonas" has proven to be the song most often used as a show opener, having opened most shows on the tours for ''[[The Blue Album]]'', ''[[Pinkerton]]'', ''[[SS2K]]'', and ''[[The Red Album]]'', as well as sporadic other shows. | "Jonas" has proven to be the song most often used as a show opener, having opened most shows on the tours for ''[[The Blue Album]]'', ''[[Pinkerton]]'', ''[[SS2K]]'', and ''[[The Red Album]]'', as well as sporadic other shows. | ||
"My Name is Jonas" was featured as a playable master track on the rhythm video game [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_songs_in_Guitar_Hero_III:_Legends_of_Rock Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock]. It was also made available as a downloadable song for the ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Band Rock Band]'' game series, in addition to ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocksmith_2014 Rocksmith 2014]''. | "My Name is Jonas" was featured as a playable master track on the rhythm video game [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_songs_in_Guitar_Hero_III:_Legends_of_Rock Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock]. It was also made available as a downloadable song for the ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Band Rock Band]'' game series, in addition to ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocksmith_2014 Rocksmith 2014]''. | ||
==Personnel== | ==Personnel== | ||
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* [[The 50 Song Project]] | * [[The 50 Song Project]] | ||
* [[List of Weezer songs]] | * [[List of Weezer songs]] | ||
{{References list}} | |||
[[Category: Weezer songs]] | [[Category: Weezer songs]] | ||