The fishes are my friends
Here beneath the sea
Swimming all around
They're foot-massaging me
The octopus says "Hi"
I say to him "What's up?"
I go to bump his fist
But he got too much love
I'm at home here in the briny
Since I've found out you don't want me
My mates thought I was nuts
Jumping off the edge
But what'd I have to lose?
Except pains inside my head
And pains inside my heart
They wouldn't let me be
Now I'm better off
Yeah, I've been set free
And I'm at home here in the briny
Since I've found out you don't want me
Yeah, I'm at home here in the briny
Since I've found out you don't want me
Ballad of the Briny
| "Ballad of the Briny" | ||
|---|---|---|
|
||
| Demo by Rivers Cuomo | ||
| Album | Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years | |
| Released | 2020 | |
| Recorded | 2010 | |
| Writer(s) | Rivers Cuomo | |
| Producer(s) | Shawn Everett | |
| Status | Released | |
|
This song is part of the "Blue Dream" lineage of songs
| ||
"Ballad of the Briny" (formerly "Ballad of the Brine") is a song demoed by Rivers Cuomo.
Appearances
- Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years (2020)
Overview
A sailor called Mortimer Collins falls in love with a woman at a brothel he visited. He brings her aboard the Resolution ship, but he catches Captain Buttress having sex with her. Mortimer stays the remainder of the night on the deck of the ship, then at sunrise jumps overboard. Drowning to death as he happily hallucinates amongst sea creatures.
- —Rivers Cuomo, "Ballad of the Briny" synopsis, Riverpedia[1]
- —Rivers Cuomo, "Ballad of the Briny" synopsis, Riverpedia[1]
A short clip of "Ballad of the Briny" was uploaded to Cuomo's YouTube channel in January of 2011. The same year, AllThingsWeezer member Bleed0range confirmed the song's title from Cuomo's assistant Sarah Kim.[2] The narrative aspect of the song led many fans to believe that Cuomo was developing a sea-themed concept album at the time, though Cuomo would later confirm this was not the case; the song was a one-off concept. The melodies are taken from earlier demos, "Now or Later" and "Stronger." The guitar solo featured in the song's bridge greatly resembles the song "The Trooper" by English heavy metal band Iron Maiden (which was previously partially covered by Weezer in concert in 1996).
The video uploaded to YouTube by Cuomo briefly flashes text that can be made out:
He fell in love with her on the night before the Resolution (the ship)... her squalid life in a brothel to take her with him to Amer[ica.] .. her but finds that Captain Buttress is having sex with her... Captain Buttress with his pants down yells at Mortimer, "get back here"... [Morti]mer stays up for the remainder of the night on the deck of the ship and... at sunrise jumps overboard... [as he loses] conciousness... he feels super happy and blissful as he hallucinates... then all goes black.
On August 21, 2020, Cuomo confirmed[3] to members of the Riverchat chatroom that the Van Weezer track "Blue Dream" was a reworking of "Ballad of the Briny". On November 20, 2020, three demos of the song were released on the digital compilation Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years.
Video
Lyrics
The fishes are my friends
Here beneath the sea
Swimming all around
They're foot-massaging me
The octopus says "Hi"
I say "How do you do?"
He's quite the gentleman
To give me eight salutes
I'm at home here in the briny
Since I've found out you don't want me
The crew thought I was nuts
Jumping overboard
But what'd I have to lose?
Except pains inside my gourd
And pains inside my heart
They wouldn't let me be
Now I'm better off
A captain of the sea
And I'm at home here in the briny
Since I've found out you don't want me
Yeah, I'm at home here in the briny
Since I've found out you don't want me
I went to schools
I went to ministry
But they don't match the soothing of the sea
I'm back where I began my primal life
I am dissolved into the murky brine
(You wanted me to be a practical man,
And now I see how things were)
And I'm at home here in the briny
Since I've found out you don't want me
Known recordings
| Performer(s) | Title | Filename | Date of recording | Recording location | Length | Appeared on | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rivers Cuomo | We Are Solid | We Are Solid (gtr strum over A 126).mp3 | 2006—2010 | 0:41 | Alone X: The Red-Raditude-Hurley Years | ||
| For other demos, see "Now or Later," "Stronger," and "Cancer" | |||||||
| Rivers Cuomo | Ballad of the Brine | BALLAD OF THE BRINE - ROUGH 1 - NOV.mp3 | November 2010 | 3:09 | Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years | ||
| Rivers Cuomo | Ballad of the Briny | BALLAD OF THE BRINy - ROUGH 4 - JAN.mp3 | January 2011 | 3:54 | Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years | ||
| Rivers Cuomo | Ballad of the Briny | BALLAD OF THE BRINY - ROUGH 4 - SEPT.mp3 | September 2011(?) | 3:56 | Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years | ||
| For subsequent demos, see "Blue Dream." | |||||||
See also
References
- ↑ Cuomo, Rivers. Riverpedia. 5 December 2020. https://books-r-fun.herokuapp.com/wiki/Sea%20Opera
- ↑ File:Atw-Bleed0range-briney.png
- ↑ File:Riverchat_botb.jpg
