My Name Is Jonas

"My Name Is Jonas"
Album track by Weezer
Album	Weezer (The Blue Album)
Released	May 10, 1994
Recorded	August-September 1993 at Electric Lady Studios, New York, NY
Length	3:24
Label	Geffen
Writer(s)	Rivers Cuomo, Patrick Wilson, Jason Cropper
RC#	126
Producer(s)	Ric Ocasek
Status	Officially released
Live debut	May 21, 1992 in West Hollywood, CA
Weezer (The Blue Album) track listing
"My Name Is Jonas" (1) "No One Else" (2) The Kitchen Tape track listing "Thief, You've Taken All That Was Me" (1) "My Name Is Jonas" (2) "Let's Sew Our Pants Together" (3)
Rivers Cuomo song chronology
"I Am Your Blue Sky" (RC# 125) "My Name Is Jonas" (RC# 126) "Only in Dreams" (RC# 127)

"My Name Is Jonas" is the first track from Weezer's self-titled debut album.

Appearances

• The Kitchen Tape (Demo, 1992)
• Weezer (The Blue Album) (1994)
• "Buddy Holly" (UK Retail CD) (Live)
• "Undone - The Sweater Song" (French retail CD/French promo 7" single (Blue Vinyl))
• Dusty Gems & Raw Nuggets (Live, 1994)
• "My Name Is Jonas" (Promo CD)
• Official Bootleg series
• Alone IV: The Blue-Pinkerton Years (2020)

Overview

The music for "My Name Is Jonas" was initially composed by Patrick Wilson as part of the 50 Song Project between Wilson and Rivers Cuomo, and demoed to 4-track in late 1991 or early 1992. This demo featured a different melody than the final song. Founding Weezer guitarist Jason Cropper came up with what would become the song's fingerpicked intro. "My Name Is Jonas" is the only Weezer song to officially credit Cropper as a songwriter. "I got home from work [at the Italian restaurant]," Cropper recalled in a 2019 interview with Yahoo! Music, "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!’

The lyrics to "My Name Is Jonas," penned by Cuomo, were likely partially inspired by Cuomo's brother, James Kitts. Said Cuomo in a press packet for The Blue Album, "'Jonas' explains how The Plan is reaming us all, especially my brother." The song's lyrics are sometimes purported to reference an incident in which Kitts' insurance claim was denied following an injury sustained while riding as the passenger in a friend's car in September of 1992 while attending Oberlin College in Ohio, though the writing of "My Name Is Jonas" predates this incident. The song's lyrics are also sometimes erroneously reported as having been inspired by the 1993 Lois Lowry novel The Giver, despite the book having been released a year after "My Name Is Jonas" was written.

The song was demoed by Weezer throughout 1992 and 1993. In 1992, the song was recorded as part of Weezer’s second demo tape (dubbed The Kitchen Tape), ending with the line “My name is Weezer”. A demo of the song's bridge, dubbed “Port O’ Jonas,” was demoed by Cuomo in July of 1993 and released in 2020 as part of the digital compilation Alone IV: The Blue-Pinkerton Years.

"My Name Is Jonas" was erroneously named by Geffen Records as the third single for The Blue Album before "Say It Ain't So" was officially chosen as a single. Geffen printed a limited run of a "My Name Is Jonas" one-track promotional CD, distributed primarily in Canada. A live performance of "My Name Is Jonas," recorded at a concert in Rochester on the band's Blue Album tour, was included on a UK retail CD single release of "Buddy Holly," as well as on the compilation Dusty Gems & Raw Nuggets (included with the Deluxe Edition of Blue).

"My Name Is Jonas" was featured as a playable track for the rhythm video games Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock, Rock Band, and Rocksmith 2014.

Personnel

• Rivers Cuomo – lead/rhythm guitars, harmonica, lead vocals
• Brian Bell – backing vocals
• Matt Sharp – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Patrick Wilson – percussion
• Ric Ocasek – producer

Lyrics

Lyric sheet for "My Name Is Jonas".

My name is Jonas
I'm carrying the wheel
Thanks for all you've shown us
But this is how we feel
Come sit next to me
Pour yourself some tea
Just like grandma made
When we couldn't find sleep
Things were better then
Once but never again
We've all left the den
Let me tell you 'bout it

The choo-choo train left right on time
A ticket cost only your mind
The driver said "Hey man, we go all the way"
Of course we were willing to pay

My name is Wepeel
I got a box full of your toys
They're fresh out of batteries
But they're still makin' noise, makin' noise
Tell me what to do
Now the tank is dry
Now this wheel is flat
And you know what else?
Guess what I received
In the mail today
Words of deep concern
From my little brother

The building's not goin' as he planned
The foreman has injured his hand
The dozer will not clear a path
The driver swears he learned his math

The workers are going home!
The workers are going home!
The workers are going home!
The workers are going home!
Yeah!

The workers are going home!
The workers are going home!
The workers are going home!
Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

My name is Jonas

• 

  Handwritten lyrics by Cuomo

• 

  Handwritten lyrics by Cuomo

• 

  Blue Album Japanese cd release, 1995

Known recordings

This section requires expansion.

about this table

Performer(s)	Title	Filename	Date of recording	Recording location	Length	Appeared on	Notes
Patrick Wilson			Late 1991—early 1992				4-track, no vocals
Weezer	My Name Is Jonas		April 1992	2226 Amherst Ave., Los Angeles, CA			Take 1
Weezer	My Name Is Jonas		April 1992	2226 Amherst Ave., Los Angeles, CA			Take 2
Weezer	My Name Is Jonas		Early June 1992	2226 Amherst Ave., Los Angeles, CA	3:21	Weezer (The Blue Album) (30th Anniversary Deluxe)	Rehearsal
Weezer	My Name Is Jonas		August 1992	2226 Amherst Ave., Los Angeles, CA	3:18	The Kitchen Tape Weezer (The Blue Album) (30th Anniversary Deluxe)
Weezer	My Name Is Jonas		April 27, 1993	Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA	3:16	Weezer (The Blue Album) (30th Anniversary Deluxe)	Recorded by Dale Johnson. Unknown number of takes.
Rivers Cuomo		09 Port O' Jonas.mp3	July 1993		1:06	Alone IV: The Blue-Pinkerton Years
Weezer	My Name Is Jonas		August 6, 1993	Cole Rehearsal Studios, Los Angeles, CA			Portable DAT recording, rehearsal
Weezer	My Name Is Jonas		August 11, 1993	S.I.R., New York City, NY			Practice demo with Ric Ocasek with Haig and Chris Shaw.
Weezer	My Name Is Jonas		August—September 1993	Electric Lady Studios, New York, NY	3:24	Weezer (The Blue Album)
Weezer	My Name Is Jonas		November 27, 1994	Horizontal Boogie Bar, Rochester, NY	4:19	"Buddy Holly" (UK Retail CD) Dusty Gems & Raw Nuggets

See also

• The 50 Song Project
• List of Weezer songs