Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori

This song was showcased as a Featured Song on the Main Page of Weezerpedia on January 4, 2023.

"Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori"
Album track by Weezer
Album	Weezer (The White Album)
Released	April 1, 2016
Recorded	2015
Length	3:25
Label	Crush Music/Atlantic Records
Writer(s)	Rivers Cuomo
Producer(s)	Jake Sinclair
Status	Officially released
Live debut	December 3, 2016 in Bethlehem, PA
Last played	April 9, 2017 in Seattle, WA
Stream	Spotify
	Apple Music
Weezer (The White Album) track listing
"King of the World" (6) "Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori" (7) "L.A. Girlz" (8)

This song is part of the "Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori" lineage of songs "Don't Give It Up" (2002—2014) "Back of Your Heart" (2011) "Rest in Peace" (2011—2014) "Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori" (2015)

"Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori" is the seventh track from The White Album.

Appearances

• Weezer (The White Album) (2016)
• Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years (2020)
• Alone XII: The White Year (2020)

Overview

The verse lyrics and melody for "Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori" originate in a demo written by Rivers Cuomo in 2002 (Catalog O' Riffs entry #405, "Don't Give Me Love"). Two demo recordings from this period were released in November of 2020 as part of the digital compilation Alone VIII: The Maladroit Years, labeled "oh she left me there" and "pachelbel strum." The latter suggests that the song's chord progression is based on Pachelbel's "Canon in D."

In April of 2016, however, Cuomo spoke of the song's origins on an episode of the podcast Song Exploder. explaining that he compiles a Spotify playlist of songs with "cool chord-progressions," and that he lifted the chord progression from the song "Walk Away Renée" by The Left Banke. Cuomo titled an early version of the demo "Awaken Early" (a partial anagram of "Walk Away Renée). The final song's title came from an overheard conversation at a party at Rivers' daughter's school. One mother said that their husband called her "School-Year Elaine" during the year and "Summer Elaine" after the school year had ended, and another mother commented that her husband had two names for her as well, one of them being "Drunk Dori". Both mothers were thanked in the liner notes for The White Album. Cuomo went on to explain that he uses a spreadsheet to compile stream-of-consciousness lyrics by syllable. Cuomo has stated that "Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori" is his favorite song from The White Album.

The song's bridge melody was repurposed from previous demos titled "Back of Your Heart" and "Rest in Peace", written prior to the release of Everything Will Be Alright In The End. Short snippets of Cuomo working on "Back of Your Heart" in the studio with producer Shawn Everett were released in a short YouTube clip originally uploaded by Cuomo in January of 2011.

Known recordings

about this table

Performer(s)	Title	Filename	Date of recording	Recording location	Length	Appeared on	Notes
Rivers Cuomo		405 pachelbel strum.mp3	2002			1:53	Alone VIII: The Maladroit Years
Rivers Cuomo	Oh She Left Me There	405 oh she left me there.mp3	2002		3:36	Alone VIII: The Maladroit Years
Rivers Cuomo	Sad Skippyjon Jones	sad skippyjon jones 1.mp3	2011—2014		2:55	Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years	Bridge melody (on piano)
Rivers Cuomo	Sad Skippyjon Jones	sad skippyjon jones 2 in F major.mp3	2011—2014		1:23	Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years	Bridge melody (on piano)
For additional demos, see "Back of Your Heart" and "Rest in Peace"
Rivers Cuomo	Don't Give It Up	Don't Give It Up    3.mp3	February 26, 2014		3:28	Alone XIII: The Pacific Daydream Years
Rivers Cuomo		Untitled5 1.mp3	2015		1:09	Alone XII: The White Year
Rivers Cuomo		Untitled6 2.mp3	2015		0:31	Alone XII: The White Year
Rivers Cuomo	Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori	summer_Elaine_and_drunk_Dori 1.mp3	2015		0:31	Alone XII: The White Year
Rivers Cuomo	Awaken Early	Awaken Early.mp3	2015		0:16	Alone XII: The White Year
Rivers Cuomo	Awaken Early	Awaken Early    2 @118 melody.mp3	2015		0:34	Alone XII: The White Year
Rivers Cuomo	Awaken Early	Awaken Early   4 @118 90s dance.mp3	2015		0:32	Alone XII: The White Year
Rivers Cuomo	Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori	Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori   3 @11.mp3	2015		0:29	Alone XII: The White Year
Rivers Cuomo	Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori	summer_elaine_5_verse.mp3	2015		1:33	Alone XII: The White Year
Rivers Cuomo	Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori	elaine_6_dont_give_it.mp3	2015		1:00	Alone XII: The White Year
Rivers Cuomo	Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori	elaine_7_be_my_steady.mp3	?		1:06	Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years	Song sketch; chorus from "Be My Steady"
Rivers Cuomo	Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori	elaine_7_here_comes.mp3	?		1:53	Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years	Song sketch; verse from "Here Comes the Girl"
Rivers Cuomo	Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori	elaine_8_ghost.mp3	?		1:03	Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years	Song sketch; verse melody from "Byzantine"
Rivers Cuomo	Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori	elaine_8_rip.mp3	?		1:12	Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years	Song sketch; bridge melody from "Rest in Peace"
Rivers Cuomo	Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori	elaine_9_fighters.mp3	?		1:01	Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years	Song sketch; verse melody from "We Are Fighters"
Rivers Cuomo	Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori	elaine_9_post.mp3	?		0:37	Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years
Rivers Cuomo	Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori	Summer Elaine   6 lyrics @118.mp3	2015		1:53	Alone XII: The White Year
Weezer	Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori		2015—2016	Infrasonic Sound The Lair Studio X United Recording The Village	3:25	Weezer (The White Album)

Live performances

• Weezer concert: 12/03/2016
• Weezer concert: 12/05/2016
• Weezer concert: 12/06/2016
• Weezer concert: 04/09/2017

Personnel

• Rivers Cuomo – guitar, lead vocals
• Patrick Wilson – percussion
• Brian Bell – guitar, backing vocals
• Scott Shriner - bass guitar, backing vocals

Lyrics

Oh, she left me there
She left me all alone
Oh, but I don't care
No, I don't mind at all
What really happened?
I got distracted
I suck at getting off the phone
Boy in the bubble
Saying "I love ya'"
I should have written her a note

Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori
When I'm feeling lonely
I don't want to go
Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori
Wish that they would show me
I can't let them go

Oh, she swam away
And flexed her mermaid tail
She was out too deep
When lightning struck the bay
Good witch or bad witch
God is a woman
I wish I hadn't played the prude
She touched my ankle
Paranoid Android
I felt it in my molecules

Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori
When I'm feeling lonely
I don't want to go
Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori
Wish that they would show me
I can't let them go

Slender and tall
They whisk my worries away
Sweet piano melodies play
Feet crushing Sauvignon grapes
I hear them whispering
Whispering out at the pool
Remember when we were only sixteen
You made me believe in God
But when I finally wake
Both girls are gone

Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori
When I'm feeling lonely
I don't want to go
Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori
Wish that they would show me
I can't let them go

See also

• List of Weezer songs
• List of Rivers Cuomo songs