This Is Such a Pity
| "This Is Such A Pity" | |||||
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| Single by Weezer | |||||
| Album | Make Believe | ||||
| Released | May 10, 2005 | ||||
| Format | CD, Vinyl (album only) | ||||
| Recorded | Summer 2004 | ||||
| Length | 3:24 | ||||
| Label | Geffen | ||||
| Writer(s) | Rivers Cuomo | ||||
| RC# | 719 | ||||
| COR# | 369 | ||||
| Producer(s) | Weezer, Rick Rubin, Chad Bamford | ||||
| Status | officially released | ||||
| Stream |  Spotify |
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 Apple Music |
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| Weezer singles chronology | |||||
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| Make Believe track listing | |||||
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| Rivers Cuomo song chronology | |||||
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This song is part of the "This Is Such a Pity" (COR# 369) lineage of songs
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"This Is Such a Pity" is the fourth single and third track from Make Believe.
Appearances
- Make Believe (2005)
- "This Is Such a Pity" promo CD (radio mix) (2005)
- Alone IX: The Make Believe Years (2020)
Overview
"This Is Such a Pity" shares an entry in the Catalog O' Riffs with the song "She Who Is Militant", originally demoed by Weezer in 2002 during early sessions for the band's planned fifth album, during which time the band shared in-progress studio demos on weezer.com. During preparation for the album that would eventually become Make Believe, "She Who Is Militant" was revised and rewritten, under multiple titles, from 2002 to 2004 before it became "This Is Such a Pity." As such, the latter bears little resemblance to its original form other than a similar chord progression. "This Is Such a Pity" was included on Rivers Cuomo's "A-List" of songs in consideration during pre-production in July of 2004.
Scott: That song was tough, and it was the first song we tried to track at Grandmaster, I think, it was like the first night, and we probably retracked the basic drums for that, like four or five different times and it was almost going to get thrown out. But somehow, at the last minute, it came together, and it sounds absolutely magical to me. And that’s one of my favorite songs on the album.
Pat: Yeah, it sounds awesome. Wicked melody.
Rivers: Yeah, that might be my favorite song on the record. I really like the solo Brian came up with too.
Brian: Ironically [laughs], I don’t play any of the guitars on it—but most all the guitars on it in the studio—and I don’t play of them live, which I think it kind of funny. It’s really fun to watch Bobby and Rivers play that song every night. It feels like—
Rivers: You’re the composer and we’re the performers
Brian: Yeah, yeah! It’s neat, it’s really cool. I love the notes that Rivers added to the solo. I feel that that song could be—that Weezer might—things that Weezer can do and go in the future, as far as texture, and the use of clean guitars. I don’t think there’s any distorted guitars on that song.
Rivers: All the keyboard sounds are from a $75 Casio.
Brian: We even tried using expensive Moogs and things, to try to, like, “this can’t be good enough, a $75 Casio?” and the tones just didn’t blend. And we ended up using the Casio.
Scott: It’s got a really cool, super consistent, like, kind of level from start to finish, which I think is really neat.
- —Band commentary[1]
"This Is Such a Pity" was released as a single when "Perfect Situation" and even "Beverly Hills" (released a year earlier) were still regularly played on the radio and music television [2]. As a result, the song failed to reach the Top 10, which all three previous singles from Make Believe had achieved and ultimately peaked at #31 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart. The single never received a music video or a physical retail release.
There are several subtly different versions of "This Is Such a Pity" across various releases. The first mix, included on initial pressings of the album, contains less reverb than later versions, and includes a drum fill near the end of the song (around 3:03) that was removed from subsequent versions. When the song was chosen as Make Believe's fourth and final single in February 2006, a new single/radio remix was made and released on iTunes. It was soon discovered that the new mix contained an error - the last chorus notably lacked emphasis on the word "that" in the line "not this hate that destroys us" in the final chorus [3]. This erroneous mix can also be found on some pressings of Make Believe. The final, "Radio Mix" of the song reinstates the original final chorus and features more reverb on the vocals. The corrected radio remix replaced the original album mix (and incorrect radio mix) on all further releases of Make Believe, sometimes labeled as the "3/13/06 version".
A partial clip of Rivers Cuomo's demo of the song was appended to the end of part 5 of the video series Let's Write a Sawng,[4] the collaborative project in which Cuomo and fans created the song "Turning Up the Radio". This demo was later released in full, in 2020, as part of the digital compilation Alone IX: The Make Believe Years.
Multiple songs of Nordic origin have been accused of plagiarizing "This Is Such a Pity," including the song "Du Kommer Aldrig Mer Vara Ensam" by Swedish musician Lasse Lindh, as well as "Turhaa" by Finnish Anna Eriksson.
Personnel
- Rivers Cuomo – lead guitar, lead vocals
- Patrick Wilson – percussion
- Brian Bell – rhythm guitar, synth, backing vocals
- Scott Shriner – bass guitar, backing vocals
- Rick Rubin - producer
- Josh Abraham - mixing
- Chad Bamford - additional production
Audio
Lyrics
How is your heart, little darling?
I didn't mean to get so mad
Let me just hold you closely
How did things get so bad?
I know how to pick on you
You pushed me over the edge
We caused so much agony
We can't seem to move ahead
This is such a pity
We should give all our love to each other
Not this hate that destroys us
This is such a pity
(This is a pity)
What kind of future will we have?
Will we ever find peace?
Everybody thinks we're crazy
They're about to call the police
I don't wanna be a chump
You think I'm a fascist pig
Right now everything is black
I don't think we'll ever give
This is such a pity
We should give all our love to each other
Not this hate that destroys us
This is such a pity
(This is a pity)
This is such a pity
We should give all our love to each other
Not this hate that destroys us
This is such a pity
(This is a pity)
This is such a pity
We should give
We should give all our love (Destroys us)
All our love (Destroys us)
All our love (Destroys us)
All our love (Destroys us)
All our love (Destroys us)
All our love (Destroys us)
Known recordings
| Performer(s) | Title | Filename | Date of recording | Recording location | Length | Appeared on | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| For previous iterations of "This Is Such a Pity," see 369. | |||||||
| Rivers Cuomo | This Is Such a Pity | 05 This is Such a Pity.mp3 | July 20, 2004 | S.I.R. Rehearsal Studios, Los Angeles, CA | 3:46 | Alone IX: The Make Believe Years | |
| Weezer | This Is Such a Pity | July 22—October 22, 2004 | Grandmaster Recorders, Los Angeles, CA | 3:24 | Make Believe | Mix #1 | |
| Weezer | This Is Such a Pity | July 22—October 22, 2004 | Grandmaster Recorders, Los Angeles, CA | 3:24 | Make Believe | Mix #2 | |
| Weezer | This Is Such a Pity | July 22—October 22, 2004 | Grandmaster Recorders, Los Angeles, CA | 3:24 | Make Believe | Final mix | |
See also
References
- ↑ Weezer Recording History - Page 15. Original source archived by Wayback Machine
- ↑ Karl's Corner - 03/22/2006. Original source archived by Wayback Machine
- ↑ Karl's Corner - 02/27/2006. Original source archived by Wayback Machine
- ↑ Rivers Cuomo. "Let's Write a Sawng (Step 5 & 6?)" YouTube. 7 April 2008.