Undone - The Sweater Song

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"Undone - The Sweater Song"
"Undone - The Sweater Song" cover
Single by Weezer
from the album Weezer (The Blue Album)
Released 1994
Format CD, Cassette, 7"
Recorded Electric Lady Studios
New York City, USA
Genre Alternative rock
Length 5:05
Label DGC
Producer Ric Ocasek
Weezer singles chronology
"Undone - The Sweater Song"
(1994)		 "Buddy Holly"
(1995)
Weezer (The Blue Album) track listing
  1. "My Name Is Jonas"
  2. "No One Else"
  3. "The World has Turned and Left Me Here"
  4. "Buddy Holly"
  5. "Undone - The Sweater Song"
  6. "Surf Wax America"
  7. "Say It Ain't So"
  8. "In the Garage"
  9. "Holiday"
  10. "Only in Dreams"

"Undone - The Sweater Song" is a song by the American rock band Weezer, released on their self-titled 1994 debut album. It was released as their debut single in 1994. Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo has commented on the song, saying:

“ "Undone" is the feeling you get when the train stops and the little guy comes knockin' on your door. It was supposed to be a sad song, but everyone thinks it’s hilarious.[1] ”

Contents

Originally, the band intended to insert various sound clips into the song, but were wary of the cost of licensing them. Instead, the studio version of the song features a spoken introduction by then bassist Matt Sharp and longtime friend of the band Karl Koch, as well as an "intermission" set of dialogue between Karl and one of the founding members of Weezer's official fan club and early supporter of the band, Mykel Allan. This dialogue is frequently ad-libbed during concerts and other live recordings.

During live performances in 2005, the band would often invite a fan up to play the acoustic guitar part of "Undone" with the band. On the last night of the Foozer tour, Dave Grohl came up and played it with the band.

The Fray, who toured with Weezer in 2005, played a cover version of this song live during 2007 touring [1].

"Undone-The Sweater Song" music video
"Undone-The Sweater Song" music video

The music video for "Undone" was Weezer's first music video. According to Rivers' Edge: The Weezer Story by John D. Luerssen the band insisted that the video not have anything to do with a sweater. Yet Geffen received twenty five treatments for the video, all involving sweaters. The video marks one of the early directorial efforts of Spike Jonze, whose pitch was simply "A blue stage, a steadicam, a pack of wild dogs."[2] The $60,000 video was shot on a steadicam in one unbroken take, featuring the band playing to a sped up version of the song. When played at a slower speed, the illusion is created that the band is playing the song in the correct time, yet moving slow motion. The one take was shot over twenty five times and the final version is somewhere between shot #15 and shot #20, in which the band had abandoned the idea of taking the video seriously at all. The humor was brought on by the frustration of shooting the same take over and over to a sped up version of the song as well as the fact that one of the dogs defecated on Patrick Wilson's bass drum pedal.The video became an instant hit on MTV.[3]

An alternate take of the video can be found on the band's Video Capture Device DVD.

The song is notable for its seemingly basic chord progression which repeats through the verse and chorus of I, IV, V, IV. Many fans relate the progression to other popular rock songs such as "Wild Thing" performed by The Troggs or "Louie Louie" performed by The Kingsmen. However, the song does experience a key change modulation for the guitar solo after the second chorus, modulating from the key of F# Major to A Major, and thus following the same I, IV, V, IV progression. Also, the main guitar lead played over the chords of the intro and the outro contains a raised second pitch which resolves to the third. This accidental within the key gives the song an off-note and perceivably quirky feel to it.

In 1993, the band started going to a vocal coach. Rivers Cuomo had experience from high school with singing in barbershop quartets, and soon the band was doing barbershop "homework"; vocally, the band needed work to pull off the kind of harmonies that Rivers was writing. "My Evaline" was one of the many old timey songs practiced at the time. Later, while the band was recording "Mykel and Carli" and "Susanne", they had some extra time and decided to take a shot at barbershop. Pat supplied the fourth voice, as he would frequently join the barbershop practices. The band felt it came out rather well, and all agreed it would be cool to put it out. Mysteriously, it only appeared on the Australian edition of the "Undone (The Sweater Song)" single, which erroneously listed it as "Sweet Adeline".

  1. "Undone - The Sweater Song" (4:55) (album version)
  2. "Mykel & Carli" (2:53) (non-album track)
  3. "Susanne" (2:46) (non-album track, original mix, later remixed and released on Mallrats soundtrack)
  4. "My Evaline" (0:44) (non-album, AUS only, erroneously listed as "Sweet Adeline")

  1. "Undone - The Sweater Song"
  2. "Mykel & Carli"
  3. "Susanne"
  4. "Holiday" (3:26) (album version)

  1. "Undone - The Sweater Song"
  2. "My Name Is Jonas" (album version)

  1. ^ Luerssen D., John. Rivers' Edge: The Weezer Story. ECW Press, 2004, ISBN 1-55022-619-3 p. 111
  2. ^ Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 120
  3. ^ Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 121

v • d • e
Weezer
Brian Bell · Rivers Cuomo · Scott Shriner · Patrick Wilson
Jason Cropper · Matt Sharp · Mikey Welsh
Albums Weezer (The Blue Album) · Pinkerton · Weezer (The Green Album) · Maladroit · Make Believe · Untitled
EPs The Good Life · The Lion and the Witch · Winter Weezerland
DVD Video Capture Device
Singles "Undone - The Sweater Song" · "Buddy Holly" · "Say It Ain't So" · "El Scorcho" · "The Good Life" · "Pink Triangle" · "Hash Pipe" · "Island in the Sun" · "Photograph" · "Dope Nose" · "Keep Fishin'" · "Beverly Hills" · "We Are All on Drugs" · "Perfect Situation" · "This Is Such a Pity"
Related bands The Rentals · The Special Goodness · The Relationship · Avant Garde · Homie · Karlophone · Space Twins
Related articles Discography · Karl Koch · Songs from the Black Hole · The Kitchen Tapes · Alone - The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo  · Foozer
 This 1990s single-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
 This 1990s rock song-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undone_-_The_Sweater_Song"
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