| "Undone – The Sweater Song" | ||||
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| Single by Weezer | ||||
| from the album Weezer | ||||
| B-side | "Mykel & Carli" "Susanne" "My Evaline" |
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| Released | June 24, 1994 | |||
| Format | CD, Cassette, 7" | |||
| Recorded | Electric Lady Studios New York City, USA |
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| Genre | Alternative rock | |||
| Length | 4:58 | |||
| Label | DGC | |||
| Writer(s) | Rivers Cuomo | |||
| Producer | Ric Ocasek | |||
| Weezer singles chronology | ||||
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"Undone – The Sweater Song" is a song by the American alternative 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] | ” |
Cuomo has also said that it was his attempt at writing "a Velvet Underground-type song,"[2] but later referred to the song as an inadvertent rip-off of Metallica's "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)", with the band's metal roots showing through.[3]
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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. [4] The Offspring covered it in 1994 and 1995.[5] NewFangled Contraption covered it at every show in 2002 and 2003. The Bloodhound Gang covered it with a mix of Wu-Tang Clan's "Ain't Nuttin To F Wit".
On the 2008 Troublemaker Tour, Tom DeLonge - lead singer of the tour's opening act Angels & Airwaves - sang it as a duet with Cuomo.[6]
On their tour in 2011, the song was performed with the members of The Flaming Lips.
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."[7] The $60,000 video was shot on a steadicam in one unbroken shot, 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 in slow motion. The one shot was taken over twenty five times and the final version is somewhere between take #15 and take #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 shot 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.[8]
An alternate take of the video can be found on the band's Video Capture Device DVD.
In the video, lead singer Rivers Cuomo is wearing a Tiburones Rojos de Veracruz jersey. At Weezer's first performance in Mexico City many fans wore the same jersey.
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 "I Bleed" performed by Pixies. 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 "Evaline". 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. It only appeared on the Australian edition of the single, which erroneously listed it as "Sweet Adeline".
Promo Only Radio Single
US Retail Cassette/US Promo 7" Jukebox Single (Black Vinyl)
Australian Retail CD
UK Retail CD/UK Retail Cassette/UK 7" Single (Blue Vinyl)
French Retail CD/French Promo 7" Single (Blue Vinyl)
| Chart (1994) | Peak Position |
|---|---|
| Canadian Singles Chart | 6 |
| UK Singles Chart | 35 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 57 |
| U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks | 30 |
| U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks | 6 |
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