Pinkerton Explained
I can’t just always say that Weezer’s Pinkerton is the greatest album ever and expect you to just believe
me. The music is great, Rivers Cuomo, (the leader of the group, songwriter,
singer and lead guitarist), and the band really hit their peak with this
album. The guitars have a heavy
crunchiness with the perfect balance of sustained melody and out of control
reverb and feedback. Rivers’ voice goes
from being smooth and beautifully in harmony, to strained, loud and screechy
and then back. Either way he sings it, his voice is full of emotion, whether it
is love, lust, melancholy, jealousy or downright spiteful. The factor that really blows me away every
time I hear the album, and the reason I am so connected to it is the lyrical
content from track to track.
Track 1
“Tired of Sex” tells the story of a guy who is lonely and
disenchanted by a string of one night stands and no real established,
fulfilling relationships. Really if you
think about it, It’s a guy going against the norms of being a rock star. I mean after all isn’t fucking a different
girl every night the reason why we all aspire to be musicians?
Track 2
“Getchoo” is the tale of a man grasping to get back together
with a girl that he has lost after a very troubled relationship. We all have been there so the song speaks to
every fiber of our being. Rivers really brings the point home when he goes into
the “I can’t believe…” part of the song, where he explains that he is usually
on the other end of leaving, so the hurt is that much more shocking .
Track 3
“No Other One” brings
us to a guy who has realized that his girlfriend isn’t perfect but he loves her
anyways. More importantly, he is scared
of being alone, so he stays with her out of fear of loneliness. This is another feeling that is very common
to everyone. Beding so in love yet the
driving fear of that love is that you don’t want to be lonely.
Track 4
“Why Bother” is a step back, pre relationship, or post
relationship, but it brings back feelings that anyone can relate to; getting
interested in someone, but not pursuing it because of the fear of
rejection. On a personal note, anytime I
get interested in a girl this is the first song I listen to. Rivers’ view of
rejection is so real, and when I first heard this song as a teenager it felt
like it was written for me.(but then again so did every other song on the album)
Track 5
“Across the Sea” is Rivers’ song about a fan that wrote him
a fan letter, and how obsessed he became with this girl that he had never met
but wished he was closer to. It breaks down into an angry rant towards his life
and blaming his mother for his self-perceived awkwardness.
Track 6
“The Good Life” is simply put, a breaking point. Realizing
that you are unhappy with yourself and despise what you have become. Rivers
sees himself as an old man who has gotten off track without realizing it had
happened.
Track 7
“El Scorcho” is a fun track, a little all over the place but
the main theme is about a guy who is interested in a girl who has no interest
in him, but that’s not going to stop him for trying. It’s the man in that game
of cat and mouse searching for what he wants so dearly but can’t have.
Track 8
“Pink Triangle” is about a guy who thinks that he has found
the perfect girl for himself, but then realizes that she is a lesbian. The song
contains, what is in my opinion, one of the greatest lyrics ever written;
“everyone’s a little queer, oh can’t she be a little straight”. The song is pretty straight forward, a crush
that will never develop into a relationship.
Track 9
“Falling for You” is
the hero’s moment. He finally got his
girl, he is apprehensive, thinking that it won’t work, but this time he is more
rational and wants it to work. This is
sort of the moment in the movie when the nerdy hero finally gets the girl. And it is a moment we all love cheering for,
so the song is moving in that way. You have been through the roller coaster of
the album and finally our guy has found what he was looking for since track 1
Track 10
“Butterfly”, just so happens to be my favorite song of all
time. It is a very quiet, somber song.
It begins with Rivers apologizing for killing a butterfly that he thought he
wanted for his collection, but that he never meant to hurt. By the middle of
the second verse it is realized that the butterfly is a metaphor for a girl
that he has abandoned. Maybe it is an
apology to one girl, or just a mass apology to all the girls he feels he has
wronged in the past. The feeling is
there though. You can tell that he is truly sorry.
Whether you listen to the tracks in order or skip around on
shuffle, or just listen to one song when you need it, Pinkerton has all the
feelings that you might need. The feelings stay with us from the moment we
first have them until the moment we die. Sometimes they hurt, but sometimes
they are worth reliving, and this album has them all.
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