Grapthar's Song of the Day: Weezer 'Across the Sea'

grapthar (74)in #music • 6 years ago

Weezer - Across the Sea

Weezer was one of the biggest bands

of the '90s, and have continued releasing albums and singles for basically their entire career. They began in 1992, in Los Angeles, formed by Rivers Cuomo (guitarist/songwriter), Patrick Wilson (drummer), Matt Sharp (bassist), Jason Cropper (guitarist). They played essentially simple '50s and '60s rock riffs, but with heavy distortion and a modern "coolness" to it, and were signed to Geffen within a year of their formation. Their first 2 albums, The Blue Album and Pinkerton are widely considered to be their best, although they have some incredible songs on later albums too, although the albums are less consistent in their entirety in my opinion.

Listen to Across the Sea by Weezer here.

This song comes from their 2nd album,

Pinkerton, and is far and away my favorite Weezer. It tells the story of Rivers receiving fan mail from an adoring teenage fan in Japan, and how he begins to fall in love with her, but because of touring and their distance, they can never be together. A lot of Weezer stuff is about unrequited (maybe tortured, lol) love, and this is probably the most intense of those. The main riffs in the Verse and Chorus are pretty simple, we are in G major, and stick to either a I, iii, vi, V, or a I, III, IV, V progression. However, the break is where things get interesting, modulating a number of times, moving the same sort of riff around between keys. It's an awesome effect, and gives the whole break a really interesting change from the simplicity of the rest of the track. At the end of the song, we use an Emaj instead of Emin at certain points, making the resolutions more epic.