Heart Songs

Last week Zach was kind enough to share some of his favorite Ryan Adams jams with us. His kindness inspired me to do the same thing with my favorite Weezer tunes. All of my friends back home and my brothers and I are huge Weezer fans. If their tours skipped Phoenix it wasn't a question of whether or not we would drive to California to see them, the question was in which city in California we would see them. Nothing to do on a Friday night? Never, not when we had acoustic guitars, vocal chords, and every lyric and melody from Weezer's first two albums wedged snuggly in the creases of our brains. It's hard to truly assess the impact that my extreme Weezer fandom has had on my life (my first kiss, for example, was a girl from Seattle that I met at a Weezer concert in San Francisco).

So, when I came to Rexburg and made friends with so many people with great taste in music (like my friends from home) I was somewhat surprised that some weren't really into Weezer. Why wouldn't they be? My hypothesis: there's a lot of good music out there so maybe they just haven't made their rounds to Weezer yet. My remedy: I've created and uploaded a mix my favorite Weezer songs. If a song made it on this list, it's because it has either had, in one way or another, a huge impact on my life, or it's simply an awesome song.

Here's the list and why I love these songs:

"My Name is Jonas" -- My older brother Spencer brought home the Blue Album when I was in 7th grade. Either this or "Buddy Holly" was the first Weezer song I heard, I can't remember. It's hard to describe the feeling I had when I first the acoustic guitar intro and pounding distorted guitar that followed. It was similar to nostalgia, but what I was nostalgic for I have no idea. Whatever that longing feeling was, it quickly translated into a longing to hear more Weezer. Thanks Spencer.

"Say it Ain't So" -- I remember listening to this song on my discman at the tender, impressionable age of 14 while driving in a rental car in Utah with my mom and brother. As Rivers and Brian ended the soaring guitar solo that led back into the last chorus I came to an important conclusion with what I wanted to do with my life: "I wanna rock!"

"Only in Dreams" -- In high school I was in a band called The Manhattan Project. This band disbanded in December 2001 when I left to serve a mission. The last song we ever played together at our last show was this one. People cried.

"Susanne" -- In high school we had this great friend named Suz, which is short for Susanne. About every Sunday night my junior and senior years we had waffle night at her place. Our first Weezer sing-along took place in her basement at her birthday party. Oh, and this song is awesome too.

"Jamie (Live Acoustic)" -- Please do not confuse this with Dashboard Confessional's painfully inferior cover of this song; "it hurts me so much" when people do that. I especially enjoy Rivers' vocal treatment of the bridge compared to the original rock version.

"Tired of Sex" -- The first track from possibly the greatest album of all time, making it Weezer's best album, Pinkerton. I chose this song because it represents almost everything I love about Pinkerton: it's raw, rowdy, and it rocks, complete with shredding solo and buzzsaw guitars. The other thing I love about Pinkerton is that is incredibly easy to relate to; while I find the subject matter of this song quite unrelateable, I do enjoy the line "Oh, why can't I be making love come true?"

"Across the Sea" -- Wow. This might be Weezer's most emotionally evocative song ever. "As if I could live on words and dreams and a million screams, oh, how I need a hand in mine to feel!" I think we've all felt like that at one time or another. I dare you, no, defy you, to listen to this song at full volume and not get the chills. What a song.

"The Good Life" -- I don't know what Weezer did when they recorded Pinkerton but somehow they managed to capture the energy and excitement that's only really present during a live performance. "The Good Life" is a great example of that.

"El Scorcho" -- I listened to this song almost every day before school in 8th grade. Listen for Matt Sharp's falsettos ("How cool is that?!") and killer screams right before the bridge and in the middle of the last chorus; I miss that guy (he quit in order to devote more time to his band The Rentals). It's impossible not to sing along with this one. Great music video too.

"You Gave Your Love to Me Softly" -- A b-side from the "El Scorcho" single. This is possibly my favorite Weezer song. Ever. From the start of the pick scrape at 0:04 to the last cymbal crash 1:54 later, this song never lets up. Go ahead and listen to it twice. I usually do.

"Waiting on You" -- B-side from "The Good Life" single, also called the "Oz EP". I really love the guitar intro/interlude, and when Rivers sings to the same melody ("I asked you had a good heart / You answered, yes, I'll never do you harm"), backed by Matt's complementary falsetto, it just doesn't get any better.

"Crab" -- I don't care that much for the Green Album. In fact, I have a hard time listening to more than two consecutive Green Album songs. But this song is good. I have no idea what it's about though.

"I Do" -- This one is a b-side on the "Hash Pipe" single and the eleventh track on the UK import of the Green Album. They opened with this song when I saw them in San Francisco on March 17, 2001 (possibly the greatest concert of my life), and I've loved it since.

"Keep Fishin'" -- I first time I heard this song was at Subway in Ottawa, Ontario, while I was on my mission. Other than that I don't have much to say about this one. Another great video.

"Perfect Situation" -- Weezer's best song (at this point) since Pinkerton. And the story of my life.

"The Greatest Man That Ever Lived" -- I don't have much to say about these last few songs, mostly because they're pretty new and I haven't had the chance to associate very many memories with them yet. But let's be honest, there's probably two of you who read it this far so it doesn't matter. This song is just plain cool.

"Pork & Beans" -- It took me a while to warm up to this song. What eventually got me were the Pinkerton-esque guitars on the chorus and the overall message of the song.

"The Angel and the One" -- It's been 12 years since Weezer has been this emo. I really dig the soaring guitar at the end that matches Rivers' vocal.

"Longtime Sunshine" -- This isn't technically a Weezer song but I include it because it could've been. It's from an album that Rivers released last year containing demos he recorded by his lonesome over the years (In Michael Cera's opinion, "The greatest thing to happen to music since 1996 [the year Pinkerton was released]"). I like it because evokes that same nostalgic feeling I experienced when I first heard "My Name is Jonas".

"Lover in the Snow" -- Good song. That's all.

Kudos to you if you've read this far. Here's your reward, download and enjoy:

Myke's Ultimate Weezer Mix