Don't Let Go
| "Don't Let Go" | |||||
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| Album track by Weezer | |||||
| Album | Weezer (The Green Album) | ||||
| Released | May 15, 2001 | ||||
| Recorded | December 2000, Cello Studios, Los Angeles, California | ||||
| Length | 3:00 | ||||
| Label | Geffen | ||||
| Writer(s) | Rivers Cuomo | ||||
| RC# | 536 | ||||
| COR# | 228 | ||||
| Producer(s) | Ric Ocasek | ||||
| Status | Officially released | ||||
| Stream |  Spotify |
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| Weezer (The Green Album) track listing | |||||
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| Rivers Cuomo song chronology | |||||
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"Don't Let Go" is the first track off of Weezer's 2001 album, The Green Album.
Appearances
Overview
"Don't Let Go" is a fan favorite off The Green Album. In the 2005 AOL Sessions, Weezer lead singer Rivers Cuomo said that the inspiration for this song, as with most of The Green Album, was instantaneous. He would sit down, start playing something, and within few minutes, the song was written - and he didn't even know what it was supposed to mean. The song's lyrics tell of a man clinging for his girlfriend not to leave him. The song was featured on a 2000 demo tape submitted by the band to Interscope/Geffen in hopes of receiving approval for a third album[1]. The song is instantly notable for it's 1-2-3-4 snare drum/tom-tom intro.
The lyric "Anything you desire / I will set at your feet" also appears in the Green-era outtake "No Way."
The Weezer Video Capture Device includes footage of Ric Ocasek, Mikey Welsh, and Karl Koch recording background vocals for the track.[2] According to Koch, the vocals were included on the final cut of the album in a very compressed form.
Live Revamp
"Don't Let Go" has received a major revamping in the live setting. On December 6, 2001, Weezer posted a live version of the song to their website under the name "Don't Let Go 2.0" with a different vocal pattern in the chorus and pre-chorus. The favorite version of many fans is the 2005 AOL Sessions version. During this live performance, the song is in a higher key, and regular-guitarist Brian Bell adds synthesizer, most notable in the intro. During the pre-chorus, Cuomo takes the vocal part up the scale rather than down the scale, and turns the "ooh-whoa-whoa" in the choruses to falsetto yells, an octave above the recorded version. Furthermore, the guitar solo is altered from just the verse melody to a more dynamic guitar part.
Personnel
- Rivers Cuomo – lead guitar, lead vocals
- Patrick Wilson – percussion
- Brian Bell – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
- Mikey Welsh – bass guitar, backing vocals
- Ric Ocasek - producer, backing vocals
Lyrics
Whoo-whoa-whoa
Whoo-whoa-whoa
Anytime that you want I'll be here in your arms
Silently holding onto the girl with the charms
But if there comes a day you should turn your heart away
I'll be down on my knees begging for that girl to stay
Don't let go
Whoo-whoa-whoa
Don't let go
Whoo-whoa-whoa
Anything you desire, I will set at your feet
With a kiss in the air for the gods to receive
But if there comes a day you should turn your heart away
I'll be down on my knees begging for that girl to stay
Confrontations in my mind
Got me running out of time
Don't let go
Whoo-whoa-whoa
Don't let go
Whoo-whoa-whoa
But if there comes a day you should turn your heart away
I'll be down on my knees begging for that girl to stay
Confrontations in my mind
Got me running out of time
Don't let go
Whoo-whoa-whoa
Don't let go
Whoo-whoa-whoa
Don't let go
Whoo-whoa-whoa
Don't let go
Whoo-whoa-whoa
