Wanda (You're My Only Love)
| "Wanda (You're My Only Love)" | |||||
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| Demo by Rivers Cuomo | |||||
| Album | Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo | ||||
| Released | December 18, 2007 | ||||
| Recorded | January 1995 | ||||
| Length | 3:38 | ||||
| Label | Geffen | ||||
| Writer(s) | Rivers Cuomo | ||||
| RC# | 196 | ||||
| COR# | N/A | ||||
| Producer | Rivers Cuomo | ||||
| Status | Released | ||||
| Rivers Cuomo song chronology | |||||
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| Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo track listing | |||||
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"Wanda (You're My Only Love)" is the 10th track on Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo.
Contents
Appearances
Overview
"Wanda" is primarily acoustic home demo written by Weezer lead singer Rivers Cuomo. It was leaked several years prior to its eventual release on Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo. In 1995, Cuomo was approached by the producers of the film "Angus" to write a song for the their soundtrack. He read the script and wrote the song "Wanda (You're My Only Love)" (the verses of which summarize the movie's plot). This acoustic ballad was rejected by the producers for not sounding enough like Weezer. Rivers was hurt by this rejection but eventually submitted "You Gave Your Love to Me Softly", a more up-tempo number.
In The Pinkerton Diaries, in a 1994 entry, there is a handwritten couplet of lyrics "What's wrong with me? / I'm making money" on a photocopy of a fax letter, one can assume that this was a very early draft of Wanda before Rivers completely changed the lyrics when approached by the producers of the film "Angus". Also featured in the book is the sheet music for a musical exercise titled "March of the Pipettepedes", which features a section greatly resembling the melody from Wanda.
The song was later rehashed for Rivers' Homie project a few years later in 1997, where it was played at Homie concerts. Whether the song was recorded in a full-band setting during the Homie recording sessions at Fort Apache is unknown.
An acoustic version of Wanda can be heard for several seconds on Video Capture Device, right before a brief acoustic version of Superfriend.
In 2009, it was included on a Homie tribute album recorded by Lifetaker and runnersdialzero.
Liner notes
One of my introductions to the realities of the music industry came when my manager told me that a movie production company wanted me to compose a song for the movie, Angus. I felt honored to be presented with such a big challenge, to write a song to accompany someone else's story. I wanted to do a great job. I studied the script and attained a pretty thorough understanding of the main character and his situation. He was an outcast, like me. I liked him.
I poured my heart into the song. I used details from the characters' lives in the movie, but really the emotions were mine, the incredible love I would feel for the woman, the person, the world that could accept me and love me as I was. I was bowled over by the song when I was finished. I sent it to my manager.
A few days later, he called and said the movie studio had rejected the song. It was "too literal" an interpretation of the movie. And besides, they wanted a more upbeat, rock number, something in the spirit of the other Weezer singles, like "Buddy Holly".
I was angry, frustrated, and sad.
In the end, we gave the movie people the upbeat rocker they wanted ("You Gave Your Love"), but for a long time I thought they were wrong for using it. The song had nothing to do with the movie, the characters, or the mood of the scene in which it played. At the time I concluded that the movie people didn't care about the art at all, they just wanted a Weezer rock single.
Reception
Fan reception of the this song has been nearly unanimously positive. Admired for it's deeply personal content, Wanda is undoubtedly a fan favorite. Additionally, Wanda's bridge has been praised by fans as an excellent moment in Cuomo's writing career. The officially released version is preferred to the previously leaked version due to their differences in sound quality.
Personnel
- Rivers Cuomo – lead guitar, lead vocals, percussion, rhythm guitar, bass guitar
Audio
HOMiE version
Lyrics
What's wrong with me?
I'm kinda funny
I'm not a dummy
But I'm all alone
Nobody sees me
No one talks to me
Unless they're laughing
Laughing at me
Except for her
She was my true friend
Dancing with me
She was my girlfriend
Somebody, please, tell her for me
Wanda, you're my only love
You're so lucky
Your family's normal
Mom drives a big rig
And my daddy's gay
No matter to her
She was my true friend
Dancing with me
She was my girlfriend
Somebody, please, tell her for me
Wanda you're my only love
Until the day I threw you away
Now I'm alone, and I wish you were home
