Blast Off!
From Weezerpedia
| "Blast Off!" | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Demo by Weezer | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Album | Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Released | December 18, 2007 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Recorded | February 1995 in Hamburg Germany | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Length | 1:57 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Label | Geffen | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Writer | Rivers Cuomo | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| RC# | 199 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 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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| Songs from the Black Hole cover | |||||||||||||||||||||||
 Cover for SFTBH demo |
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"Blast Off!" is a song by Rivers Cuomo which was intended to be the opening track to the unfinished rock opera, Songs from the Black Hole. Although previously leaked, this song saw an official release on Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo, where it has a fixed intro (the original has the world 'blast' truncated) and also leads directly into "Who You Callin' Bitch?" as was intended for Track List 2.
Contents |
[edit] Appearances
- Songs from the Black Hole (Tracklist 1)
- Songs from the Black Hole (Tracklist 2)
- Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo
- Not Alone: Rivers Cuomo & Friends Live at Fingerprints (Live Video)
[edit] Overview
The lead-off track (Act 1, Scene 1) for Songs from the Black Hole is a dramatic rock song with a high-reaching melody and shifting dynamics. The song takes place on the main deck of the spaceship Betsy II on May 10, 2126. The lyrics are a conversation between the main character Jonas and his shipmates Wuan and Dondó. Jonas is excited yet reserved about the prospect of doing what he thinks is his dream job, that is, going out into space to save Nomis from being swallowed by it's sun. Wuan and Dondó are much more upbeat about the experience. In the middle of the song, M1 interjects via vocoder to remind them of the task at hand. In the last verse we find that a female character, Maria, the ship's cook, has entered the scene and that Jonas has a history with her from back at Star Corps Academy.
An interesting parallel in this song (and indeed the whole album) is the space mission concept being a metaphor for the rock star life that Rivers was about to embark upon, heading out on tour and up the charts with a rock band.
[edit] Rivers
Before the track was officially released onto Alone, it was leaked online during 2002. In response to a thread on the Rivers Correspondence Board analyzing the song alongside Death and Destruction, Rivers (posting as 'ace') mentioned "blast off is one of the greatest melodies ANYONE'S ever written. pure billy joel", thought to be a tounge-in-cheek. He went on to say "BO is a better melody. D+D is a better song."
The version found on Alone features edits, as the original master tape was damaged.
[edit] Music video
The music video was directed by Karl Koch and released via iTunes and YouTube to promote Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo although it saw it's debut on Yahoo! on January 11th 2008. The footage is of Rivers in Japan visiting Kyoko's family in December 2007. It was the first time fans saw Rivers with a mustache.
[edit] Personnel
- Rivers Cuomo – lead guitar, lead vocals, percussion, rhythm guitar, bass guitar
[edit] Lyrics
[JONAS:]
Blast off! Up to the stars we go!
And leave behind everything I used to know
Somebody's giving me a whole lot of money
To do what I think I want to
So why am I still feeling blue? Oh Wuan and Dondo!
[WUAN and DONDO:]
Goddamn! Get your head out of your hands!
Here's to all the times we're gonna have
Cooped up for a year with the two best looking
Babes I've seen all year
[WUAN:]
Get me another bottle of beer, 'cause I'm feelin' fine!
[JONAS:]
Go ahead, waste your head
We've got the time
I hope you don't object that I
Speak my mind
[M1:]
Don't forget the purpose of the mission
Or Nomis will get swallowed by its sun
Each one of you is a top graduate
Of the Star Corps Academy
It's up to you to reach for a dream! Oh Wuan and Dondo!
[WUAN:]
Go ahead, waste your life
On silly fears
I hope you don't object if I
Crack another beer, yeah!
[DONDO:]
Hold on, who is it here that I see?
Wasn't she your favorite bitch in the academy?
[JONAS:]
I don't know if I wanna lead on this woman
You know, I've done that before
She's actually a good girl
[DONDO:]
Or at least a cheap ho...
