Eulogy for a Rock Band
| "Eulogy for a Rock Band" | |||||
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| Album track by Weezer | |||||
| Album | Everything Will Be Alright in the End | ||||
| Released | October 7, 2014 | ||||
| Recorded | 2014, The Village, Los Angeles, CA | ||||
| Length | 3:25 | ||||
| Label | Republic Records | ||||
| Writer(s) | Rivers Cuomo, Daniel Brummel, Ryen Slegr | ||||
| Producer(s) | Ric Ocasek | ||||
| Status | Officially released | ||||
| Live debut | October 19, 2014 | ||||
| Stream |  Spotify |
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 Apple Music |
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| Everything Will Be Alright in the End track listing | |||||
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- "Rock Star" redirects here. For the Alone X demo, see "Troublemaker."
- "Superstars" redirects here. For the Weezer song from 2000, see "Superstar."
"Eulogy for a Rock Band" (formerly known by several titles, including "Shining Star", "The Band We Loved the Most", "Rock Star", "Superfan", "Superstars" and "Beatle That We Loved the Most") is the third track on Everything Will Be Alright in the End.
Overview
According to attendees of fan listening parties in 2013 and 2014, the song that would eventually become "Eulogy" originally went by the titles "Shining Star" and "The Band We Loved the Most", and featured portions of Kurt Cobain's suicide note in the bridge. The existence of these early titles were confirmed when several title iterations of "Eulogy" were listed on the riverscuomo.com demo storefront in October of 2020.
The liner notes for Everything Will Be Alright in the End groups songs by one of three themes. "Eulogy for a Rock Band" is grouped under the category "Patriarchia" (songs about Cuomo's relationships with father figures). Ryen Slegr and Daniel Brummel of the band Ozma have writing credits on the song. Rivers Cuomo, when asked about the meaning of the song in an interview for the Wall Street Journal, said that the song was about one of Weezer's "fore-fathers:"[1]
In that case, I was reflecting on one of Weezer’s musical fore-fathers who is in his late stage of his career. Reached the highest highs and I couldn’t help realize that as much as he achieved, there’s gonna come a time when the next generations don’t continue listening to his music. And he will be forgotten, along with the rest of us. And that’s a sobering thought for those of us who are striving now to achieve even a fraction of what he achieved.
The song contains a seemingly ambiguous lyric ("Fifteen/fifty years of ruling the planet"). Though the album version seems to use the lyric "fifteen", the earlier version of the song leaked online seems to use "fifty". The album's liner notes reinforce this ambiguity, displaying lyrics for the song with an inkblot over the word in question. In an episode of the podcast Post-Pinkerton, host John Carroll observed that Cuomo was known to have listened to the Beach Boys album That's Why God Made the Radio via Spotify a year prior to EWBAITE's release, an album released nearly fifty years into the band's career, suggesting that Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, known to have been a massive influence in Weezer's early sound, may be the musician described in "Eulogy".[2] In 2020, various demos were released as part of the digital compilation Weezma: Daniel, Ryen & Rivers, including an earlier version titled "Beatle That We Loved the Most," suggesting that the song may refer to a member of the rock band the Beatles (most likely Paul McCartney). When asked who, specifically, the song was about during a Reddit AMA in 2014, Cuomo replied "We'll tell you on the day he dies."[3]
Shortly after EWBAITE's release, an instrumental-only version of the album was leaked online. In December 2017, an early version of the album was leaked, featuring an early iteration of "Eulogy" previously heard in a teaser video for the album.[4]
Personnel
- Rivers Cuomo – guitar, lead vocals
- Patrick Wilson – drums
- Brian Bell – guitar, backing vocals
- Scott Shriner – bass guitar, backing vocals
- Daniel Brummel - keyboard, piano
- Ric Ocasek - producer
Audio
Lyrics
The lyrical variants for "Eulogy for a Rock Band" are too numerous to list here. For an exhaustive list, see Lyrics: Eulogy for a Rock Band.
Eulogy for a Rock Band
Goodbye, heroes
You had a good run
Fifteen years of ruling the planet
But now your light is fading
Adios, rock band that we loved the most
This is a toast to what you did
And all that you were fighting for
Who could do more?
When time marches on
Worlds come and go
We will sing the melodies that you did long ago
Women were screaming
Guys were copying you
As you moved the people to sobbing, inspiring
You spoke for the world in your songs
Adios, rock band that we loved the most
This is a toast to what you did
And all that you were fighting for
Who could do more?
When time marches on
Worlds come and go
We will sing the melodies that you did long ago
Ooh, we'll never forget the jams you made
Ooh, let it fade
Ooh, it's time that we laid you in your grave
Ooh, let it fade
Ooh, goodbye
Adios, rock band that we loved the most
This is a toast to what you did
And all that you were fighting for
Who could do more?
When time marches on
Worlds come and go
We will sing the melodies that you did long ago
Known recordings
| Performer(s) | Title | Filename | Date of recording | Recording location | Length | Appeared on | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rivers Cuomo | The Band We Loved the Most | The Band We Loved The Most inst.mp3 | 1:24 | Weezma: Daniel, Ryen & Rivers | |||
| Rivers Cuomo | The Band We Loved the Most | The Band We Loved The Most inst 2.mp3 | 3:08 | Weezma: Daniel, Ryen & Rivers | |||
| Rivers Cuomo | The Band We Loved the Most | The Band We Loved The Most 3.mp3 | 3:08 | Weezma: Daniel, Ryen & Rivers | |||
| Rivers Cuomo | The Band We Loved the Most | The Band We Loved The Most 4.mp3 | 3:08 | Weezma: Daniel, Ryen & Rivers | |||
| Rivers Cuomo | The Band We Loved the Most | The Band We Loved The Most 5.mp3 | 3:08 | Weezma: Daniel, Ryen & Rivers | |||
| Rivers Cuomo | The Band We Loved the Most | The Band We Loved The Most 6.mp3 | 3:08 | Weezma: Daniel, Ryen & Rivers | |||
| Rivers Cuomo | Shining Stars | Shining Stars 8.mp3 | 3:08 | Weezma: Daniel, Ryen & Rivers | |||
| Rivers Cuomo | Shining Stars | Shining Star 9.mp3 | 3:08 | Weezma: Daniel, Ryen & Rivers | |||
| Rivers Cuomo | Shining Stars | Shining Star 10.mp3 | 3:08 | Weezma: Daniel, Ryen & Rivers | |||
| Rivers Cuomo | Shining Stars | Shining Star 11.mp3 | 3:08 | Weezma: Daniel, Ryen & Rivers | |||
| Rivers Cuomo | Shining Stars | Shining Star 12.mp3 | 3:08 | Weezma: Daniel, Ryen & Rivers | |||
| Rivers Cuomo | Shining Stars | Shining Star 13.mp3 | 3:08 | Weezma: Daniel, Ryen & Rivers | |||
| Rivers Cuomo | Shining Stars | Shining Star 14.mp3 | 3:08 | Weezma: Daniel, Ryen & Rivers | |||
| Rivers Cuomo | Shining Stars | Shining Star 15.mp3 | 3:08 | Weezma: Daniel, Ryen & Rivers | |||
| Rivers Cuomo | Shining Stars | Shining Star 16.mp3 | 3:08 | Weezma: Daniel, Ryen & Rivers | |||
| Rivers Cuomo | Superfan | Work 11-26-2012 11h23m42s.mp3 | November 26, 2012 | 2:29 | Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years | ||
| Rivers Cuomo | Superfan | Superfan 17.mp3 | 3:07 | Weezma: Daniel, Ryen & Rivers | |||
| Rivers Cuomo | Superfan | Superfan 18.mp3 | 3:07 | Weezma: Daniel, Ryen & Rivers | |||
| Rivers Cuomo | Superfan | Superfan 18 1.mp3 | 3:07 | Weezma: Daniel, Ryen & Rivers | Duplicate of "Superfan 18.mp3" | ||
| Rivers Cuomo | Superfan | Superfan 20.mp3 | 3:06 | Weezma: Daniel, Ryen & Rivers | |||
| Rivers Cuomo | Beatle That We Loved the Most | Beatle That We Loved The Most 21.mp3 | 3:04 | Weezma: Daniel, Ryen & Rivers | |||
| Rivers Cuomo | Rock Star | Rock Star 23.mp3 | 3:04 | Weezma: Daniel, Ryen & Rivers | |||
| Rivers Cuomo | Rock Star | Rock Star 24.mp3 | 3:08 | Weezma: Daniel, Ryen & Rivers | |||
| Rivers Cuomo | Eulogy for a Rock Band | Eulogy For A Rock Band 26.m4a[5] | |||||
| Rivers Cuomo | Eulogy for the Rock Stars | Eulogy For The Rock Stars 28.mp3[5] | |||||
| Rivers Cuomo | Superstars | Superstars 29.mp3 | 3:08 | Weezma: Daniel, Ryen & Rivers | |||
| Rivers Cuomo | Superstars | Superstars 31.mp3 | 3:08 | Weezma: Daniel, Ryen & Rivers | |||
| Rivers Cuomo(?) | Eulogy for a Rock Band | Eulogy For A Rock Band 37.mp3[5] | |||||
| Weezer | Eulogy for a Rock Band | Eulogy For A Rock Band 38 band.wav[5] | |||||
| Weezer | Eulogy for the Rock Stars | Eulogy For The Rock Stars 36 band.wav[5] | |||||
| Weezer(?) | Eulogy for a Rock Band(?) | Eulogy - 1-12-14.mp3[5] | January 12, 2014 | ||||
| Weezer | Eulogy for a Rock Band | 10 Eulogy For A Rock Band.mp3 | 2014 | The Village, Los Angeles, CA | 3:10 | Early mix. Clip heard in EWBAITE Teaser #10.[4] Leaked in December 2017. | |
| Weezer | Eulogy for a Rock Band | 2014 | The Village, Los Angeles, CA | 3:25 | Instrumental version of album release | ||
| Weezer | Eulogy for a Rock Band | 2014 | The Village, Los Angeles, CA | 3:25 | Everything Will Be Alright in the End | Album release |
See also
References
- ↑ Ayers, Mike. "Rivers Cuomo: ‘I Can’t Imagine Weezer Stopping’ The Wall Street Journal. 7 October 2014. "http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2014/10/07/rivers-cuomo-weezer-interview/
- ↑ Carroll, John. "Eulogy for a Rock Band" Post-Pinkerton. 28 August 2019. https://postpinkerton.com/eulogy-for-a-rock-band
- ↑ u/rivercuomo "I am Rivers Cuomo from weezer. AMA." Reddit. 20 November 2014. https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2mxh4o/i_am_rivers_cuomo_from_weezer_ama/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 weezer "EWBAITE 10 "Eulogy For A Rock Band"" YouTube. 2014 June 26. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9Du6JOTkz4
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 List of unreleased demo files