Hold Me
| "Hold Me" | |||||
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| Album track by Weezer | |||||
| Album | Make Believe | ||||
| Released | May 10, 2005 | ||||
| Format | CD, Vinyl | ||||
| Recorded | December 2003 - Summer 2004 (Demo recorded March 6, 2003) | ||||
| Length | 4:23 | ||||
| Label | Geffen | ||||
| Writer(s) | Rivers Cuomo | ||||
| COR# | 426 | ||||
| Producer(s) | Weezer, Rick Rubin, Chad Bamford | ||||
| Status | Officially released (demo circulating) | ||||
| Stream |  Spotify |
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 Apple Music |
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| Make Believe track listing | |||||
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"Hold Me" is the fourth track from Make Believe.
Contents
Appearances
Overview
Weezer fans first heard "Hold Me" as an acoustic demo, recorded by Rivers Cuomo on March 6, 2003 and thereafter shared with fans online. It was one of the last demos Cuomo shared with fans during this period. Cuomo wrote the song after a period of fasting, though he made himself clear in various interviews in 2005 that he did not recommend such drastic measure to create songwriting opportunities because it could not be sustained. Therefore, he was always somewhat reluctant to share with people how "Hold Me" was written. The song was later heard by fans when a brief clip recorded at S.I.R. Studios was uploaded for fans featuring part of the solo and the final chorus, backed by a whole band. Karl Koch explained,
"There is a (partial) full band electric version of "Hold Me" that was shared with fans by Rivers via a direct-to-fan mp3 sharing, around this time, soon after the acoustic home demo of Hold Me was released (see 3/6/03 above). It does not show up on the known SIR tapes from this period, but there was a lot of confusion and some unfinished/undocumented stuff around this time so it may have slipped away from the cataloging process. According to the talk at the time, the personnel on this recording is Rivers and Scott plus 2 fill in players. This does match what was going on in the SIR sessions at the time."
"Hold Me" was almost always on Rivers' "A-List" during the Make Believe pre-production. It was only once removed from the A-List on a July 4, 2004 Recording session. "Hold Me" was often played live during the first Make Believe tour.
Band Commentary
HOLD ME
- Pat: It’s just beautiful; it’s huge-sounding
- Rivers: I think I was trying a foolish experiment of fasting and seeing how that would affect my songwriting. So, I think I was extremely hungry when I wrote that song.
- Brian: I can’t say anything better than that! But it’s a powerful song dynamically. It’s really ballsy to play that song, to have Rivers do an intro that long before the band kicks in is a little bit frightening. And it seems to work; it has a very grandiose impact.
- Rivers: When the back-up vocals come in in the second verse, that’s one of my favorite moments ever on a Weezer record.
- Scott: It’s just an example, for me, of playing as little as possible and it sounds so much bigger by playing the tiniest amount of bass. As light and small as I could, winds up being just twice as big.
- Brian: For some reason I liken it to ‘Say It Ain’t So’….and I don’t know why. I think it’s just the mellow verse into the huge chorus. It’s a great change.
Personnel
- Rivers Cuomo – lead guitar, lead vocals
- Patrick Wilson – percussion
- Brian Bell – rhythm guitar, backing vocals, piano
- Scott Shriner – bass guitar, backing vocals
- Rick Rubin - producer
- Neal Avron - mixing
Audio
Demo
"Electric" clip
Album version
Lyrics
I am terrified of all things
Frightened of the dark
I am
You are taller than a mountain
Deeper than the sea
You are
Hold me
Hold me
Take me with you 'cause I'm lonely
I was closer to you back then
I was happier
I was
You are fading further from me
Why don't you come home to me?
Hold me
Hold me
Take me with you 'cause I'm lonely
I am
I am cold
Hold me
Hold me
Hold me
Take me with you 'cause I'm lonely
Hold me
Hold me
Take me with you 'cause I'm lonely
Hold me
Hold me
