Pink Triangle

From Weezerpedia
Jump to: navigation, search
"Pink Triangle"
Pink Triangle cover
Single by Weezer
Album Pinkerton
Released September 24, 1996
Recorded Spring 1996 at Sound City Studios, Van Nuys, CA
Length 3:58
Label DGC Records
Writer(s) Rivers Cuomo
RC# 212
Producer(s) Weezer
Status Released
Weezer singles chronology
"The Good Life"
(1996)
"Pink Triangle"
(1996)
"Hash Pipe"
(2001)
Pinkerton track listing
"El Scorcho"
(7)
"Pink Triangle"
(8)
"Falling for You"
(9)
Rivers Cuomo song chronology
(unknown)
(RC# 211)
"Pink Triangle"
(RC# 212)
"El Scorcho"
(RC# 213)

"Pink Triangle" is the eighth track and third single from Pinkerton.

Appearances

Overview

"Pink Triangle" was written by Rivers Cuomo (around late October/early November of 1995,[1][2] while attending Harvard) about a woman with whom he was infatuated, only to later realize, after seeing her wear a pink triangle button on her backpack, that she was (ostensibly) a lesbian.[3] Cuomo remained friends with the woman after writing the song, only to learn a year and a half later (after the release of Pinkerton), that she was not a lesbian.[3] "I went to visit her and it was the first time I was in her dorm room. There was poster after poster of macho men on the wall. I asked her, 'Are you into guys?' She said 'Of course I am'... I said to her 'I really have something to tell you.'"[4]

"Pink Triangle" was among the first songs Cuomo wrote following a painful surgery the previous April to lengthen his right femur, which had grown nearly two inches shorter than his left due to a congenital condition. These new, personal songs were the beginnings of a shift away from Cuomo's original plan for Weezer's sophomore album (a musical "rock opera" dubbed Songs from the Black Hole) and towards what would eventually become Pinkerton.

In early 1997, "Pink Triangle" was chosen as Pinkerton's third and final single. The band's label, Geffen, requested that the band clean up the song before releasing it to radio, so a recording session at Fort Apache was scheduled.[5][6] Bassist Matt Sharp, who was busy working on the Rentals' sophomore album in London, was unable to attend on short notice, so Weezer held tryouts to find a replacement,[2] ultimately selecting Scott Riebling (then-bassist for Letters to Cleo). Two unfinished songs from the Pinkerton sessions, "Getting Up and Leaving" and "I Swear It's True," were finished in the studio to be released as B-sides on a planned retail single. Ultimately, this single never materialized, and the aforesaid B-sides were not heard by fans until the release of the Deluxe Edition of Pinkerton in 2010. Only a promotional CD/cassette for radio was released, which included the remix, as well as a live performance of the song from an acoustic concert at Shorecrest High School. This live performance also appeared on the Australian "OZ EP" release of "The Good Life."

Audio/video

Video Capture Device


Karlifyhead.png
An ad hoc video for a song that never got much of a fair shake as Pinkerton's 3rd single. The video includes studio work plus live footage from Reading '96 and shows in the summer of '97.


- Karl Koch, Video Capture Device booklet, 2004

"Pink Triangle" was given an unofficial music video, directed and edited by Karl Koch, as part of the band's Video Capture Device release. The audio used is the single version. The footage features Weezer recording the song in studio and playing it live in a variety of locations during the Pinkerton Tour.

Shorecrest High School live performance


Karlifyhead.png
The performance heard on the "O.Z. ep" and the "Pink Triangle" promo CD. Shorecrest won a contest held by 107.7 The End in Seattle, for a lunchtime performance by Weezer. Apparently the kids were stoked to learn some new vocab words...


- Karl Koch, Video Capture Device booklet, 2004


Cover art

Julie Kramer, later a DJ for the radio station WFNX in Boston, shot the photos intended for a "Pink Triangle" single.


We used to hang out. Rivers was a big ‘FNX fan. We would just do really creative things. I was into photography. When Pinkerton came out, when they released "Pink Triangle" as a single, he wanted the single photo to be of him in drag. So we would dress him up in lingerie and wigs. We had a ball. He brought the photos to the record company, but they wouldn’t do it. It’s funny, I gave him copies of all the photos and years later someone in his camp reached out to me and said, “We wanna use those photos you have of Rivers for his solo album” or whatever. But the funny thing was he saved them all! I was like, ‘oh man do I have track down all these photos, go through these negatives?’ but he had saved them all! We used to have a lot of fun just being really silly.”


- Julie Kramer, BDCwire oral history, 2014[7]


Personnel

Audio

Lyrics

Pink-Triangle-lyrics.jpg

When I'm stable long enough
I start to look around for love
See a sweet in floral print
My mind begins the arrangements
But when I start to feel that pull
Turns out I just pulled myself
She would never go with me
Were I the last girl on earth

I'm dumb, she's a lesbian
I thought I had found the one
We were good as married in my mind,
But married in my mind's no good
Oh, pink triangle on her sleeve
Let me know the truth, let me know the truth

Might have smoked a few in my time
But never thought it was a crime
Knew the day would surely come
When I'd chill and settle down
When I think I've found a good old-fashioned girl
Then she put me in my place
Everyone's a little queer
Can't she be a little straight?

I'm dumb, she's a lesbian
I thought I had found the one
We were good as married in my mind,
But married in my mind's no good
Oh, pink triangle on her sleeve
Let me know the truth, let me know the truth

I'm dumb, she's a lesbian
I thought I had found the one
We were good as married in my mind,
But married in my mind's no good
Oh, pink triangle on her sleeve
Let me know the truth, let me know the truth

I'm dumb, she's a lesbian
I thought I had found the one
We were good as married in my mind,
But married in my mind's no good
Oh, pink triangle on her sleeve
Let me know the truth, let me know the truth
Let me know the truth, let me know the truth

See also

References

  1. Cuomo, Rivers. The Pinkerton Diaries. 2011. Self-published.
  2. 2.0 2.1 The Grand File. 2002. http://weezerpedia.com/catalogofriffs.html
  3. 3.0 3.1 "Home Recordings from Weezer Frontman" NPR - Fresh Air with Terry Gross. 21 January 2009. https://www.npr.org/transcripts/99636767
  4. Sandor, Steven. "Weezer leader finds out she wasn’t a lesbian" Vue Weekly. 10 July, 1997. Transcript
  5. Pinkerton: Deluxe Edition, liner notes
  6. Weezer Recording History - Page 8
  7. "An Oral History of the Period Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo Spent in Cambridge While Attending Harvard" by Ryan Walsh, published 10.23.2014. BDCWire.com. Archived by Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20150929082849/https://www.bdcwire.com/an-oral-history-of-the-period-weezers-rivers-cuomo-spent-in-cambridge-while-attending-harvard/
  8. Julie Kramer Photography. https://juliekramer121.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/Rivers-Cuomo/G00002_opBy03yYs/I0000pypnzE3aDFY