Sheila Can Do It
| "Sheila Can Do It" | |||||
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| Album track by Weezer | |||||
| Album | Van Weezer | ||||
| Released | May 7, 2021 | ||||
| Recorded | 2020 | ||||
| Label | Crush Music/Atlantic Records | ||||
| Writer(s) | Rivers Cuomo, Kevin Ridel | ||||
| RC# | 218 | ||||
| Producer(s) | Suzy Shinn | ||||
| Status | Released (Weezer version) live bootleg circulating (Homie version) |
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| Stream |  Spotify |
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| Van Weezer track listing | |||||
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| Rivers Cuomo song chronology | |||||
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| Promotional cover art | |||||
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"Sheila Can Do It" (likely originally titled "Rachel"; sometimes rendered as "Sheila Can Do (It)") is the eighth track from Van Weezer. It was originally written by Rivers Cuomo in early 1996.
Contents
Appearances
-
Alone IV: The Blue-Pinkerton Years(2020) - Van Weezer (2021)
Overview
"Sheila Can Do It" was written early in 1996 during Cuomo's time spent at Harvard University. Cuomo's handwritten lyrics for the song (under the title "Rachel") are dated February 22[1]. The song, along with "Sunshine O", was notably written around the same time as Pinkerton tracks "Across the Sea", "The Good Life", "Falling For You", and "Butterfly". In a 2020 entry on the Riverpedia section of Cuomo's personal website, Cuomo confirmed that the song was partially inspired by Rachel Haden. The song never appeared on an album, but was performed at Homie shows in 1997, and rehearsed for the intended (albeit scrapped) Homie album.
During a Homie performance of the song at The Middle East in Cambridge, a woman exclaimed “That’s me!” upon Cuomo’s announcement of the song title. During a performance at T.T. The Bear’s Place a few weeks later, Cuomo asked if the same Sheila was there (she wasn’t)[2]
The song was allegedly [3] considered by Cuomo for inclusion on Weezer's planned ninth album (that eventually became Everything Will Be Alright in the End), but the idea was quickly scrapped.
A rehearsal recording from September of 1997 was included among hundreds of demos leaked online through the demo storefront on riverscuomo.com on November 7, 2020. A single copy of the song was sold to a user upon the storefront's launch on November 9, whereupon it was made freely available for other users. The recording was briefly available as part of the digital compilation Alone IV: The Blue-Pinkerton Years, but was removed due to the presence of performers other than Cuomo.
In a Riverpedia entry on September 3, 2020, Cuomo confirmed that the song "Eventually came out on Van Weezer."[4] Cuomo noted in the same entry a few days later that the song's hook resembled the Ridel High song "Monsters Under Your Bed". "Sheila Can Do It" was released on Van Weezer on May 7, 2021. Kevin Ridel is a credited songwriter, due to the song's resemblance to the aforementioned Ridel High song.
Live performances
Audio
Van Weezer
Bootlegs/rehearsals
Lyrics
If Sheila can do it, I can do it
I don't see the problem with that
She is my other, a sister to a brother
And look at the thing that she's done
She looks like she's havin' fun
And I don’t see the problem with that
She's shaving her legs and she's feelin' all right
She's puttin' on jeans of the type that are tight
She's gettin' herself ready to take on the night
If I feel my heart is getting watered down
If I feel my heart is getting watered down
If I feel my heart is getting watered down
Then I'll stop, and I'll turn, and I'll say
Man, if you’d seen this girl about two years ago
Seen her then and seen her now
I swear you’d never know
That who you was seein' was the same pistachio
If I feel my heart is getting watered down
If I feel my heart is getting watered down
If I feel my heart is getting watered down
Then I'll stop, and I'll turn, and I'll say
If Sheila can do it, I can do it
I don't see the problem with that
She is my other, a sister to a brother
And look at the thing that she’s done
She looks like she's havin' fun
And I don’t see the problem with that
If I feel my heart is getting watered down
If I feel my heart is getting watered down
If I feel my heart is getting watered down
Then I'll stop, and I'll turn, and I'll say
If Sheila can do it, I know that I can do it
I don't see the problem with that
She is my other, a sister to a brother
And look at the thing that she’s done
She looks like she's havin' fun (She looks like she's having fun)
And I don’t see the problem with that (And I don't see the problem with that)
She looks like she's havin' fun (She looks like she's having fun)
And I don’t see the problem
I don’t see the problem with that
(Bye, Sheila!)
See Also
References
- ↑ Cuomo, Rivers. The Pinkerton Diaries. Self-published, 2011
- ↑ Sheila. Comment on "Sheila Can Do (It)." Teenage Victory Songs, 19 June 2009, https://web.archive.org/web/20160203060822/http://tvs.soymilkrevolution.com/?p=571#comment-9654; archived via Wayback Machine
- ↑ the nest. "Is Rules of Life top 3 on ewbaite?" All Things Weezer forum, 10 April 2018. http://www.allthingsweezer.com/index.php?threads/is-rules-of-life-top-3-on-ewbaite.45503/page-4#post-1556431
- ↑ Cuomo, Rivers. "Sheila Can Do It", Mister Rivers' Neighborhood, 3 December 2020, https://www.riverscuomo.com/wiki/Sheila%20Can%20Do%20It
