Rivers CuomoBy Sean Parsons

The Man in the Making:A biography

Early Life

• Rivers was born on June 13th, 1970 in New York

• He spent his childhood on a Hindu Ashram where he attended private school in Connecticut

• After high school Rivers moved to Las Angeles to begin a career in music

Avant Garde• While still living in Connecticut, Rivers formed

his first band Avant Garde • In 1989 the band moved to Las Angeles• The band dissolved in 1990 changing its name

to Zoom

Weezer

• Rivers Cuomo, Patrick Wilson, Matt Sharp, and Jason Cropper joined forces to create Weezer in 1992

• One year later the band signed a record deal with Geffen Records

• « The Blue Album » was released as the bands first album.

« The Blue Album »

Future Albums

• Pinkerton (1996)• The Green Album (2001)• Maladroit (2002)• Make Believe (2005)• The Red Album (2008)• Raditude (2009)• Hurley and Death to False Metal

(2010)

Compositions

• « Buddy Holly »

• « Say it Ain’t So »

• « The Greatest Man That Ever Lived »

« Buddy Holly »

• Recorded in 1994• Reached #2 on the U.S. Modern

Rock Tracks list• Rivers was inspired by one of his

friends to write this song• Originally the chorus was “You look

just like Ginger Rodgers… Oh oh, I move just like Fred Astaire” but was later changed

« Buddy Holly »Buddy Holly on Rhapsody

• 0:00 – The song has no intro• 0:16 – Pre Chorus• 0:25 – Vocals move to falsetto and lead into Chorus• 0:28 – Chorus. Rhythm is the same but a different chord

progression emerges• 0:44 – Synthesizer solo to prelude the second verse• 0:52 – Second Verse• 1:07 – Pre Chorus begins again• 1:19 – Chorus is played for the second time• 1:39 – The bridge begins with more of a rap style• 1:55 – Pre Chorus • 2:10 – Third and final Chorus• 2:27 – Coda

« Say it Ain’t So »

• Recorded in 1994• Rivers wrote the entire song with just one line

“say it ain’t so”• This song was inspired by a childhood memory

involving his parents splitting up and his moms new marriage

• Listen to the deep emotion in the song• The bridge represents the climax of emotion

« Say It Ain’t So »Say It Ain't So on Rhapsody

• 0:00 – Into. Very reggae-ish style to set a relaxed tone.• 0:06 – Theme A• 0:12 – Part of the chorus is sung here• 0:25 – The first verse begins with theme B• 0:44 – Theme A returns• 0:57 – Verse two begins bringing back theme B• 1:16 – First full Chorus. The guitar is more distored to change the mood

and tone of the song to a mroe serious and not so relaxed.• 1:41 – Theme A returns• 1:54 – Theme B with verse three• 2:19 – Chorus is played for the second time• 2:44 – The bridge comes in with its deep emotion spurring from memories

of River’s childhood

« Say It Ain’t So »• 3:17 – There is a guitar solo here to lead into the final

chorus• 3:35 – This is the last chorus of the song• 4:01 – Theme A returns to to end the song

« The Greatest Man »• Appeared on the Red Album in 2008• Rivers main reason for writing this song was because of the

fact that he was sick and tired of writing verse chorus verse songs.

• This is one of Rivers personal favorites• As you listen, pay attention to the many forms • Many inspirations for this song including

– Nirvana– Elvis– Aerosmith– Bach– Beethoven

« The Greatest Man That Ever Lived»

• Watch an interview with Rivers as he walks us through the writing of this song

• Video Interview With Rivers Cuomo

« The Greatest Man »The Greatest Man That Ever Lived on Rhapsody

• 0:00 – Audience applause• 0:10 – Piano Intro: resembles « Simple Things »• 0:33 – The quiet timbre of the piano is replaced by a blaring siren• 0:49 – Piano return• 1:00 – Rap Variation• 1:27 – Jeff Buckley Variation• 1:51 – Choral Variation resembling Sousa or Gilmore• 2:17 – Aerosmith Variation• 2:43 – Nirvana Variation• 3:08 – Andrew Sisters Variation• 3:33 – Green Day Variation• 4:06 – Elvis Presley Variation• 4:37 – Bach Variation. Polyphoic

« The Greatest Man »• 5:11 – The song ends in Weezers own style. Towards the

end the tempo slows down entering the coda