The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
I'm me
Me be
Goddamn
I am
I can
Sing and
Here me
Know me
If you want to destroy my sweater
Hold this thread as I walk away
Oh no
It go
It gone
Bye-Bye
Who I
I think
I sink
and I die
If you want to destroy my sweater
Hold this thread as I walk away
Watch me unravel I'll soon be naked
Lying on the floor, I've come undone
If you want to destroy my sweater
[I don't want to destroy your tank-top]
Hold this thread as I walk away
[Let's be friends and just walk away]
Watch me unravel I'll soon be naked
[It's good to see you lyin' there in your Superman skivvies]
Lying on the floor, I've come undone
[Lying on the floor, I've come undone]
Me be
Goddamn
I am
I can
Sing and
Here me
Know me
If you want to destroy my sweater
Hold this thread as I walk away
Oh no
It go
It gone
Bye-Bye
Who I
I think
I sink
and I die
If you want to destroy my sweater
Hold this thread as I walk away
Watch me unravel I'll soon be naked
Lying on the floor, I've come undone
If you want to destroy my sweater
[I don't want to destroy your tank-top]
Hold this thread as I walk away
[Let's be friends and just walk away]
Watch me unravel I'll soon be naked
[It's good to see you lyin' there in your Superman skivvies]
Lying on the floor, I've come undone
[Lying on the floor, I've come undone]
Lyrics submitted by oofus, edited by walshywalsh1
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
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This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
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I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
"'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/
I'm tired of reading crap about this song. Here is what it REALLY is about! In 1992 a song called The Sweater by Meryn Caddell came out. It was about a girl who borrows a sweater from a boy on a camping trip. The girl spends hours with the sweater after getting home and develops an attraction for the boy. She wears it to school and another girl gives her a note saying the boy just wants his sweater back. The girl takes it off and noticing it is 100% polyester considers outing the boy as a cheapskate.
KROQ the alternative FM station played that song a LOT as they have a habit of doing. Weezer made a demo of Undone as an answer to the song and sent it to the station as a joke. The songs got played back to back quite a few times. Weezer got signed to Elektra in 1993 and the rest is history.
Thank you!
@GedofMyaz I was wondering how they got their start
@GedofMyaz Good to know. That explains how the song got started, but doesn't explain the meaning. You said it was just a joke, but it isn't funny at all. The lyrics "Watch me unravel, I'll soon be naked. Lying on the floor, I've come undone", it's clearly talking about the person, and not the sweater. So the sweater MUST be a metaphor for something...Either the relationship, his heart, or his mentality, or all three..
Based on both songs, Here is my theory... The boy and girl are obviously good friends, cuz you don't camp with someone, lend them your sweater, and sleep next to them if they're a stranger. However the girl wants to be more than friends, but the boy doesn't. He still cares about her alot, but every time she tries to pull him into a relationship, he has to walk away. Therefore, the more she pulls on the sweater/relationship, the more it destroys their friendship. Which is adding emotional/mental stress on the boy, making him come undone.
@GedofMyaz THANK YOU. I was going to post like a partial cuz I didn't know as much. I knew it was a Girl kifed a guy's sweater which any self respecting Punky Alty Daria must have. Sublime Stoner chix that smelled like weed fast food smokes and semi consensual sex a dog sy be involved and would steal All their clothes from their dog shit depressing population center think upstate New York - Utica or Niagara Falls. That place is slack jaw paint huffing test screen people so you try Canada and it's irl Trailer Park Boys except Julian went to Montreal (I say H. A. associate gets rid of dead bodies and does hard drugs. Same type of car. Tornado. 72.) and Ricky and Lucy-actually them-yelling at each other 6 Ricky's die from knife wounds a month. 2 Lucy's go missing though everyone knows what happed but Lucy corpses don't get pulled from Lake Ontario. Julian's tossed some cuz Lucy Beter Deals Ricky for a Biker bit Lucy gotta have a Ricky on deck and there smarter than a dumb guy. Not clean cuz even if they don't care Jail House Rules apply. Sublime fans are dumber than juggalos or anybody-Everyone of them I asked didn't know who Sanchito is. Sometimes they say "A punk. Bitch. I fuck them up ALL DAY." Julian gets a phone call. Weezer. sweater leads to girl. Girl/Rivers is creepy and revolting. If he wasn't famous he'd be a convicted Sex Offender with a double dose of Chemical Penis Pesticide. If you can't see the ocean from your house (Chicago is exempt) your fucked. Though if you aren't dum you can FTW and get all the Sublime Stoner/Lucy pussy you-well if you want it. <br /> You know what's a good song? 30th Century Man Scott Walker version. See ya you can meet up with me and Charles de Gaulle. I want to tell him about the UDSR and he will want to celebrate before getting his Commission in the AI/Human War if he understands Surgical Strike Warfare. Shock and Awe is a diversion/psyop. Hard to explain but not REALPOLITIK (Kissinrger Ideology) I got a solid grasp but explaining it is hard though I can give research tips that are basic. Burma (you understand it Communism is of the table but you can be Social Democrat. Kissinrger did say Corporations WILL fuck you and regulations are nessecsry. Wonder why he won't be there with Charles they kept Ariel Sharon on life support for like 20 years because of the belief in Singularity as Religious. The ones that try to Crack the Torah. Small percentage but in Power. Cut them off-they got Juruselem. they Indigenous North Americans are going for their spot and deserve it. <br />
haha... yeah, it is funny. I can always tell a real weezer fan by this song... if you know the whole song (and by the whole song I mean the part w/ the guys and the party or reunion or whateve it is) then you listen to weezer way too much, which makes you a REAL weezer fan because as everyone knows, there is no such thing as way too much weezer.
I do indeed know what Rivers said about this song, so I guess that being that he wrote this song, he is the ultimate "song analyzer" but I still love to analyze this song. I think it is really about mental illness, or at least someone trying to hide their mental illness. The sweater is their comfort object, and it keeps the rest of the world from knowing about the mental illness of the character in the song. And people gradually remove bits and pieces of his sweater until it is fully gone and everyone recognizes it, or the character himself takes it apart by his mental illness gradually getting worse. And the sweater is fully gone when he gets diagnosed. Dig? And the parts like "I don't want to destroy your tank top" or the "Superman skivvies" line shows that while some people are clinging on to a "thread" and not going insane from the pressures of day to day life, they aren't letting anybody destroy their comfort object, and aren't destroying it themselves by revealing their near-insanity. The main character recognizes that these people have problems as well and doesn't want to destroy their comfort object because he realizes how painful it is when people do that to him.
@coolstorybro123 If he is trying to hide the metal illness, then why does it seem like he's given up on his sweater, "If you want to destroy my sweater / Hold this thread as I walk away"? It doesn't say he's cared before, but it's obvious he doesn't care now.
i think the beauty of this song is it can mean many things
trying to lose self consciousness and anxiety, and be free to live as themselves, undone from their social sweater
The guys in Weezer apparently have smoked a lot of weed.
So I always assumed this song was about the weird social cocoon you find yourself in when you go to a party where everybody's drunk, but you're completely stoned. The short lines “I'm me — Me be — Goddamn - I am” represents disjointed existential thinking. The singer finds his 'center' of self assurance in the fact that he is, he can, and he can sing. In this manner, he avoids stoned paranoia, and is content to just chill out. However in this situation some people, especially drunk people, will find it funny to try and disturb a drug user. The sweater is therefore the comfy high the singer is enjoying at the party, but this could potentially be ruined by others. The ease with which this is possible is represented by the simplicity of pulling a thread while he walks away. Later on the singer mentions that after unraveling his sweater, he'll be naked, and I take this to mean his ego will be fragile.
The relevance of the tank top and superman skivvies I thought was the dress of the antagonist who seeks to ruin the singer's vibe. There's hope of a peaceful resolution in that the singer doesn't want to “destroy your tank-top” (ruin his good time) and they should just be friends and walk away. The superman skivvies seems like something a 'lad' (or 'frat-boy' in the US I'd imagine) would wear to a party but be embarrassed of when he passes out drunk and his friends steal his trousers (for a joke). At the end of the song, the negative consequences of both drugs are mirrored when “Lying on the floor, I've come undone” is repeated.
Of course, it could still be about a relationship, but being Weezer I'm not so sure.
@onetwothreefourfive 'The guys in Weezer apparently have smoked a lot of weed. ' Of course they have!
this is a song that is funnier then hell!! I have been a weezer fan since day 1.
I think it's about seeing old friends with whom you no longer identify with. You walk away, no remorse, they see you for the human-hater you are. Everyone wins, which is why it's funny. Man I hate everyone right now. Is that coloring my interpretation?
does anyone else think that this song has the weirdest lyrics ever? (Apart from Tourette's)
lol i do...this is one of the strangest songs ever but damn, weezer rocks