"My Name Is Jonas" | |
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Promotional single by Weezer | |
from the album Weezer (The Blue Album) | |
Released | May 10, 1994 |
Recorded | August–September 1993 at Electric Lady Studios, NYC |
Genre | |
Length | 3:24 |
Label | DGC |
Songwriter(s) | |
Producer(s) | Ric Ocasek |
"My Name Is Jonas" is a song by the American rock band Weezer. It is the first track on the band's self-titled 1994 debut album, also known as The Blue Album as well as being the only promotional single off of the album. It was written by guitarist/vocalist Rivers Cuomo, drummer Patrick Wilson and guitarist Jason Cropper, and produced by Ric Ocasek. Cropper wrote the song's acoustic intro; it is one of his only Weezer songwriting credits, as he left the band before the release of its first album. [3]
The song was inspired by Cuomo's brother, who was having insurance problems after a serious car crash while at college. According to Cuomo, the song "explains how The Plan is reaming us all, especially my brother." [4] [5]
"My Name Is Jonas" was written in the key of B major. [6] However, as the song is played with guitars tuned a half-step down, it is played as if it were in the key of C.
Melissa Bobbitt at LiveAbout named "My Name is Jonas" the seventh best Weezer song, writing that its lyric "the workers are going home" was "a righteous way to kick off a weekend". [2] Michael Gallucci from Diffuser named it the third best Weezer song. [7] In his 2010 book Music: What Happened? , Scott Miller describes the song as "musicality everywhere, theatrical dynamics, little golden lyric details where the subplot reveals the whole mood." [8]
This song is featured in the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock as a playable track, and was released as a downloadable song for the Rock Band series [9] and Rocksmith 2014 .
Affinity covered the song on the album Rock Music: A Tribute to Weezer . [10]
In 2021, Taking Back Sunday released a cover of the song as a single. [11]
Weezer is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1992. Since 2001, the band has consisted of Rivers Cuomo, Patrick Wilson, Brian Bell, and Scott Shriner. They have sold 10 million albums in the US and more than 35 million worldwide.
Weezer is the third studio album by American rock band Weezer. It was released on May 15, 2001, by Geffen Records. It was the second Weezer album produced by Ric Ocasek, who produced their debut album, and it is the only studio album to feature bassist Mikey Welsh, as he left the band a few months after the album's release.
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Rivers Cuomo is an American musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter of the rock band Weezer.
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Weezer is the debut studio album by the American rock band Weezer, released on May 10, 1994, by DGC Records. It was produced by Ric Ocasek of The Cars.
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