I Still Go Back
Only In Dreams - Weezer (Blast from the Past Sunday)
For my generation, Weezer is usually regarded as a joke. The blue album in particular is an iconic symbol, the awkwardly posed cover spawning probably hundreds of parodies. Case in point— Halloween ‘22 my friends and I dressed as the blue album cover, and it was awesome. (I was Matt Sharp, the second from the right, and I had his pose and face down, by the way.) Anyways, I guess I’m trying to set this up by saying I didn’t used to take Weezer very seriously. It’s not that I didn’t like their music. I actually really enjoyed it! But I just didn’t think of them as really having a song that could have a big impact on me… that is, until I heard “Only In Dreams” for the first time.
I don’t really know why I had been listening to the album. My guess is I was probably in the process of making yet another running playlist, as both “Surf Wax America” and “Holiday” are great to jog to. I probably hit the shuffle button or something, or maybe I just hit it on accident, but the first few seconds were enough to keep me hanging on until it was over. The rest of the blue album is a lot of fast and heavy songs, so to hear a slower, isolated bass was more than enough to pique my interest. It’s got one of those staggered, slow-drip intros where the instruments come in slowly, a buildup that really makes the listener ready for what comes next. I love the order too, as I think the deep, thrumming bass just makes your heart heavy right away, showing you this is not a tune to be overlooked. The cymbal is light instead of crashing, a good contrast that lifts the sound up a little. Then comes the acoustic guitar to lighten it up even more, followed by a steady snare. Then and only then does the electric guitar comes in, a lamenting-ly strange pattern that I feel holds a lot within the simplicity of it. And that’s only the first minute!!
The vocals are absolutely perfect, a single-tracked softer version of what Rivers Cuomo has the ability to do. The addition of a falsetto on certain words is absolutely perfect, adding a depth to it, interestingly enough. The backing vocals are like a chorus of angels, or rather the voices that haunt the protagonist of the song, reminding him that she’s always “in the air”, no matter what. Then we switch up to the heavy part, where the instruments get totally buzzy and explosive yet the vocals stay virtually the same, only losing slight control when Cuomo opts for a stronger stab at the second chorus. This is in perfect balance with the second verse, where he gets quieter than ever before, the moment where I feel like he is most convincing with his words. They then bring it all back full force for the final chorus, a crashingly impactful series of events that’ll knock the wind right out of you. Ending with the familiar bass line is the greatest way to go, a cycle that leads you right back to the beginning of the song.
If you need any more proof that “Only in Dreams” is a heck of a great song, let me just tell you that I had no idea that it was almost eight minutes long until I sat down to write this. Eight minutes, and I still go back for seconds, thirds, fourths… you get the picture. Anyways, sometimes when I listen to the blue album, I tend to stare at the cover as I listen. Especially when I’m spinning “Only in Dreams”, sometimes I wonder how the heck the guys on the cover made music like this. When I found out they were going on tour to play the blue album in full later this year (with Dinosaur Jr. AND The Flaming Lips, no less) the first thing I thought of was how awesome it would be to see this song live. However, when I went to check out tickets, I found it was all sold out. I guess I’ll only be hearing it live in my dreams.
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