From: Matt [mailto:xxx@yahoo.com]
Sent: Sunday, December 02, 2001 8:11 PM
To: karl@weezer.net
Subject: Another Rivers Voice Comment

Karl, Rivers, whoever,

Much has been said about the structure of your songs. Some say they repeat far too much. My question is when did you start to write like this? The earliest example of this that I can find is in the song "American Girls", which is excellent I might add. This new style of song writing seems to build upon two or three melodic themes, and then repeat them. The exact opposite of this would be something like "Across the Sea" which continually builds different melodic themes throughout the song. Which is easier for you to write? For me, I either write in a flurry of emotion, never repeating melodic sections, or I write like you have been recently. If I write the way you do, it sometimes takes me days to finish a song and sometimes the spirit of the moment is lost. Could this be why the new songs seem to lack emotion?
-Matt

Dear Mr. xxx,

Either method seems to be pretty easy, although I haven't written in the continually-building style since Pinkerton. Round about the time I wrote American Girls, I started getting interested in what one of my professors calls "Strophic" composition: where one verse is essentially the same as the last. I think this form produces less "emotional" music, but the masters of the form, including the Beatles and Nirvana, don't seem to let their listeners down with it. I'll admit I haven't found a way to pull it off yet.
What are some of your favorite recent releases?

Sincerely,

Rivers Cuomo