Anybody think Weezer's Heart Songs has a nod to Edge in it?

[louielouie2000]

Has anyone else heard Weezer's "Heart Songs?" I think it's terrific. It's a nod to the band's all time favorite songs, kinda sung like a progression of how they were influenced. At the end it kinda goes "there are the songs I keep singin... these are the songs I keep singin..." Very "sings the song sounds like she's singin" esque :laugh:. I think it might be a nod to Stevie, but I can't decide. What do y'all think?

[louielouie2000]

Ok, here is a link to the song... listen to it, and tell me what y'all think. I definitely think the song has a nod to Stevie in the chorus with "these are the songs I keep singing"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58cRl7Kiwds
(sorry, I don't know how to imbed it into the thread lol)

[michelej1]

[From 2 Rob Gerry "The Unbehind" blog posts comparing EO17 to Bring on the Night]
http://unbehind.blogspot.com/search?q=bring+on+the+night

http://unbehind.blogspot.com/2014/02/bring-on-edge-of-night-continued.html

Saturday, June 29, 2013 Bring On the Edge of the Night, or "Having only one wing makes it exeedingly [sic] difficult to fly"

This has to be obvious to anyone that knows both of these songs, and I can't believe I didn't notice it until this week: "Edge of Seventeen" by Stevie Nicks uses elements of "Bring On the Night" by The Police in a very literal way:


The Wikipedia entry for "Edge of Seventeen" seems to suggest that it was session guitarist Waddy Wachtel's idea, while Wachtel claims ignorance in the interview that is cited on Wikipedia:

"I had never heard "Bring On the Night," and at that session they told me they were going to do this song based on this feel. I had heard something about the Police, but I didn't know what they were talking about. Then about two years ago, I had the radio on, and on comes what sounds like "Edge of Seventeen"-and all of a sudden, there's Sting's voice! I thought, "We ripped them off completely!" I called Stevie that night and said, "Listen to me, don't ever do that again!" "

I think the truth is in the middle somewhere. And I also think this may be an instance of the producers mishearing the Police track. Here's what I mean. First, the intro to "Bring On the Night" can be reduced as follows:

Lots of Police hallmarks here: a syncopated single-note guitar riff (which is picked up later by the bass, more or less) with wide, slow flanger (so clear with that constant, "lift the fretting hand ghost note" technique), bass drum on 2 and 4 (also seems to be running through a flanger and lots of reverb--synched with the guitar?), and hi-hat accents on the "ands." All of this adds up to a typical "Where the hell is 1?" Police intro. It's quite possible to mistakenly hear the accents on the hi-hat as downbeats, which in turn puts the bass drum on the "ands." Which brings me to the verse of "Edge of Seventeen":

It's "Bring On the Night" with a more consistent guitar part (borrowed later for this?) and a drum part that has been shifted by an eighth note (the same can be said for the bass line to the first verse). That brings me back to the producers. Was this a deliberate change or did they mishear/misremember the groove from the Police track?

Either way, it's nearly identical stuff. And for the record, I always thought the first line to this song was "Just like the one we knew," or something like that. I guess "white-winged cockatoo" has too many syllables. "One-winged dove" is good, too.


Thursday, February 13, 2014Bring On the Edge of the Night Continued


This is a follow up to an older post. I think the relationship between these songs is clear enough, but this was awfully fun to put together.

I posted this as a video with a stupid picture of myself because Souncloud didn't like my use of copyrighted, Rhino-owned material. I figure my fair use argument is pretty good, though perhaps not worth the trouble. I dare those mothergrabbers to track me down. Do your worst.

I adjusted the beginning slightly. VERY slightly. Just tried to line up the bass drums. Stevie is in the left channel, Police in the right. As you can hear, it pulls apart a little bit, but not by much--the Stevie is faster. I did NOT adjust the tempo AT ALL. It starts with "Bring On the Night," "Edge Of Seventeen" fades in.

It's almost exactly the same, shifted by an eighth. Just like I said. Are these two songs more similar than "Blurred Lines" and "Got To Give It Up"? Yes. Is "Got To Give It Up" a lot like the Talking Heads' "Slippery People"? Sure is.

Got To Give It Up/Slippery People

LET'S SUE EVERYBODY! I mean seriously. If they're gonna sue Robin Thicke they might as well sue David Byrne. And Sting is a dick. He really ought to sue Stevie Nicks.

Anyway. I'm done for now.

[UndoingTheLaces]

Back to Weezer. Did anyone else catch the fact that it was Tiffany that sang "I Think We're Alone Now" and not Debbie Gibson? :laugh:

[Dex]

Has anyone else heard Weezer's "Heart Songs?" I think it's terrific. It's a nod to the band's all time favorite songs, kinda sung like a progression of how they were influenced. At the end it kinda goes "there are the songs I keep singin... these are the songs I keep singin..." Very "sings the song sounds like she's singin" esque :laugh:. I think it might be a nod to Stevie, but I can't decide. What do y'all think?

I do like the song a lot, but no. That line being a nod to Edge seems like a real stretch to me. I think you just have Edge on the brain a lot. ;)

The link with Bring on the Night is an interesting one, though. I never knew that and hadn't heard the song before, but it's definitely there.