El Scorcho

"El Scorcho"
Song

"El Scorcho" is the first single off the second album Pinkerton by Weezer, released in 1996. The music video features the band playing in an old ballroom in Los Angeles (as revealed by Weezer's Video Capture Device DVD), surrounded by light fixtures of diverse origin, flashing in time to the music. The name of the song was supposed to have come from a packet of hot sauce from Del Taco, labeled "Del Scorcho."

The song was a somewhat unconventional single for the band, featuring a loose, often wandering riff, improvised-sounding vocal contributions from all the band members, and a sudden shift into double-time and a different music style for the bridge. The track failed commercially; several radio stations refused to play the song, and the video stiffed on MTV. This is considered to be one of the causes for the initial commercial failure of the album.

It was, however, extremely popular in Australia, and made it to #9 on the Triple J Hottest 100 chart, the national poll for the most popular alternative songs. It was subsequently released on the 1996 Triple J Hottest 100 compilation.

The song can be downloaded for play at either Rock Band or Rock Band 2.

Inspiration

Cuomo mentioned in a 2006 interview with the Harvard college newspaper, The Crimson, that the lines mentioning "Cio-Cio San" and "watching Grunge leg-drop New Jack" were actually taken from an essay from a classmate of his at Harvard in an Expository Writing class. The printed lyrics to the song identify these two lines as quoted with the enclosure of quotation marks. "...one example is, in 'Pinkerton,' in 'El Scorcho,' two lines in the song are actually taken from someone else’s essay in my Expos class. Because at one point, we had to do a little workshop thing, and we each got assigned to review someone else’s essay. So, I reviewed this one person’s essay, and I liked some of the lines in it, so I took them and used them in the song." The actual meaning of "watching Grunge leg-drop New Jack through a press table" is a reference to ECW wrestler Johnny Grunge leg dropping New Jack, through a table, possibly referencing a photograph of Grunge wrestling New Jack that was published in Pro Wrestling Illustrated. Notably, Johnny Grunge was part of a tag-team known as "The Public Enemy," a connection to the "Don't Believe the Hype" quote earlier in the song.

Cultural references

The first line of the song has been mistakenly referenced to punk band Half-Japanese. The line "listening to Cio-Cio San" is in reference to Puccini's opera, Madame Butterfly, The main characters of which are an American sailor—Pinkerton—and a Japanese girl named Cio-Cio San. The actress who played Cio-Cio San in the premiere cast of 1904 was named Rosina Storchio though the alternate spelling indicates that this is likely an unintentional reference. The reference may additionally be to the David Henry Hwang play M. Butterfly, which, at least to a degree, deals with themes of gender, sexuality and the confusion many people experience in that. This, in conjunction with the song "Pink Triangle", and the continued reference to the opera and/or play, gives the album an over-arching theme. Additionally, the line "I'm the epitome/of public enemy" is a lyric from Public Enemy's "Don't Believe the Hype."

The song also mentions the band Green Day in the lyric "I asked you to go to the Green Day concert/You said you never heard of them." In 2005 while on the Foozer tour, Weezer often changed the lyric to "I asked you go to the Foo Fighters concert" and changed it to "the Weezer concert" in late '05. During their stop in Chicago for Lollapalooza, this was again changed to "I asked you to go to the Pixies concert", who were playing just before Weezer on a nearby stage. In a continuation of the Green Day reference, at exactly 2:00, the song launches into a brief parody/homage of Green Day's style, with an increased tempo, quickly strummed chords and a mild parody of Billie Joe Armstrong's vocals by Cuomo. The song also goes onto mention 1990's professional wrestling company Extreme Championship Wrestling in the lyric "Watching Grunge leg drop New Jack through a press table."

Music video

For the single, Cuomo refused to make any "Buddy Holly"-like videos explaining "I really don't want the songs to come across untainted this time around...I really want to communicate my feelings directly and because I was so careful in writing that way. I'd hate for the video to kinda misrepresent the song, or exaggerate certain aspects." The final video featured the band playing in an assembly hall in Los Angeles, surrounded by light fixtures of diverse origin, flashing in time to the music. It debuted on MTV's program 120 Minutes and only received moderate airplay on the channel. Mark Romanek directed the video.

Track listing

UK 7" Single/UK CD #1

1. "El Scorcho" – 4:03
2. "You Gave Your Love to Me Softly" – 1:57

UK CD #2

1. "El Scorcho" – 4:03
2. "You Gave Your Love to Me Softly" – 1:57
3. "Devotion" – 3:11

"You Gave Your Love to Me Softly" was recorded for and released on the soundtrack to the film Angus. This version is a completely new recording.

Charts

Chart (1996)	Peak Position
UK Singles Chart	50
U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks	19
CAN Rock/Alternative Chart	5

Covers

• Actor Michael Cera's band The Long Goodbye has covered the song.
• Dashboard Confessional covered the song 'El Scorcho' on their 2007 cover's album 'The Wire Tapes Vol. 1'
• Manchester Orchestra recorded a cover of it for their youtube podcast.
• Chilean band Los Miserables in their album "Date Cuenta" made a cover called "Chow Chow Sen" inspired by the song El Scorcho.
• The Band Cobra Starship covered this song in Cambridge, Mass in January 2008 in a concert due to the excitement of the crowd. Many of whom, sang along.
• The Stereo also covered the song on the Weezer tribute album Rock Music: A Tribute to Weezer.
• Mashup artists The Hood Internet paired the song with Drake's single "Best I Ever Had" to create the mashup entitled "El Besto I Ever Had."
• The band Brand New covered this song in Philadelpha, PA in July 2009.

Personnel

• Rivers Cuomo – lead guitar, lead vocals
• Patrick Wilson – percussion
• Brian Bell – rhythm guitar
• Matt Sharp – bass guitar

External links

• Lyrics to El Scorcho
• "El Scorcho" Official music video on YouTube