“ Weezer Sings a Cover” has become the “Dog Bites Man” of the pop culture world, but the band’s latest take on a popular song was something very different. Rather than play high stakes karaoke with another group’s track during their recent visit to The Tonight Show, they went into their own catalogue to perform one of their greatest tracks ever, with a barbershop quartet rendition of “Buddy Holly.” Joined by Jimmy Fallon and The Tonight Show‘s Ragtime Gals, Pat Wilson, Brian Bell, Scott Shriner, and a smiling Rivers Cuomo donned their best white pants, striped jackets, and skimmer hats (a type of hat I definitely knew the name of without looking it up) to perform a traditional barbershop arrangement of the band’s classic song.
Considering I have probably listened to “Buddy Holly” as much as any song in my life, it’s a little jarring to hear Rivers singing it in such a different format. But I’ll take this performance a million times over every other new Weezer cover of some other band’s hit. “Buddy Holly” is a perfect song, so hearing it in any style is a good thing, especially if it gets people to listen to the original version. Which you should definitely do right now. (Or better, watch it—it does have one of the best music videos ever.)
Now, as an old school Weezer diehard (could you tell?) whose all-time favorite record is the flawless Blue Album, I am morally obligated to point out this isn’t even close to the band’s best barbershop quartet performance ever. That title easily goes to their Blue Album B-side “My Evaline,” which has been stuck in my head for so long it now has squatter’s rights in my brain.
A Weezer “cover” just gave us the perfect excuse to play a deep, old-school Weezer track. This is like if the news that a dog bit a man led to use watching the video for “Undone.”
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