Weezer - Ghost

Art by Calliope.P Song by Rivers Cuomo Demo on Weezify From Alone XII: The White Year ———————————————- INFO: "Byzantine" is the ninth track from The Black Album. Most of the lyrics were written by musician Laura Jane Grace (of the band Against Me!) via text message. Said Rivers Cuomo, "She did most of the lyrics, and she sent them to me as text messages, and I turned it into a song." Grace commented on the collaboration in December of 2019, telling Rolling Stone, "Rivers one day tweeted, 'Will someone write lyrics for me?' And I responded, 'OK, I will.' And then he DM’d me. It was so fucking wild and such a cool experience. I will forever be in Rivers’ debt. [...] I find his songwriting process really interesting and to be let into that in a scientific way was really cool to see from the inside." According to Cuomo, the bridge was taken from a 1991 Fuzz track, described as “a very early-’90s grunge Soundgarden-type of song.” In an interview with Billboard, Cuomo explained, "With 'Byzantine,' the bridge is from a pre-Weezer band that drummer Patrick Wilson and I were in in 1991, called Fuzz. I searched for the key and the tempo and the basic vibe I was looking for, and it popped up. All of my little bits and pieces of music will find a home eventually." In November 2020, the song in question was confirmed to be "I Can't Forget The Way", after it was leaked onto Cuomo's demo storefront and subsequently sold as part of the compilation Alone V: Before Weezer. The verse melody of "Byzantine" greatly resembles that of the song "Dancing Girl", a track previously co-written by Cuomo for the 2018 album Hometown by Japanese alt-rock band Asian Kung-Fu Generation. This melody was was also previously used for the demos "There's a Bomb in the Air", "Hot Little Tramp", and "She's Just a Girl".