Textual Analysis: The Sweater Song

For my textual analysis, I chose “The Sweater Song” by Weezer. This song is also referred to as “Undone”. Weezer is an American rock band that formed in 1992 in Los Angeles, California. They have had many hits including “Island In the Sun”, “Say It Ain’t So” and “Beverly Hills”. The band is commonly known for their blend of reggae, rock and pop sound with a beach music twist. The artist’s purpose of this song is to express how his talent composes his identity. During this song, he realizes that one day he may lose his talent or that his career will end. He realizes that without his talents his is nothing but a regular joe. He compares his identity to his favorite sweater. Before the singer begins to perform, him and a friend, Matt, engage is a conversation that is very bland and boring. Matt tries to get more than a two word response out of Karl, but that does not work. This dialogue portion of the song is used to give background information to the audience. From the conversation, the audience now knows that the setting of the
The lyrics of this portion are, “I’m me. Me be. Goddamn. I am. I can, sing and, hear me, know me,” these lyrics evoke a confused emotion out of the singer. It is as if he is going through an identity crisis until he realizes that he is a singer. When he realizes what his talent is, he sings the next lines of the song which are, “If you want to destroy my sweater, hold this thread as I walk away.” During those two lines of the song, the audience is exposed to the first true vocals. This demonstrates the passion that the speaker has for singing and what it means to him. To the speaker, the sweater represents his identity, much like someone’s favorite sweater represents who they are. The speaker compares the thread of the sweater to his talent of singing. If he were to be stripped away of his talents he would not know who he was and would lose his