Tear Jerker / Weezer

• "Mykel and Carli", a bittersweet song about the titular duo and Rivers personified as high school students is made even sadder with the tragic death of the two in a car accident. Worse is that Rivers, simultaneously heartbroken with the critical and commercial failure of Pinkerton and grief-stricken from the loss of his two best friends, shut himself away from the world for years.
  Back in Wilson High
  Said I had these two best friends
  'Til the school bus came
  And took my friends away
  Now I'm left alone at home
  To sit and think all day
  • When the pair died (along with their sister Trisha), a benefit concert was held in honor of them (which also happened to be Weezer's final performance with Matt Sharp). A segment of it was included on the DVD compilation Video Capture Device featuring their father Wayne delivering a heartfelt speech about the three, followed by an utterly broken-looking Rivers walking up on stage to perform a solo rendition of the song.
• "Say It Ain't So" in which Rivers sings about his broken relationship with his alcoholic father, who divorced his mother.
• "In The Garage" for anyone who feels alienated from the world and hides away in their own little place. The sad-sounding harmonica solo sets the mood for the songs.
• "Only in Dreams": The protagonist gets to dance with his lover only for it to all be a dream.
• The unreleased Songs from the Black Hole. Full stop. Highlights include Jonas' dysfunctional on-and-off relationship with Maria (which cumulates in an unplanned pregnancy and Maria cheating on Jonas with crewmate Dondo), Laurel's one-sided crush on Jonas, and "Longtime Sunshine", where the planet they set out to save turned out to be deserted, and with only enough light-speed escape pods to send all but one person home, a guilt-stricken and suicidal Jonas volunteers to stay behind while the others escape before the sun supernovas.
• "Tired of Sex" in which Rivers expresses how ashamed of himself he is for his objectifying views of women. His desperate screams for help during the song make it worse.
• "No Other One" is about Rivers staying in a dysfunctional relationship all because they're both too afraid of being alone. It can hit close to home for anyone in the same situation.
• "Why Bother?": Rivers gives up on pursuing a woman because "it's just sexual attraction" and therefore not real, even though he clearly wants to be with her.
• "Across the Sea" chronicles Rivers at his low point. His new life as a rock star has left him lonely and broken, to the point to where a piece of fan mail gets him to immediately fall in love with a girl he's never met in person. He's surrounded with all of the girls and sex he's ever wanted, but he knows it's all meaningless.
• "I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams" from the aborted Songs from the Black Hole project (though eventually re-worked into a B-Side for "The Good Life"), which chronicles how Laural realizes too late how she loves Jonas after she's already cast him aside.
• "El Scorcho": While Rivers' behavior in this song is downright creepy, you can't help but feel sorry for him with how alone he is and how he just wants someone to love him. He reads this girl's diary instead of talking to him straight up because he's too afraid of rejection to talk to her. You can hear the desperation in his voice when he sings this line:
  But that's just a stupid dream that I won't realize
  because I can't even look in your eyes
• "You Gave Your Love To Me Softly" can be interpreted as Rivers fantasizing about being in a relationship with a girl he's been in a one-night stand with. His lyrics suggests that he just wants to be comforted.
  La la la you said to me
  "Baby, don't you cry.
  Put your arms around me, child
  and lay with me tonight."
• "Pink Triangle": Rivers falls for a girl too hard only to quickly discover that she's a lesbian. Poor guy...
  • Even worse is that the girl the song was based on? She wasn't really a lesbian. That pink triangle on her sleeve ^note or in reality, on her bag - "sleeve" just sounded better in the song was her showing her support. Rivers could've avoided this if he only just talked to the girl.
• "Falling For You": a triumphant love song about Rivers finally finding the one. Unfortunately, it's followed up by Butterfly in which by the fault of Rivers, he ruined the relationship he so desparately longed for. He spends half of the song apologizing for his selfish behavior.
  I told you I would return
  When the robin makes his nest
  But I ain't never coming back
  I'm sorry...
• The outtake "Getting Up And Leaving", where despite Rivers having everything he's ever wanted, he just wants to go back to his old, peaceful life as a nobody where he feel he belongs.
• Although Weezer (The Green Album) does its best to avert this trope, "O Girlfriend" deserves a mention for being a downer break-up song to close the album.
  • ...Or if you have the international edition, "I Do", an even more somber break-up song.
  Never more again
  Will I believe the sun
• "Perfect Situation" expands on Rivers' utter inability to talk to girls.
  What's the deal with my brain
  Why am I so obviously insane?
  In a perfect situation
  A love led down the drain
• "Hold Me" is about Rivers trying to hold onto a relationship because he's terrified of being alone.
• "Pardon Me" is about Rivers admitting his faults as a person and asking for forgiveness while trying to better himself.
• "The Other Way" is about Rivers' ex Jennifer Chiba and the death of her boyfriend Elliot Smith. Rivers wants to comfort her but questions his own motives in doing so.
• "Pig": It's an Age-Progression Song about a pig living his life until he is inevitably slaughtered for his meat.
• "The Spider". Dear God, "The Spider". It's about Rivers lamenting about the slow death of a spider that has fallen down the drain and the fragility of life. It's cited as one of the saddest songs that Weezer has ever released, and not without good reason. Words don't even do it justice. just listen.
  • Rivers Cuomo himself left a comment on that particular video. Saying the song "kills him".
  • Even arachnophobes have said the song made them feel sorry for the titular spider. As the song says, he doesn't want to die any more than we do.
• "Time Flies" is when Rivers laments to himself that he's getting old and how time is speeding up for him. He ends the song by singing about how even though he'll die one day, he's proud of the legacy he's left behind. Then the song abruptly stops, but if you listen closely, you can hear the dings and tickings of clocks.
• "Ain't Got Nobody", full-stop. Rivers reflects on the loneliness he's experienced during his journey to stardom.
• "Eulogy for a Rock Band" which is where Rivers laments the fallen status of an unnamed rock band (some theorize that it's about Weezer themselves).
  • Some theorize that it's not about Weezer themselves, it's about The Beach Boys, Rivers' biggest influence, who released their final album years prior after a 50-year run (fifteen in the song can be misheard as fifty).
• "Foolish Father". Where Rivers laments his mistakes as a father (along with reuniting with his own father and making peace with him) and pleading forgiveness to his daughter. For a guy who spent years angsting about girls and his own nerdy image, this is pretty depressing. The lyrics, dear god the lyrics..:
  Forgive your foolish father, he did the best that he could do
  You are his daughter, He'd do anything for you…
• "Mirror Image" starts out as a love song with a triumphant feel, but the music suddenly gets slower, more hesitant and lo-fidelity for the outro, which seems to be about the fear of losing a loved one:
  Heaven can't save this man
  Heaven can't help this man
  Heaven, heaven turned his back on this man
  Heaven shuts the door on this man
• "Bird With A Broken Wing" was written when Rivers was "feeling pretty irrelevant and passed over", though it ultimately has kind of a positive message: The point seems to be that Weezer may not be considered as popular or relevant as they once were, but he still feels he has something to say, so he'll keep making music for those who'll listen:
  Now I'm just a bird with a broken wing
  And I still have a song to sing
  Turning night to day, warbling clouds away
  I'm just a bird with a broken wing
  And this beautiful song to sing
  Don't feel sad for me, I'm right where I wanna be

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