Song of the Day 11/24: Weezer, “Undone – The Sweater Song”
MAGA men sure are easily ruffled. The latest threat to MAGAsculinity is…a pink sweater. J Crew, known for its preppy aesthetic, is selling one in wool, with a Fair Isle yoke. Its very existence has offended the delicate sensibilities of the manly men of MAGA.
We learned this when an outrage-seeking influencer on the RWNJ circuit posted a photo of it with the prompt, “Are you kidding me?? Men, would you wear this $168 sweater?” The answer, to nobody’s surprise, isn’t just no. “HELL NO,” went a typical response. “I’m a man, not gay and won’t be dressing up as a Golden Girl anytime soon.” One of the GOP’s many performance artists in Congress, Tim Burchett of Tennessee, chimed in that it looked like “something a sorority girl would wear in the ’80s.” It’s best if you don’t ask how he knows that.
Color-coding for gender is deeply engrained in American society, as anyone who’s ever been to a “gender reveal” party can tell you, but as the linked article explains, twasn’t always so – a century ago, pink was considered the more masculine color. But to MAGAts, don’t just reject the idea that people can change their gender, they object to the idea that people of any gender can wear a tuxedo or a pink sweater, because it’s a short step from there to drag shows. So, fellas, if you want to fit in with MAGA, mark this down: Creeping on high school girls is OK, wearing a pink sweater is not.
“Undone – The Sweater Song” was the first single released by one of the most successful alt-rock bands of the ’90s, Weezer. It reached No. 6 on Billboard’s Alternative Rock chart in 1994, and even entered the lower reaches of the Hot 100, the only single to chart there through the band’s first decade.
According to Weezer songwriter Rivers Cuomo, “It was supposed to be a sad song, but everyone thinks it’s hilarious.” It was originally just called “Undone,” but everyone kept requesting the sweater song, so he added it to the title – with a dash rather than the traditional parentheses because Cuomo thinks parentheses look ugly. No word on how he feels about pink sweaters.
