Fake Smiles and Nervous Laughter

"Fake Smiles and Nervous Laughter"
Single by Weezer
Album	The White Album (Deluxe)
Released	October 7, 2016
Format	Vinyl, digital
Length	3:26
Label	Crush Music/Atlantic Records
Writer(s)	Rivers Cuomo
Producer(s)	Jake Sinclair
Status	Officially released
Stream	Spotify
	Apple Music
Weezer singles chronology
"I Love the USA" (2016) "Fake Smiles and Nervous Laughter" (2016) "The Last Days of Summer" (2016)
The White Album (Deluxe) track listing
"Friend of a Friend" (13) "Fake Smiles and Nervous Laughter" (14)
Album art
"Fake Smiles and Nervous Laughter" back cover

"Fake Smiles and Nervous Laughter" is a single by Weezer. It was released as a vinyl single and as the fourteenth track on the digital deluxe release of The White Album.

Appearances

• "Fake Smiles and Nervous Laughter"/"You Gave Your Love to Me Softly" (7"-single) (2016)
• Weezer (The White Album) (Digital deluxe) (2016)
• Alone XII: The White Year (2020)

Overview

Rivers Cuomo tweeting the title in 2011

"Fake Smiles and Nervous Laughter" was first listed as the name of a B-side of The White Album by Rivers Cuomo on the fan club Facebook page.^{[citation needed]} The title of the song had previously been tweeted by Cuomo years earlier, on May 29, 2011, though the phrase is not known to have been utilized for a song at that point.

On September 9th of 2016, Karl Koch announced that a new song would be released as a 7" vinyl, separate from the yearly fan club single. The song was revealed soon after as "Fake Smiles and Nervous Laughter", featuring a cover of Weezer's song "You Gave Your Love to Me Softly" by the band Wavves as the B-side. 2,000 copies were produced (1000 black and 1000 translucent blue). The item went on presale on September 12, 2016 and was shipped out in December of that year. Due to poor packaging, some fans reported that they received an empty box in the mail. "Fake Smiles" premiered on Zane Lowe's Beats 1 radio show on October 5, 2016. The song was included as the final track on the digital White Album deluxe version, released on October 7. Demos of the song were released in 2020 as part of the digital compilation Alone XII: The White Year.

The artwork, drawn by Nicholas Gazin, is a callback to the Pinkerton art. The incorrect font for "Weezer" is used, using Century Gothic.

Lyrics

Grungy girls and punk rock boys
Can't be heard above the noise
Awkward handshakes, bumps, and hugs, oh-oh
It's not the way you thought it was

I would rather
Hear you curse me out
Than give me fake smiles
And all that nervous laughter
When you say what you hate
Makes me feel kind of great
You have authority

Taxi drivers sell their weed
In my Ani DiFranco screed
Gold high-tops with no socks on
Go ahead and move along

I would rather
Hear you curse me out
Than give me fake smiles
And all that nervous laughter
When you say what you hate
Makes me feel kind of great
You have authority
I would rather
See you flip me off
Than give me fake smiles
And all that nervous laughter
When you say what you hate
Makes me feel kind of great
It's beautiful to me

It's hard to be real
With all the temptations
And all the flying daggers
It's hard to be true
When honesty kills you
Can anybody hear me?
I'm beggin', darling, no
Give me a chance to let you know
It's hard to be true
When honesty kills you
Can anybody hear me?

I would rather
Hear you curse me out
Than give me fake smiles
And all that nervous laughter
When you say what you hate
Makes me feel kind of great
You have authority
I would rather
See you flip me off
Than give me fake smiles
And all that nervous laughter
When you say what you hate
Makes me feel kind of great
It's beautiful to me

Known recordings

about this table

Performer(s)	Title	Filename	Date of recording	Recording location	Length	Appeared on	Notes
Rivers Cuomo	Let's Keep It Platonic	Let's Keep It Platonic   2.mp3	2015		0:33	Alone XII: The White Year
Rivers Cuomo	Let's Keep It Platonic	Let's Keep It Platonic   2 @130.mp3	2015		0:33	Alone XII: The White Year	Duplicate of Let's Keep It Platonic   2.mp3
Rivers Cuomo	Me Time	Me Time   3.mp3	2015		0:25	Alone XII: The White Year
Rivers Cuomo	People Watcher	People Watcher   3.mp3	2015		0:31	Alone XII: The White Year
Rivers Cuomo	Fake Smiles	Fake Smiles   4.mp3	2015		0:35	Alone XII: The White Year
Rivers Cuomo	Fake Smiles and Nervous Laughter	Fake Smiles And Nervous Laughter   5.mp3	2015		1:16	Alone XII: The White Year
Rivers Cuomo	Fake Smiles and Nervous Laughter	Fake Smiles And Nervous Laughter   6.mp3	2015		2:15	Alone XII: The White Year
Rivers Cuomo	Fake Smiles and Nervous Laughter	Fake Smiles And Nervous Laughter   7.mp3	2015		2:15	Alone XII: The White Year
Rivers Cuomo	Fake Smiles and Nervous Laughter	Fake Smiles And Nervous Laughter   8.mp3	2015		3:02	Alone XII: The White Year
Rivers Cuomo	Fake Smiles and Nervous Laughter	Fake Smiles And Nervous Laughter JS2 rough.mp3	2015		3:25	Alone XII: The White Year
Weezer	Fake Smiles and Nervous Laughter		2015—2016	Infrasonic Sound, Los Angeles, CA The Lair, Los Angeles, CA Studio X, Sonoma, CA United Recording, Los Angeles, CA The Village, Los Angeles, CA	3:26	"Fake Smiles and Nervous Laughter" (7"-single) Weezer (The White Album) (Digital Deluxe)

See also

• List of Weezer songs
• List of Rivers Cuomo songs