Only a Cockroach
| "Only a Cockroach" | ||
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| Demo by Rivers Cuomo | ||
| Album | Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years | |
| Released | 2020 | |
| Recorded | January 2011 | |
| Writer(s) | Rivers Cuomo | |
| Status | Released | |
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This song is part of the "Beginning of the End" lineage of songs
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"Only a Cockroach" (also known as "Rock and Roll Cockroach" or simply "Cockroach") is a demo by Rivers Cuomo. The song was later reworked into the Van Weezer track "Beginning of the End", released in 2020. The demo was released as part of the digital compilation Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years that same year.
Contents
Appearances
- Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years (2020)
Overview
In January of 2011, Rivers Cuomo uploaded a video to YouTube (titled "2011-01-18RRC") depicting him and producer Shawn Everett working in a studio. A short snippet of a guitar riff can be heard, and a text-to-speech voice can be heard saying "...an old rock band, The Roaches, have been called back to a triumphant reunion...". Fans who were present at listening parties/focus groups in the years leading up to the release of Everything Will Be Alright in the End corroborated that Cuomo was working on a song titled "Rock and Roll Cockroach" for his "Sea Opera" project, that the concept of a fictional band named The Roaches eventually became the concept of The Astronauts from the EWBAITE narrative, and that the song was ultimately repurposed as "Beginning of the End", released on August 14, 2020.
On November 20, 2020, the demo was released on riverscuomo.com through the site's demo storefront as part of a compilation titled Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years.
Video
Lyrics
Only a Cockroach
Sitting in a dressing room, about to go on
Internet radio playing an xx song
Yogurt from the Brown Cow farm
Purell so viruses can't harm
Bandmates throwing down in the room next door
I'm only a cockroach
Searching for something I can be
The people freak out when I walk out there
So scared
Nostradamus predicted a bomb would drop
And life as we know it on Earth would abruptly stop
From the debris of the shattered globe
A hand would rise to secure a hold
That's me looking for the Sunday Times
I'm only a cockroach
Searching for something I can be
The people freak out when I walk out there
So scared
So take your millions
Your perseverance
And shut 'em up, 'cause we don't give a damn
Scream all you want, dear
Try to get an audience
We've got our balls on
We don't give a damn
I didn't say please
They could not pry me
I wanna be a star but not in someone's orbit
I'm only a cockroach
Searching for something I can be
The people freak out when I walk out there
So scared
Rock and Roll Cockroach (Rough 1)
(...)
These are the lives in the twenty-teens
They can go on for eternity
While other bands fade with the passing of time
One of them seems to be doing just fine
Rock and roll cockroach
Na na na na na na
Rock and roll cockroach
Looking for something to eat
The prophets foretold that the bomb would drop
And life as we know it will abruptly stop
But from the debris of the shattered globe
A hand will rise up to secure our hold
Rock and roll cockroach
Na na na na na na
Rock and roll cockroach
Looking for something to eat
(Instrumental bridge)
Na na na na na na
Na na na na na na
Looking for something to eat
Rock and Roll Cockroach (Rough 3)
(...)
Yogurt topped up with cream
Purell keeping me clean
(...)
A rock and roll cockroach
Is searching for something he can eat
The people freak out when he walks out there
So scared
(...)
But from the pile of debris
A creature is struggling free
That's him looking for the Sunday Times
A rock and roll cockroach
Is searching for something he can eat
The people freak out when he walks out there
So scared
(...)
I'm a rock and roll cockroach
Looking for something I can eat
The people freak out when I walk out there
So scared
Rock and Roll Cockroach (Rough 4)
(...)
Purell so viruses can't harm
(...)
COCKROACH (Rough 7)
(...)
I am a cockroach
Searching for something I can eat
The people freak out when I walk out there
So scared
(...)
