Rock and Roll Cockroach

"Rock and Roll Cockroach"
Demo by Rivers Cuomo
Album	Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years
Released	2020
Recorded	January 2011
Writer(s)	Rivers Cuomo
Status	Released
This song is part of the "Beginning of the End" lineage of songs "Rock and Roll Cockroach" (2011) "Volunteers" (2012-2013) "No Bars" (2013) "The Beach Boys" (2015) "Beginning of the End" (2021)

"Rock and Roll Cockroach" (also known as "Only a Cockroach" or simply "Cockroach") is a song by Rivers Cuomo, the earliest known iteration of the 2020 Van Weezer track "Beginning of the End". Demos were released as part of the digital compilation Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years (also in 2020).

Appearances

• Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years (2020)

Overview

In January of 2011, Rivers Cuomo uploaded a video to YouTube of himself and producer Shawn Everett working in a studio, wherein a short snippet of a guitar riff could be heard, as well as a text-to-speech voice saying "...an old rock band, the Roaches, have been called back to a triumphant reunion...". Fans who were present at 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," ostensibly for a (later debunked) "Sea Opera" concept album. The concept of a fictional band named the Roaches eventually became the concept for the Astronauts from the Everything Will Be Alright in the End narrative.

"Rock and Roll Cockroach" was, ultimately, repurposed as the Weezer song "Beginning of the End," from the band's 2020 album Van Weezer. In November 2020, multiple demos of "Rock and Roll Cockroach" were released as part of the digital compilation Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years.

In 2024, a full band demo was leaked. This version of the song is mostly the same as "Only a Cockroach" and it's previous recordings, with some minor lyric changes and references to "Only a Cockroach" being replaced with "Rock and Roll Cockroach"

Lyrics

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 bro-ing down in the room next door

These are our 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
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
Rock and roll cockroach
Looking for something to eat

Na na na
Na na na
Looking for something to eat

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 bro-ing 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 will 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

Sitting in a dressing room, about to go on
Internet radio playing an xx song
Yogurt topped off with cream
Purell keeping me clean
Bandmates bro-ing down in the room next door

The Rock and roll cockroach
Is searching for something he can eat
The people freak out when he walks out there
So scared

Nostradamus predicted a bomb
And life as we know it on Earth would abruptly stop
From the pile of debris
The creature is struggling free
That's him looking for The Sunday Times

The Rock and roll cockroach
Is searching for something he can eat
The people freak out when he walks 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 the Rock and roll cockroach
Is searching for something he can eat
The people freak out when he walks out there
So scared

Known recordings

about this table

Performer(s)	Title	Filename	Date of recording	Recording location	Length	Appeared on	Notes
Rivers Cuomo	Rock and Roll Cockroach	ROCK AND ROLL COCKROACH - ROUGH 1 -.mp3	2010—2011		3:50	Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years
Rivers Cuomo	Rock and Roll Cockroach	ROCK AND ROLL COCKROACH - ROUGH 2 -.mp3	2010—2011		3:22	Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years
Rivers Cuomo	Rock and Roll Cockroach	ROCK AND ROLL COCKROACH - ROUGH 3 -.mp3	2010—2011		3:21	Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years
Rivers Cuomo	Rock and Roll Cockroach	Rock and Roll Cockroach vso 136.mp3	2010—2011		3:41	Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years
Rivers Cuomo	Rock and Roll Cockroach	ROCK AND ROLL COCKROACH - NO VCL_13.mp3	2010—2011		3:42	Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years
Rivers Cuomo	Rock and Roll Cockroach	ROCK AND ROLL COCKROACH - ROUGH 4 -.mp3	2010—2011		3:47	Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years
Rivers Cuomo	Cockroach	COCKROACH - ROUGH 7 - AUG 9.mp3	August 9, 2010—2011		3:42	Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years
Rivers Cuomo	Only a Cockroach	Only A Cockroach     RC2.mp3	2010—2011		3:28	Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years
Weezer	Rock and Roll Cockroach	Weezer - Rock And Roll Cockroach BNC.m4a	2010—2011		3:28	Leaked Online

See also

• List of Rivers Cuomo songs
• List of Weezer songs
• Sea Opera