Only a Cockroach

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"Only a Cockroach"
Only a Cockroach cover
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

"Only a Cockroach" (also known as "Rock and Roll 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

Overview

In January of 2011, Rivers Cuomo uploaded a video to YouTube[1] 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.

"Only a 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 "Cockroach" were released as part of the digital compilation Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years.

Known recordings

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 20102011 3:50 Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years
Rivers Cuomo Rock and Roll Cockroach ROCK AND ROLL COCKROACH - ROUGH 2 -.mp3 20102011 3:22 Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years
Rivers Cuomo Rock and Roll Cockroach ROCK AND ROLL COCKROACH - ROUGH 3 -.mp3 20102011 3:21 Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years
Rivers Cuomo Rock and Roll Cockroach Rock and Roll Cockroach vso 136.mp3 20102011 3:41 Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years
Rivers Cuomo Rock and Roll Cockroach ROCK AND ROLL COCKROACH - NO VCL_13.mp3 20102011 3:42 Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years
Rivers Cuomo Rock and Roll Cockroach ROCK AND ROLL COCKROACH - ROUGH 4 -.mp3 20102011 3:47 Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years
Rivers Cuomo Cockroach COCKROACH - ROUGH 7 - AUG 9.mp3 August 9, 20102011 3:42 Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years
Rivers Cuomo Only a Cockroach Only A Cockroach     RC2.mp3 20102011 3:28 Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years
about this table

Lyrics

Rock and Roll Cockroach (ver. 1)

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

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

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 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 ???
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

See also

  1. Weezerpedia "2011-01-18RRC" YouTube. Originally uploaded by Rivers Cuomo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5q1520Ml-pM Archive.org mirror: https://archive.org/details/2011-01-riverscuomo/2011-01-18RRC.flv