Pardon Me

"Pardon Me"
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Album track by Weezer
Album	Make Believe
Released	May 10, 2005
Format	CD
Recorded	Summer 2004
Length	4:16
Label	Geffen
Writer(s)	Rivers Cuomo
COR#	516
Producer(s)	Weezer, Rick Rubin, Chad Bamford
Status	Officially released
Live debut	April 29, 2005
Stream	Spotify
	Apple Music
Make Believe track listing
"The Damage in Your Heart" (7) "Pardon Me" (8) "My Best Friend" (9)

This page is for the Weezer song. For the song by The Special Goodness, see Pardon Me (The Special Goodness).

"Pardon Me" is the eighth track from Make Believe.

Appearances

• Make Believe (2005)

Overview

"Pardon Me" is first known to have been demoed acoustically at Rod Cervera's studio on June 21st, 2003 and again on August 3rd. The song continued to be worked on several times throughout November. The song was included on Rivers Cuomo's "A-list" during the album's production around February of 2004. The song was excluded from the final track list until shortly before release, when the songs "Average Person", "Losing My Mind", "You're the One" and "Love Is the Answer" were excised in favor of "Pardon Me", "My Best Friend", and "The Other Way". The mastering for Make Believe was finished April 6th, 2005, only a month before the album's release.

Band Commentary

Scott: It’s funny, in the studio it seemed like a lot of chord changes and when we play it live, it really takes on its own, kind of, life form which never ceases to amaze me. To me, it almost seems complicated, but then again it’s so simple and so clear and people really seem to get off on it.

Brian: I think this was a song that I fought for at Rick Rubin’s house. [laughs] ‘Wait, we forgot about this song!’ I remember running out to my car, and grabbed—we must have, 75 to 100 - not even exaggerating - CD’s of demos and B-sides—or what we consider might be B-sides, A-Lists that turn into B-Lists, B-Lists that turn into A-Lists…it gets really confusing and it’s easy to forget about things. But I made everyone listen to it, and I think 3/4ths of the way into the song it comes back around to that one moment..and everything sounds so good at Rick Rubin’s house, because he has this uber-sound-system, and it just was, like, apparent that we had to do it. And I thought it was just an unbelievably sincere message that Rivers was conveying and that - I don’t know if he knew the weight of what he was saying. It was really great.

Pat: Yeah, I love the way when I listen to that song I hear someone really being very..it just sounds like, okay, this guy has something he wants to say, I love that. It sounds very truthful.

Brian: Also, it’s a personal lyric but it’s extremely universal because, you know, it’s hard to say “I’m sorry” in any sense, it’s hard to admit fault, and I just think it’s a song for all guys that don’t know how to express themselves, so that they can at least sing that lyric to whoever they harm—their girlfriend, or whatever.

[laughter]

Pat: Yeah, like George Bush could go to North Korea and say, “I’m really sorry”.

Known recordings

about this table

Performer(s)	Title	Filename	Date of recording	Recording location	Length	Appeared on	Notes
Weezer	Pardon Me		June 21, 2003	Rod Cervera's studio, Los Angeles, CA			Acoustic demo
Weezer	Pardon Me		August 3, 2003	Rod Cervera's studio, Los Angeles, CA			Acoustic demo
Weezer	Pardon Me		November 4, 2003	8295 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA			Acoustic demo, rejected take
Weezer	Pardon Me		November 4, 2003	8295 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA			Acoustic demo, best take
Weezer	Pardon Me		November 5, 2003	Swing House Studios, Los Angeles, CA
Weezer	Pardon Me		November 5, 2003	Swing House Studios, Los Angeles, CA
Weezer	Pardon Me		November 5, 2003	Swing House Studios, Los Angeles, CA			Selected as best take
Weezer	Pardon Me		November 17, 2003	Swing House Studios, Los Angeles, CA			Version 1
Weezer	Pardon Me		November 17, 2003	Swing House Studios, Los Angeles, CA			Version 2
Weezer	Pardon Me		December 1—December 19, 2003	Cello Studios, Los Angeles, CA			Rough mix made on January 30, 2004
Rivers Cuomo	Pardon Me		February 27, 2004	S.I.R. Rehearsal Studios, Los Angeles, CA
Rivers Cuomo	Pardon Me		July 3, 2004	S.I.R. Rehearsal Studios, Los Angeles, CA
Weezer	Pardon Me		December 1, 2003—Spring 2005	Cello Studios, Los Angeles, CA	4:15	Leaked online	Unmastered
Weezer	Pardon Me		December 1, 2003—Spring 2005	Cello Studios, Los Angeles, CA	4:16	Make Believe

Personnel

• Rivers Cuomo – lead guitar, lead vocals
• Patrick Wilson – percussion
• Brian Bell – rhythm guitar, backing vocals, piano
• Scott Shriner – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Rick Rubin - producer
• Rich Costey - mixing

Lyrics

I tried my best
I gave my all
Sometimes my best wasn't good enough
For you
Sometimes I let you go
Sometimes I hurt you so
I know that I can be the meanest person in the world

So I apologize to you
And to anyone else that I hurt too
I may not be a perfect soul
But I can learn self control
So pardon me, pardon me, pardon me my friend

I never thought
That anyone
Was more important than the plans
I made
But now I feel the shame
There's no one else to blame
For all the broken hearts scattered on the field of war

So I apologize to you
And to anyone else that I hurt too
I may not be a perfect soul
But I can learn self control
So pardon me, pardon me, pardon me my friend

Sometimes I let you go
Sometimes I hurt you so
I know that I can be the meanest person in the world

So I apologize to you
And to anyone else that I hurt too
I may not be a perfect soul
But I can learn self control
And in my heart I feel its true
So I will be there with you
So pardon me, pardon me, pardon me my friend (I really want a friend)
Pardon me (I really want a friend)
My friend (I really want a friend)
Pardon me (I really want a friend)
My friend

See also

• List of Weezer songs