Superfriend

"Superfriend" is a song by Rivers Cuomo, originally intended as a track for the unrealized album concept Songs from the Black Hole (the concept that later morphed into Pinkerton).
===Appearances===
*Video Capture Device (2004)
*Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo (2007)
*Alone III: The Pinkerton Years 1994-1997 (2011)
*Alone IV: The Blue-Pinkerton Years (2020)
==Overview==
Within the fiction of Songs from the Black Hole, "Superfriend" features the character of Jonas (voiced by Rivers Cuomo) confiding to Laurel, the "good girl" character (also voiced by Cuomo in the demo, but intended to be voiced by Rachel Haden). Jonas reiterates his sentiments from previous tracks "Oh No, This Is Not for Me" and "Tired of Sex," chiding himself for giving into seduction despite the fact he does not love her. Laurel urges Jonas to grow up and be better than that. Jonas finds himself smitten with Laurel, but she can see through his act.
Cuomo is known to have recorded two full demos of "Superfriend," either around Christmas of 1994 or, more likely,The Grand File, 2002. http://weezerpedia.com/catalogofriffs.html February of 1995 (in Hamburg, Germany, where the rest of Weezer were stranded while bassist Matt Sharp flew back to the US following his father's stroke).Weezer Recording History - Page 7 The more well-known demo, released in 2007 as part of the compilation album Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo, is intended as a duet between the characters of Jonas and Laurel. A second demo, recorded in 1995 and released in 2020 as part of the digital demo compilation Alone IV: The Blue-Pinkerton Years, features an alternate chorus, less articulate vocals, and is seemingly intended to be sung only from Jonas' perspective.
By February of 1995, Cuomo had assembled a tracklist of demos (dubbed by Karl Koch as "Tracklist 1"), featuring "Superfriend" as the seventh track (following "Tired of Sex" and preceding "She's Had a Girl"). By the fall of 1995, however, as Cuomo began writing new demos during a semester at Harvard, he began to question the direction of the Songs from the Black Hole concept. Cuomo assembled a second tracklist (dubbed "Tracklist 2") that Koch described as a "last-ditch effort" to salvage the SFTBH concept. This second tracklist featured "Superfriend" later on the album, as the thirteenth track (following "I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams" and the non-SFTBH track "Lisa," and preceding a reprise of "Longtime Sunshine." "Superfriend" was attempted as a full band at Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, but the recording was later erased.Weezer Recording History - Page 8 Ultimately, the Songs from the Black Hole concept—and "Superfriend" with it— would be scrapped in favor of what would eventually become Pinkerton.
"Superfriend" was desired by fans for several years before its release. In the early 2000s, Karl Koch named the song as one of his favorite unreleased Weezer songs Weezon.com interview with Karl Koch, March 2002. https://web.archive.org/web/20020321093149/http://members.shaw.ca/ridd2/karl_interview/karl_interview.html and had planned to include it in a rarities compilation that would never be released. Footage of "Superfriend" being performed in the studio, as well as acoustically in a hotel room, appeared on the 2004 Weezer DVD Video Capture Device. 
Cuomo's full demo of "Superfriend" was released in 2007 as part of the compilation album Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo. A brief "reprise" of the song also appeared as part of a reprise of "Longtime Sunshine" on the album Alone III: The Pinkerton Years 1994-1997 in 2011. Cuomo's alternate-chorus demo was released in 2020 as part of the digital compilation Alone IV: The Blue-Pinkerton Years.
==Audio==
<youtube>Pm0L77G6VnI</youtube>
==Lyrics==
<tabber>
|-|Demo=
[JONAS:]
What the hell am I doing
Thinking with my willy?
Knowing I don't love her
I tell her no,
Then kiss her toes.
[LAUREL:]
What the heck are you doing?
Leading on that poor girl
I know there's something better
Deep in you.
Now let it through
[JONAS:]
Pain, pain, go away (LAUREL: go away)
Come again another day (LAUREL: another day)
'Cause I've got a friend tonight (LAUREL: friend tonight)
A super friend to [TOGETHER:] make things right
[JONAS:]
I'll turn away from weakness
And turn to something better.
Show me how to live right
I never noticed you
But now I worship you.
[LAUREL:]
Don't be talking silly (JONAS: Now I worship you)
Save the sweets for the young girls (JONAS: Now I worship you)
You can talk for real to me (JONAS: Ooh...)
Close your eyes
[TOGETHER:]
And leave the lies
Pain, pain, go away (LAUREL: go away)
Come again another day (LAUREL: another day)
'Cause I've got a friend tonight (LAUREL: friend tonight)
A super friend to [TOGETHER:] make things right
I waited, and waited
When clearly [???]
You need me
(To help me) To help you
(To show me) To show you
(To love me) You need me
(You need me) You need me
(To love me) To help me
(To help me) To show you
|-|Alternate chorus demo=
What the hell am I doing
Cheating on my girlfriend?
Thinkin' she will never know
And kissing her on her toe
What the hell am I doing
Leading on his girlfriend
Leading on my girlfriend
Tell her no, then kiss her toe
She's [...]
[...] in a deep black hole
And I can't save her
I just can't save her, no
What the hell is he doing?
I know what my [...]
Leading on a doing
And [...] no, and he says "go"
No, [...] da-da-dee
Fall into a deep black hole
And I can't tell her
I just can't tell her</tabber>
==Known recordings==
==See also==
*List of Rivers Cuomo songs
*List of Weezer songs
==References==
Category:Weezer songs
Category:Rivers Cuomo songs
Category:Songs from the Black Hole
Category:Songs that appeared on the 4 and 5 Star Demos of Rivers Cuomo list
Category:Songs on Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo
Category:Songs on Alone III: The Pinkerton Years
Category:Songs on Alone IV: The Blue-Pinkerton Years
Category:Alone series
Category:Teenage Victory Songs The Grand Playlist