The Good Life

"**The Good Life**" is a song by American rock band Weezer, released on October 29, 1996 as the second single from their second studio album, Pinkerton, as well as an EP in Australia.

## Background

In 1995, Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo underwent a corrective operation for his leg and was in a leg brace. The brace was debilitatingly painful and inspired the lyrics to the title song. The inside picture in the CD's booklet is an X-ray of Rivers' leg brace.

The B-sides include "I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams" (featuring Rachel Haden of That Dog on vocals), a song once intended for Weezer's unreleased album Songs from the Black Hole. The live songs were taken from a set played by the band at Shorecrest High School near Seattle. The school had won a contest and got Weezer to play during lunch in 1997. A very young Daniel Brummel of Ozma can be seen in the upper right side of the EP's cover.

## Music Video

The song's music video, directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, features a pizza delivery girl (played by Mary Lynn Rajskub) on her route, highlighting the monotony of her job. The music video is noted for its use of simultaneous camera angles appearing on screen as a fractured full image in a technique jokingly described by Weezer bassist Scott Shriner on the band's March 2004 DVD Video Capture Device as being "so innovative, I've never seen it since." Blink-182's video for their November 2004 single "Always" used a similar technique. The video's directors would go on to cast Mary Lynn Rajskub as Pageant Assistant Pam in their first feature-length motion picture Little Miss Sunshine.

## Lyrics

[Intro: Matt Sharp]

Yeah, check me, woo

[Verse 1]

When I look in the mirror

I can't believe what I see

Tell me, who's that funky dude

Staring back at me?

Broken, beaten down, can't even get around

Without an old man cane, I fall and hit the ground

Shivering in the cold, I'm bitter and alone (Woo)

[Verse 2]

Excuse the bitching

I shouldn't complain

I should have no feeling

'Cause feeling is pain

As everything I need is denied me

And everything I want is taken away from me

But who do I got to blame? Nobody but me

[Chorus]

And I don't wanna be an old man anymore

It's been a year or two since I was out on the floor

Shakin' booty, makin' sweet love all the night

It's time I got back to the good life

[Post-Chorus]

It's time I got back, it's time I got back

And I don't even know how I got off the track

I wanna go back, yeah

[Verse 3]

Screw this crap, I've had it (I've had it)

I ain't no Mr. Cool

I'm a pig, I'm a dog

So 'scuse me if I drool

I ain't gonna hurt nobody, ain't gonna cause a scene

Just need to admit that I want sugar in my tea

(Hear me?) Hear me? I want sugar in my tea

[Chorus]

And I don't wanna be an old man anymore

It's been a year or two since I was out on the floor

Shakin' booty, makin' sweet love all the night

It's time I got back to the good life

[Post-Chorus]

It's time I got back, it's time I got back

And I don't even know how I got off the track

I wanna go back, yeah

[Bridge]

I wanna go back, I wanna go back

And I don't even know how I got off the track

It's time I got back, it's time I got back

And I don't even know how I got off the track

I wanna go back, yeah

[Chorus]

And I don't wanna be an old man anymore

It's been a year or two since I was out on the floor

Shakin' booty, makin' sweet love all the night

It's time I got back to the good life

[Post-Chorus]

It's time I got back, it's time I got back

And I don't even know how I got off the track

It's time I got back, it's time I got back

And I don't even know how I got off the track

I wanna go back

I wanna go back

## See Also

 Standard