Weezer and Wednesday join forces on “We Might As Well Be Strangers”. The single, taken from Weezer’s upcoming Gold Album, connects a slacker hero with its musical descendant.
Together, Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo and Wednesday’s Karly Hartzman document a broken romance in vivid detail. The lyrics feature diverging perspectives on what happened, showing why the relationship was likely doomed in the first place.
Say It Ain’t So
The track opens with Cuomo reminiscing about his ex. And the anxiety pills and dirty magazines begin to paint a portrait of some of the things that may have driven them apart. The couple absorbs the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche, but their co-dependence becomes a kind of weapon against one another.
Happy birthday, thanks for the Valium,
And thank you for the stack of dirty magazines.
We lounged around, debated Nietzsche,
I was too obtuse to get how much I need you,
Parasitic fishes, down in the sea, now we’re history.
Following the breakup, they become unrecognizable to each other. Cuomo offers a Sex Pistols pun about Sid and Nancy. He sings, “Something came along and changed us.” But that “something” was him and her. Whatever they became, he doesn’t miss it.
We might as well be strangers,
Something came along and changed.
I was Nancy, you were vicious,
Now I’m not sure I even miss us.
If I sang you a song,
Would you still sing along?
We might as well be strangers,
Something came along and changed us.
The Way Love Goes
Then Hartzman enters and gives her perspective. She acknowledges his fame and hints at something much darker. She doesn’t want to comb through his songs in the future, looking for answers to why he’s no longer here.
Every night’s your birthday, got shows back to back,
Excuse to celebrate a brighter, lighter, a louder stack.
Hand on the burner, cracking the skull,
Is it still hedonism if you’re feeling miserable?
Don’t want your songs to become the clues to why we lost you.
Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen both died young. And when Cuomo and Hartzman harmonize in the chorus, it’s a coin toss as to who was vicious.
Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Coachella