(The) Harvey Danger Database

You Look So Happy [demo]

Recorded

Release history

Also known as

Being a Brief Note of Apology

Credits

Lyrics

We both went to the 12 Rods show and pretended not to see each other
The only thing we swore would never happen
no matter what else did
And I don’t really blame you, I suppose,
Lord knows it was a perfect letdown
But I remember feeling like the only two people in any crowded room

I’m still trying to convince myself I don’t care if you think I’m an asshole
I’m still trying to convince myself I hope you’re happy now.

Now you’re making jokes at my expense
Whatever makes you smile
And holding hands with a formerly mutual friend
Whatever makes you feel strong

I’m still trying to convince myself I don’t care if you think I’m an asshole
I’m still trying to convince myself I hope you’re happy now.

When you base your whole identity on reaction against somebody
it’s the same as being in love

You look so happy
I hope it’s not a performance
for my sake

I’m still trying to convince myself I don’t care if you think I’m an asshole
I’m still trying to convince myself I hope you’re happy now
I’m still trying to convince myself I deserve all your silent treatments
I’m still trying to convince myself that I never knew you
I never knew you

I can’t say I behaved well, but I’m asking for your forgiveness
’cause you know I meant no harm
and I’m kind of ashamed

Quotes

SCN: Never performed once after being rejected for King James Version consideration on account, variously, of being “too Weezer” and “too personal” (probably true), and, of course, for having the word “asshole” prominently shouted in the chorus (tried “bastard,” it didn’t work); I have always secretly cherished this song as a gem that might’ve been part of KJV, like a lost scene from the Orson Welles cut of The Magnificent Ambersons; we all loved the instrumental parts and the ending—careful listeners will note that the opening lines of “The Same As Being in Love” were cannibalized from the middle section (the word “love” intact on this one, shrewdly), and some may have heard the ending section as its own self-contained snippet, entitled “Being a Brief Note of Apology” on HD bootlegs (and in the film We Go Way Back).10A

SCN: You know who you are.DSS

SCN: This was agonizingly close to making it, but for the recurrence of the word “asshole” (and the maudlin autobiography of the whole enterprise. I thought it sounded eerily like Weezer, but I liked it anyway. The ending is one of the best things we ever did, and at one point, we lopped off the whole rest of the song and kept it around under the title “Being a Brief Note of Apology.” It would have gone nicely on the much discussed but never-released EP Slouching Towards Bellingham. Isn’t it pretty to think so.25B

Notes

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