American girls get a bad rap

Now here’s an excellent little gem of pop goodness that you may not have heard, discussing the relative merits of everyone’s favorite (and seemingly oft-misunderstood) topic: American girls. And no, it has nothing to do with Farah Fawcett, other than that this picture represented the concept quite nicely to a generation of pubescent boys.

This song “American Girls” was written by Rivers Cuomo (Weezer) during his solo show era (97-98), it was eventually recorded for the Meet the Deedles soundtrack, of all things, under the band moniker “Homie”.

The Homie supergroup line-up included:
*Rivers Cuomo (Weezer) — vocals, acoustic guitar, piano, lyrics, and melody
*Yuval Gabay (Soul Coughing) — drum loops
*Matt Sharp (Weezer) — co-producer and background vocals
*Sebastian Steinburg (Soul Coughing) — upright bass
*Pat Wilson (Weezer) — miscellaneous, drum playing (what got looped)
*Greg Brown (Cake) — electric guitar (lead and solos)
*Brian Bell (Weezer), Justin Fisher, Adam Orth (both ex-Shufflepuck) and Todd Sullivan (Weezer’s A&R guy from Geffen ) — backing vocals

This song has an supremely chill drumbeat (especially after it really kicks in at about 1:03) and some nice harmonica flourishes with playful electric guitar riffs. It ponders the question, “Why are all American girls so rough?” (which we’re not) with golden lines like, “Darlin, I’m afraid to close my eyes when we’re going to bed, afraid you’ll crack the phone down over my head….” I’ve never heard it on the radio except for one cosmically odd time just a few weeks after I was introduced to it, in the middle of the afternoon, in a little pub. Like when you are whistling a song and then it comes on the radio, and it makes you smile.

American Girls – Homie

Apparently, Homie has recorded other material, which has only been performed live. Rivers has said that he may release this material some day – maybe as an extra disk in a Weezer discography. If it sounds anything like this tune, that’d be okay with me.