10 Rock Songs That Left Us All Hanging
4. Fairweather Friends - Queens of the Stone Age
If you were to ask Joshua Homme, the entire operation to get to Like Clockwork was a miracle in and of itself. Before production had even started, Josh had to undergo intense surgery and nearly died on the operating table, bringing a much more morose tone to a lot of the songs on here, as Josh looks back on the fleeting part of life. He did have some musical pals along for the ride though, just not for as long as we thought.
Whereas most of the other songs on this list leave their stories on a cliffhanger, this one really sets you up and pulls the rug out from under you within the span of a few seconds. Bringing in Elton John on piano for the track, this feels like one of the grimiest songs on Clockwork, as Homme shifts gears with his different guitar tones and John’s backing vocals almost sound demonic on the back half of the song. Right as the final chorus is about to hit its last stride though, all of the music cuts out before Josh says that he doesn’t care about these friends anyway and just goes into the next song.
For as unprofessional as that might sound, it makes perfect sense when you look at what the song is about. Since fairweather friends are only there during the good times, Josh probably saw this song in the same way. He knew that dragging it out for too long would have made everything sound boring, so it’s always an option to cut and run when you need to.