Songfacts®:

• This song was the second single from Weezer's 1996 album Pinkerton. The track also appeared on a rare EP entitled OZ EP. The song is about Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo's experience at Harvard after having corrective surgery on his legs. The lyrics of the song talk about Cuomo's feelings of detachment from regular life, as the singer was forced to walk around with a cane and was unable to participate in many of his regular activities while his legs healed.
• Music critics loved this song: An early Rolling Stone review called it "catchier than syphilis." Upon Pinkerton's release in 1996, Allmusic predicted that this single would be huge and that it would help to propel the sales of the album, stating that "Weezer can still turn out catchy, offbeat singles" and that "'The Good Life' has a chorus more memorable than 'Buddy Holly'." But by the end of 1996, it was clear that Pinkerton had not turned out to be the same commercial success as the band's 1994 self-titled debut.
• The cover of the single of this song is a crowd shot taken at a live show at Tower Records on the day Pinkerton was released: September 24, 1996. The picture is credited to the band's longtime friend and historian Karl Koch, who took it while the band was performing set closer "Surf Wax America."
• The inside jacket of the single of this song features a real picture of an X-ray taken of Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo's leg. Cuomo penned the tune while recovering from corrective surgery.
• The music video for this song is often seen as a clear representation of the crumbling relations of all of Weezer's band members at that time. Then-bassist Matt Sharp and drummer Pat Wilson goof off in the clip while lead singer Rivers Cuomo and guitarist Brian Bell take the video much more seriously and attempt to convey the emotion of the song.