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February 09, 2008
A little part of us all just died
According to Guardian Unlimited, via Rolling Stone, the seemingly prophetic lyrics that grace Beck's seminal (and recently reissued) Odelay are nothing but the nonsensical ramblings of an under-prepared singer. The very-untechnical musiciany term is "scratch vocals", wherein the singer belts out some gibberish until the "real" lyrics are put down.
This isn't entirely surprising news, as deep inside, we all kind of knew that the guy who claimed he understood what Beck was singing about was really full of shit. But didn't we all kind of suspect this? It's Beck! The dude once thanked the MTV Music Video Awards for recognizing his virility! He believes the Helatrobus implanted the notion of heaven into our brains, for crying out loud! What did you really expect?
Komonder: Not impressed.
To be fair, Odelay is still a pretty kick-ass listen with or without the assumed latent meanings of its lyrics. Finding out that Beck made up a bunch of the album's words on the spot doesn't take much away from that, unless you happened to give the guy a Grammy.
Regardless of this recent revelation, I'm forever going to believe that, "Pick yourself up off the side of the road/With your elevator bones and your whip-flash tones/Members only hyponotizers/Move through the room like ambulance drivers" was speaking directly to me. I'm more interested for when the Mitchell Report on this comes out and we find out that God-knows amounts of bands and artists have been stringing us along all this time. So that kind of Vegas-style odds are we looking at here? I mean, not counting stuff that's obviously intentionally balderdash, like Incubus.
Slanted and Enchanted by Pavement
You just don't get it: "And I'm the only one who laughs/At your jokes when they are so bad/And your jokes are always bad/but they're not as bad as this", from "Here". Hey, what's so bad about that?
Well, how 'bout: "In the distance lies a grow-a/Nay, rude-off, King Fame-Throwa", from "Fame Throwa". Actually, that could pass for a halfway decent Wu-Tang lyric.
Odds: 9 to 1
Murmur by REM
REM has on more than one occasion been christened with the moniker of godfathers of alternative rock, or some similar platitude, and a lump of that praise stems back to this masterpiece of an album from 1983.
It means so much: "Beside yourself if radio's gonna stay/Reason: it could polish up the grey", from "Radio Free Europe". So, what, it's an anti-terrestrial radio ad, some twenty years in advance?
But what about: "Keep me out of country in the word/Deal the porch is leading us absurd/Push that, push that, push that to the hull/That this isn't nothing at all", from "Radio Free Europe". That's more like it.
Odds it's all nonsense: 3 to 1
Ten by Pearl Jam
When it comes to the former Mookie Blaylock, there are two types of people in the world: those that love 'em and those that can't stand 'em. There really isn't any middle ground. No, I don't really believe that, but since it's already in print, I guess I'm gonna have to put myself in the latter category.
It's sooooo deep: "On the edge of a windowsill/Ponders his maker, ponders his will/To the street below, he just ain't nothin'/But he's got a great view, and he sinks the needle deep", from, you guessed it, "Deep". Very Neil Young-ish, but also pretty straightforward.
It's sooooo dumb: "Oh, ceilings, few and far between all the legal halls of shame, yeah", from "Even Flow". But c'mon, the way Eddie Vedder sings, he could recite the Declaration of Independence and it'd sound like gobbledygook.
Odds: 7 to 2
Odds Vedder ever admits his lyrics don't make sense: 1,000,000 to 1
How'd we get here? Oh yes, Beck. Never forget: Odelay had some astronomically awesome music videos. Follow for "Where It's At", "New Pollution" and "Devil's Haircut".
Posted by Randall Monty at February 9, 2008 05:50 PM
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Comments
Now here are some lyrics from the same era that stand the test of time: "There is a balance between two worlds/One with an arrow and a cross/Regardless of the balance life has become/Cumbersome. --Seven Mary Three
Posted by: david at February 10, 2008 08:36 AM
Even if he just pulled "Silver foxes/ looking for romance/ in the chain-smoke Kansas/ Flashdance, ass-pants" out of thin air, he's still some kind of genius.
Posted by: Jeff K at February 11, 2008 01:12 AM
All kidding aside; there's a fine art to writing nonsensically, and S. Malkmus is a master. Further, in the grand scheme, indecipherable lyrics never got in the way of my enjoyment of R.E.M., Pavement and many others, but somehow, when a band is overwrought a la Pearl Jam or super-ironic like Beck, the lack of depth behind the lyrics is far more damning. Certainly at the outset, during the "Radio Free Europe" era, Michael Stipe's lyrics were not intended to be taken out of context. The same cannot be said about Messrs Vedder and Hansen.
Posted by: david at February 11, 2008 01:59 PM
Not saying that Beck's lyrics are "deep" or anything, but how does the fact that he may have been making them up on the spot make them meaningless? Even automatic writing reveals some kind of thought process going on in the subconscious.. I know he gets a lot of flak for those collage-lyrics being shallow and jokey but there's some memorable imagery in there and he does come out with some genuinely funny stuff (humour being an underrated quality in song lyricists). He's also got that Seachange album, if you want to hear him not being 'ironic'..
Posted by: Richie at February 11, 2008 05:29 PM
Richie,
It's not us calling Beck's lyrics meaningless- he says as much! Of course, "meaningless" is a relative term here. While the lyrics might not have any intended meaning, that does not automatically dismiss the value a listener places on them, a point made by myself as well as in these comments.
In any event, it's a great jokes-on-all-of-you that music snobs like yours truly probably deserve. I think Beck's admission is more an inadvertent commentary on music criticism more than a critique of music fandom.
To that point, it probably would have been prudent, journalistically, anyway, to mention that Beck, when so motivated, certainly penned songs with some spectacular lyrics. "Lost Cause" is one of my favorites. (Ever, not just of Beck's.)
Posted by: Randall Monty at February 11, 2008 07:14 PM
