'Beck / Voices of Dissent' playlist: http://bit.ly/1d5BLo5 ; Beck and blues, folk playlist: http://bit.ly/BeckAntiFolk Modern Guilt (album title track) / Orphans / Gamma Ray (2008, lyrics below) No copyright infringement intended. Performed for KCRW's 'Morning Becomes Eclectic' (2008) Listen to Beck's interview with NPR's 'All Songs Considered' hosts Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton on his new album 'Morning Phase'...the creative process, effects of internet criticism on musicians, musical influences (on the day Pete Seeger passed away), the joy of reuniting with his band and playing Morning after a long hiatus due to a back injury, how a book about Elvis inspired the song Blue Moon: http://bit.ly/1fkqg0l Part 2 here: http://bit.ly/1hyYtMQ Part 3 (NPR 'Morning Edition' interview): http://bit.ly/1msJN0k Full 'All Songs Considered' conversation at http://n.pr/1bnLTIb Mohican's 'Voices of Dissent' playlist: http://bit.ly/1d5BLo5 Beck's 'Morning Phase' and 'Sea Change' on Spotify: http://playlists.net/beck-sea-change-morning-phase Instant music downloads, tickets and more: http://beck.com http://youtube.com/beck http://twitter.com/beck http://facebook.com/beck MODERN GUILT I feel uptight when I walk in the city I feel so cold when I'm at home Feels like everything's startin' to hit me I lost my bearings ten minutes ago Modern guilt, I'm stranded with nothing Modern guilt, I'm under lock and key This apprehension turned into convention Don't know what I've done but I feel ashamed Standing outside the glass on the sidewalk These people talk about impossible things I'm falling out of the conversation Like a pawn piece in a human shield, oh Modern guilt is all in our hands Modern guilt won't get me to bed Say what you will, smoke your last cigarette Don't know what I've done But I feel afraid Da da da Da da da Da da da Da da daaaa... ORPHANS [Beck reportedly said: "This whole idea of these orphans (from a documentary on Sudan that really moved him), it's a metaphor... Right now, in this country, just watching what's going on over these years, there's a certain amount of us who don't feel a part of it, who can't help but feel alienated. You love your country, but... there's a certain amount of us who have been orphaned from the powers-that-be, the status quo, the center, or whatever you call it. There are a lot of us who feel like we're wandering or we're not quite at home anymore... I was just trying to sum up that feeling - that feeling of: 'If it were to all end right now, would it really matter?' Trying to find a home. That's why people came to this country in the first place. It's a strange thing when you become a stranger in your home, and then you're an orphan again. Hopefully the pendulum swings, and when it does, I'm gonna hang on to it..." The lyrics immediately reminded me of these lines from William Blake's poem 'Auguries of Innocence' (also the title of a book of poetry by singer-songwriter Patti Smith): "To see a world in a grain of sand, And a heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour." - Mohican http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auguries_of_Innocence ] Think I'm stranded but I don't know where I got this diamond that don't know how to shine in the sun where these dark winds wail These children leave their rulers behind As we cross ten leagues from a rubicon With matchsticks for my bones If we can learn how to freeze ourselves alive We could learn to leave these burdens to burn Cast out these creatures of woe Who shatter themselves Fighting a fire with your bare hands Now my journey takes me further south I want to hear what the blind men sing With their fossils and their gypsy bones I'll stand beside myself so I'm not alone How can I make new again what rusts every time it rains? And the rain, it comes and floods our lungs We're just orphans in a tidal wave's wake If I wake up and see my maker coming With all of his crimson and his iron desire We'll drag the streets with baggage of longing To be loved Or destroyed From a void To a grain of sand in your hand Ahhhh Ahhhh ooh ooh Ahhhh oooh ooh Ahhhh oooh ooh GAMMA RAY If I could hold hold out for now With these ice caps melting down And the transistor sound And my Chevrolet terraplane Going around around around Come on little gamma ray Standing in a hurricane Your body's bored Like a refugee From a house that's burning And the heat wave's calling your name She's got on a cactus crown With a dot dot dot on her brow And she speaks inside a cloud With her countenance turning around Come on little gamma ray Standing in a hurricane And I'm pulling out thorns Smokestack lightning out my window I want to know what I've lost today Come on little gamma ray Standing in a hurricane When your body's bored Like a refugee From a house that's burning And the backwater's calling your name

• published: 01 Sep 2014
• views: 3221