Tropicalia

Tropicalia is the sixth track and first single from Mutations.

Description
Tropicalia is the standout track on Mutations. Beck explained the songs inspiration;

"I've always loved a lot of different exotic music. I've been listening to Brazilian music since I was a kid, but I haven't really felt it was something that would come naturally until the last few years. I think for something like 'Tropicalia' I needed to go to places where that music existed in order to get to the point where I could do it myself. I wrote it in the back of the bus on tour, and then later I put lyrics to it. A lot of times I write the melody and the chords of the songs sometimes years before I ever get around it writing lyrics, so it just sits there incubating."

Beck doesn't play any instrument on the recording, he just sings. This is probably the song that had Beck thanking "the undeniable musicians who played on this record" in the liner notes. The guitarist, Smokey Hormel, has since gone on to make his own Brazilian music.

The South American themed music seems to fit well with the lyrics. At first, it paints a good picture of a festival atmosphere, everyone dancing in a "millennial haze." But in the grander picture is what Beck is worrying about, and writing about. A place where "embassies lie in hideous shards" and "misery waits." In simpler words, the song is about a getaway and a hot tourist spot, that isn't as hot or as great as everyone thinks it is.

Beck reminisced about the song a bit in the San Diego Union-Tribune in 2002, " 'Tropicalia' was a song loosely about that era of Brazilian music and culture when these musicians were under siege by the powers that be and the music was changing. I just found it an exciting time and an interesting subject matter."

The B-Sides for the single are Halo of Gold, a Skip Spence cover, and Black Balloon, a instrumental.

Lyrics
When they beat upon a broken guitar

And on the streets, they reek of tropical charms

The embassies lie in hideous shards

Where tourists snore and decay

When they dance in a reptile blaze

You wear a mask, an equatorial haze

Into the past, a colonial maze

Where there's no more confetti to throw

You wouldn't know what to say to yourself

Love is a poverty you couldn't sell

Misery waits in vague hotels to be evicted

You're out of luck, you're singing funeral songs

To the studs, they're anabolic and bronze

They seem to strut in their millenial fogs

Until they fall down and deflate

You wouldn't know what to say to yourself

Love is a poverty you couldn't sell

Misery waits in vague hotels to be evicted

Oh now you've had your fun under an air-conditioned sun

It's burned into your eyes, leaves you plain and left behind

I see them rise and fall into the jaws of a pestilent love

You wouldn't know what to say to yourself

Love is a poverty you couldn't sell

Misery waits in vague hotels

To be a victim

CD Single

 * 1) "Tropicalia" - 3:20
 * 2) "Halo of Gold" - 4:36
 * 3) "Black Balloon" - 3:31

7"
A. "Tropicalia" - 3:20

B. "Halo of Gold" - 4:36