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
Track Listing[]
CD Single[]
- "Tropicalia" - 3:20
- "Halo of Gold" - 4:36
- "Black Balloon" - 3:31
7"[]
A. "Tropicalia" - 3:20
B. "Halo of Gold" - 4:36
Listen[]
Tropicalia
Tracks
- 1: Cold Brains - 3:41
- 2: Nobody's Fault but My Own - 5:02
- 3: Lazy Flies - 3:44
- 4: Canceled Check - 3:14
- 5: We Live Again - 3:05
- 6: Tropicalia - 3:20
- 7: Dead Melodies - 2:36
- 8: Bottle of Blues - 4:56
- 9: O Maria - 3:59
- 10: Sing It Again - 4:19
- 11: Static - 5:18
- 12: Diamond Bollocks - 6:02 (unlisted)
B-Sides
Black Balloon • Diamond in the Sleaze • Electric Music and the Summer People • Halo of Gold • One of These Days • Runners Dial Zero