Tropicalia

About Tropicalia

"Tropicalia" is a song from Beck's 1998 album Mutations. It was released as a single in the UK in December 1998. The B-side "Halo of Gold" is a drastically reworked cover version of "Furry Heroine (Halo of Gold)" by Skip Spence. Beck said that "Tropicalia"'s inspiration was "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 has not performed "Tropicalia" live since September 11, 2014. Beck does not play any instrument in the song.  more »

Year:

1998

3:20

127 Views

Playlists:

#4

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Oh, when they beat upon a broken guitar 
And all 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 millennial fogs 
'Til 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, and now, you've had your fun 
Under an air-conditioned sun 
It's burned into your eyes 
Leaves you plain and left behind 
I'll 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

 Watch: New Singing Lesson Videos Can Make Anyone A Great Singer

Beck

Beck Hansen (born Bek David Campbell, July 8, 1970) is an American musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known by the stage name Beck. more »

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