Lyrics:Lemonade [Version (a)]:
Kiss a girl, slay a hag
Feel the flavor freedom fag
Get up early, do your chores
Chase the murderer with the rancid pores
If I lose a belly blade
Divided beasts with faces flayed
Silver children make a fuss
Revelling in molten puss
Favorite patrons crack their death
With arteries of tinsel breath
Revolution purple fist
Pummeling your angel piss
Sour-powered wussy soul
Solid darkness goddess show
Wigging heirlooms through the hour
From the cradle, monster power
Waking up delicious ghost
They eat themselves from coast to coast
Dancing in their bandages
The victims glow leaving messages
Hear the commune cocaine blast
Earthly mothers with flattened chests
Sloping gardens mystic hours
Fried vibrations overpowered
In the mangles of their hair
Shattered spirits and underwear
Crazy wires fuse their brain
Drinking water sugar cane
Playing drums and broken flutes
Headless Gods and iron boots
Fearing wicked love control
Circus storm and demon skull
Entering the solar sphere
Planets meld crystal clear
Thrashing in the astral glow
Flashing in their fleshly show
Waking up delicious ghost
They eat themselves from coast to coast
Dancing in their bandages
The victims glow leaving messages
The Song:"Lemonade" is a particularly schizophrenic song, showcasing two of the many sides of the multi-faceted Beck. The song combines experimental, noisy punk sounds with more folky leanings. It's a bizarre combination, to say the least, especially since Beck doesn't combine them in his usual collage-like way. Instead, he does it as a more literal medley, first the noise, then the melody. The effect is a slightly more melodic and listenable take of "
.000.000." After a verse like that, it abruptly switches up to a prettier, more ethereal folk tune with acoustic guitars and piano. This may be one of the earliest examples of Beck combining multiple song ideas into one song.
Beck's lyrics (especially in the main sections) are difficult to distinguish, and what is there feels fairly surreal. Beck seems to be tapping into the pounding of the music with "haunted beasts," pummeling fists, "Hell-less Gods" and cocaine blasts.