Lyrics:

The Song:

Beck was once asked what the new pollution was. His reply, "Human radios, sex with machines, mad eunuchs." Cryptic, but it makes a little sense. He is observing that in modern times, technology, information, etc. can drive you mad. It's everywhere, your senses are bombarded constantly.

The woman he is singing about in the song, then, is admirably unaffected by the new pollution, and somehow remains pure. Beck himself called it a "love song," and surely there's some admiration, if not actual love throughout the lyrics.

In Rolling Stone in 2008, it is written that Beck was "trying to evoke the Sixties glamour of femme fatales from Nico to Brigitte Bardot" in the line about having a cigarette on each arm. The ability to "throw her troubles to the dyin' embers" is admirable. The image of her being a boat alone in a "stripmine ocean" is wonderful. There's something very comforting in that. This is a slanted, but effective, portrait of the femme fatale.

"The New Pollution" is an amazing song, and Beck seems quite proud of it: "...a song like 'The New Pollution,' I mean, pollution, it's a presence in our lives. And isn't it interesting to use a word like that-something with such horrible connotations-in the context of a love song? That's where you create friction. That's where you can start to get someplace where you aren't dealing in the banalities of everyday, pedestrian rock lyrics. Not that I mean to be snobby about it, I can appreciate the good ol' song, and I still like to write that way sometimes." It's interesting to note that Beck uses this type of contrast often, including songs like "Asshole" or "Sweet Sunshine."

Integral to the song's being is the sublime sax sample. It makes the song what it is. Beck calls the song "inverted funk." He explains, "Some of the other songs are a little bit too loose. We had to pull in the reins, make it a little more tight, bring in the Mormon feel. Mormons are funky."

Live:

Played live 331 times:
Earliest known live version: July 21, 1996
Latest known live version: November 14, 2012

Most live versions of "The New Pollution" throughout the Odelay tour are pretty cool (though some could get a bit sloppy). It's got a fast funky groove that doesn't stop or change, it's just sort of relentless. Joey Waronker turns out to be the main leader of the song on drums. A lead electric guitar plays a cool intro to the song, and the verses are very drum/bass minimalistic. Keyboard and sax licks/samples float in and out of the song. Later in the Odelay tour, as Beck picked up his own horn section, they became even more a focus of the song's performance. A personal favorite, and very unique, version was on September 2, 1996. One of the speakers goes out or something, because all of the keyboards and guitars seem to vanish. Joey Waronker makes up for it by drumming like mad.

After the Odelay tours, "The New Pollution" was still regularly rocked. One of Beck's best tours was the short one in May/June, 1998. On June 6, 1998, they kick off a great version with a little Color-Me-Badd-like chorus: "I'm about to rock a beat that's never been rocked before, baby! I'm about to kick some rhymes that have never been rhymed before, darling! I'm about to . . . what am I about to do? . . . I'm about to flex some muscles that have never been flexed before, baby! I'm about to freak some freaks that ain't never been freaked before, darling!"

The version on June 10, 1998 was strong?especially the excellent, but short, keyboard solo in the middle. The end jam is wild. This whole tour was just terrific, it was right after the recording of Mutations was finished, and right before they would begin Vultures. The tour gets the best of both worlds.

In April, 1999, on the Mutations tour of Japan, "The New Pollution" performances are definitely hot, and some of the best ever. DJ Swamp gets to scratch a lot, Joey Waronker's drumming is incredible, and Roger Manning's keyboard solo is stellar. It all adds up, to a controlled hectic masterpiece.

And of course "The New Pollution" was still being performed very frequently throughout the Vultures tours (it was played at bascially every show). It almost always has that sparkle to it, which is certainly not the case with every performance of every song. It sounds a little different with the new fuller band (i.e., new drummer, new guitarist, Brass Menagerie, back-up singers), when compared with the Odelay rock band.

When Beck went on tour with the Flaming Lips, they began by doing "The New Pollution" together at their first eight shows. Initially, it was Devo-y, slightly spacey version. But after dropping it, they returned with a new version, sped-up quite fast! They dug this new arrangement so much that they even played it on KCRW, and continued with it until the tour ended. At the show on November 25 2002, Beck called it "The Flaming Lips' version" of the song, explaining that initially they couldn't really find the groove of the song until they sped it up.

Beck played another new arrangement of "The New Pollution" in Australia in March 2003. Hard to really explain because the bootleg I have does not have the greatest sound quality. However, it sounds interesting, maybe somewhat more new wave intense. Kinda trippy.