Beck Song Information - Today Has Been a Fucked Up Day

Today Has Been a Fucked Up Day

By: Beck Hansen

Written by: Beck Hansen

Versions:

Today Has Been a Fucked Up Day (2:28)
Available on Stereopathetic Soulmanure.
Credits

Beck Hansen: Banjo, Producer, Vocals

Lyrics:

Today Has Been a Fucked Up Day [Version (a)]:

Today has been a fucked up day
Today has been a fucked up day
Today has been a fucked up day
Looks like tomorrow's gonna be the same old day

Today has been a fucked up day
Today has been a fucked up day
Today has been a fucked up day
Looks like tomorrow's gonna be the same old day

There's people runnin' up and down the line
There's grocery bags on their heads
And dollar bills pasted on to their faces
Squeegees in their hand, oooh oooh
Woohoo! Woohoo! Woohoo!

The Song:

Beck.com calls this a "four-track recording on a lazy day," which pretty much says it all. Mario Prietto does the foot-stomping, and Beck plays the banjo. It was recorded at "The Latona House," whatever that may be.

Anyway, the song sounds like it is a rewrite of a Carter Family song entitled "Sad and Lonesome Day," which has a chorus of

Today has been a lonesome day
Today has been a lonesome day
Today has been a lonesome day
And tomorrow's gonna be the same old way

This song was also recorded by Woody Guthrie as "Lonesome Day." I'm not sure which track came first, or which one Beck got it from (though he likely knew both of them). His rewrite of the day being "fucked-up," instead of "lonesome," is actually quite eloquent when you think about it: taking an older emotion and giving it a more modern twist. It's much like his turning of Guthrie's "Buffalo Skinners," a song about cowboys hunting buffalo, into "Mexico," a song about kids working at McDonald's. Woody Guthrie would be pleased, it's safe to assume.

The very final verse requires more research, though it being Beck's own verse is certainly possible and likely.

Notes:

And no, I'm not sure what's going on in the second verse; it sounds like Beck has put down his banjo and run out of the room to shout the verse back to the mike. Or something like that. You can hear him running back to his instrument. He's clearly still enjoying playing with sounds and recording. The banjo playing is probably some of his best ever, though all banjo.

Here's a McTheory, from McP. Sounds good to me:

I've always thought that he wasn't playing the banjo and singing at the same time. Rather, there are two tape recorders. The first is playing the banjo track, previously recorded. The second is recording the banjo track and the vocals via an intricate web of cables, splitters, headphones, and whatnot. The key to that second verse is that the cable hooked up to the microphone jack got yanked out by accident, making the microphone on the tape recorder become active. This is why you only hear Beck at that point, and from somewhere farther away. He eventually notices, runs over, and plugs it back in. You immediately hear banjo again, with more vocals shortly thereafter.