Buried Alive
By: Beck Hansen
Written by: Beck Hansen

Alternate Titles:

a.k.a. Burning Alive
a.k.a. Disappointment
a.k.a. Nowhere to Hide

Live Versions:
  1. Buried Alive
    Available on K Records 2.
  2.  
 
Lyrics:
Buried Alive [Live version (a)]:

(From January 7, 1996 version)

Buried alive, there is nowhere to drive
These roads are infested with blessings
Walking the planks, the bloodshot banks
Tipping their hats to the lily-white hags
That's got nothing to do with you
Pointing a derelict finger at you
Pulling out electric chairs under you
Nowhere to hide your disappointment

Blind as a brain, soaking up pain
The paying of dues of the snoozing mirage
The hazard lights, the sweet parasites
Hiding the soul of the... [mumble]
That's got nothing to do with you
Pointing a derelict finger at you
Pulling out electric chairs under you
Nowhere to hide your disappointment

So don't be afraid, the piper's been cremated
??? that is withering
The paralyzed ghost burning the toast
Handing out eviction notices, I don't
That's got nothing to do with you
Pointing a derelict finger at you
Pulling out electric chairs under you
Nowhere to hide your dis...gust
 
The Song:

"Buried Alive" is a fairly interesting tune. Beck sang it a few times in the first half of 1996, a couple of which are out there as bootlegs. It was recorded with intent for the second K Records album, which never came to pass.

I'm not quite sure what to make of the lyrics though, really. Beck of course does fill it with lots of nifty images like "a paralyzed ghost" or "the hazard lights / the sweet parasites." Much of it pre-calls various lines of Odelay. The most obvious Odelay allusion would be the line in the chorus of "Pointing a derelict finger at you," which of course points toward "Derelict" as well as "Lord Only Knows" ("you've only got one finger left / and it's pointing at the door").
 
Live:

Played live 2 times:
Earliest known live version: January 7, 1996
Latest known live version: March 18, 1996

Beck toured Australia at the beginning of 1996 as part of the Summersault Festival. On January 7, he played a really great version of this song. His singing was strong, and the harmonica blasts were nice.

Then a few months later, Beck opened a Sonic Youth tour playing by himself. On the March 18, 1996 show in Holland, he introduced this song with a little poem (pulled from an old record in his collection, see the Vanity Fair Top 50 Album Covers article Beck wrote):
Call me Beck, my name is fate, I sympathize, vibrate
I am abstinent, call me Beck, check
From Holland to Spain and vice versa again
Whenever I get checked, they call me Beck
The version of the song that follows is a little less harsh than the first. It reminds me a little of a sped-up "Cyanide Breath Mint." A few line changes here and there from the January version occur as well, though not many.
 
Notes: