From December 4, 1994 version & a November version on Italian TV
Last time, it was past my prime
I didn't know when or where, how or what the fuck?
But I took my cue, had no clue
Threw my boot down the chute
In a minute, it was just a joke
Then my head went up in smoke
I was serious, complete design in my mind
Had no track to roll back
Last time, it was wicked clear
The scapegoat sun on the rise
Scrapin' the stars from God's ass
And lookin' like a janitor wrapped in fur
And when the blues shot fierce
And pierced their ears
They grabbed their beers
And disappeared into a vacuum
When you're down with the high
Fingers in their thighs
And ride, sucka, ride
Last time, it was past my prime
I didn't know when or where or what the fuck
But I took my cue, had no clue
And through my boot down the chute
For a minute, it was just a joke
And then my head went up in smoke
It was serious, complete design in my mind
Had no track to roll back to back
Yeah!
Fuckin up with the good stuff, keep my hands so tan
Fuckin up with the good stuff, keep my hands so tan
Good stuff! Fuckin up with the good stuff
Keep my hands so tan...
"Good Stuff" is a pretty cool-sounding groovy jam. Some of the Casio licks are a bit corny (though entertaining), and there's also funky guitar, some shredding, and punk drums. Good stuff, indeed. The song was unfortunately never released, but fans are blessed with a number of bootlegged performances from the end of 1994. It really was a great live song, which let each musician shine, and the audience rock. One can imagine Beck and the Dust Brothers turning in to a special recording, as even on stage, it still sounded multi-layered. (Whether Beck ever attempted to lay it down, I don't know. You'd think so, but maybe he just left it for the stage.)
Over the few months Beck performed it, the song did evolve a bit. Later performances were less metal and punk-sounding, as the song was honed down to sound more like funk and R&B. On the earlier performances, it's difficult to discern the lyrics due to Beck's lazy rap vocals (and of course the bootlegs' sound qualities), but the later ones were a bit clearer.
The title may or may not be official. Sometimes bootlegs refer to it as "Casio," as Beck usually talks about his Casio before the song started. He often introduced the song by saying "Casio time! Casio!" (To play the song, he would strap on a small Casio keyboard like a guitar.) It's hard to imagine that was its "official" title however.
There are a number of good live performances of "Good Stuff." It began to show-up in the setlists on the October 1994 club tour in the U.S., and was played fairly regularly until December. Beck has never played it since.
The versions on October 24 and 28 1994 have a different second verse than is listed above. Either he could not really remember the words, or the song's arrangement had not been quite finalized at that point. As it was, the song sounded a little sloppy.
In November 1994, Beck went on TV in Italy and did a couple songs, including a ripping version of "Good Stuff":
My favorite is from December 4 1994, in Amsterdam. Beck has toned down the guitar while the drums were nowhere near as wild. The Casio melody still led the song, along with some ultra-funky bass, and Beck's rapping was pretty strong. A fun song is arising from some of the earlier messes! Unfortunately, I don't think it lasted at all past the next show on December 5 1994, which was the last night of their tour.
One bootleg bizarrely refers to this song as "Casino (Ripoff)."
UPDATE: not so bizarre anymore! During part 3 of the Mellow Gold video retrospective released on Beck.com, there is a photograph of Beck writing a setlist from the early days. The second song listed is clearly "Ripoff," which I'll continue to assume is this song (the phrase "ripoff" is not in the lyrics).