Lyrics:Sorrow [Version (a)]:
Face me now, my lover
Hang a light switch higher, flip the light
Won't you burn some joy I threw
Upon the street and drove right through
The crazies all in line to battle sorrow
Now the way to live, can't wake up sorrow
Who is that crying on the road now?
Who is that ghost singing our songs?
Weakest hand fell from my grip
The shapeless ways your fist can move
I feel like I could fill this room
With broken records and dead balloons
And it's a happy birthday, say so long to sorrow
Beggar shoes can't find the way to sorrow
Who is that burning on the sun?
All the trash that filled our rooms
Fade as light from angled roofs
The lunatics are aching too
The cold dust smell, the dusk is dim
Midnight lungs of promises
The fire hydrant blasts the shell of sorrow
Rescue missions dig up the bones of sorrow
Who is that crying in the shadow?
Who is that ghost singing our songs?
The Song:"Sorrow" is a very cool song that was put up to stream on beck.com in November 2005, as part of a site redesign. The song is otherwise unreleased. It is a shame we don't have it in better sound quality.
I really enjoy the lyrics (though some are difficult to discern), and their fit with the laidback melody over some junkyard drums.
The second verse gives a nice picture with the broken record (
disco quebrado) and dead balloons at a sad birthday party. It seems to me to be about someone seeing sadness all around, but trying to fight off the feelings of sorrow in himself. Is that a hopeless fight?
Also to note, "
Gamma Ray" was initially reported as a song called "Beggar's Shoes." Beck ended up not mentioning "beggar's shoes" in "Gamma Ray," and does mention them here.