Lyrics:

The Song:

This great folk song from Don't Get Bent Out Of Shape uses a short parade of famous characters and persons to express the main point "Don't believe the junk they put on you." Beck sounds wise beyond his years.

First up is Tom Joad, the famous character from The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, about the groups of "dust bowlers" who migrated out of Oklahoma during the depression. Woody Guthrie also wrote a song about him called "Tom Joad." In the story, Joad was recently paroled from being imprisoned for murder, so the opening lines here are certainly not out of character. The first verse of Guthrie's "Tom Joad" is

Tom Joad got out of the old McAlester Pen
There he got his parole after four long years on a man killing charge
Tom Joad come a-walkin' down the road, poor boy
Tom Joad come a-walkin' down the road

Beck borrows the end of this verse as the opening line for "Don't Believe the Joke." What you shouldn't believe is that Tom Joad, as a parolee who lost his family, is to be feared. In Guthrie's song, at least, Tom Joad is portrayed as a hero.

The second verse alludes to the story of Jesus Christ faking his own death.

Daniel Johnston is a relatively famous outsider musician. Beck has covered a few of his songs over the years: "Devil Town," "Some Things Last A Long Time," and "True Love Will Find You In The End." Johnston was a huge influence on Beck, especially on his early tapes, and there a numerous other references and musical connections. I mean, just about every Daniel Johnston song sounds like a Don't Get Bent Out Of Shape outtake, so the sound and style influence on Beck was clearly strong.

The final verse begins with a phrase Beck likes: "Now I'm biting on the bullet hard," which was used in "Soul Suckin Jerk," as well.