Beck Song Information

Green Light

By: Sonic Youth, Thurston Moore

Original Performance: Sonic Youth
Written by: Sonic Youth, Thurston Moore

Versions:

Green Light (3:42)
Available on Green Light.
Credits

Bram Inscore: Bass
Beck Hansen: Guitar (Acoustic), Vocals
Jessica Dobson: Guitar (Acoustic)
Brian Lebarton: Keyboard / Synthesizer

Lyrics:

Green Light [Version (a)]:

I kneel before the green light
Of her singing crayon eyes
And then I kiss her stomach
And then I realize
Her light is the night
I'm not blind
I believe in you
I see a green light

I kneel before the green light
Of her singing crayon eyes
And then I kiss her stomach
And then I realize
Her light is the night
I'm not blind
I believe in you
I see a green light

I see a green light

The Song:

Beck covered Sonic Youth's "Green Light" for a limited 7" record, which will also include Sonic Youth's cover of "Pay No Mind."

Beck a few months before this was announced covered SY's "Star Power in concert once. "Star Power" and "Green Light" are both on Sonic Youth's album, EVOL. Reportedly in fact Beck has covered the entirety of EVOL for some sort of Sonic Youth project.

The original Sonic Youth version is a fairly typical SY track, based around a churning electric guitar riff, which builds and builds into a climax of guitars. Beck deconstructs that though, turning it into a hypnotic acoustic guitar piece.

Notes:

Over the years, Beck has been pretty close with Sonic Youth. They are on the same record label. In the early days, Thurston Moore was a big supporter and they appeared on MTV together (search for it on YouTube). In 1996, Beck opened for Sonic Youth on their tour of Europe. Thurston Moore wore an "I'm Not Beck" t-shirt in one of SY's videos. Thurston wrote a piece about Odelay for the liner notes of the deluxe version. SY released a best-of CD with songs chosen by various famous people, and Beck chose "Sugar Kane" for it.

Musically, Thurston and Beck have collaborated a couple of times: once on this track/tape and another time on a radio show doing "Super Christ," "Bedroom Light," and "Super Funky." Over the years, Beck has covered Sonic Youth's "Silver Rocket" and "The Diamond Sea" on stage. In 2009, Beck reportedly covered all of Sonic Youth's album EVOL for a Sonic Youth boxset. In return, Sonic Youth covered "Pay No Mind."