Head Cut Off
By: Beck Hansen
Written by: Beck Hansen

Versions:
  1. Head Cut Off (2:36)
    Available on Golden Leftovers.
    Credits
    Beck Hansen: Guitar (Acoustic), Vocals
  2.  
 
Lyrics:
Head Cut Off [Version (a)]:

Tell me why do you freak out? Jumping down my throat for no reason?
If I knew what the hell was going on, I would tell you to take a chill pill.
You should know better than to run around with your head cut off.
You should know better than to run around with your head cut off.

I'm so sorry if I can't talk good. I got squeezed and the feeling just escapes me.
A lost touch, I'm calling for replacement...the whirling burning peeling off my soul.
You should know better than to run around with your head cut off.
You should know better than to run around with your head cut off.

This is just a move I bust, locked inside a cardboard jail.
Now you're shaking and you're much too sensitive. I feel awkward when I try to be myself.
You should know better than to run around with your head cut off.
You should know better than to run around with your head cut off.
(Yeah yeah yeah.)
 
The Song:

This song was one of the songs Beck recorded in 1993 for his Golden Feelings album. However, it was also one of the songs that did not make the final cut of the album, and is available today as a bootleg of the unreleased outtakes, known as Golden Leftovers. "Head Cut Off" is slightly goofy, slightly serious folk song, much in the vein of "Puttin It Down."

The song has plenty of good lines, if none terribly poetic. The disorientation focused on in the verses ("Tell me why do you freak out?," "I'm sorry if I can't talk good," "locked inside a cardboard jail") matches the disorientation of the chorus (i.e., running around with your head cut off).