Lyrics:Johnny Depp [Live version (a)]:
He's totally pregnant with his ownself
Opening his pores like a thousand cameras
Filming and trashing, cashing in on death
Spray-painting everybody with his breath
Yea like a magnet connected to nothing
Eating off the floor like a starving ghost
Take it to the limit, take it to a midget
Tell me what it's like to be your girl
You really got to tell me how you're gonna tell me
Nothing to say
Down from the stage, the kids were in a rage
Bathing in crap, craving for love
Crazy animals, leaping and sleeping
Crawling around in the undertaker's clothes
Yea like a magnet connected to nothing
Eating off the floor like a starving ghost
Take it to the limit, take it like a midget
Tell me what it's like to be your girl
You really got it, you really got it, really got it
The Song:With a brief introduction, "This one is sort of about Johnny Depp," Beck began this song. Not sure what the title really was, but from that we use "Johnny Depp."
The first verse memorably describes a publicity-hungry celebrity; Depp, I guess. It gets contrasted with Beck's lo-fi persona, "a magnet connected to nothing / eating off the floor like a starving ghost."
Beck told his personal experience with Depp. He remembered playing at the Viper Room in Los Angeles, which is owned by Johnny Depp. The gig didnt go too well, as Beck described it, "They obviously didn't like us, because in the middle of the set they cut the electricity and dropped the curtain on us." The second verse was certainly borne out of that experience, with the "down from the stage, the kids were in a rage" rhyme.
I've always enjoyed this song, it seems well-written.