Lyrics:

The Song:

Beck's playful silliness and excellent singing highlight this smooth, funky rock track. Justin Meldal-Johnsen's bass again is almost the lead instrument, while the Brass Menagerie is in full R&B effect. Being the second single from Midnite Vultures gave this song some attention in public too.

The song, as much of Midnite Vultures, I believe, originated from little germs of ideas. Here, for instance, Beck shouted at the beginning of "Where It's At" on January 3, 1998, "I'm talking about mixing business!" And then later in the song, he started singing "There's a meeting in the ladies room / I'll be back real soon!" Surely Beck has his favorite go-to ad-libs and tapped into this particular ad-lib to become a song when he would go record Vultures later on in the year.

This song though really shows how Beck stands out from the normal, everyday music. Much of these lyrics take a look at the very feminine side of sexuality, which stands in stark contrast to most hiphop at the time (and in general). Beck uses lines like "I'll be your mistress," "make all the lesbians scream," and "I'll comb your hair / Rewrite your diary" to really play it all up.

Otherwise the words are filled with all sorts of slang ("cold lamping," "b-boys," etc.) and playfulness ("mixing business with leather / mixing fitness with leather", "Do you wanna ride on the Baltic sea?") and inside jokes ("manthing" was a nickname for Roger Joseph Manning Jr.) which combine to make something irresistible. Fun is the key for this song.

Live:

Played live 376 times:
Earliest known live version: January 3, 1998
Latest known live version: May 12, 2024

"Mixed Bizness" was one of Beck's singles off of Vultures and as he tends to play those live, the song has shown up pretty regularly since the album came out.

pre-Vultures shows

As said above, there is a brief hint of the song in a stage adlib in early 1998.

1999-2001 Vultures tour

"Mixed Bizness" debuted on stage on October 6, 1999. This was the first of three "warm-up" gigs about a month before Vultures was released, and a few of the songs made their live premiere that night. Listening to the version of "Mixed Bizness" from a few nights later (October 9 in Indio), I'm struck by the smoothness of it. I was expecting it to be a little rawer, especially since it had only just begun being performed. I really like the background singers helping with the chorus as well ("Turn it up now! Alright, ooh ooh ooh!").

Then on the first leg of the Vultures tour, "Mixed Bizness" was used as the opening song much of the time. Obviously, it was considered the perfect combo of rock and R&B to set the mood for these new shows. It didn't last in this spot throughout the whole tour, though it was played at every show of the long tour. The driving riff and almost-sing-along quality made it an audience favorite, and certainly the band never tired of it.

The version of "Mixed Bizness" played on the Japanese leg of the tour (May 2000) began with a long funky introduction. By this point in the tour, the band was jamming a bit more and there's a lengthy beginning to this song. Beck controls things James Brown-style, getting solos from each section of the band: "Swamp, give 'em some of that! Brass Menagerie now, show 'em how to work! Turn that shit down! Now bring it back up!" He's in control, and this goes on for about three minutes before it effortlessly flows into "Mixed Bizness," which is now less rock than earlier in the tour and more pure funk and soul. The band even tosses other songs like David Bowie's "Let's Dance" into the mix sometimes. It's a great example how a song can grow and change over a tour. They did play pretty much every night of the long tour; changing things up and adding sections was a way to keep it interesting.

The summer of 2001 tour saw more changes to "Mixed Bizness." It's not a solo-driven funk jam like at the end of the Vultures tour, but more its own groove. Pretty wild!

2002-2003 Sea Change tours

Beck did not play "Mixed Bizness" on his solo acoustic tours in August 2002 or April 2003 (no surprise), but also did not play it with The Flaming Lips in the fall of 2002 (maybe a bit of a surprise). He did return to the song however in the summer of 2003, and the song was played almost every night then. That band rocked, and played through Beck's songs at a breakneck pace; however, "Mixed Bizness" felt a little less hectic, and had more of a slow burn soul groove.

2005-2007 Guero / Info tours

In 2005, "Mixed Bizness" was played at about 1/3 of the shows. It was around this time Beck started adding "I Want To Take You Higher" soul improvisations to the end of the song (it's a Sly & The Family Stone song, though Beck mainly just used the title). This continued throughout 2006 and 2007 as well.

2008-2009 Modern Guilt tours

Beck did not play "Mixed Biz" in the first couple months of the Guilt tours (June & July), but soon added it back in and it was played most of the time from then on (August - November). Beck continued to add the "I Want To Take You Higher" extension to the song as well.

2010-2015 pre-Morning Phase, Morning Phase

Beck did not tour much from 2010-2011, and when he went back out in 2012-2013, it was a slightly more acoustic, Sea Change & Odelay-focused show. He did not play "Mixed Biz" at all in this time.

There was one time when he played a benefit show in 2011, and threw together a band and had a local San Francisco jazz band add horns. Because of their presence, they did do "Mixed Bizness." It was a singular show though, and not repeated.

Beck also did not play the song at all in 2014 on the Morning Phase tours.

2015-2016 post-Morning Phase

Since the Morning Phase tour ended, Beck continued to tour but in a little bit less intense fashion (around 30 shows both in 2015 and 2016). In 2015, Beck played "Mixed Biz" at two Scandinavian festivals in August. Then in 2016 and 2017, it was played at almost every show.

2017-2018 Colors tour

As in the preceding years, Beck continued to play "Mixed Bizness" throughout the Colors tour. He did it at like 54 of the main 59 gigs. He followed the pattern of dropping the third verse/chorus and second "Baltic Sea" section from the song, jumping to the ending a little quicker. To make up for that, he would also frequently add long intros (usually about office equipment), and also tack on the "I Want To Take You Higher" bit on at the end. (Though interestingly, a number of times, I heard him starting the song with "Higher" too. He was very fluxus on this song this year!)

Here is a somewhat unique version from Atlanta in 2018, where Beck plays a MUCH longer than usual intro, and then TWO endings. It's like twice as long as any other version of "Mixed Bizness" I've heard this year. He's clearly having a blast with it.