Lyrics:

The Song:

Beck and The Dust Brothers started "Girl" years before Guero (the New York Times reported that it was intended for Midnite Vultures, though the Dust Brothers were not a huge part of that record). John King said that originally, "it was a masterpiece of sound, confusing and all over the place." These early versions went through different lyrics, and had names like "Songy" and "Summer Girl."

It seems though that Beck liked the chorus, so as King described, they "stripped away everything but the keyboard, and a bass we eventually replaced. [King] pulled up a new beat, and something was happening that was infectious, and we felt we could listen to it all day. Beck began jamming acoustic guitar over it."

At the same time though, despite the catchiness, "Girl" has one of the darker lyrics Beck has ever written. Beck's been asked about it a couple of times. Once he started to say it was "happy and romantic," but then immediately changed his mind when he remembered the lyrics. "The lyrics are very dark, so maybe that's not true," he realized. Another time he described it as "supposed to be a romantic song with all this rough imagery, like Bukowski." Looking close at the chorus, it does appear to be a mordern sort of murder ballad at its core.

Asked about the darkness, Beck said,

Originally, the lyrics to 'Girl' were really upbeat, and then it didn't work for me somehow. You need the dichotomy. If you're doing something happy and light, you need the shadows. That was something that the Pixies did so well. Frank Black is a genius at these happy songs, and then you listen to the lyrics and they're based on (Spanish film director Luis) Bunuel films of cows' eyes getting cut.

Beck has referred to the Pixies on this point a couple of times. This dichotomy is what makes the song really interesting. The first verse has roses and diamond rings and the sun and the beach. But looking closer, the diamond ring isn't real, the sun has a noose on it, and bones are bleaching in the sand. These are powerful, striking images of deterioration and almost grotesqueness underneath the reality. It's quite a portrait Beck has painted here.

Also to note, there was an slightly early leak of Guero, a few months before it was released. There were minor differences in the mixes of some of the songs. On "Girl," the early version had a slightly longer intro. The chiptone beeps start 13 seconds into the intro, as opposed to 7 seconds in on the official album. Everything else sounds the same to me.

Live:

Played live 373 times:
Earliest known live version: February 5, 2005
Latest known live version: May 12, 2024

As one of his most popular songs, Beck has played "Girl" quite regularly since it was released in 2005.

2005/2006 Guero/Info tours

Naturally, Beck played "Girl" throughout his Guero and Info tours. However, the song sounds very much like the album, maybe just a bit more dramatic in the drums, a few extra instruments to fill things out. The whole band can get into it though, and Beck's little slide guitar solo is always fun to hear live (most of the time it sounds like the record, but every once in awhile he can get a little tangled doing it).

Summer 2006/Spring 2007 end of the Info tours

I'm not sure exactly when this started, or why, but by the end of the summer 2006, Beck started playing short versions of the song. He would do the verse/chorus/verse/chorus and then stop the song, instead of going into the slide guitar part. This lasted through the fall of 2006 as well.

Out of all the times Beck played "Girl" in this time period, most I've heard are the short, fast version. There is one, however, on April 6, 2007 in Tokyo, where the song is extended back again, with the band jamming through the slide guitar part and Beck singing "my cyanide girl" through the end.

acoustic version - 10/22/2006

During October 2006, Beck played a number of acoustic-style shows. At one, October 22, he did try "Girl" this way. The electric guitars, computer beeps and normal pounding drums are replaced by acoustic strums and light percussion. Beck sounds really into it, and it comes off very well. It's not a drastic rearrangement, just playing the song as normal, but on acoustic instruments. (It also is cut short, and does not go into the slide guitar part.)

2008/2009 Modern Guilt tours

Beck continued playing "Girl" on the Modern Guilt tour. Arrangement is basically the same as the shortened version, but is sped up a little bit, and is a bit more punk rock. It still stops after the second chorus.

2011-2013 pre-Morning Phase tours

Beck took a few years off from touring (2010/2011) but then in 2012 & 2013, started doing some shows again. "Girl" was played quite regularly in those years too (12 of 15 shows in 2012; 12 of 25 shows in 2013).

2014 - Morning Phase tours

During the Morning Phase tours of 2014, Beck played "Girl" almost nightly (at 51 of his 57 shows). The arrangement matched the record (including Smokey Hormel performing the slide guitar solo), except in two ways. First, the song ended on one chorus (instead of the two on the album). Second, they added 3 synthesizers to an otherwise acoustic performance. Justin moved over and played a synth bass, while Roger and Jason were also adding various synth sounds (Gus and Smokey played acoustic guitars). Beck seemed to really enjoy the song, using the fast groove to dance around the stage a lot while he sang.

2015 & 2017 - post-Morning Phase tours

Beck continues to enjoy "Girl" in his tours of 2015 & 2016. In 2015, it showed up at about a third of the shows, but in 2016, it was at almost all of them. The song really seems to have rooted itself as a "must play" song, alongside things like "Devils Haircut" and "Where It's At." How long will it last?

2017-2018 Colors tours - Girl Power!

Beck played "Girl" at almost all his Colors shows, except for a short run of 8 concerts in a row where he skipped it (basically the whole Australian leg). Otherwise, it settled right into his closing pre-encore block of songs along with "E-Pro," "Dreams," and "Loser." For the first half of the tour, this band played a similar version to the last few years, a basic professional recreation of the album. Dwayne continues with what previous bassist Justin Meldal-Johnsen did, and dropped the bass for a synthesizer. Jason played the slide guitar break (though part of me thinks that section was a tape? I could never tell for sure).

Halfway through the tour, the band replaced the slide guitar by sliding into an acapella cover of Kanye West's "Power," which has a catchy riff/sample that they co-opted to use in that section. Besides that, the song remained the same, but it was a cool winking nod to the Beck/Kanye Grammy controversy, and the remarkably catchy cover seems to have fit quite naturally into "Girl." Girl Power! I believe they did this at every show from July 7 onward (they may have started July 6 with it), and am quite curious to see if this continues on future tours/bands!