Lyrics:

The Song:

Within weeks of the release of Mellow Gold on March 1, 1994, Beck headed off on tour around the world. Before the tour began by heading through America's south, he stopped for a visit at the most famous studio in America, Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. While there, he recorded a number of blues tunes and jams. So far, only two songs have been released from his visit: "Devil Got My Woman" and "Stagolee." "Devil" was not released until the "Jack-ass" single in 1997, while the latter did not get released until four years after that. This of course naturally leads one to wonder, just how many more blues classics did Beck record that day? And when will we get to hear them all?

Regardless, "Devil Got My Woman" is a classic blues song, to put it lightly. Legendary, even. It was the second Skip James cover Beck has recorded (the first being "He's A Mighty Good Leader"). (He's done a few others since then too.)

Beck's version was pretty faithful to Skip's lyrically, as shown here:

Oh Lord, it be the devil believe that woman mad
Oh Lord, it be the devil believe that woman mad
Oh nothin' but the devil change my baby's mind
Oh nothin' but the devil change my baby's mind
I laid there last night, laid there last night, I laid there last night, tried to take my rest
My mind got to ramblin' like the wild geese from the west, from the west
The woman I love, woman that I love, the woman I love took off for my best friend
But he got lucky, joker got her back again
And he got lucky, stole her back again

This is Skip James' original version of the song, from 1931. He would later be "rediscovered" in the '60s, and the song was recorded (and released) again.

Even at this early point in his career, you can tell that this is the kind of song Beck had been performing for a long time. The guitar has that full, ringing, loosely-tuned sound to it, which helps set the 1930s blues atmosphere. The guitar line is of similar pace and rhythm as Skip James' 1931 recording, and both display a lot of fancy picking going on, but Beck's is not a pure copy. To top it off, Beck's voice is powerful and dramatic. His admiration for this music really shows, and this is easily one of Beck's finest moments.

Live:

Played live 21 times:
Earliest known live version: December 5, 1994
Latest known live version: April 28, 2019

"Devil Got My Woman" did show up in Beck's setlists over a 10-year span, back when he was a bit more likely to toss blues covers into his sets than he may be today.

1994-1995 post-Mellow Gold tours

The earliest live versions seem to have occurred in late 1994, maybe around 6 months after recording it. He probably did play it earlier than this that we don't have documented though. On December 10, Beck reports on how he went to Sun Studios and recorded a few Skip James covers (among other things).

Beck performed the song during one of his yearly stops at KCRW on January 6 1995. Once again, it was a brilliant display of Beck's guitar skills. This performance was a bit rawer in feel than the Sun Studio recording, but that fit the material all the more. Unfortunately, KCRW messed up and clipped the beginning of his performance. But a gracious Beck admitted, "That's OK. I clipped the whole thing."

He then also played it the next night, January 7, at a monumental show opening for Johnny Cash.

2000 Vultures tours

Beck did not fit many blues covers into his Odelay tours, but did return to the song 3 times in 2000. None were really proper Vultures tour shows, but more acoustic-based side shows.

Beck performed "Devil Got My Woman" on July 2 2000, at the This Ain't No Picnic Festival. Smokey Hormel rejoined the band that night, and this song is done as one of their always-memorable acoustic duets. Smokey adds some bluesy slide guitar. Beck also plays some harmonica at the beginning. He sings some slightly "new" lyrics:

Laid there last night, tried to dig my grave
My mind got to ramblin' like wild geese from the west

Woman I love, woman I love, the devil changed her mind
I love her, Lord I think she's always mine

Then in October, Beck did the song at a charity award show in San Francisco (he performed solo) and then at a quieter acoustic band gig in LA ("Devil" was done alone though).

August 2002 / April 2003 Sea Change solo tours

Beck did two solo tours (and three band tours) behind Sea Change in 2002 and 2003. Beck did "Devil Got My Woman" during the solo shows. In August, there were 20 shows and Beck did "Devil" 6 times. Smokey Hormel was with him, and he added slide guitar for the full-on blues effect. A few times it was preceded with Beck's story about how he discovered the blues as a teenager in the '80s, from beer commercials. Then in April 2003, Beck took the solo tour to Europe and played it 7 more times.

After that solo tour, Beck has not played "Devil Got My Woman" since.

videos

You can watch a video of Beck playing this in December 1994 on London television here.