Lonesome Tears

@ Tronscrackparty

What are you talking about? circle6's comment made perfect sense. "The kind of lyrics that you might find written on the back of a brown paper grocery bag in a ditch along a rural road on a late autumn evening." That makes perfect sense...

In other words, it's the story of a broken, lonely man living by himself. The brown paper grocery bag is obviously an allusion to liquor and therefore depression. The "autumn evening" is just a way to set the mood, a time when the light is dimming almost to the point where the lyrics become unreadable and lost from the world.

To me, this song represents why "Sea Change" will be looked at very favorably in years to come. The songs, while downtempo and introspective, are very elegant in their simplicity -- there's not one throw-away line. They're powerfully arranged. And they'll sound as good ten or fifteen years from now.

"Lonesome Tears" is a confessional that vows resolution, but ultimately admits (and rages at) the unfairness of love, and descends into a vortex of emotional upheaval at the end. It reminds me of a sad western song mixed up with Southern Gothic imagery (e.g., Carson McCullers, William Faulkner) -- the kind of lyrics that you might find written on the back of a brown paper grocery bag in a ditch along a rural road on a late autumn evening.

the start of this song feels like an emotional overload...

Well I look at it like, he realizes that his tears aren't doing anything for him so he's going to try to get over it. Being through this sort of thing, the chorus to me means that the one-sided love he's keeping himself in isn't doing him any good without knowing just why he hasn't done anything about it. The second verse; the sun has always symbolized positive feelings, being lazy it hasn't had much of them to shine on him, and when they do he knows that nothing gold can stay. But he'll anything to find happiness far away from where he's at emotionally.

I agree blackout on that, the chorus is of a one sided love. And he is trying to leave it behind... but as always its a very hard thing to do. Ain't it?

the first time I heard this song was in a montage on turner classic movies, to do with clark gable. a lot of his movies involve moments of intensity and heartbreak, and it's amazing how well this song went with that.

I have to say this is one of the most moving songs I've ever heard. the lyrics along with the music itself. it's amazing the buildup it has towards the end... insanely good!

"oh, I'll ride farther than I should harder than I could just to meet you there..."

this song is rather bittersweet to me, because it seems to me he realizes he should leave things behind, but at the same time he knows for a fact he'll always be there for the person, regardless of what happens.

I agree with the last line of what you said, blackout. =P

jmujkano: The start sounds norml. The ending sounds like an emotional overload.

The first few tracks on "Sea Change" sound to me like Beck is still loves with the person who's breaking up with him. So probably, this song is about someone who still loves someone who doesn't care about him anymore. That's the worst kind of heartbreak.

i love how he builds up the ending but doesn't resolve the music in the end. i love that he ended on a leading note, that kicks so much ass.

The video for this song is just as depressing as the song... both are amazing though.

Very dark with an almost insane, desparate ending. This is on par with "round the bend" and "how to disappear completely" from radiohead. Don't need to say this is a great song because I only comment on great songs :-D