Country Down

This is my favorite track from Morning Phase, but the lyrics somehow always managed to evade me. After spending some time with the song, I noticed that the lyrics consciously cycle through what seems to be all the possible vowel sounds in the English language, interlacing them with recurring sounds of "ou" and "ow" (Country Down). The chord progressions are simple, but the lyrics are hard to remember because he's constantly replacing the vowel sounds. BTW, I think the only way this could ever occur to me is by singing along and noticing what a workout it is on the mouth. Beck makes it sound simple because he's just that good. The song starts with a long stanza that features a diversity of hard and soft vowel sounds mixed with an overwhelming number of "ou" and "ow" sounds: Oh country down Where I found my proving ground All along the floodline Wheels are turning around The hills roll out like centuries Pass by without a sound Just a mile outside of town Second stanza emphasizes soft "I" sounds: Down river bound Where the limit to your sky fell down A plot against your will Is furrowed into your brow . . . Third stanza emphasizes "u" and "oo" and "iew" sounds: What's the use of being found? You can lose yourself in some good ground In the weeds hiding down river right next door There's no frame around your picture Just a view through my back door Fourth stanza emphasizes hard "I" and hard "E" sounds: Time evermore You just found what you're looking for A tiger rose growing through your prison door Reaching for sunlight, can't see it anymore Just a mile from my back door The fifth and penultimate stanza is a festival of different vowel sounds -- with no obvious "ow" or "ou" sounds at all! You could wake up on a lifeboat 'neath the sun On a ladder up to the sky You're standing on the lowest rung Holding a lifeline, using my best defense Riding in the undertow my heart couldn't fight against The last stanza reprises the first, but this time incorporating the hard "A" sound: Oh lay me down Where we found my proving ground All along the floodline Waves are turning around The hills roll out like centuries Pass by without a sound Just a mile outside of town I feel confident in my theory that Beck was consciously using all the vowel sounds because, until that very last stanza, the hard "A" sound had not been used at all. It was the missing piece. I still find this a very difficult song to memorize, because in addition to not simplistically repeating itself this song is all about creating a rich ambient mood rather than any concrete meaning. The video is terrific, as well!