It's possible that Beck's influence for the name of this song comes from a poem (with the same title) by Hart Crane, a black American who was born at the turn of the 20th century and committed suicide when he was 32. I don't see an explicit connection between the meaning of Crane's poem and Beck's song, but I do think a writer such as Crane would likely serve as an inspiration to an artist like Beck. I'll let you research Crane for yourself to determine if you agree with me on that or not.
In the scope of Beck's world however, I think the term "Black Tambourine" is used more as a metaphor to describe a broken soul. The narrator in the song not only has a broken soul, he's also very conscious of how other people can see that he has a broken soul (which makes his already-terrible condition even worse). That's why he says his black heart is "in effigy", meaning it is on public display for all to see. He also says "sharks smell the blood that I'm bleeding", which tells us that he views others as threatening to him (as is often the case with an injured animal of any kind).
You'll also notice that he mentions two black hearts, not just one. The other heart belongs to his female partner who is also suffering from the same condition. The narrator is describing how he and his partner are drawn together based on their common mental/spiritual illness ("my baby run to me"). This provides them both with some relief at night after a long day of suffering ("to keep it warm at night.. my tambourine is still shaking").
Of course like any Beck song, you can abstract the lyrics further and consider other interpretations like David Lynch did when he used this song in Inland Empire. It appears that Lynch used the song to enforce the idea that the main character in his movie doesn't know who she is. So in that sense, the two black hearts in the song could also be seen as two sides/personalities/dimensions of the same suffering person. But again, I think the main idea is "black tambourine" = "broken soul".
It's possible that Beck's influence for the name of this song comes from a poem (with the same title) by Hart Crane, a black American who was born at the turn of the 20th century and committed suicide when he was 32. I don't see an explicit connection between the meaning of Crane's poem and Beck's song, but I do think a writer such as Crane would likely serve as an inspiration to an artist like Beck. I'll let you research Crane for yourself to determine if you agree with me on that or not.
In the scope of Beck's world however, I think the term "Black Tambourine" is used more as a metaphor to describe a broken soul. The narrator in the song not only has a broken soul, he's also very conscious of how other people can see that he has a broken soul (which makes his already-terrible condition even worse). That's why he says his black heart is "in effigy", meaning it is on public display for all to see. He also says "sharks smell the blood that I'm bleeding", which tells us that he views others as threatening to him (as is often the case with an injured animal of any kind).
You'll also notice that he mentions two black hearts, not just one. The other heart belongs to his female partner who is also suffering from the same condition. The narrator is describing how he and his partner are drawn together based on their common mental/spiritual illness ("my baby run to me"). This provides them both with some relief at night after a long day of suffering ("to keep it warm at night.. my tambourine is still shaking").
Of course like any Beck song, you can abstract the lyrics further and consider other interpretations like David Lynch did when he used this song in Inland Empire. It appears that Lynch used the song to enforce the idea that the main character in his movie doesn't know who she is. So in that sense, the two black hearts in the song could also be seen as two sides/personalities/dimensions of the same suffering person. But again, I think the main idea is "black tambourine" = "broken soul".