Lyrics:

The Song:

Beck's playful silliness and excellent singing highlight this smooth, funky rock track. Justin Meldal-Johnsen's bass again is almost the lead instrument, while the Brass Menagerie is in full R&B effect. Being the second single from Midnite Vultures gave this song some attention in public; most notoriously as background music in commercials for Fox television shows!

The song, as much of Midnite Vultures, I believe, originated from little germs of ideas. Here, for instance, Beck shouted at the beginning of "Where It's At" on January 3, 1998, "I'm talking about mixing business!" And then later in the song, he started singing "There's a meeting in the ladies room / I'll be back real soon!" Surely Beck has his favorite ad-libs and tapped into this particular ad-lib to become a song when he would go record Vultures later on in the year.

This song though really shows how Beck stands out from normal, everyday music. Much of these lyrics take a very feminine side of sexuality, which stands in stark contrast to most hiphop, and especially manly stuff like Kid Rock and Limp Bizkit. Beck uses lines like "I'll be your mistress," "make all the lesbians scream," and "I'll comb your hair / Rewrite your diary" to really play up the contrast.

Otherwise the words are filled with all sorts of slang ("cold lamping," "b-boys," etc.) and playfulness ("mixing business with leather . . . mixing fitness with leather", "Do you wanna ride on the Baltic sea?") which combine to make something irresistable. Fun is the key for this song.

Live:

Played live 221 times:
Earliest known live version: January 3, 1998
Latest known live version: May 19, 2011

"Mixed Bizness" debuted on stage on October 6 1999. This was the first of three "warm-up" gigs about a month before Vultures was released, and a few of the songs made their live premiere that night. Listening to the version of "Mixed Bizness" from a few nights later (October 9 in Indio), I'm struck by the smoothness of it. I was expecting it to be a little rawer, especially since it had only just begun being performed. I really like the background singers helping with the chorus as well ("Turn it up now! Alright, ooh ooh ooh!").

Then on the first leg of the Vultures tour, "Mixed Bizness" was used as the opening song much of the time. Obviously, it was considered the perfect combo of rock and R & B to set the mood for these new shows. It didn't last in this spot throughout the whole tour, though it was played at every show of the long tour. The driving riff and almost-sing-along quality made it an audience favorite, and certainly the band never tired of it.

The version of "Mixed Bizness" played on the Japanese leg of the tour began with a long funky introduction. By this point in the tour, the band was jamming a bit more and there's a lengthy beginning to this song. Beck controls things James Brown-style, getting solos from each section of the band: "Swamp, give 'em some of that! Brass Menagerie now, show 'em how to work! Turn that shit down! Now bring it back up!" He's in control, and this goes on for about three minutes before it effortlessly flows into "Mixed Bizness," which is now less rock than earlier in the tour and more pure funk and soul. The band even tosses other songs like David Bowie's "Let's Dance" into the mix a little. It's a great example how a song can grow and change over a tour. They did play pretty much every night of the long tour; changing things up and adding sections was a way to keep it interesting.

The summer of 2001 tour saw more changes to "Mixed Bizness." A very long, funky jam acted as the introduction to the song, as Beck and his background singers sang "Turn it up now! Alright!" It's not a solo-driven funk jam like at the end of the Vultures tour, but more its own groove. Pretty wild! The version on June 29 2001, broke down after about three minutes, paused, Justin shouted "It's Hammer time!" before it finally built up into "Mixed Bizness" proper.

The summer of 2003 saw the regular return of "Mixed Bizness" to the rock & funk-influenced sets. The song was a little less hectic, more of a slow burn soul groove.