Lyrics:

The Song:

"Beautiful Way" in many ways stands out on Midnite Vultures. One way that it sticks out is because the arrangement is simple folk-rock (verse/chorus/verse/chorus/instrumental verse/chorus/coda), as opposed to all the crazy mix-and-match song collage that dominate the rest of the album. This one is much more straight-forward. And lyrically, Beck's words about a broken heart stand in contrast to the sex-filled party atmosphere on the surface of many of the other songs on the album. In fact, Beck even admitted on stage once (August 26 2002) that "Beautiful Way" "got lost" on Midnite Vultures.

Nonetheless, the music is as beautiful as anything Beck and band have ever played, in my opinion. It's a simple one-chord groove, elegantly adorned with great instrumentation. Beck brings in his friend Beth Orton to sing back-up, and their voices work pretty well together, though she's mixed to the back. The highlight, however, comes after the second chorus as the band kicks into a sublime instrumental verse that certainly is as wonderful as Beck has ever recorded. Beck's harmonica is some of his best, while Roger Manning's piano is perfect. Two pedal steel guitarists (no less) add to the emotion. This is good stuff. After another chorus, the band continues to a fade out, leaving the impression that it goes on forever.

Once again, Beck's lyrics again utilize a contrast of good and bad: "such a beautiful way to break my heart." It's a classic songwriting trick. But unlike most of Beck's other songs, the chorus of "Beautiful Way" borders on cliche to get his point across.

But while Beck's lyrics on "Beautiful Way" are hardly linear or literal, the emotion tries to come through, sometimes more successfully than others. Some of the cliches are kind of weak, others are pretty effective ("your umbrella was a tangled mess"), and at times it feels random ("Egyptian bells are ringing when it's her birthday"?), but I think the prevailing feeling of the song is clear.

"There's someone calling your name" is reminiscent of the character in "Jack-ass" moving on: "it's a strange invitation." Here though, the singer is the one left behind, not the one leaving. He still cares and loves his baby, and her leaving is breaking his heart (cliche alert). But with these lines, it becomes an unrequited (or past) love song. As Beck explained in the Boston Phoenix in 1999, "To me ['Beautiful Way'] is a love song and those are heartfelt words."

Live:

Played live 32 times:
Earliest known live version: January 26, 2000
Latest known live version: April 28, 2003

Beck never really made "Beautiful Way" a regular part of his concerts, but between 2000 when it was released and 2003, he did do the song a number of times. And in good Beck fashion, a number of styles!

2000 Glittering Shoals version

"Beautiful Way" was never a huge part of the Vultures tours. But when it was, it was played very much like the record. Listening to some of these, you cannot help but notice how faithful the band remained to the album (except they don't fade out at the end!). February 1, 2000 is a particularly pretty version of the song done this way. Similarly, the February 19, 2000 version had a more squeaky, distorted guitar solo than one might expect (unless you know the Velvet Underground influence!). Also see March 27, 2000: Beck's back-up singers seem to be adding much more to the song than they did initially (or the sound quality makes it more evident).

April 1, 2000 Hurricane Blowing version

This isn't really a very different arrangement than the Glittering Shoals one, but it does have Beck's friends from the band Air playing on it. They don't add a whole lot, though there are a few extra swirly keyboards in there. Watch it!



October 1, 2000 - Change To Spare version

After the Vultures tour ended, Beck went on a short tour with Neil Young. Instead of using his big funky band, he took a smaller group with him (including Jon Brion). They played a series of very relaxing shows, much more acoustic focused. At one of them, they pulled out "Beautiful Way." Beck purrs through a soporific, yet gorgeous, version of the song. The little twists of country pedal steel stand out. The arrangement is not any different, but it is definitely a new flavor of the song.

2001 Tangled Umbrella solo folk version

Beck showed up at KCRW for his (almost) annual visit on May 26, 2001. As Beck explained before performing the song, the recorded version of "Beautiful Way" has a lot going on even though it is for the most part one chord. He had to try to make it a little more interesting in order to do it by himself on acoustic. He then plays a terrific finger-picked acoustic version of the song! Gotta love it! He adds harmonica at the end, and the whole thing sounds like something out of the '70s--Bert Jansch or Nick Drake or the like.

Beck's success in transferring "Beautiful Way" into a solo song on KCRW encouraged him: he played it a couple of other times that summer of 2001 as he toured Europe festivals (June 26 and July 7).

August 2002 Shook The Blues Out Of Your Hair version

August 2002 had 20 solo shows, as Beck travelled North America with Smokey Hormel. He played "Beautiful Way" four times. These were not the same old '70s-style acoustic version, no. Beck took the song farther back into the '30s, and played an old-fashioned Delta-bottleneck-Mississippi John Hurt-version. Reports are that Beck played it on a giant old guitar. It's a blues song now. I have a feeling this is where the song is meant to be.

One note: on April 28, 2003, Beck played "14 Rivers 14 Floods," singing it in an exaggerated blues accent. It's beautiful, and done on acoustic slide just like the more recent "Beautiful Way"s. As he finishes "14 Rivers," he drops some of his "Beautiful Way" guitar line into his ending flourish. He does not sing any of the song.

"Beautiful Way" has not been played since August 2002.