Lyrics:

The Song:

Is there an appropriate and accurate way to describe "Sexx Laws"? Cheesy hiphop banjo funk? Well, let's leave it to Justin Meldal-Johnsen: "We like to call it boogaloo rather than funk. It's inspired by the '60s British TV style. You know, where you have this really over-active bassline like some guy's popped a couple of pills and just really gone for it? There is a black 70s element, but it's not quite laid back enough. Oh there's nothing laid back about 'Sexxlaws'." (from this interview)

A relatively corny but still entertaining Brass Menagerie horn line leads the song, along with Beck's exaggerated vocals. It sounds as if this song (along with "Debra") kick-started the whole Midnite Vultures vibe, and with that memorable chorus and title, it certainly made the song an appropriate first single.

Beck explains his inclusion of horns here, and throughout Midnite Vultures: "I think my main interest in using the horns was for performance - so much music today is so guitar heavy. I sought other places to get muscle into the music. Many bands rely heavily on guitar to pump up the sound, but I thought it would be interesting to make the horns into the guitars." More specifically, he says he got the sound for the horns of "Sexx Laws" from the L.A. Rams: "I think it was the L.A. Rams. I used to watch them when I was growing up, and it just reminded me of Monday Night Football in 1978."

"Sexx Laws" is a superb band performance, as well. Justin plays a super-funky bassline. Beck of course tosses a twist into the song -- some country banjo and pedal steel! Only Beck could pull something like that off and get away with it. Herb Pedersen, the banjo player, sounds like he's having a great time. Interestingly, no drummer is credited in the liner notes.

Lyrically, the song sets the standard for what's to come on Midnite Vultures, putting it in a good spot as the first track. Beck's persona of adventure and sexx and exotic locations and Sports Illustrated moms and not being afraid to cry is one he would use throughout the album. Beck also makes it sound like there was a bit more work and thought put into it than one would initially assume: "It?s me playing with the ridiculousness of those entrenched ideas about what a man does and what a woman can do. A lot of soul music comes from a real masculine strength, but there's also this intense vulnerability about it. You have the masculine tough-guy exterior and the emotional openness, which is feminine, as well. I wanted to have fun with that, turn up that contrast a little bit without getting bogged down into preciousness and psychobabble." This idea is clearly where lines like "I'm a full-grown man but I'm not afraid to cry" here or "I'll do your laundry, massage your soul" on another Vultures song come from. In fact, in 2005, he was asked specifically about the "full-grown man" line, and Beck replied, "it was also a play on R&B songs where these strong, masculine figures break down like little babies. There's something interesting about that world where you can be intensely sensitive and fragile and take care of your woman."

Also to note, the idea of defying sex laws originated with Ol' Dirty Bastard, on his song "Don't U Know": Ripped of my draw's as if she had claws / Broke the rules that defined sex laws / She responded quick, with a slick, welcoming kiss and an ice cream lick / Ooh I begged, I begged, "Easy on my balls, they're fragile as eggs.

Live:

Played live 179 times:
Earliest known live version: June 6, 1998
Latest known live version: May 19, 2011

"Sexx Laws" itself is a song that was built from one of Beck's favorite stage ad-libs: "I wanna defy the logic of all sexx laws" was a frequent war-cry during some concerts in 1998. The first time Beck played "Sexx Laws" proper on stage though was on October 6 1999, opening a show in Santa Barbara. This was the first of three "warm-up" type gigs that week, and the band previewed a few of the upcoming Vultures songs.

The band played it again a few days later on October 9 at the HUGE Coachella Festival in Indio, CA. It was the new single, and Beck especially seemed to be having a blast performing it. It sounded much fresher than a number of the older songs that night, frankly. The Brass Menagerie and his new back-up singers were a great addition. (The banjo was a tape, unfortunately.) In fact, Beck memorably described singing "Sexx Laws" on stage, "I thought it was interesting performing in front of the horns. Makes you want to run for your life and do 300 pushups. There's something about the overtones—the sax and trumpet—they're really still a novelty to me."

One great addition to the song on stage is some cool piano by Roger Manning. It kind fits in with the pedal steel and banjo side of things, adding some more of the country flavor, which can sometimes get buried by the soul music in the mix.

The version on February 19, 2000, ends with about six minutes of noise, feedback, and Beck shouting. This however is not really characteristic to "Sexx Laws," but more to the ending of the shows at the time. This chaos usually came after "Devils Haircut," which was the normal show ender. A few times they did use "Sexx Laws" to finish things off.

A new addition to "Sexx Laws" was developed later in the Vultures tour: a live banjo solo! Earlier in the tour, the banjo part was a tape, but by the time of the Japanese leg, at least, lead guitarist Lyle Workman was playing a banjo on stage. It's really cool, and Beck seems to enjoy it. . .on May 21, 2000, at the end of the solo, he gives a loud "Oh shit!" of amazement. I'm not quite sure when this new arrangement first began exactly. It seems to have begun around May, 2000, and it continued through until the end of the Vultures tour.

A surprising one-off new arrangement of "Sexx Laws" was performed at the spontaneous "secret" concert at The Largo club in Hollywood on June 16, 2000. Having played with Jon Brion, Roger Manning Jr., and Justin Meldal-Johnsen a short improvised set, Beck was about to leave the stage. They fortunately decided to quickly add one more song. "What should we do?" they wondered. Jon Brion suggested "Sexx Laws" and Beck found the suggestion amusing, but was game, despite not having the horn section, banjo, or anything like that! It was scaled back to bass, piano, and drums. Roger asked what key, Beck said "Whatever" and off they went. The sparse arrangement showed off the quality of the song at the core of what is usually a wild, fully-layered performance.

This "one-off" arrangement may have finally returned, almost 3 years later. In March 2003, Beck took Smokey, Justin, Joey and Greg with him to Australia and Japan. During the Japan portion of the tour (naturally, that's where the Ginza line is), they played "Sexx Laws" for the first time in a few years. Without a horn section, Greg played the main riff on his keyboards. The whole song is a bit slower and laidback, not so upbeat, much more soul to it. Cool re-working.

Since then the song has crept into a few of the European festival sets. Beck wrote in his journal from Europe that the fans "like the sexx laws out here, even though it kicks like some saturday morning cartoon jizzy." The version I have is just a two minute run through, the first verse and then the chorus out (not the "Neptune's lips" verse).