Lyrics:Evil Things [Live version (a)]:
[From February 26, 2002 version]
What in the world can it be?
Heavenly hands laid on me
Cold as a razor, cold ice age
Turning another open page
See the city far away
Like a dream I had today
These evil things don't rattle me now
Don't rattle me now
On the horizon on the sea
Over the road of revelry
Down in the cancelled Avalon
And in the hours 'til I'm gone
See the city far away
Like a dream I had today
These evil things don't rattle me now
Don't rattle me now
See the city far away
Like a dream I had today
These evil things don't rattle me now
Don't rattle me now
2013 version
Heavy the hand that's down on me
Heavy the hand that's laid on me
Cold as another open page
Cold as a razor, cold as edge
See these cities far away
Like a dream I had today
These evil things don't follow me now
Don't follow me now
On the horizon, on the sea
Over the road of revelry
Down in the cancelled Avalon
Counting the hours until I'm gone
You see these cities far away
Like a game we had to play
These evil things don't follow me now
Don't follow, don't follow me now
Take the chance to steer the ?
Don't you look again
You can't ??
They say ??
Don't let your ??
You see these cities far away
Like a dream we had today
These evil things don't follow me now
Don't follow me now
The Song:"Evil Things" is a new Beck song, that made its debut on stage on February 26, 2002. Eddie Vedder joined him, which is a bit odd considering it was a previously unheard Beck song. But still, their two voices work well together, though Eddie stays in the background. It's a relatively dark, moody song.
Beck recorded the song as a demo to bring to the
Sea Change sessions, but ran out of time to record it proper.
Has it been lost to time?
-
Answer: NO!
Beck brought back "Evil Things" at his show on May 19, 2013, over 11 years later. He has reported recorded an acoustic album, and perhaps he dug "Evil Things" out for it. And having heard the other new songs from this same show, perhaps "Evil Things" was a direct inspiration for the new songs. They all have a similar feel to "Evil Things," which didn't change a lot over 11 years--just some minor lyric tweaks, an added ending, and no Eddie Vedder.
We shall see what happens now to "Evil Things" (and this reported album!).