The first track released from Beck's Morning Phase album, this lush acoustic rocker went online on January 20, 2014 ahead of the long player's release. The disc was billed as a successor to 2002's sparse Sea Change. Speaking to Rolling Stone, Beck described it as "California music," adding that when he makes any album, "I'm just fumbling around with chords and a mood. Hopefully something emerges." He continued, "The songs are coming out of a California tradition. I'm hearing the Byrds, Crosby Stills and Nash, Gram Parsons, Neil Young – the bigger idea of what that sound is to me."
The song finds Beck looking for a little human connection as he sings of "I'm so tired of being alone," and the "vagabond that no one sees." Beck previously compared himself to a vagabond on French duo Air's 2001 track "The Vagabond," on which he was a guest vocalist.
There is an old Rodgers-Hart standard with the same title, which was originally written for the 1934 movie Manhattan Melodrama and has been recorded by Elvis Presley, Louis Armstrong and The Marcels amongst a whole slew of artists. Beck appropriated the song name but didn't include the title in the lyrics.
See your Spotify stats (with number of plays and minutes listened) and discover new music.
Music data, artist images, album covers, and song previews are provided by Spotify. Spotify is a trademark of Spotify AB.