Beck – Devil's Haircut

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  My Interpretation:I feel as though this is song about the singer walks into a town full of anarchy and crime. The events lead am impression on him that begins as a meer thought("Got a Devil's Haircut in my mind").But by the end of the song,when Beck begins to scream the chorus, it seems as though the man has succumb to the discord of the town and is now a part of it to his horror

  Flag artistry22on July 30, 2012   Link

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  General Comment:Perhaps it's more complicated. I've heard that anxiety, especially drug-crazed anxiety, can formulate a lot of deep philosophical rationalizations, which may not likely make sense in the subconscious. Devils Haircut seems to polarize pathways throughout life. How even risky and downright wrong behavior would seem clearer than being an outstanding citizen. There are many things not justifiable in this world but can never read the minds of others.

  Flag aggregate0072on May 09, 2012   Link

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  General Comment:this is about taking drugs or hanging out with drug takers and low life's because he sees it as rock n roll or is under the impression it is a rock and roll lifestyle.
  "hitchin a ride with the bleedin noses" - an obvious reference to cocaine users who snort their drugs imo.
  
  more of my interpretation,
  its about coming to the realisation this lifestyle is wrong and is leading him to a dead end, its set out in the first verse;
  "Something's wrong 'cause my mind is fading" - the effect of the drug taking. or how he is wrapped up in being around those people and its effecting his old perception.
  "And everywhere I look there's a dead end waiting" - either what is becoming of him and/ or hanging out with certain people will only lead to trouble. its leading him to a dead end.
  "Temperature's dropping at the rotten oasis" - he sees in his mind the place he or others used to escape to through drug use is becoming rotten and unbearable. this line shows what he or others thought was an activity that would bring great wealth is an illusion and its disintegrating, he sees past this mirage.
  "Stealing kisses from the leperous faces" - I think this is a reference to greeting people by kissing them on their face,which is customary in some social circles. he also considers they have a dark side with their habitual drug use and it is having a poisonous effect as their lifestyle is impacting upon him.

  Flag classifiedm10on January 22, 2012   Link

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  General Comment:One more thing - while on the subject of how people with nothing to lose, the "rotten" ones, will do anything to remain comfortable while at the same time having an utter disregard for their life and the lives of others. Anyone interested in a great illustration of this should read the lyrics to Crystal Castles' song "Intimate".

  Flag ShiNoKissuon September 24, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:Sorry for the double section on "Mouthwash Jukebox Gasoline" - I redid it but I seemed to forget to erase the original section I wrote so both are there. Sorry for being accidentally redundant.

  Flag ShiNoKissuon September 24, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:I have scanned the comments after reading the first half and later saw many people understanding this song in a less simplistic way than I did at first. Also, I have not read where Beck talks about the song but I would wager that what I have to say fleshes out and extrapolates upon the ideas that recent posters mentioned about Beck saying this song's mention of the 'devil's haircut' is about vanity. It may be a bit unconventional, but I'm going to argue for the necessity of humans to sometimes don a 'devils haircut' to avoid being ripped to pieces by the sharks and lions that are their fellow (wo)man.
  
  Lots of people seem to think that this is just words laid out to rhyme without meaning and to sound great… what I would like to add is that even if this is the case, there is a subconscious and/or unconscious motivation for the words chosen and thus: even if the song is intended to be creative rhyming nonsense, meaning insidiously creeps back in nonetheless.
  
  Seems like the first verse is about the typical encounter with humanity (which I will return to shortly) – from a young age many of us are taught to love the neighbor, but most of humanity is sleazy and deceptive – to make this personal I have tried again and again to trust people but because I am in a position of privilege, 9 times out of 10 I end up stolen from or taken advantage of, which is why I have come to love the friend (true friend, tried and true), not the ‘neighbor’ or in other words, the ‘cesspool that is humanity,’ especially in large city environments where people will totally disregard others’ humanity in order to survive and remain in such an environment rather than leave and recognize their shortcomings. These people are the “leprous faces” and they are abundant, as our reality errs on the side of selfishness and greed rather than an ethic of love.
  
  “Heads are hanging from the garbage man trees”
  
  This is addressed above – people will do anything to hang on to status or their “place in the sun” (read: presence in a large city … “lol – ‘rotten oasis’) and even if they arrived with good intentions they soon wear the devil’s haircut.
  
  The next line, “Mouthwash Jukebox Gasoline” is, for me, the most important in the song:
  
  “Mouthwash” = preparing to face the world and enter the public sphere
  
  “Jukebox” = mingling with that sphere; the proverbial ‘dance with humanity’ – at a distance, people seem possible to love/relate to/befriend/spend time with, but up close most are the exact opposite of the injunction to “love thy neighbor” – they steal, lie, rape, manipulate, and drain. The dance is comic and hence…
  
  “Gasoline” = Torch it! Burn it all to hell! I love the smell of napalm in the morning!... No, seriously, I feel the word either enacts the repeated but often half-hearted attempt to go out and meet humanity (mouthwash), the encounter (jukebox) or the presence of the word Gasoline represents the tendency of humanity to err on the side of burning things down and being destructive rather than loving – to err on the side of destructiveness: to walk the earth with a “devil’s haircut” on top of their vindictive and rotten head, willing to ‘point their pistols’ at a “poor man’s pocket” rather than face themselves and make difficult decisions and reorientations of their way of being in the world with others.
  
  “Mouthwash” = preparing to face the world and enter the public sphere
  
  “Jukebox” = mingling with that sphere; the proverbial ‘dance with humanity’ – at a distance, people seem possible to love/relate to/befriend/spend time with, but up close most are the exact opposite of the injunction to “love thy neighbor” – they steal, lie, rape, manipulate, and drain. The dance is comic and hence it becomes impossible to wear a halo when relating to this world - as Milan Kundera would say.. we should laugh the laughter of the devils, not the angels (in the Book of Laughter and Forgetting).
  
  “Gasoline” = Gasoline is the most flammable substance most of us come into contact with on an almost daily basis. It is easy to procure and abundant and can be used on people/things to... torch it - to torch them and their nihilistic values! I feel the presence of "gasoline" as the third of the words either represents the dissatisfaction of going out to meet humanity (mouthwash), the actual encounter with the slime of life (jukebox)... or the presence of the word Gasoline represents the tendency of humanity to err on the side of burning things down and being destructive rather than loving – to err on the side of destructiveness, i.e. to walk the earth with a “devil’s haircut” on top of their vindictive and rotten head, willing to ‘point their pistols’ at a “poor man’s pocket” rather than face themselves and make difficult decisions and reorientations of their way of being in the world with others.
  
  
  
  “Love machines on the sympathy crutches” – again, manipulation – those that wear the devil’s haircut will use any tactic to gain more drugs, more money, more sympathy, and more empathy (yes, they will go to the extent of becoming very convincing) all to feed their selfish needs. Their tactics are crutches.
  
  The next three lines are, admittedly, hard to decipher at all but definitely seem to refer to a return to the rotten place mentioned in the beginning of the song and the daily monotony of dealing with the people that inhabit such a place, hence the “briefcase blues.”
  
  Left with these thoughts and experiences, who would choose to wear a halo when reality constantly debases them by exposing them to vile human beings; who would ‘turn the other cheek’ when those around them would only laugh and slap it? “I’ve got a devil’s haircut, in my mind” (x4): easier to present the façade of jadedness and the ‘devil’s haircut’ than to appear innocent only to be devoured alive.
  
  I feel like the final verse is the easiest to interpret in light of what preceded it:
  
  "Something's wrong 'cause my mind is fading
  Ghetto-blastin' disintegrating
  Rock 'n' roll, know what I'm sayin'
  And everywhere I look there's a devil waiting"
  
  Interacting too long with the baseness and debasement of humanity that has let go of themselves; that has accepted that "freedom is just another word for nothing to lose [1]," causes the mind to fade and after a while one accepts the reality around them and becomes debased themselves - "everywhere I look there's a devil waiting." There always a devil waiting, and it isn't always a bad thing to clientele with demons, but it is certainly unproductive and destructive to do such a thing when one is not of a solid mind/their "mind is fading" because if they do, they end up the same as everyone else in the "rotten oasis" and it consumes them - either through stasis, heroin, booze, or simple apathy.
  
  Does this make sense to anyone?
  
  [1] Kris Kristofferson and Janis Joplin, Me and Bobby McGee.

  Flag ShiNoKissuon September 24, 2011   Link

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  Song Meaning:I'm tired of idiots saying Beck's songs are just rambling nonsense, just because you're not artistic enough to understand them doesn't mean they don't mean anything, like the beatles' I am the Walrus.
  
  I ripped this off wikipedia because I decided to do some research on it instead of pulling random opinions from my own ass.
  
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  The song is dotted with references to the wandering disorientation that comes with touring, such as "coming to town with the briefcase blues".
  
  Beck himself has talked about the meaning of "Devils Haircut" on a few occasions. In one interview, he claimed that it was "a really simplistic metaphor for the evil of vanity". He said of the song:
  “ I don't know if I ever had any youthful purity, but I can understand that you might be tempted to make commercial shit and compromise to do it. I try not to compromise on anything. I think we associate becoming an adult with compromise. Maybe that's what the devil is. In "Devils Haircut", that was the scenario. I imagined Stagger Lee... I thought, what if this guy showed up now in 1996... I thought of using him as a Rumpelstiltskin figure, this Lazarus figure to comment on where we've ended up as people. What would he make of materialism and greed and ideals of beauty and perfection? His reaction would be, "Whoa, this is disturbing shit".

  Flag B0NGon July 24, 2011   Link

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  Song Meaning:A devil's haircut is when you shave your "ahem" balls. As for the rest of the lyrics, you're guess is as good as mine... (I must be the oldest guy here, that phrase is as old as the hills)

  Flag ncmelon November 21, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:I have been listening to this since I was about two years old. :) I like the part about pointing a gun at a poor man's pocket. It really makes me think.

  Flag invaderzim7695on October 22, 2010   Link

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  Song Meaning:Beck himself has talked about the meaning of Devils Haircut on a few occasions. In one interview, he claimed that Devils Haircut was 'a really simplistic metaphor for the evil of vanity.' He said of the song:
  
  “ I don't know if I ever HAD any youthful purity, but I can understand that you might be tempted to make commercial shit and compromise to do it. I try not to compromise on anything. I think we associate becoming an adult with compromise. Maybe that's what the devil is. In 'Devils Haircut' that was the scenario. I imagined Stagger Lee... I thought, what if this guy showed up now in 1996... I thought of using him as a Rumpelstiltskin figure, this Lazarus figure to comment on where we've ended up as people. What would he make of materialism and greed and ideals of beauty and perfection? His reaction would be, 'Whoa, this is disturbing shit.'
  
  - Wikipedia

  Flag Dipsheeton September 06, 2010   Link

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