Beck wrote this as a starving folk-artist on a serious funk. Most of the dumb animal metaphors (monkeys vs. chimps, pigeons, turkeys) reflect his low self-image, his impulsive nature at the time. He's also feeling a bit burned by false promises from a phony society (don't believe everything that you breathe: they're chimps, they're a ditching girlfriend, they're an evil bozo nightmare that doesn't like his cynical lyrics, yet creates the low-class world he lives in). Growing more cynical, time's candle is wearing down and he's stuck in the wax, a miniscule termite choking on lifeless, impoverished matter--a mere scavenger like the urban pigeon. But like the great satirists, he's an artist that pokes fun at the raw hand he's been dealt. The fun, hip, carefree beat and free-style hip-hop rhymes tells us that he's a clown, smiling at his own misery--and the satire is what is going to keep him going. He refuses to go away, daring the gas-chamber society--or his girlfriend--to kill him. Another interpretation is that "the loser" image is a degenerate illusion created by society, and he's thrusting a middle finger at it.
Beck wrote this as a starving folk-artist on a serious funk. Most of the dumb animal metaphors (monkeys vs. chimps, pigeons, turkeys) reflect his low self-image, his impulsive nature at the time. He's also feeling a bit burned by false promises from a phony society (don't believe everything that you breathe: they're chimps, they're a ditching girlfriend, they're an evil bozo nightmare that doesn't like his cynical lyrics, yet creates the low-class world he lives in). Growing more cynical, time's candle is wearing down and he's stuck in the wax, a miniscule termite choking on lifeless, impoverished matter--a mere scavenger like the urban pigeon. But like the great satirists, he's an artist that pokes fun at the raw hand he's been dealt. The fun, hip, carefree beat and free-style hip-hop rhymes tells us that he's a clown, smiling at his own misery--and the satire is what is going to keep him going. He refuses to go away, daring the gas-chamber society--or his girlfriend--to kill him. Another interpretation is that "the loser" image is a degenerate illusion created by society, and he's thrusting a middle finger at it.
@hubris1 There is no interpretation as he improvised the lyrics off the top of his head when he was emulating Chuck D.'s rap style from Public Enemy.
@hubris1 There is no interpretation as he improvised the lyrics off the top of his head when he was emulating Chuck D.'s rap style from Public Enemy.
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loser_(Beck_song)
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loser_(Beck_song)