LOSER

by Beck
Album: Mellow Gold (1994)



   Dropped D-Tuning
   INTRO: [Play 8x]

   SLIDE-RIFF: [Play with a bottleneck slide]

   E|----------------------------|
   B|----------------------------|
   G|----------------------------|  / = slide up
   D|----------0--3/5-0----5\----|  \ = slide down
   A|--0---3/5-0--3/5-0----5\----|
   D|--0---3/5-------------5\----|


   VERSE-RIFF: [This is actually played by a sitar in the song]

   E|-------0------2--2----0--------------0------2--2----3-----|
   B|-3--3-----3--------3-----3-----3--3-----3--------3-----3--|
   G|----------------------------------------------------------|
   D|----------------------------------------------------------|
   A|----------------------------------------------------------|
   D|----------------------------------------------------------|


   VERSE 1:
   --------
   [Play VERSE-RIFF]

   In the time of chimpanzees I was a monkey
   Butane in my veins and a mouth to cut the junkie
   With the plastic eyeballs, spray paint the vegetables
   Dog food stalls with the beefcake pantyhose
   Kill the headlights and put it in neutral
   Stock car flamin' with the loser and the cruise control
   Baby's in Reno in the vitamin D,
   Gotta couple of couches, sleep on the love seat

   [One guitar plays VERSE-RIFF, another plays SLIDE-RIFF]

   Someone came sayin' I'm a saint to complain
   About a shotgun wedding and a stain on my shirt
   Don't believe everything that you breathe,
   They get a parking violation and a maggot on your sleeve

   [Stop VERSE-RIFF, keep playing SLIDE-RIFF]

   So you shave your face with some mace in the dark,
   Savin' all your foodstamps and burnin' down the trailerpark

        [Play SLIDE-RIFF-B]

   Yo,  cut it

   SLIDE-RIFF-B:

   E|----------------------|
   B|----------------------|
   G|----------------------|
   D|----------0--3/5-0----|
   A|--0---3/5-0--3/5-0----|
   D|--0---3/5-------------|


   CHORUS: [One guitar plays SLIDE-RIFF, another plays VERSE-RIFF]
   -------
   Soy,   un perdedor
   I'm a loser baby,
   So why don't you kill me (Double-barrel buckshot)
   Soy,   un perdedor
   I'm a loser baby,
   So why don't you kill me


   VERSE 2: [play nothing for the first four lines of lyrics]
   --------

   The forces of evil in a bozo nightmare
   Playin' all the music with a phony gas chamber
   'Cause one's got a weasel and another's got a flag
   One's on the pole shove the other in a bag

            [Play SLIDE-RIFF]

   With the re-run shows and the cocaine nose jobs
   The daytime crap of the folk singer's fuck
   He hung himself with a guitar string
   A slab of turkey neck and it's hangin' from a pidgeon wing

   [stop SLIDE-RIFF, play RIFF-2 (see below)]
   They can't write if you can't relate
   Trade the cash for the pee for the body for the hate
   And my time is a piece of wax,
   Fallin' on a termite, who's chokin' on the splinters


   RIFF-2: [played with tremolo effect]

   E|--------------------------------------------------------------|
   B|--------------------------------------------------------------|
   G|-------5-----------5-----7-5-------5----------5---------------|
   D|---5/7---------5/7-------------5/7--------5/7-------5b6-5-3---|
   A|--------------------------------------------------------------|
   D|--------------------------------------------------------------|


   CHORUS: [One guitar plays SLIDE-RIFF, another plays VERSE-RIFF]
   -------

   Soy,   un perdedor
   I'm a loser baby,
   So why don't you kill me (Get crazy with the cheese whiz)
   Soy,   un perdedor
   I'm a loser baby,

                            [Stop all riffs]

   So why don't you kill me (Drive by body pierce)


   BRIDGE:
   -------

   [First drums for a couple of measures]

   Yo bring it on down (soooooooooooooy)

   [Play SLIDE-RIFF]

   When you've played the SLIDE-RIFF twice
   another guitar comes in and plays this: [the first guitar continues
                                            playing the SLIDE-RIFF]
   BRIDGE-RIFF:

   E|--------------------------------------------------
   B|-----3--------3--------3--------3--------3--------
   G|--------5--------5--------5--------5--------5-----
   D|--7--------7--------7--------7--------7--------7--
   A|--------------------------------------------------
   D|--------------------------------------------------

      [Here a third guitar starts playing the VERSE-RIFF,
       so there are three riffs at the same time, VERSE-RIFF,
       SLIDE-RIFF and BRIDGE-RIFF]

   E-----------------------------------------------
   B--3--------3--------3--------3--------3--------
   G-----5--------5--------5--------5--------5-----
   D--------7--------7--------7--------7--------7--
   A-----------------------------------------------
   D-----------------------------------------------


   I'm a driver, I'm a winner
   Things are gonna change, I can feel it

   E-----------------------------------------|
   B--3--------3--------3--------3--------3--|
   G-----5--------5--------5--------5--------| [everything stops]
   D--------7--------7--------7--------7-----|
   A-----------------------------------------|
   D-----------------------------------------|

   [In the song, the BRIDGE-RIFF sounds like he's playing
    it on open strings. Maybe he has a different tuning, I don't know.
    If you know, mail me]


   CHORUS: [One guitar plays SLIDE-RIFF, another plays VERSE-RIFF]
   -------

   Soy,   un perdedor
   I'm a loser baby,
   So why don't you kill me (I can't believe you)
   Soy,   un perdedor
   I'm a loser baby,
   So why don't you kill me
   Soy,   un perdedor
   I'm a loser baby,
   So why don't you kill me (Sprechen sie deutche baby)
   Soy,   un perdedor
   I'm a loser baby,
   So why don't you kill me (Ya know what I'm sayin')


   [Keep playing VERSE-RIFF and SLIDE-RIFF and fade out...]


   In the end you can hear something like this powerchord:

   E|-------|
   B|-------|
   G|-------|  (I'm not sure if the song really fades out or what
   D|--0----|   but I taped it off MTV and there it faded out)
   A|--0----|
   D|--0----|