“Cold Brains” by Beck

Beck first had "Cold Brains" pegged for One Foot in the Grave, his 1994 indie album, but it never made that record, and for reasons nobody has explained it turned up on Mutations in November 1998 instead. He produced it with Nigel Godrich, who also mixed it, and the players make a small, cozy crowd: Beck on guitar, piano, harmonica and glockenspiel, Roger Joseph Manning Jr. on synthesizer, Justin Meldal-Johnsen on bass and Joey Waronker on drums and percussion.

Asked how bleak it sounds, Beck called it mostly playful, a warped joke he finds hilarious, and pointed out that he considers Leonard Cohen a funny songwriter too. It went out as a single after "Tropicalia", Australia got a tour EP carrying three B-sides that had been Japan-only, and by 2019 he'd played it live 139 times.

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