Heartland Feeling (live at El Rey Theatre ~ audio)

El Rey Theatre, Los Angeles 19th November 1997
Beck ironic take on the Springsteen-Mellencamp vibe
"That song came out of a meeting I had with Bruce Springsteen's producer. I was still banging around in coffee houses and I'd never really had contact with real music industry type people, especially of that caliber. So I remember him espousing the merits of the songwriter and the loss of the singer/songwriter in music and how somebody needed to go out and write about the experiences of the people in the heartland of America. But to my mind a lot of that, that "landscape of the heartland singer/songwriter" was a cliche-ridden escape, simplistic and exploitive almost. That song was a reaction to that. So it's a fairly ironic song but I think it touches a certain nerve, bridges a certain intrinsic sadness in the day-to-day grind of the heartland as a wasteland. Or a bland land. It's not even a wasteland; it's just bland. It's sort of delving into the personalities that work behind this infrastructure of normality and impotence." (Beck)

[@mikeday451]

Utterly magical. One of my favorite Beck songs, and these days he seems to have disowned it. What an incredible moment when the band comes in. I’d love to go back in time and witness this.

[@preziosestelle7368]

Lovely channel!!