Lyrics:I'll Be Your Highest Five [Live version (a)]:
It's really good to know you
I'm glad you're on my side
???
You leave me almost dry
Your smile caught me in it
There's a bottle stuck to your chair
There's answers to the curses
And that's just what-the-heck
Riding out on the boardwalk
The homeless messengers
They're calling me a nobody
In a town where nobody leaves
The ?? all get lost
This place is haunted
They're sticking to the surface
Like a magnet on a strap
I'll be looking for you
Every which way there was
Because you might need a witness
I'll vouch for what you've done
You broke the system down for us
You gave all our hearts this hope
But I'm still speaking my lines
Sticking it out for them
??? together
'Cause I'd like to show you around
'Cause your mouth is full of excess
Your arms are open wide
You've been blessed with one who is obsessed
I'll be your highest five
The Song:"I'll Be Your Highest Five" is another rare song, only known from a live bootleg at the end of 1994. It has never been released. I wonder if it ever was even recorded?
Before playing the song, Beck introduces it as "High 5." But since that title is
taken, and the setlist for this bootleg has long referred to it as "I'll Be Your Highest Five" (which is in the lyrics), I'll use that. Kind of a romantic title, no? :-) The song is another one of Beck's many chorus-less folk tunes.
It's hard to tell for sure, with some of the lines too difficult to decipher, but "I'll Be Your Highest Five" seems to be about unconditional support being given for someone else (a lover? a friend?). The last line twists it all and makes it all the more mysterious when it's hinted that instead of support, it's obsession. Interesting! Despite some point-of-view switching, the song does seem fairly well-written, and has some neat lines in it. It's too bad this was lost into the World of Songs Beck Forgot.