Lyrics:Sticks and Stones [Version (a)]:
Hard hats hang all around the head
Of the lily-white ways
The gasoline greys
Well, everybody learns in a learning room
Where the readymade tunes
They whistle in the afternoons
Worms are hungry for my bones
The sticks and stones are gonna follow you home
First and last
The pickpockets crash the lunch money cash
The bargain center dunce cap sittin' on your head
Like a hive sucked dry
Where the billy goats cry
Beneath the satellite trespass sky
The worms are hungry for my bones
The sticks and stones are gonna follow you home
The Song:"Sticks and Stones" was recorded as a possible b-side for
Odelay, but was never released. A bootleg does exist of Beck singing the song on stage on November 11, 1995. The song is generally referred to as "Stick and Stones" (from the chorus), but I've no idea if that was the title given to it by Beck or not. (Note: Beck.com does use this title.)
Anyway, Beck begins the song with some intriguing comments: "Word has been afoot that other people have been writing my songs for me. And I just wanted to make it clear that this is in fact true." Someone in the small 250-person crowd shouts out Bjork's name, and Beck plays off it, "This one was written by Bjork for me...for the Bjeck album."
It feels to me like this song was written in response to this criticism. Beck's songwriting credentials ever were in doubt? This gossip seems to have stung: "worms are hungry for my bones / the sticks and stones are gonna follow you home." Beck continues to be amazed at this type of bullying, tearing down these critics ("the pickpockets crash the lunch money cash / the bargain center dunce cap sittin' on your head").