"Nobody's Fault but My Own" is a song by American musician

Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970), known mononymously as Beck, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi mus ...

. The song was released in 1998 on his album ''

Mutations In biology, a mutation is an alteration in the nucleic acid sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Viral genomes contain either DNA or RNA. Mutations result from errors during DNA or viral replication, mitosi ...

'', and was released as a single in Japan only on April 21, 1999. The CD single came backed with the exclusive tracks "One of These Days" and "Diamond in the Sleaze" as B-sides. The insert features the lyrics in both English and Japanese.

Background

When asked about the story behind "Nobody's Fault but My Own", Beck said, "Well I went down to my basement. It was raining outside, and I wrote it."

Live performances

On October 12, 2019, Beck performed the song live in concert for the first time since 2005. The performance took place at the

Hammer Museum The Hammer Museum, which is affiliated with the University of California, Los Angeles, is an art museum and cultural center known for its artist-centric and progressive array of exhibitions and public programs. Founded in 1990 by the entrepreneur- ...

, and featured

Chris Martin Christopher Anthony John Martin (born 2 March 1977) is an English singer, songwriter, musician and producer. He is best known as the vocalist, pianist and co-founder of the rock band Coldplay. Born in Exeter, Martin went to University Colleg ...

Reception

Danny Wright of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' ranked "Nobody's Fault but My Own" the 5th best Beck song, and wrote that it "is the song you play as you sit in the dark of your room, rueing the day past. Even the title is dripping in introspection." He further wrote that "it's heaviness is leavened by the deftness of the orchestration,

Nigel Godrich Nigel Timothy Godrich (born 28 February 1971) is an English record producer, recording engineer and musician. He has worked with acts including Radiohead, Travis, Beck, Air, Paul McCartney, U2, R.E.M., Pavement, Roger Waters, Arcade Fire and ...

s' production and the beautifully wistful soundscape." James Jackson Toth of ''

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several awar ...

'' ranked "Nobody's Fault but My Own" the 6th best Beck song, and wrote that it was his "most meritous stab at psychedelia" and also praised Godrichs' production. Toth compared it to Beck's earlier songs "Whiskeyclone, Hotel City 1997" and "Steal My Body Home".

Covers

The song was covered by

Marianne Faithfull Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull (29 December 1946 – 30 January 2025) was an English singer and actress who achieved popularity in the 1960s with the release of her UK top 10 single " As Tears Go By". She became one of the leading female art ...

on her 2002 album '' Kissin Time'', under Beck's production. The song was covered by

Rising Appalachia Rising Appalachia is an American Appalachian music, Appalachian folk music group, led by multi-instrumentalist sisters Leah Song and Chloe Smith (musician), Chloe Smith. Their music is deeply rooted in the landscapes of Atlanta, New Orleans, and ...

on their 2006 album ''Leah and Chloe''. In 2019, the English

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

band Syd Arthur released a cover of the song on their EP (with the same name as the Beck song), recorded in a barn in 2012. The cover features the Canterbury jazz group Jack Hues and the Quartet.

In popular culture

The song was used in the 14th episode of the 4th season of the American comedy-drama series ''

Ugly Betty ''Ugly Betty'' is an American comedy-drama television series developed by Silvio Horta, which aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from September 28, 2006, to April 14, 2010. It is based on the Colombian telenovela ''Yo soy Betty, la fea' ...

'', " Smokin' Hot". It starts playing when Claire Meade (

Judith Light Judith Ellen Light (born February 9, 1949) is an American actress. She made her professional stage debut in 1970, before making her Broadway debut in the 1975 revival of ''A Doll's House''. Her breakthrough role was in the ABC daytime soap oper ...

) spots her son Tyler coming out on a runway. It was also used in the American science fiction neo-Western series, Outer Range, during the outro and end credits of the 2nd season, episode 5 titled "All the World's a Stage".

Track listing

# "Nobody's Fault but My Own" (Edit) – 4:45 # "One of These Days" – 4:48 # "Diamond in the Sleaze" – 4:07

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nobody's Fault But My Own 1998 songs 1999 singles Beck songs Song recordings produced by Nigel Godrich Songs written by Beck