This song dates back to a band called Chelsea, which future Kiss drummer Peter Criss was in with the guitarist Stan Penridge from 1970-1972. Criss and Penridge came up with a song called "Beck," which was about the wife of their guitarist Mike Brand, whose name was Becky. She was constantly interrupting their band practices asking when Mike was coming home, and the song was a joke directed at him.
In August, 2000, less than a year before Penridge died at age 50, he explained to the
KissFAQ: "'Beck' was written, almost word for word, from Mike Brand's responses to his wife's constant calls that interrupted our rehearsals. It got to the point where I wrote down his remarks over a period of 3 or 4 days in what I called my 'wizard book.' It was merely a small notebook I carried to jot down silly sayings, sketch in, to save ideas. If you look at the lyrics and view them as a hen-pecked hubby's remarks to his nagging wife you'll see what I mean. Just pause after every sentence and pretend there's a bitch at the other end of the line. You'll catch it - I'm sure. Absolutely not responsible at all. Another poorman's copyright by me in '70."
Penridge and Criss recorded a demo of "Beck" but never released the song. In 1976, after Criss joined Kiss, he and Penridge revived the song and with the help of producer Bob Ezrin, they changed the title to "Beth" and made it more sentimental, changing the end of the first verse from:
"I know you love complaining, but Beck what can I do?"
to
"I think I hear them callin', Oh, Beth what can I do?"
Get the Ringtone
Get Song @ Amazon
Get the Sheet Music
View Lyrics
While at Pizza Hut, a fellow was hired to help cook. He didn't fit in with our group so we didn't know much about him. One evening while we were working a really beautiful girl walks in. She had long black hair and on the scale of 1 to 10 she was a 15. I would guess she was in her very early 20s. She walks up to the counter and I'm stunned by her beauty. I noticed she had this innocent look but appeared somewhat distraught. I go up to see if she needed anything and she asked to see this one fellow. I noticed she was wearing a wedding ring and that's when I realized she was married to him. I called him over then went back to the pizza make table. Since I was close to the counter I overheard her asking him when he was coming home that evening. He told her he was going out with his friends and would be home late that night. He turned and walked back to his station. She stayed for a moment before walking out. If I had to guess he was probably very tired of their marriage and wanted out.
All us guys dream of falling in love with a gorgeous lady. He did and I would venture to guess their marriage did not last. He was young, good looking, and I guess wanted to be free to play the field. Every time I here Beth, I think of that sad relationship.
Although Criss has stated that the original song, entitled "Beck", was about his then-wife, Lydia, this is in contradiction to other statements which point to a woman named Becky (Rebecca, or "Beck" for short), who was the girlfriend of Chelsea guitarist Mike Brand. The song was written as an insult to Rebecca, who would frequently interrupt recording sessions and rehearsals. She was, according to Criss, also a notorious hypochondriac.
Several years later, when Destroyer producer Bob Ezrin was presented with the song, he re-wrote the lyrics and suggested the piano and orchestra. Gone was the caustic (and reportedly profane) diatribe against an annoying woman. What it became was a sweet ballad about missing a loved one while on the road; telling her that even though you're not there and have a job to do, you're still thinking about her. However, it was Gene Simmons who suggested a change in title to "Beth". The two versions of this story alternately have Simmons concerned about fans believing it was about guitarist Jeff Beck or, worse yet, misconstrued as a gay love song about the guitarist.
During the recording sessions for Beth, the only Kiss member to be present in the studio was Peter Criss.
Live, "Beth" was performed by Peter Criss backed solely by a tape of the instrumental track. However, during the years when Eric Carr and Eric Singer were Kiss' drummers, the song was never performed live by Kiss. The version of Beth featured on the group's 2003 Kiss Symphony: Alive IV DVD and subsequent album would be the only time the song was performed live with a full orchestra.
It was for Mike's GF and Peter wrote the lyics while on a train riding from Ny to Nj for practice