The Jimmy Bramlett Definitive Guide to the Best 15 Pixies Songs Ever
Originally published at Jimmy Bramlett. You can comment here or there.
The other day someone post this link of the 15 best Pixies Songs. They said the best Pixies song is “Debaser”. There were notable songs absent on that list.
So I will rebut with my top 15 list since it’s not subjective or anything. Yeah.
15. “Alec Eiffel” - Trompe Le Monde.
Click to viewLet’s face it. Trompe Le Monde was a shit album. The band was falling apart at the seams, and you could hear it in this album. This was one of their last gasps, and oddly enough it didn’t fall in line with their soft-loud-soft motif. “Alec Eiffel” is loud and filled with Black Francis’ cryptic lyrics.
But at least we get the payoff of Kim Deal’s saccharine vocals at the outro along with that keyboard riff that I can’t get enough of.
14. “Nimrod’s Son” - Come on Pilgrim.
“You are the son of a motherfucker.” Before Bugs Bunny redefined the term “nimrod” to be an idiot, it used to mean a tyrant. In the Jewish and Muslim traditions, there was a battle between Abraham and Nimrod, a battle between monotheism and polytheism. You can read about all of that here.
The Pixies were the best at reinterpreting the subversive and relatively esoteric biblical in a pop context, usually all in the same song. Here we have Nimrod, a dying man’s thoughts, charges of incest. All of this wrapped in a country-western saga.
13. “Stormy Weather” - Bossanova.
Embedded in an album filled with surf tunes and UFO references comes this hidden gem. The lyrics are simple. “It is time. It is time for stormy weather.” The music sounds simple, just a couple of couple of power chords.
But listen closely you hear dueling guitar parts fighting to make themselves heard. Instead it melds into one Spector-ian wall of sound that makes you want to dance outside during a summer storm.
In my junior year of high school, I loved driving around with this song blaring from my stereo at night. It was an escape, a liberation, a giddiness that we all dream of during adolescence.
12. “River Euphrates” - Surfer Rosa.
“Ride the Tigris down the River Euphrates.” The song is two verses in haiku form. Again, Pixies simplicity at its best.
11. “Where Is My Mind?” - Surfer Rosa.
Fight Club yadda yadda yadda. The song is still great. Sure it’s been overplayed since all the frat dudes who missed the point of the movie decided it was the best new song of 1999. But those who know, know. It starts out with a simple strumming of the guitar, Kim Deal high-pitched oooooooh wooooooo. It crescendos as the madness increases.
10. “Tony’s Theme” - Surfer Rosa.
Although I was never a kid who imagined himself a daredevil nor read comics, this song just puts a smile on the face. “This is a song about a superhero named Tony. It’s called ‘Tony’s Theme’,” Kim Deal says in only the way that she can. This is just a fun burst of childhood fantasies and the sometimes jarring realities we all have to deal with.
In Santa Barbara, I had a friend named Tony whom I used to relentlessly harass with this song. He was one of an endless line of straight boys I had a crush on. Well I continue to have crushes on straight boys to this day, but I’m so jaded nowadays it comes across as nothing.
We used to escape to the beaches in Carpinteria. Although he loved to surf, he never did it when we used to escape. We never kissed, held hands, messed around, proclaimed love or any of that bullshit. I was content to just be around him. That was fine with me. (The story of my life.)
9. “Gigantic” - Surfer Rosa.
Here is Kim up front, one of the rare times it was allowed to happen. And here she is singing presumably about her cheating on her husband. At least that’s the story I tell myself.
You can’t help but smile listening to this song. It’s like we’re all Mrs. John Murphy’s girlfriends as she dishes about this big big love.
8. “Debaser” - Doolittle.
This is Francis’ love song to surrealism, Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali. Un chien andalou is the reference, and it was a manic way to open up Doolittle.
7. “In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song)” - Peel Sessions, B-side Gigantic Single.
This was the Pixies’ ode to David Lynch taking the song from Eraserhead.
I remember once Wifey and I were driving from Ventura back to Santa Barbara late at night. There was no one on the road, and I was playing Doolittle in my car. Wifey quipped that it felt like we were in an IFC movie. I likened it more to a David Lynch movie.
Whenever I’m outside of a city and driving on the open highway, I always think about turning on the Pixies. Hell, for almost 2 weeks I thought about that during my road trip back in February.
In heaven, everything is fine.
6. “Velouria” - Bossanova.
“Even I’ll adore-ia / My Velouria.” Lemur skins, a lost continent inside Mt. Shasta and plenty of theremin.
Bossanova was my first exposure to the Pixies, and track 3 made me take notice. My best friend Moro and I used bum around at Yesterday’s coffeeshop in Redondo Beach, or at the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. At Yesterday’s we would sit around writing and reading and gabbing. I honestly don’t remember actually how we passed the time.
Moro was the first Korean friend I had. We actually hated each other when we first met. She thought I was a poser, I thought she was a cunt. We started hanging out when we happened to run into each other at a Marilyn Manson show at the Palace back in 1995.
From that point until I left for Santa Barbara we were besties I suppose. We had our crushes. She had her boyfriends. She dropped out of school, ran away from home. I just kept writing in my journal and stayed the course.
Anyhow this was one of the songs that we used to sing to one another. I lost touch with her over the years. I last saw her when we reunited briefly for my 23rd or 24th birthday when we ended up at the Liquid Kitty in West LA and then IHOP in WeHo. I was trying to survive, she was still caught up in her drama.
I still don’t know what she’s up to. *shrugs*
5. “Hey” - Doolittle.
Absolutely nothing can or should be said about this.
4. “Bone Machine” - Surfer Rosa.
YOU’RE SO PRETTY WHEN YOU’RE UNFAITHFUL TO ME!
If there were ever a breakup song, this is it. A burst of anger, this just about defined my Santa Barbara days.
3. “Here Comes Your Man” - Doolittle.
If there were ever a time in my life when I needed a walk-up song to announced my presence, this is it.
2. “Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf Mix)” - B-side Here Comes Your Man single.
I first caught the movie Pump Up the Volume on television one day during junior high. As shit was going down around Christian Slater’s character, this song plays.
The faster paced rock version of this song is on Doolittle, but this version is by far the superior.
It’s haunting and absolutely beautiful.
1. “I Bleed” - Doolittle.
I’ve only seen the Pixies once, back in 2006 at the Wiltern. This song came on, and I damn near fell over.
“This is my favorite song,” I squealed out as Kim played the opening bassline. In front of me this lady in her late 30s/early 40s was with her teenaged son of about 13. She turns around and looks at me.
“I’ve been waiting over a decade for this moment,” I shrugged.
I sang along to every word with my eyes closed. At times I really did think I was going to fall over. It was like a religious experience for me.
The song starts with Black in a sing-song chant with Kim singing around him. Midway it switches up and by the time you realize what happened it’s Kim talking and Black crooning.
As grim as some of the Pixies songs are, there is a resignation. Here vampires are feeding all around, but yet I bleed. Can’t do anything about it, but I bleed.
There’s a beauty in that image.