The Pixies’ 5 Best Songs

This is like choosing favorite children. OTOH, it always seems vaguely cowardly when people won’t come out and say who their favorite children are. So I was impressed when I was at Melinda’s house in the SF that, when I asked her which of her four (house-)pets was her favorite, she had no trouble answering.

But this is a hard one since there are days when I’d give my frontal lobe to hear Something Against You, and it didn’t even make honorable mention. (Note: I would never on any day actually give my frontal lobe to hear Something Against You.)

Here:

  1. Gigantic
  2. Gouge Away — Admittedly, my judgment on this one is clouded by the fact that it’s my best song to play the guitar on in Rock Band.
  3. River Euphrates
  4. No. 13 Baby — I think mostly for the outro.
  5. Here Comes Your Man — I know it’s trite, but even if it’s not referring to Little Man and a particular B-29, the fact that it *could* creates an undeniable fondness. And I think it is.

Honorable Mention: Bone Machine, Cactus, Caribou, Dead (so grimy, yet so biblical), Debaser, Dig for Fire, The Happening, Hey, The Holiday Song, Is She Weird (on a previous computer this was my most listened-to song on iTunes), Levitate Me, Monkey Gone to Heaven (but is man five and the devil six? a lot hangs on that conditional), Motorway to Roswell, U-Mass, Wave of Mutilation (either version), Where Is My Mind?

bkd

6 comments

  • bkdunn

    Wikipedia would be a good start. Also maybe go to YouTube and do a search for “pixes [name of song listed above]” to see what they sound(ed) like.

    But if you’re not up for that: they’re sort of like the Beatles only better.

    bkd

  • telkontar

    Having visited UToob, who the heck are the Pixies? Yes, better than the Beetles (kind of mixed with REM and a punk drummer, but still lacking anything like a pretend melody). The bass lines are good, but add doggone Melody and make the lyrics comprehensible (or add subtitles to the video).
    Other than the ghost at the end of the video, the Man who Comes doesn’t seem to reminiscent of HIroshima (a recent anniversay in August).
    Hope the USA womens Volleyball team beat the Japanese team this morning.
    As far as choosing favorite children, it depends on the moment for me. (My mother probably has made up her mind adn it’s not me.)

  • bkdunn

    I don’t think you’re really supposed to understand feral yelps. (And Bock’s Car and Little Man were Nagasaki, which I think makes all the difference vis a vis the video…)

  • Wayne

    Wot? No Crackity Jones? Personally, I would drop #1 and #5 in favor of less popular songs. Those two just bore me these days due to overplay on the radidio.

    Pleasant surprise to read about SNA and then find a Pixies reference!

  • bkdunn

    LOL. Fair enough on 1 and 5, but OTOH, is it really the *songs’* fault they got radio play? (And I don’t think I’ve heard Gigantic on the radio more than five times in my life.) I think my main problem with Crackity Jones is that it’s too hard to play on RockBand (which *is* the song’s fault, no doubt).