Here's another greatest opener post after a brief hiatus caused by a half-marathon and mounds of homework. "Debaser" by Pixies is my favorite album opener, kicking off my all-time favorite album Doolittle. The song starts with a simple bouncy baseline, then guitars descend from the wings, drums thunder, and a depraved Black Francis starts shouting about movies, eyeballs, and groovy girlies. Backed by Kim Deal's angelic voice, which provides a nice contrast to Black Francis' demonic growl, the song flips the switch from loud to soft repeatedly, a staple of the Pixies' sound. Lyrically the song was inspired by the surrealist movie Un chien andalou, a 1928 short film created by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali. Within the film, a woman's eye is cut up with a razor, providing Black Francis with the lines, "Got me a movie/ I want you to know/ slicin' up eyeballs/ I want you to know/ girlie so groovy/ I want you to know/ don't know about you/ but I am un chien andalusia." As a young college student, Black Francis went through a period of obsession with surrealism, something he often tapped into when writing songs. A largely surreal and mythological album, Doolittle's focus and brilliance is apparent right out of the gate. "Debaser" ends in less than three minutes, brief but incendiary.
Pixies- Debaser
1 comment:
Took the words from my mouth.
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