Week Ninety-Five: Pixies - "Wave of Mutilation" - Doolittle

This is one of those songs that I always sang along to and always enjoyed but never really knew what it was about nor did I really ever care to look it up until now... and I discovered what a morbid song it truly is thanks to Wikipedia:

"Other songs explored eccentric subjects, such as in 'Wave of Mutilation', which Francis described as being about 'Japanese businessmen doing murder-suicides with their families because they'd failed in business, and they're driving off a pier into the ocean.' The song's opening phrase, 'Cease to resist', is a reference to The Beach Boys' 1968 song 'Never Learn Not to Love', their rewritten version of Charles Manson's composition 'Cease to Exist.'"

Another thing that I've always noticed was that many songs by the Pixies are really, really short. That, too, was explained to me on Wikipedia:

"[Gil] Norton's suggestions were not always welcome, and several instances of advice to add verses and increase track length contributed to the front man's building frustration. Eventually, Francis took Norton to a record store, where he handed him a copy of Buddy Holly's Greatest Hits, in which most of the songs are about two minutes long. He told Norton, 'If it's good enough for Buddy Holly...'"

You might remember that I covered Buddy Holly during Valentine's Week this year! Today, I'll include another favorite off the Doolittle album called "Monkey Gone to Heaven"...

cease to resist, giving my goodbye

drive my car into the ocean

you'll think I'm dead, but I sail away

on a wave of mutilation

a wave

wave

I've kissed mermaids, rode the el nino

walked the sand with the crustaceans

could find my way to mariana

on a wave of mutilation,

wave of mutilation

wave of mutilation

wave

wave of mutilation

wave