"Debaser" | ||||
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![]() Cover of the Debaser: Studio single. | ||||
Single by Pixies | ||||
from the album Doolittle | ||||
A-side | "Debaser" | |||
B-side | "Bone Machine", "Gigantic", "Isla de Encanta" | |||
Released | July 21, 1997 | |||
Studio | Downtown Recorders (Boston, Massachusetts) | |||
Genre | Alternative rock | |||
Length | 2:52 | |||
Label | Elektra | |||
Songwriter(s) | Black Francis | |||
Producer(s) | Gil Norton | |||
Pixies singles chronology | ||||
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Audio sample | ||||
Music video | ||||
"Debaser" on YouTube |
"Debaser" is a song by American alternative rock band Pixies,released in April 1989 as the opening track on their album Doolittle and later as a promotional single following the dissolution of the band. [1]
The band's 1991 "Head On" single includes a live version of "Debaser" recorded in Chicago on August 9,1989. The album version of the song was later released as a single in 1997 to promote the Death to the Pixies compilation. [1] A live recording from December 16,2004,in New York City appears on "Hey" –Live Pixies 2004–2005.
A version of this song was also used in the game DJ Hero 2 ,remixed with The Prodigy's song "Invaders Must Die";this mix is available as downloadable content for the game.
The lyrics of "Debaser" are based on Un Chien Andalou ,a 1929 short film by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí. The film includes a scene in which a woman's eye is apparently cut open by a razor,which is referenced in the lyric "slicin' up eyeballs." According to frontman and songwriter Black Francis:
The title "Debaser" references the fact that Un Chien Andalou "debases" contemporary morality and standards of art:"I guess it means:one who debases. A debaser. It was an attempt to introduce a new word into the lexicon,but I don’t think it’s been successful,else I would have heard about it." [3]
In the earliest version of the song,the line "un chien andalusia" was originally "Shed,Apollonia!",a reference to a scene from Purple Rain . [4]
Debaser –Demo
Debaser –Live
Debaser –Studio
Chart (1997) | Peak position |
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UK Singles (OCC) [5] | 23 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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United Kingdom (BPI) [6] | Silver | 200,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |
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