Time again for the song of the week from my iPod. This week we are digging into the ancient archives.

PixiesThe Pixies are a post punk, alternative rock band formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1986. The members of the group are Black Francis (vocals, guitar), Joey Santiago (guitar), Kim Deal (bass) (also known for being a member of The Breeders with her twin sister Kelley), and David Lovering (drums). Kim Deal joined the group because she was the only person to answer an ad that Francis and Santiago had placed for a bass player (an instrument she had never played). The Pixies were never a huge success but their music had a profound impact on many other groups of the early 90′s including Nirvana. Kurt Cobain said that Smells Like Teen Spirit was his attempt to rip-off the Pixies. The group didn’t get to enjoy the alternative rock boom of the 1990′s as they broke up in 1993.

The songs of the Pixies are described as cryptic and offbeat with the music being highly melodic. Black Francis wrote most of the songs and his topics included UFOs, surrealism, mental instability, violent Biblical imagery, physical injury, and incest. The group broke up in 1993 because of tension between the members especially between Black (who wanted total control of the group) and Deal (who wanted to include her own songs on the group’s albums). The group reformed in 2004 but have not released a new album.

The album Doolittle was the second album released by the Pixies. It has been a very steady seller and has been said to be one of the most influential albums of all time. A 2003 poll of NME writers ranked Doolittle as the second greatest album of all time. The album has been certified gold. Two of the Pixies biggest singles came from this album, “Here Comes Your Man” and “Monkey Gone To Heaven.” The song “Monkey Gone to Heaven” is a combination of environmentalism and biblical numerology. The song reached #5 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and was ranked the fifth best single of 1989 by Rolling Stone magazine.

Monkey Gone To Heaven
There was a guy
An underwater guy who controlled the sea
Got killed by ten million pounds of sludge
From New York and New Jersey

This monkey’s gone to heaven
This monkey’s gone to heaven
This monkey’s gone to heaven
This monkey’s gone to heaven

The creature in the sky
Got sucked in a hole now
There’s a hole in the sky
And the ground’s not cold
And if the ground’s not cold
Everything is going to burn
We’ll all take turns
I’ll get mine, too

This monkey’s gone to heaven
This monkey’s gone to heaven
This monkey’s gone to heaven
This monkey’s gone to heaven

Rock me, Joe!

If man is 5
If man is 5
If man is 5

Then the devil is 6
Then the devil is 6
Then the devil is 6
Then the devil is 6

And if the devil is 6
Then God is 7
And God is 7
And God is 7

This monkey’s gone to heaven
This monkey’s gone to heaven
This monkey’s gone to heaven
This monkey’s gone to heaven

Here is the video of the Pixies performing the song live in 2004 on the David Letterman show. It just shows that even old guys and gals can still rock.