Monday 27 December 2010

Debaser



here is a poster i have made for the song Debaser, by the Pixies. Here is the song meaning.

The lyrics are based on a surrealist film by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí called Un chien andalou. The film notoriously opens with a scene in which a woman's eye is slit by a razor, which is referenced in the song lyric "Slicin' up eyeballs/I want you to know."

According to Black Francis:
I wish Buñuel was still alive. He made this film about nothing in particular. The title itself is a nonsense. With my stupid, pseudo-scholar, naive, enthusiast, avant-garde-ish, amateurish way to watch Un chien andalou (twice), I thought: 'Yeah, I will make a song about it.' [He sings:] "Un chien andalou"... It sounds too French, so I will sing "un chien andalusia", it sounds good, no?'

The title "Debaser" references the fact that Un chien andalou debases morality and standards of art, according to Black Francis. In the earliest version of the song, the line "un chien andalusia" was originally "Shed, Appolonia!" – a reference to the co-star in the Prince film Purple Rain.

It is also rumored that "Debaser" is a reference to University of Massachusetts Amherst film studies professor Don Eric Levine. When he attended UMass, Frank Black was enrolled in Levine's avant garde film class, where "Un Chien Andalou" was screened. Levine is alleged to be "the debaser" because he was well known among students for often spoiling the endings of films.

here is a link to listen to the song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mCoOlUjhlc

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