‘Debaser’: Pixies’ recreation of ‘Un chien andalou’
If you want a perfect example of how to open an album with a statement, look no further than the original four-album run by Pixies. Debut album Surfer Rosa begins with the thumping drum beat of ‘Bone Machine’, Bossanova opens with a roaring cover of The Surftones’ ‘Cecilia Ann’, and Trompe Le Monde bursts into life with the frantic yet brief title track, all of which showcase different sides of the band’s brilliance. However, arguably their finest and most iconic opening track is ‘Debaser’, the introductory cut from their 1989 album, Doolittle.
Doolittle is often regarded as the band’s finest hour, and while all 15 of its tracks are miniature masterpieces in their own right, only a song like ‘Debaser’ could realistically have commenced proceedings on an album of this magnitude. Beginning with four repeated groups of bass notes courtesy of the band’s Kim Deal, it erupts into a vibrant, sunny, yet darkly surreal anthem that showcases frontman Black Francis’ penchant for surrealist imagery, howling these violent-sounding scenes atop a joyous melody line.
However, these bizarre scenes of “slicing up eyeballs” and the repeated phrase of being “un chien andalusia” aren’t entirely Francis’ creation, and a huge amount of credit is owed to filmmaker Luis Buñuel and artist Salvador Dalí, whose 1929 short film Un chien andalou struck a chord with him and prompted him to write a set of lyrics inspired by the stark visuals in the film.
Perhaps best known for its graphic close-up shot of a woman’s eye being cut open with a scalpel, Un chien andalou is one of the most celebrated examples of surrealist cinema, yet it was also a controversial piece that was seen as vulgar and nonsensical. Its seeming abandon of all conventional structure in lieu of violent and sexual imagery was seen as abhorrent at the time. Buñuel said that his aim in making the film was to shock audiences, and while there was some unusually positive reception towards the film from the French upper class, there were just as many detractors calling for such an indecent film to be banned.
Francis was already known for having employed grotesque imagery in his songs, often touching on body horror, mutilation and sexually perverse themes in the lyrics on Surfer Rosa. With many of the same themes being presented in a stream-of-consciousness and free-associative manner in Un chien andalou, it’s understandable that Francis would have been inspired by a song of this nature.
The song’s title, ‘Debaser’, was said to have been chosen by the band due to how the film was designed to debase morals and standards in the world of art at the time. In a 2022 Q&A with The Guardian, Francis chose to elaborate on the name that he gave to the song but essentially dismissed it as being equally as nonsensical as the film’s title. “I guess it means: one who debases,” he responded. “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.”
By modern standards, Un chien andalou is far from shocking, but the striking visuals of the film are bound to stay with anyone after watching it. Similarly, listening to ‘Debaser’ for the first time still manages to be a profound experience, and one I wish I could personally have again and again.
