Gigantic (song)
Encyclopedia
"Gigantic" is a song by the American alternative rock
band Pixies, co-written by bassist Kim Deal
and lead vocalist/guitarist Black Francis (Deal is lead vocalist). The song appeared on the band's first studio album, Surfer Rosa
, released in 1988. "Gigantic" was released as the band's first single
later that year.
Featuring Deal on lead vocals, the song is one of the Pixies' biggest hits and a crowd favorite at concert
s, often played as the encore
. The melody line comes from Deal's simple but effective bass playing—the same bassline is repeated throughout the song.
"Gigantic" never achieved a ranking on any major charts and was their only release from Surfer Rosa. However, it was a fairly successful first hit for the Pixies and maintains radio play to this day. The single version of the song appeared on the Pixies' 2004 best-of compilation, Wave of Mutilation: Best of Pixies
.
, in which a married woman falls in love with a black teenager and the song "Gigantic" is credited to Mrs John Murphy (Kim Deal's pseudonym at the time of Come On Pilgrim
and Surfer Rosa
and an ironic feminist joke).
The song's voyeuristic lyrics mostly revolve around a woman's observation of an attractive black man making love to another woman, culminating in the oddly light-hearted but sex
ual chorus: "Gigantic, gigantic, gigantic / A big, big love". Francis later commented on the title of the song and the chorus (in the music magazine SELECT), saying:
The melody, particularly at the beginning, differs between the album and EP version.
for release as the band's first single in 1988. The single also featured a new version of "River Euphrates", from the same album. Further included were a live version of "Vamos" (a song that appeared on both the Pixies' first EP
, Come On Pilgrim
and their first LP
Surfer Rosa
) and a live cover of the song "In Heaven (The Lady in The Radiator Song" from the David Lynch
movie Eraserhead
), both recorded at the Town and Country Club in London
, England
. The single was released in the United Kingdom
on 4AD
as a 12-inch vinyl and on CD. The CD version was re-issued in 1999. (No version of this single was ever released in the United States
.)
The tracks were recorded with Gil Norton who produced the next album, Doolittle. The back cover of the 12 inch has a large leather glove.
covered "Gigantic" on their 1996 album Fidelity. The California
ska punk
band Reel Big Fish
produced a better known cover of "Gigantic" for 1999's Where Is My Mind?: A Tribute to the Pixies. Reel Big Fish chose to break away from their traditional sound for this cover, producing a very poppy, highly produced dance track sounding nothing like the original song and because of its unexpected but appealing sound, Reel Big Fish's cover remains one of the most popular and widely distributed Pixies covers. Other bands such as Belle & Sebastian
, The Frames
, Pavement
, Big Digits, Gemma Hayes
, The Katies
, The Miserable Rich
and The Hippos
have also covered the song.
The song was parodied by Self
on the album Feels Like Breakin' Shit
with a track titled "Titanic". The chorus mimics "Gigantic" with "Titanic, Titanic, Titanic / A big, big boat".
In 2007, OK Go
covered the song for album "Dig for Fire- A Tribute to Pixies".
In November 2009, Brighton-based indie band The Miserable Rich
covered the song on their Covers EP, alongside three other eighties covers.
Swell Season vocalist Glen Hansard
covered "Gigantic" live for the deluxe digital edition of their 2009 album, Strict Joy
.
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
band Pixies, co-written by bassist Kim Deal
Kim Deal
Kimberley Ann Deal is an American singer, songwriter and musician, best known as the bassist of the alternative rock band the Pixies and the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for The Breeders. Deal first joined the Pixies in January 1986 as the band's bassist, adopting the stage name Mrs...
and lead vocalist/guitarist Black Francis (Deal is lead vocalist). The song appeared on the band's first studio album, Surfer Rosa
Surfer Rosa
Like Come On Pilgrim, Surfer Rosa displays a mix of musical styles; pop guitar songs such as "Broken Face", "Break My Body", and "Brick Is Red" are featured alongside slower, more melodic tracks exemplified by "Where Is My Mind?". The album includes heavier material, and prominently features the...
, released in 1988. "Gigantic" was released as the band's first single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
later that year.
Featuring Deal on lead vocals, the song is one of the Pixies' biggest hits and a crowd favorite at concert
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
s, often played as the encore
Encore (concert)
An encore is an additional performance added to the end of a concert, from the French "encore", which means "again", "some more"; multiple encores are not uncommon. Encores originated spontaneously, when audiences would continue to applaud and demand additional performance from the artist after the...
. The melody line comes from Deal's simple but effective bass playing—the same bassline is repeated throughout the song.
"Gigantic" never achieved a ranking on any major charts and was their only release from Surfer Rosa. However, it was a fairly successful first hit for the Pixies and maintains radio play to this day. The single version of the song appeared on the Pixies' 2004 best-of compilation, Wave of Mutilation: Best of Pixies
Wave of Mutilation: Best of Pixies
Wave of Mutilation: Best of Pixies is a compilation album by Pixies. It was released on May 3, 2004 in the United Kingdom and the following day in the United States alongside a companion DVD featuring a live show, promotional videos and two documentaries...
.
Lyrics and melody
According to Deal, the main inspiration for the song was the film Crimes of the HeartCrimes of the Heart (film)
Crimes of the Heart is a 1986 American black comedy film directed by Bruce Beresford. The screenplay by Beth Henley is adapted from her Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name.-Plot:...
, in which a married woman falls in love with a black teenager and the song "Gigantic" is credited to Mrs John Murphy (Kim Deal's pseudonym at the time of Come On Pilgrim
Come on Pilgrim
Come On Pilgrim is the debut mini-LP release by the American alternative rock band Pixies, released in September 1987 by 4AD.- Background :...
and Surfer Rosa
Surfer Rosa
Like Come On Pilgrim, Surfer Rosa displays a mix of musical styles; pop guitar songs such as "Broken Face", "Break My Body", and "Brick Is Red" are featured alongside slower, more melodic tracks exemplified by "Where Is My Mind?". The album includes heavier material, and prominently features the...
and an ironic feminist joke).
The song's voyeuristic lyrics mostly revolve around a woman's observation of an attractive black man making love to another woman, culminating in the oddly light-hearted but sex
Sex
In biology, sex is a process of combining and mixing genetic traits, often resulting in the specialization of organisms into a male or female variety . Sexual reproduction involves combining specialized cells to form offspring that inherit traits from both parents...
ual chorus: "Gigantic, gigantic, gigantic / A big, big love". Francis later commented on the title of the song and the chorus (in the music magazine SELECT), saying:
"A good chord progression, very Lou ReedLou ReedLewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
influenced. I'd had the word 'gigantic' in my mind just because the chord progression seemed very big to me."
The melody, particularly at the beginning, differs between the album and EP version.
Single
The song was re-recorded soon after the release of Surfer Rosa, with a slightly altered arrangement and production from Gil NortonGil Norton
Gil Norton is a British record producer known for his work with such bands as Pixies, Echo & the Bunnymen, Foo Fighters, Tribe, Jimmy Eat World, Dashboard Confessional, Feeder, The Distillers, Maxïmo Park, Counting Crows, Terrorvision, The Triffids, Del Amitri, James, The Feelers, The Beekeepers,...
for release as the band's first single in 1988. The single also featured a new version of "River Euphrates", from the same album. Further included were a live version of "Vamos" (a song that appeared on both the Pixies' first EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
, Come On Pilgrim
Come on Pilgrim
Come On Pilgrim is the debut mini-LP release by the American alternative rock band Pixies, released in September 1987 by 4AD.- Background :...
and their first LP
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
Surfer Rosa
Surfer Rosa
Like Come On Pilgrim, Surfer Rosa displays a mix of musical styles; pop guitar songs such as "Broken Face", "Break My Body", and "Brick Is Red" are featured alongside slower, more melodic tracks exemplified by "Where Is My Mind?". The album includes heavier material, and prominently features the...
) and a live cover of the song "In Heaven (The Lady in The Radiator Song" from the David Lynch
David Lynch
David Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker, television director, visual artist, musician and occasional actor. Known for his surrealist films, he has developed his own unique cinematic style, which has been dubbed "Lynchian", and which is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound...
movie Eraserhead
Eraserhead
Eraserhead is a 1977 American surrealist film and the first feature film of David Lynch, who wrote, produced and directed. Lynch began working on the film at the AFI Conservatory, which gave him a $10,000 grant to make the film after he had begun working there following his 1971 move to Los Angeles...
), both recorded at the Town and Country Club in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The single was released in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
on 4AD
4AD
4AD is a British independent record label that was started in 1979 by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent, funded by Beggars Banquet Records, and is still active today...
as a 12-inch vinyl and on CD. The CD version was re-issued in 1999. (No version of this single was ever released in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.)
The tracks were recorded with Gil Norton who produced the next album, Doolittle. The back cover of the 12 inch has a large leather glove.
Track listing
- "Gigantic" (New Version) (Black Francis and Kim DealKim DealKimberley Ann Deal is an American singer, songwriter and musician, best known as the bassist of the alternative rock band the Pixies and the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for The Breeders. Deal first joined the Pixies in January 1986 as the band's bassist, adopting the stage name Mrs...
) – 3:12 - "River Euphrates" (New Version) (Black Francis) – 3:23
- "Vamos" (Live) (Black Francis) – 3:28
- "In Heaven (The Lady in the Radiator Song)" (Live) (Peter IversPeter IversPeter Scott Ivers was an American musician, best known as the host of New Wave Theatre.Ivers was born in Illinois, but raised in Brookline, a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts. He attended the Roxbury Latin School and then Harvard University, majoring in classical languages, but chose a career in...
and David LynchDavid LynchDavid Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker, television director, visual artist, musician and occasional actor. Known for his surrealist films, he has developed his own unique cinematic style, which has been dubbed "Lynchian", and which is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound...
) – 1:46
Cover versions
The Philadelphia based alternative rock band The Low RoadThe Low Road
The Low Road is a 2007 Ned Kelly Award winning novel by the Australian author Chris Womersley.-Awards:*Victorian Premier's Literary Award, Prize for an Unpublished Manuscript by an Emerging Victorian Writer, 2006: shortlisted...
covered "Gigantic" on their 1996 album Fidelity. The California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
ska punk
Ska punk
Ska punk is a fusion music genre that combines ska and punk rock. It achieved its highest level of commercial success in the United States in the late 1990s. Ska-core is a subgenre of ska punk, blending ska with hardcore punk.The characteristics of ska punk vary, due to the fusion of contrasting...
band Reel Big Fish
Reel Big Fish
Reel Big Fish is an American ska punk band from Huntington Beach, California, best known for the 1997 hit "Sell Out". The band gained mainstream recognition in the mid-to-late 1990s, during the third wave of ska with the release of the gold certified album Turn the Radio Off. Soon after, the band...
produced a better known cover of "Gigantic" for 1999's Where Is My Mind?: A Tribute to the Pixies. Reel Big Fish chose to break away from their traditional sound for this cover, producing a very poppy, highly produced dance track sounding nothing like the original song and because of its unexpected but appealing sound, Reel Big Fish's cover remains one of the most popular and widely distributed Pixies covers. Other bands such as Belle & Sebastian
Belle & Sebastian
Belle and Sebastian are an indie pop band formed in Glasgow in January 1996. Belle and Sebastian are often compared with influential indie bands such as The Smiths, as well as classic acts such as Love, Bob Dylan and Nick Drake. The name Belle & Sebastian comes from Belle et Sébastien, a 1965...
, The Frames
The Frames
The Frames are an Irish band based in Dublin. Founded in 1990 by Glen Hansard, the band has been influential in the Dublin rock music scene. The group has released six albums...
, Pavement
Pavement (band)
Pavement is an American alternative rock band that formed in Stockton, California in 1989. In their career, they achieved a significant cult following, and they were called the best band of the 1990s by prominent music critics Robert Christgau and Stephen Thomas Erlewine...
, Big Digits, Gemma Hayes
Gemma Hayes
Gemma Claire Hayes is an Irish singer-songwriter and member of The Cake Sale.-Early life:...
, The Katies
The Katies
The Katies were a three-piece, power-pop band from Murfreesboro, TN from approximately 1996-2007.-History:Jason Moore and Gary Welch had previously been in a Murfreesboro band called A Million Worlds...
, The Miserable Rich
The Miserable Rich
The Miserable Rich are a chamber pop band, formed in 2007 and based in Brighton, England. The band is known for its distinctive, chamber orchestra sound, created using cello and violin as the primary lead instruments, augmented by double bass, acoustic guitar and occasionally piano...
and The Hippos
The Hippos
The Hippos were an American rock band formed in 1995 in Los Angeles, California, and disbanded in 2000. During the band's lifetime they released 3 full-length albums...
have also covered the song.
The song was parodied by Self
Self (band)
Self is an American alternative pop/rock band from Murfreesboro, Tennessee and largely the brainchild of writer, singer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Matt Mahaffey....
on the album Feels Like Breakin' Shit
Feels Like Breakin' Shit
Feels Like Breakin' Shit is the third album by alternative pop/rock band Self, which was released for free via the internet.Its 17 previously unreleased tracks include covers of Prince's "Let's Pretend We're Married", Suzanne Vega's "Fat Man and Dancing Girl", and Tommy Roe's "Dizzy"...
with a track titled "Titanic". The chorus mimics "Gigantic" with "Titanic, Titanic, Titanic / A big, big boat".
In 2007, OK Go
OK Go
OK Go is a rock band originally from Chicago, Illinois, USA, now residing in Los Angeles, California, USA. The band is composed of Damian Kulash , Tim Nordwind , Dan Konopka and Andy Ross , who joined them in 2005, replacing Andy Duncan...
covered the song for album "Dig for Fire- A Tribute to Pixies".
In November 2009, Brighton-based indie band The Miserable Rich
The Miserable Rich
The Miserable Rich are a chamber pop band, formed in 2007 and based in Brighton, England. The band is known for its distinctive, chamber orchestra sound, created using cello and violin as the primary lead instruments, augmented by double bass, acoustic guitar and occasionally piano...
covered the song on their Covers EP, alongside three other eighties covers.
Swell Season vocalist Glen Hansard
Glen Hansard
Glen Hansard is the Academy Award–winning principal songwriter and vocalist/guitarist for Irish group The Frames and one half of folk rock duo, The Swell Season...
covered "Gigantic" live for the deluxe digital edition of their 2009 album, Strict Joy
Strict Joy
Strict Joy is the third album by The Swell Season . It was released in Ireland on October 23, 2009, the rest of Europe on October 26, and on October 27 in North America on the ANTI- record label...
.
External links
- "Gigantic" at Last.fmLast.fmLast.fm is a music website, founded in the United Kingdom in 2002. It has claimed 30 million active users in March 2009. On 30 May 2007, CBS Interactive acquired Last.fm for UK£140m ....