Ed Is Dead

great song. it's a true story about a girl in l.a. named edith who would ride her bike in the road while listening to her headphones. she got hit, and died. ed is dead.

I love the work of black francis because he approaches things so elegantly, using an abstract anecdote to describe an idea while leaving a lot of flexibility to interpret. What this song really talks to me about is the kind of person who doesn't take a firm hold of their life and ends up going down wrapped up in distraction. I think the significance of repeating Ed is dead is rather personal. It seems like it's to declare the truth that you just can't do a damn thing if some one wants to live the way they do. My guess is that it's a song inspired by a friend he had to let go of.

This is an awesome song! I think its about a woman who's husband has died and he was a bit of a bastard so shes pretty happy about it...:P

oh thx debassplayer.

music on her bars = walkman on the handlebars?

I always thought it was a kind of cynical little song about how shallow everything in California is. (But that could just be my problems with California talking.) I'd never heard that story, though, and it makes sense.

Heh, the way he says no is hilarious. Nouh nouh nouh nouh. Lol.

No srsly this song rocks my socks..like most of the Pixies' stuff.

HERMOSA MEANS BEAUTIFUL IN SPANISH, he always says words in spanish even when he didint know how to pronuciarlas, so he says: on this true beutiful night

Thanks for the explanation of edith, that has to be it; but for me there is a reading as well where 'she' is nature. 'music on her bars' says to me, sand bars, as he is walking by the sea. She got no got no fear of cars suggests a resilience to nature that we can barely comprehend. There are always strange , multi faceted word plays in Pixies songs, and E.I.D pricks up the ears- yes, I know Ed Is Dead - but also; Eid, is a three-day Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting (sawm). Eid is an Arabic word meaning "festivity"- Wikipedia.

Other site have the line 'I better kick my strand cruiser..' as 'I dedicate my strand cruiser to the memory of a whore - oh oh oh oh...'

I'm not too sure about the whore part but he definitely says 'I dedicate my strand cruiser to the memory'

I always thought it said 'to the memory of the road' but maybe it is 'whore' after all.

'True hermosa night' is definitely right too.

CORRECTION TO LYRICS POSTED NOT: "TRUE HORMOS A NIGHT" IT IS: "A TRUE HERMOSA (HERMOSA BEACH, CALIFORNIA) NIGHT"