Pixies – Dead

"Dead" as written by and Stephen Fretwell....
You crazy baby bathsheba, I wancha
You're suffocating you need a good shed
I'm tired of living, shebe, so gimme
Dead
Dead

We're apin' rapin' tapin' catharsis
You get torn down and get erected
My blood is working but my, my heart is
Dead
Dead
Dead

Hey
Whaddyah know?
You're lovely
Tanned belly
Is starting to grow

Uriah hit the crapper, the crapper
Uriah hit the crapper, the crapper
Uriah hit the crapper, the crapper
Dead
Dead
Dead
Dead
Dead


Lyrics submitted by riffic, edited by hickeryhickery

"Dead" as written by Charles Thompson

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

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Dead song meanings
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24 Comments

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  • +7
    General CommentHere's some more details.

    The song is taken from 2 Samuel, Chapter 11.

    After Bathsheba tells King David that he has impregnated her, David sends for her husband Uriah the Hittite who is fighting in David's army. David tells Uriah to "Go down to your house and wash your feet". But Uriah, being the faithful servant refuses and sleeps outside the entrance to the King's palace.

    The reason David was telling Uriah to go wash his feet is so that he would go home, sleep with his wife, and cover up the pregnancy. That's where the "hit the crapper" part comes from... it's King David telling Uriah to go home to his bathroom and wash his feet.

    I believe that the whole reference to "Dead" is the fact that starting with these evil deeds, King David's life starts to go downhill, leading to his death.

    P.S. Frank Black confirms that this song is indeed about David and Bathsheba in a recent SPIN article, (Summer 2004).
    9ignon November 06, 2004   Link
  • +1
    General Commentas far as I can tell, black francis wrote this song from the perspective of king david. i vaguely remember a biblical story in which king david sees bathsheba bathing and has her sent to his palace. meanwhile, he sends bathsheba's husband, uriah, off to the front line of battle, where he dies.
    zooeyon August 11, 2002   Link
  • +1
    General CommentSuitably filthy song for the unsuitable and filthy deeds of King David.

    As an epilogue to Bathsheba getting pregnant and Uriah getting sent to the front line and topped by the opposing army, David & Bathsheba's baby dies. Never say the Bible's light reading.
    _ellieon March 09, 2005   Link
  • +1
    General Comment>One question I have: any idea what the line "you're suffocating you need a good shed" means?

    Shed is an easy rhyme with dead.

    I think it's David telling her, "You're place is pretty small, baby. You can hardly breathe there. Come on over and live at my place."
    drosson December 11, 2006   Link
  • +1
    General CommentThis song is just another brilliant Pixies creation.
    And it's "I can't think of nothing/ I'd like to do a nursery rhyme" like melonforecstasy said.
    ArrrtStarrron July 15, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Commentzooey, yep
    that's correct, he sees her bathing and brings her over, impregnates her, and then he asks uriah to go over and have sex with his wife, so it seems as if he impregnated her, but uriah didn't agree, he sayed that it isn't fair for him to rest while other soldiers are dying, so david sent him to die in battle.
    (corrupt lil' bastard)
    and other than that, this song rules
    Speedy Marieon March 15, 2003   Link
  • 0
    General Comment9ign, I think "Uriah hit the crapper" is just a rude way of saying that he died. Frank Black said in some interview that the word "dead" in the song is a metaphor for lustful sex.

    The song has depressing lyrics, but it makes me bob my head everytime I hear it.

    (Sorry if this is a triple post, hope it's not)
    lactosefreemanon December 25, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General CommentAbsolutely love this and all of Frank's biblical songs.

    One question I have: any idea what the line "you're suffocating you need a good shed" means?
    KobayashiJTon October 14, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Commentwhat an excellent song this is. I hear the distorted guitar as a clear inspiration for Nirvana's Radio Friendly Unit Shifter, among others. and the change of the funk riff from a major interval to a minor interval the second time it is played is absolutely genious!
    r_bloodworthon May 30, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General CommentOf course we all know the French refer to orgasm as "the little death," and this song makes the connection between sex and death just as explicit. David's lustful demands morph suddenly into suicidal urges. And of course in the story death does result from David's actions, though not his own.
    tommythecat42on August 19, 2007   Link

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