Gigantic (song)

According to Deal, the main inspiration for the song was the film Crimes of the Heart, in which a white married woman falls in love with a black teenager. The song is credited to Mrs. John Murphy (Kim Deal's pseudonym at the time of Come On Pilgrim and Surfer Rosa). The song's lyrics mostly revolve around a woman's observation of an attractive black man making love to another woman, culminating in the 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. ==Single==

4AD label executive Ivo Watts-Russell did not believe there was a track on Surfer Rosa that would get much radio play, so he approached producer Gil Norton to re-record "Gigantic" and "River Euphrates" with the intention of releasing them as the band's first single. It was the first time Norton would record with the Pixies, and the circumstances made him a bit nervous because he was a fan of the band and Steve Albini's work. Most of the changes he made were in the way the recordings were mixed while minor alterations were made in "Gigantic"'s arrangement. The single was released in the United Kingdom on 4AD as a 12-inch single and on CD. The CD version was re-issued in 1999. (No version of this single was ever released in the United States.) The single also included a live version of "Vamos" (a song that also appeared on mini-LP, 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. Based on the results of this re-recording, Gil Norton was asked to produce the next album, Doolittle. The back cover of the 12 inch features a large leather glove. ==Track listing==

• In 1990, the Australian alternative rock band Tlot Tlot wrote a song called "Sunny Delirious" that sampled the intro of "Gigantic". In 1992, their debut album ''Pistolbuttsa'twinkle'' included the song, while their final single, "The Girlfriend Song", included an uptempo punk version of the song recorded live as a B-side. • The California ska punk band Reel Big Fish produced a 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. Other bands such as Belle & Sebastian, the Frames, Pavement, Gemma Hayes, the Katies, and the Hippos have also covered the song. • 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 1980s covers. • Swell Season vocalist Glen Hansard covered "Gigantic" live for the deluxe digital edition of their 2009 album Strict Joy. • Alternative rock band Surfer Blood performed a version of the song in June 2011 for The A.V. Club A.V. Undercover series. • In April 2014, a cover of the song by Phoebe Bridgers, using many various iPhone and iPod performance and recording apps, was the subject of a widely broadcast advertisement by Apple Inc. • In October 2014, the shoegaze/punk band Pity Sex covered the song as their second track on a split they released with Adventures on Run for Cover Records. • Deal began performing the song with the Breeders in 2017, becoming a staple of the band's setlist therein. ==External links==