the first 2 verses of this song are just great storytelling, like all pixies songs, and dont need to be deciphered, but i will say something of the second verse... "the creature in the sky got sucked in a whole now theres a hole in the sky"... the "creature in the sky" being God, has left us due to what we(as the human race) have done to this earth(gas emissions, burning coal and whatever else) we have opened a hole in the sky(the ozone layer). as we are now Godless, we will be left to burn(on earth) which takes me to this first verse actually. being that this "underwater guy got killed by ten million pounds of sludge from N.Y. and N.J." it is fitting that this man or "monkey" has gone to heaven but the rest of us shall "all take turns, i'll get mine too". what i find most interesting,is the third and final verse "man is 5, the devil is 6, and god is 7". man is the lowest number in this equation and it is fitting that the devil(6) should be between man(5) and God(7). is not more simple to sucumb to more evils than goods? for instance it is easier to pick up a bad habit such as smoking or drinking, than to take a higher road and stay clean. another example: do not most of us commit premarital sex, where as God says we should wait? yes, it is fitting that the devil should stand between us and God.... by the way, does any one else hear a piano repeating two notes as a trill during each chorus of this song??

you can't really believe anything black francis says about this. If i was in his position i would fuck around with the fans all the time, and I certainly wouldn't put it past frank to deny any meaning in the songs just to laugh at fans' reactions. I think the environmental interp and wowza beans's death-of-god one both make a lotta sense.
but it doesn't seem like anyone's considered that "this monkey's gone to heaven" might be ironic. I always thought that the line was mocking the idea of humanity -being basically a bunch of monkeys- would be worthy of heavan anyway? The lines about the guy drowing in industrial ooze seem to be kinda absurdist in that they bluntly present a very ugly death. the neptune thing works too. anyway, if humanity is being mocked by being called monkeys, and animals were made on the fifth day, then it makes sense that humanity would be called five and not six.

obvious. first verse is about how were destroying the sea. second verse is about the ozone layer.and the third verse is about global warming. he also says were all gonna burn ill take my turn. meaning even though he isnt doing it, he has to pay for it too, aka our youth of 2morrow who will have to deal with it but didnt cause it. also the last part isnt that confusing guys. i write songs myself, and at the tender age of 16 i gutess my minds just more open...humans r least powerful so satan can control us to do bad things aka sin. but the last line in the song he screams god is 7 in a triumphant voice, therefore telling us even thought satan caused us to sin and ruin the earth god will make it better on judgement day and all the good monkeys go to heaven, aka man who didnt do the bad stuff and is saved, which gives meaning to the verse ill get mine 2 when refering to the global warming problem. hope i was helpful

oidimed, man was created on day six,
the numbers verse it simply referring to man's inferiority, in my opinion.

aww man, doesn't anyone thing this has a little bit of weight from daniel johnston??? during his rant about the numbers he mention the devil being 6 and God being 7. the biblical reference is obvious. and the hole in the sky with the creature... revelation all the way.

"The creature in the sky" is us, the individuals that make up humanity. It plays into the overall meaning of the lyrics because it is a commentary on our, western-style religion. It shows, through an arbitrary method of beginning a set of 3 continuous numbers, how arbitrary our religion is. OK, so I HOPE this makes sense!
Basically what the song is saying is how our divisions are extremely simplified conceptions of reality. We have this mental divisions of God, the Devil, and Heaven... we see only three entities and one place (and the fouth, hell, is entailed by the use of contrast God and the Devil, but it is indeed effectively left out, by our immediate response to it's insinuation (of hell) it proves just how "rigid" and simplified it is. On could say that this consencous found in western religion of Hell, Heaven, God, Devil, is in fact proof of its truth, but really everyone knows that you don't even need to find these people, just go to other countries and you will have indeniable evidence of people acknowleding religions without sharing or at least ommiting certain notions of our religious realities.
The number's used, 5, 6, and 7, some argue have meaning within themselves (5 for the fingers, 6 for the triagonal 6, and 7 for the magical number heaven) but this is highly tied, once again, to our religion. In reality it's aribitrary, 5, 6, 7,.
"What comes after 6?"
Wow, !!! I know!!! Seven!!!
"You are 100% perfect in this knowledge!"
In the same way we simplify God, Heaven, Hell down to the level of a monkey's unsophisticated intellect. Basically it is saying that we toy with reality and don't take it seriously enough. We take life as if it were child's play, creating stories that are as cheap and superficial as the soap opera's on T.V. Yes, we really are as dumb as all the author's from our English classes hinted. *
*tear...
The whole
"Got sucked in a hole now
There's a hole in the sky
And the ground's not cold
And if the ground's not cold
Everything is going to burn"
Contrast between a hole (hell) being in the sky (heaven), the hole is essentially in the sky... the sky is its inverted ground. The contrast between cold and burn further further shows that contrast between the devil, god and hell and heaven.

i finally realized it. Look at the cover. there are four numbers on there. the numbers 5,6,7 and in the corner a small 13. five is in the upper left corner. 6 and 7 are in the right bottom corner, allong with the unmber 13 circled. 6 +7= 13. ok now look at the track number...if man is 5... the fifth track is here comes your MAN. if youve looked up the meaning for that, you know the song is about the a bomb dropped on japan. ok now the devil is 6... 6th track is dead, devil is lord of the dead...Then god is 7... monkey gone to HEAVEN. each track is expalined by black in that line and thats all ive got right now lol

or, 5th track bomb dropped on japan
6th track dead, when they died,
7h track, they finally go to heaven

in here comes your man it says a guy who controlls the sea. could mean a boat.......

idk guys, I feel like they are just making fun of religion, and the stupid rules that make the monkey think he's going to heaven lol

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i think its an ecologigal anthem about pollution hole in the sky=hole in the ozone layer etc

however the 5 6 7 bit is wierd
5 could be 5 fingers on a hand symbol of humanity
6 666 is the number of the beast
7 holy number commonly associated with god
im sure thatthis has been said but i think as the numbers go up the organisms are getting more complex
if four was said maybe it would have meant an animal if you get me

great song

i luv this song, i can completely agree with zot
analysis.