Lyrics for Here Comes Your Man as interpreted by riffic

Here Comes Your Man Lyrics
outside there's a box car waiting
outside the family stew
out by the fire breathing
outside we wait 'til face turns blue
i know the nervous walking
i know the dirty beard hangs
out by the box car waiting
take me away to nowhere plains
there is a wait so long
here comes your man

big shake on the box car moving
big shake to the land that's falling down
is a wind makes a palm stop blowing
a big, big stone fall and break my crown
there is a wait so long
you'll never wait so long
here comes your man
there is a wait so long
you'll never wait so long
here comes your man

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onafriday
04-30-2002

Rated 0 
i can sum this song up in one word... Anticipation. Plain and simple that's all the song is about, w/it's great almost surf-rock sounding guitars.

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Tikka
09-02-2002

Rated 0 
This song makes me so happy. Although after I've listened to it that riff stays in my head for days.

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Stak
09-09-2002

Rated 0 
August 9th 1945. US bomber the 'Bockscar' dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki. Now re-read the lyrics. Thanks to Rachel N for sharing this.

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CosmicWolfy
03-10-2003

Rated 0 
Only the pixies could make a song that sounds so upbeat and cheerful about an atomic explosion.

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1 Reply
plosion
03-11-2003

Rated -1 
That's nuts. All this time I was thinking it was about what onafriday said. And it turns out it's about an atomic bomb! That's just crazy. All these years of listening to Dolittle and I never knew what it really meant. Black Francis (or Frank Black, if you prefer) is a genius.

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Speedy Marie
03-15-2003

Rated 0 
Also, "Here comes your man" - the name of the atomic bomb was "Fat man"
:)

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the thief
03-23-2003

Rated 0 
Thats very cool, all the time I thought the song was a bit nonsensical, and it's really about nuclear bombs!

Reading through this site has made me realise the pixies(and other bands) were much better lyricists than I ever gave them credit for.

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craigus
03-29-2003

Rated 0 
Yeah a lot of Pixie songs have hidden meanings this one was about the first drop of an atom bomb on Nagasaki. Frank has a way of summing up human faults in an album. It's strange cus it almost makes them concept albums, Doolitle is very dibical and deals with human faults and vices and Bossanova and Tromp Le Monde are about a kid watching aliens fly past in his back yard.

FRANK RULZ

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oidimed
05-01-2004

Rated 0 
a great surf riff. awesome song. i didnt know it was about that, though.

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The Lopper
05-13-2004

Rated 0 
"a big, big stone fall" and "is a wind makes a palm stop blowing" are obviously attributes of an atomic bomb. Obvious if you've just read the meaning here. Quite amazing they way Black Francis could write the lyrics like that

www.grandprix3.com/forum

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bongo
05-17-2004

Rated 0 
Wow, i had no idea...

BTW the first bomb fell on hiroshima, not nagasaki

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pyro3133
05-17-2004

Rated 0 
wow thats really great interpretation, honestly i would never have thought of it. A note to bongo, two atomic bombs were dropped, one on hiroshima, one on nagasaki.

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bongo
05-18-2004

Rated 0 
yeah, and the FIRST one fell on hiroshima....jeez

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riviera
06-02-2004

Rated 0 
i think frank black said one time that the title was an "homage" to the velvet undergorunds' "waiting for my man" which had been a big influence to young frank

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Stamehad
09-19-2004

Rated 0 
Frankly, I believe this is the best Pixies song. The ultimate combination between beautiful and interesting lyrics (About the A-bomb) and a pop tune that gets to you. Obviously, underneath the screams and noise there is a pop writer, and “Here come you man” reveals its full potential.

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abby crawford
10-03-2004

Rated 0 
I always thought this song was a reply to Lou Reed's "Waiting for the Man", but now that I think about it, the atomic bomb theory seems much more likely.

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beanicka
10-18-2004

Rated 0 
wow, this has been one of my favorite songs for so long, and i never really knew the meaning. genius.

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jackfrost
11-02-2004

Rated 0 
his name is Charles Thompson...

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skiguski
11-18-2004

Rated 0 
Damn the Pixies rule. All their songs seems to have nonsensical lyrics, then you read the interpretations on here, and they make perfect sense. Best Boston band ever!!

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Ericdawingnut
11-20-2004

Rated 0 
This has one of best "surfer riffs" I've ever heard in a song. Add the meaning and the "upbeat" tempo is all the more ironic. Finally, the nod in the title to Velvet Underground. The result is likely the best Pixies song, and that's saying a lot!

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Alieno
12-02-2004

Rated 0 
About what Onafriday and Plosion said: Yes, this song is about the atomic bombing on Nagasaki, but Black Francis wrote these lyrics in that cryptic way for a reason. He could've easily written a much direct reference to the Bockscar, but he prefered to call it "Box car" to hide its identity from public view and, I think, stimulate the imagination of the listeners.

This song is very alike an O.M.D. track titled "Enola Gay", which speaks about the first bomb drop on Hiroshima and which compares that event to a kiss.

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Sander_vn
12-10-2004

Rated 0 
I'm not sure what Frank means with the verse
"There is a wait so long,
you 'll never wait so long"
Does anybody have an idea on this?

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molko_deal
12-22-2004

Rated 0 
Back in the old days bodies were transported by train, when the train was arriving at the station with someone's dead loved one they used to say "Here comes your man" Read the lyrics, it all adds up and if you've ever heard any interviews with Black Francis you'll understand that it isn't really out of his nature do bring stuff luke this up in his songs.

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lactosefreeman
12-24-2004

Rated +1 
Check out this part from an old interview from NME with Black Francis himself about "Here Comes Your Man":

"This is a pre-Pixies song that I wrote when I was about 15. It’s about wino’s and hobos travelling on the trains who dies in the California Earthquake. Before earthquakes everything gets very calm, animals stop talking and birds stop chirping and there’s no wind. It’s very ominous.
I’ve been through a few earthquakes actually ‘cos I grew up in California. I was only in one big one in 1971. I was very young and I slept through it. I’ve been awake through lots of small ones at school and at home. It’s very exciting actually, a very comical thing. It’s like the earth is shaking, and what can you do? Nothing."

That would explain why the lyric is "there's a box car waiting" instead of "there's a bockscar waiting".

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lactosefreeman
12-24-2004

Rated 0 
Sander, the line....

"There is a wait so long,
you 'll never wait so long"

is probably put in there because of when Kim repeats it after FB, it sounds like she's saying "so long" in a goodbye-type of way. Like, "So long everybody", because the hobo's are dying from the earthquake.

Look at the lyrics with the hobo idea instead of the atomic bomb thing and everything makes more sense. They're all waiting outside of their boxcars and probably hovering over a fire, hence "out by the fire breathing, outside we wait 'til face turns blue".

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