Lyrics for Dead as interpreted by riffic

Dead Lyrics
you crazy baby bathsheba, i wancha
you're suffocating you need a good shed
i'm tired of living, shebe, so gimme
dead

we're apin' rapin' tapin' catharsis
you get torn down and get erected
my blood is working but my, my heart is
dead

hey
whaddyah know?
you're lovely
tan belly
is starting to grow

uriah hit the crapper, the crapper
uriah hit the crapper, the crapper
uriah hit the crapper, the crapper
dead

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zooey
08-11-2002

Rated 0 
as 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.

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Speedy Marie
03-15-2003

Rated 0 
zooey, 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

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9ign
11-06-2004

Rated +1 
Here'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).

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lactosefreeman
12-25-2004

Rated 0 
9ign, 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)

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_ellie
03-09-2005

Rated 0 
Suitably 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.

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KobayashiJT
10-14-2006

Rated 0 
Absolutely 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?

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dross
12-11-2006

Rated +1 
>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."

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r_bloodworth
05-30-2007

Rated 0 
what 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!

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tommythecat42
08-19-2007

Rated 0 
Of 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.

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igotfakeid
06-11-2008

Rated 0 
anyone know what is said at the beginning?
Sound like:
"what do you think enough is?"
"reminds me of a nursery rhyme..."

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1 Reply
thegnu
11-14-2008

Rated 0 
I just heard the Rock Band version, which has the vox mixed up, and he says:
"I can't think of nothing/I'd like to do a nursery rhyme"

Also, I think he says:
"You're suffocating you need/Oh, good shit"
But I could be wrong.

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melonforecstasy
02-07-2009

Rated 0 
Love this song, one of my fave songs by them and one of their more underrated ones.

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ArrrtStarrr
07-15-2009

Rated +1 
This 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.

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ArrrtStarrr
07-15-2009

Rated 0 
Oops sorry it was actually thegnu.

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mwodan
07-31-2009

Rated 0 
I think in the beginning he says:

I can't think of nothing
Larger than a nursery rhyme

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maniacafrodisiac
11-13-2009

Rated 0 
just a little add-on, i think that the first time he says 'dead', it's probably a pun on 'gimme head'. man this stuff is so layered with meanings.. fucking amazing. i agree with what you've all been saying. =)

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