Lyrics for Alec Eiffel as interpreted by riffic

Alec Eiffel Lyrics
Pioneer of aerodynamics
(little eiffel, little eiffel)
they thought he was real smart alec
(little eiffel, little eiffel)
he thought big they called it a phallic
(little eiffel, little eiffel)
they didn't know he was panoramic
little eiffel stands in the archway
(little eiffel, little eiffel)
keeping low doesn't make no sense
sometimes people can be oh so dense
they didn't want it but he built it anyway
(little eiffel, little eiffel)
little eiffel stands in the archway
(little eiffel, little eiffel)
keeping low don't make sense
keeping low doesn't make no-sense
(little eiffel, little eiffel)
little eiffel stands in the archway
oh alexander i see you beneath
the archway of aerodynamics.

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antihero1938
12-17-2008

Rated 0 
The end of the songs says “Oh Alec Eiffel I see you beneath the archway of aerodynamics”. This song is about a picture that frank black saw. it was a picture of the Eiffel tower with a child standing beneath it. The person in possession of this picture told him that it was Alec Eiffel, as a Child, standing beneath the archway. This, as everyone knows, is impossible. So, the pixies made a song out of it.

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igotfakeid
08-30-2008

Rated 0 
agree on the video, pixies are not a video band but that was great

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igotfakeid
08-30-2008

Rated 0 
agree on the video, pixies are not a video band but that was great

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igotfakeid
08-30-2008

Rated 0 
agree on the video, pixies are not a video band but that was great

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igotfakeid
08-30-2008

Rated 0 
This song is incredible. The comparisons with the Pixies to Eiffel are also incredibly accurate. Though, I don't think they ever anticipated fame or the rapid cult following. One thing I'm surprised people haven't brought up is the video for this. Holy shit, it's awesome! The wind tunnel, the bright flashy clothes, and Joey's face getting wrapped around in smoke? Amazing. The whole thing looks like a 90s issue of X-Men or Generation X.

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Brodie Banks
08-19-2008

Rated 0 
This song is incredible. The comparisons with the Pixies to Eiffel are also incredibly accurate. Though, I don't think they ever anticipated fame or the rapid cult following. One thing I'm surprised people haven't brought up is the video for this. Holy shit, it's awesome! The wind tunnel, the bright flashy clothes, and Joey's face getting wrapped around in smoke? Amazing. The whole thing looks like a 90s issue of X-Men or Generation X.

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Brodie Banks
08-19-2008

Rated 0 
This song is incredible. The comparisons with the Pixies to Eiffel are also incredibly accurate. Though, I don't think they ever anticipated fame or the rapid cult following. One thing I'm surprised people haven't brought up is the video for this. Holy shit, it's awesome! The wind tunnel, the bright flashy clothes, and Joey's face getting wrapped around in smoke? Amazing. The whole thing looks like a 90s issue of X-Men or Generation X.

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igotfakeid
08-09-2008

Rated 0 
Does anyone know what is said at the end the song?

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igotfakeid
07-25-2008

Rated 0 
One my favorite pixies song ever, could ever make out what they are saying in this song til this day

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WaveNo.13
07-22-2008

Rated 0 
Instrumentally, the song is motivating and gives me a sense of power. Little Eiffel made France big.

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woodenfloor
04-06-2008

Rated 0 
I love this song and the lyrics. Yeah it's about alexandre eiffel designer of the eiffel tower. but he also was playing with the phrase "smart alec" a very intelligent person that uses their intelligence in a nasty way.

It's a character portrait of someone who was so smart they just did what they wanted and didn't care.

"they didn't want it but he built it anyway" it's no so much about the french not wanting, it's mentioned because he wanted to do it and didn't care what anyone else though.
"keeping low dosn't make no sense" being humble about your talents is pointless in alec's view. again, he designed a monstrous building and and decided to flaunt his ability building it.

and the phallic references are like it's the equivalent of a rich mans fancy car. Not only referencing the shape of the tower but also it grandeur and size being a physical manifestation of alec's self-inflated opinion of himself as a man.

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weese_ttm31
04-04-2007

Rated 0 
actually this song is about a garden in france with a minature eiffel tower in it, and how it dosent make any sense...GOD Black Francis was a genious...

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flipz4
07-19-2006

Rated 0 
wow.....you guys all have interesting idea's on this song...I think we can all agree that it is one of the best pixies songs. It is most definately about alexander eiffel though, not someones dick just because it says phallic.

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Peanut99
05-11-2006

Rated 0 
If you look at the artwork on Trompe Le Monde, you can see the Eiffel tower depicted as a spaceship.

I believe this song is Frank Black's homage to Eiffel whom he might have seen as a kindred soul, who had the vision and confidence to go with what he believed in regardless of what others had to say, and daring to think big.

As well as physically resembling a space rocket, the Eiffel tower could also have been seen as a meta-physical gateway that future spacecraft development came from, in the sense that Eiffel used the tower for pioneering wind resistance experiments and built a wind-tunnel at the base of it, a lot of which would contribute to future rocket design.

In this way, the tower could almost be seen as a religous structure, originally built as an abstract symbolism of reaching for the stars, but then also in actuality contributing in some way to achieveing this goal.

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Audaciousmoose
04-15-2006

Rated 0 
"I dont think it means that. I think they are talking about a kid and his penis... because they mention phallic. look that word up. it could be about the eiffle tower though? "

To the person who said this, "phallic" means resembling a phallus (penis) SO when he says "He thought big and they called it a phallic" all Francis is saying is that people mocked the Eiffel Tower because it looked phallic.

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T3825
03-02-2006

Rated 0 
the pixies are the greatest band and this is one of their greatest songs thats all i have to say

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MrSaturn
01-30-2006

Rated 0 
i don't understand what's so horrible about the get up kids cover. is it because the tempo is a little bit faster? that's really the only thing that isn't spot on except the TWO SECOND INTRO. put some reasoning behind a statement like "completely took a shit all over this song".

then again i guess you can't expect much from someone would say "what a bunch of tools".

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elodie
09-01-2005

Rated 0 
um, excuse me. did someone say that no one should be allowed to cover the pixies? because the pixies covered neil young. and what now.

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Child Of Music
08-19-2005

Rated 0 
PS. DID Black Francis have a crewcut or am I delusional?

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Child Of Music
08-19-2005

Rated 0 
On Pixies vs. Nirvana:

Would you rather listen to some whiny shit with burnt-yellow hair moan about his life than a fat guy with a crewcut singing about aliens, the Eiffel tower and monkeys?
I'll take Pixies over Nirvana any day, thanks ^_^

As to this song ... simply great.

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Product_19
04-16-2005

Rated 0 
"Pioneer of aerodynamics"
Effiel built the tower with respect to wind resistance (low speed aerodynamics) using unconventional bearing loads. Only recently a mathematician figured out the governing equations (natural log derivations) that Effiel used. It is pretty cool to think that Frank Black is a bit of a math nerd and wrote a song about this before it was proved.

"a real smart alec" is used, because no one could figure out/ prove why he did it the way it stands. ie., as artwork, engineering, or both til now!

This is the pixies best song, even without the nerdiness.

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brycec3
04-16-2005

Rated 0 
as a bit of an off note, the french still dont really like the effiel tower much. to "tacky and showy." they're not to fond of commericalism.

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if09
04-06-2005

Rated 0 
eiffel represents the penis of a teenager. nothing else. and its the best song of pixies. no doubt.

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BoneMachine
04-05-2005

Rated 0 
I think any cover of a Pixies song is just a waste of time. Their song is too unique to try to recreate, and trying to put your own spin on it is just silly. It's all fine and good to play their songs just for fun and all, but as far as recording them, forget it.

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lifemakesechoes
03-27-2005

Rated 0 
this song sounds like the theme song for a super hero. absolutely awesome.

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