Gigantic is a song by Pixies, co-written by bassist Kim Deal and lead vocalist, guitarist Black Francis. The song appeared on the band’s first full-length studio album, Surfer Rosa. Gigantic was released as the band’s first single album in August 22, 1988.
Featuring Deal on lead vocals, the song is one of Pixies‘ biggest hits and a crowd favorite at concerts, often played as the encore. The melody line comes from Deal‘s simple but effective bass playing the same bassline is repeated throughout the song.
Gigantic never achieved a ranking on any major charts and was their only single release from Surfer Rosa. However, it was a fairly successful first hit for Pixies and maintains radio play to this day. The single version of the song appeared on Pixies‘ 2004 best-of compilation, Wave of Mutilation: Best of Pixies.
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 and the song “Gigantic” 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:
“A good chord progression, very Lou Reed influenced. I’d had the word ‘gigantic’ in my mind just because the chord progression seemed very big to me.”
The melody, particularly at the beginning, differs between the album and EP version.
Tracklist:
- Gigantic (New Version) Black Francis and Kim Deal
- River Euphrates (New Version) Black Francis
- Vamos (Live) Black Francis
- In Heaven (The Lady in the Radiator Song) (Live)
Pixies
Black Francis: vocals , rhythm guitar , acoustic guitar
Kim Deal: bass guitar , backing vocals , vocals (Gigantic) (credited as Mrs. John Murphy)
Joey Santiago: lead guitar
David Lovering: percussion
