Complete 'B' Sides

These are Frank Black's amusing notes from the original 2001 edition, omitted from the 2026 edition.
1 RIVER EUPHRATES: This was a re-recording of a song from Surfer Rosa which was going to be a B-Side for Gigantic, another re-recording from Surfer Rosa. I think we in the band weren't quite sure why 4AD wanted us to re-cut tracks for a one-off single, but we didn't care; we were gigging in Europe, recording in London, feeling glad to be rock musicians.
2 VAMOS (LIVE): This song was on Come on Pilgrim, and 4AD asked us to re-cut it again for Surfer Rosa, and as I've already said, we didn't care, we would have recorded the song a thousand times if it meant we got to go into a recording studio. Somehow it was released for a third time as a B-Side. I don't know if it was one of my best songs, but the record company liked it, and more importantly, the audience loved it. We never vamped much, but we did on this song. Joey used to go nuts making all sorts of explosions. We played it at every gig we ever played, I think. We usually closed the set with Vamos.
3 IN HEAVEN (LADY IN THE RADIATOR SONG) (LIVE): While we closed the set with Vamos, we usually closed the evening with this one. I think we all even saw this movie (Eraserhead) together, and I knew then that I wanted to play it in the show. I thought I was pretty clever picking out this song to do, until I discovered a few years later that there were bands all over the world who did this song, You've got to love Eraserhead. It sure impressed me. I assume the haunting lyric is Lynch's, and the wonderful chord progression is by a songwriter named Peter Ivers. While we were recording Come on Pilgrim, I learned of his murder in an apparent "gay-bashing" some years previous.
4 MANTA RAY: Did I mention that this was a B-Sides compilation? A not-so-classic quickie, and I do accept all the blame. I like Joey's solo.
5 WEIRD AT MY SCHOOL: A song from our early repertoire. We probably recorded it several times. It displays a certain kind of hyperness that is very much the Pixies, especially when we first started out.
6 DANCING THE MANTA RAY: I always loved this one. I asked the engineer to speed the tape up when I did the vocals because I thought I would sound more like Screamin' Jay Hawkins; I probably had just seen Stranger Than Paradise.
7 WAVE OF MUTILATION (UK SURF): Recorded during a tour in Scotland, the slow version got even a bigger reaction from the audiences than the more rockin' version from Doolittle. I guess mellow can sometimes be much more rockin'.
8 INTO THE WHITE: Of course, that's Kim doing the lead vocal on this. This song became a crowd favorite at gigs and was a frequent closer for a while. I always loved playing it. A fan from Belfast gave me a photo taken during our one gig there; actually, the photo was taken during our performance of Into the White, and all you can see are blazing white lights and tons of smoke. You can't even see the band. That's how it was when we did this song.
9 BAILEY'S WALK: One of many songs that we recorded at a little studio in the basement of a hairdressers. Early days, this one. I think it sounds great. One of my favorites. It's about a guy I used to see all over San Juan. He could only take a couple steps before he had to tap himself on the head and do a little spin. Once, a photographer tried to take his picture, but Bailey wouldn't let him. "Normal" people sometimes forget that street people have pride and dignity, too.
10 MAKE BELIEVE: David Lovering sings lead. He kept us very entertained with his obsession with Debbie Gibson, and that's what the song is about.
11 I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU: Kim sings lead, and I believe that's Dave on backing vocals. It's a Nell Young song, and I think it's one of Kim's favorite Neil songs.
12 THE THING: A re-mix of the outro section of The Happening from Bossanova. A tale of messianic arrival in Las Vegas.
13 VELVETY INSTRUMENTAL VERSION: The title implies that there was a version with lyrics, but there wasn't. I think I wrote this when I was about 15.
14 WINTERLONG: One of my favorite Neil songs, Probably recorded at 5am like most of our B-Sides.
15 SANTO: Under the hairdressers again. I like the sound quality here.
16 THEME FROM NARC: Narc is a video game about narcotics officers catching the bad guys. This is what you heard when you blew 'em away.
17 BUILD HIGH: Another one from the early repertoire which finally made it as a B-Side.
18 EVIL HEARTED YOU: A great Gouldman song done so well by the Yardbirds. We did it in Spanish, and to Gouldman's credit, he wouldn't let us release it until I got the translation right. It turns out Graham Gouldman speaks fluent Spanish. I finally got it close enough after consulting the cook at my local taqueria.
19 LETTER TO MEMPHIS (INSTRUMENTAL): An instrumental version of the song from Trompe Le Monde. It was a letter to Memphis, Egypt, to the great love of my life during her past life in that part of the world.