"Cactus" is a song by the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band

Pixies Pixies may refer to: * Plural of Pixie * Pixies (band) The Pixies are an American alternative rock band from Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1986 by Black Francis (vocals, rhythm guitar, songwriter), Joey Santiago (lead guitar), Kim ...

, and is the eighth track on their 1988 album ''

Surfer Rosa ''Surfer Rosa'' is the debut studio album by the American alternative rock band Pixies, released in March 1988 on the British label 4AD. It was produced by Steve Albini. ''Surfer Rosa'' contains many of the elements of Pixies' earlier output, i ...

''. It was written and sung by the band's

frontman The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

Black Francis Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV (born April 6, 1965), better known by the stage name Black Francis, is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. He is the frontman of the alternative rock band Pixies. Following the band's break ...

and engineered by

Steve Albini Steven Frank Albini (; July 22, 1962 – May 7, 2024) was an American musician and audio engineer. He founded and fronted the influential post-hardcore and noise rock bands Big Black (1981–1987), Rapeman (1987–1989) and Shellac (band), ...

"P-I-X-I-E-S"

Between the second verse and chorus of "Cactus," the band and the studio members can be heard spelling out "Pixies." Bass guitarist

Kim Deal Kimberley Ann Deal (born June 10, 1961) is an American musician. She was the original bassist and co-vocalist in the alternative rock band the Pixies (band), Pixies from 1986 to 1993 and again from 2004 to 2013. She is the frontwoman of the Bre ...

(then credited as 'Mrs John Murphy' in the sleeve notes of the album), later commented on the interlude: "You can hear them spelling 'Pixies' in the break, which T. Rex did in one of their songs The Groover" 'T-R-E-X,' and they were copying it. I was against it, I was like, 'No way, I'm not doing it,' because that's so trite. And I'm the only one that didn't do it. Steve Albini">Steve_Albini.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Steve Albini">Albini/nowiki> went along with it and liked it. So I'm the only one that never got on the records [...] Anybody that was in the studio could have gone in there and done it."Frank, Ganz, 2005. p. 83

Cover versions

David Bowie recorded a version of the song for his '' Heathen'' album in 2002. This version features D-A-V-I-D spelled in the break. Bowie performed the song live on his 2002

Heathen Tour The Heathen Tour was a 2002 concert tour by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie in support of his album, ''Heathen'', and was also notable for the performances of all songs from the 1977 ''Low'' album. History The ''Low'' album, not pre ...

concerts and the

A Reality Tour A Reality Tour was a worldwide concert tour by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie in support of his 2003 album ''Reality''. The tour began on 7 October 2003 at the Forum Copenhagen, Denmark, continuing through Europe, North America, Asi ...

. A November 2003 live performance is included on the ''

'' DVD, as well as the ''

'' album. The Pixies played the song at a Bowie tribute concert in 2016, as a Bowie cover.

re-recorded the song and released it on his 2004 album '' Frank Black Francis''.

Glen Hansard Glen James Hansard (born 21 April 1970) is an Irish singer-songwriter and musician. Since 1990, he has been the frontman of the Irish rock band The Frames, with whom he has released six studio albums, four of which have charted in the top ten o ...

and

The Frames The Frames are an Irish rock band based in Dublin. Founded in 1990 by Glen Hansard, the band has been influential in the Dublin rock music scene. The group has released six studio albums. In addition to Hansard, the band's current line-up inc ...

played it live in M-klub on 25 October 2001.

References

*Frank, Josh; Ganz, Caryn. '' Fool the World: The Oral History of a Band Called Pixies''. Virgin Books, 2005. .

Notes

External links

"Cactus"
at

Last.fm Last.fm is a music website founded in the United Kingdom in 2002. Utilizing a music recommender system known as "Audioscrobbler", Last.fm creates a detailed profile of each user's musical preferences by recording the details of the tracks they ...

"Cactus" at Google Music
{{authority control 1988 songs 2002 songs David Bowie songs Pixies (band) songs Songs written by Black Francis Song recordings produced by Steve Albini