River Euphrates
Pixies Lyrics

The Pixies’ song “River Euphrates” is a provocative and cryptic exploration of the Gaza Strip and the Dead Sea. The song begins with a repetition of “ride” which emphasizes the song’s journey motif. The band’s lead singer, Black Francis, reflects on being stuck out of gas and driving too fast for their own good. The Gaza Strip, a historical battleground soaked in blood, is the perfect setting for a song about recklessness; indeed, the allusion to this American soldier coming to the very spot where fighting has long taken place is a nod to the political and historical tensions and uneasiness of the surrounding areas, perhaps also hinting at the moral difficulties of being a US serviceman fighting in, what seems to him, to be a foreign land.

The chorus of the song “Let’s ride the tire down river Euphrates,” brings a mystical yet realistic quality to the song. The image of the tire floating down the river can be interpreted as an indication of hope or a yearning for escape from the wartime climate. The Dead Sea, meanwhile, is a place of both beauty and danger, with its uniquely high salt content causing objects to float effortlessly in the water. The line “dead sea make you choke” highlights the sea’s deathly properties, one sip of salty water is enough to make the singer fall ill.

Overall, “River Euphrates” is a somber acknowledgment of the sadness and dislocation brought on by war. The river and the sea represent an enduring connection between ourselves and the wider world, a connection which exists both in peacetime and in war. The song, therefore, represents not only an acknowledgement of political strife but also a tribute to the human condition that exists in all times.