When Pixies first released “Where Is My Mind?” on their 1988 debut, “Surfer Rosa,” it wasn’t the signature hit as we know it today. In fact, the band never even released it as a single. Nevertheless, the song found its audience, particularly among fellow musicians such as Radiohead, David Bowie, and Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, who later admitted that he was “basically trying to rip off the Pixies” when writing “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”
The band broke up in 1993, but “Where Is My Mind?” continued to grow a cult following. It reached a peak after its placement in the climactic final scene of the 1998 film “Fight Club.” The Pixies have since reunited, and the song has only continued to gain popularity.
“Not bad for a tune inspired by snorkeling. Pixies singer/ songwriter Black Francis (Charles Thompson, aka Frank Black) was indeed once swimming in the Caribbean with his ‘feet in the air and head on the ground’,” reports MusicRadar. “The music came later, finished with encouragement from his (now ex-) wife. He once told ign.com that, “she poked her head out of the bathroom and said, ‘That’s a good one – finish that one’.”
The song may have had a literal starting point, but the rest of the lyrics are imbued with feelings of existential disorientation. Its instrumentation reinforces those emotions with a twangy, distorted guitar that repeats a pattern, and vocalizations drenched in reverb.
The music itself clearly creates this feeling, as evidenced by this poignant version by pianist Maxence Cyrin. Even without words, you can feel the dysphoria in every note.
One reader of The Atlantic shared their thoughts on the cover, writing, “I can’t quite put my finger on what I love so much about it. It’s so recognizable, and yet so different than the original version. The pacing and volume control are amazing, and I think it manages to maintain the same sort of slow/haunting feel as the original.”
Indeed, Cyrin makes excellent use of dynamics in his arrangement. Where the original begins with acoustic strumming, he emphasizes the guitar’s motif and slowly decrescendos before adding chordal accompaniment. After a rallentando, Cyrin introduces the melody in the lower octave from the guitar pattern, adding weight to the phrase. It also imitates a human voice speaking frankly, almost as if it were a confession. The arrangement takes its own detour towards the end as Cyrin adds a melody with classical flourishes.
“Where Is My Mind?” Holds a place in our collective psyche, no matter the version. Cyrin’s solo piano version was utilized in the HBO series “The Leftovers,” but the song has been covered by Placebo, Nada Surf, James Blunt, Kelly Clarkson, Trampled by Turtles, and many more. In an age where, despite technology, we seem as disconnected as ever, the song gives us a few minutes to look inside and ask ourselves, “Where Is My Mind?”
Check out Cyrin’s vintage film music video above, and follow along with the sheet music for his version of “Where Is My Mind?” as transcribed by Camille Reynders.
