Inspired by the eyeball-splicing exploits depicted in Salvador Dali and Luis Buñuel's film Un Chien Andalou, ’Debaser’ was the deranged opening cut of the band's third album and an instant favourite. ‘Number 13 Baby’ and ‘Dead’ opened up the listener to further aural surgery, while tracks such as ‘Gouge Away’, ‘Wave of Mutilation’ and ‘I Bleed’ suggested an unhealthy yet alluring obsession with violence and bloodshed.  

However, the album's eventual title, Doolittle, seemed to be more about earthly matters, balancing nature against man's desire for progression.  This was typified in the lighter - "but the songs are much harder" - feel of the record and, especially, its two singles.  ‘Monkey Gone To Heaven’ was interpreted as a eco-anthem, with man, God and the Devil at sixes and sevens over the ozone layer.  The atypically jaunty ‘Here Comes Your Man’, meanwhile, nearly landed the Pixies a promotional mimed appearance on the BBC's primetime chat show Wogan.  More characteristically, the band cut another Peel session, performing ‘Down to the Well’, ‘Into the White’ and ‘Wave of Mutilation’. ‘Into the White’ and the B-sides to ‘Monkey Gone To Heaven’ were recorded at Boston's Fort Apache studios with Gary Smith in the producer's chair.  These sessions also spawned a cover of Neil Young's 'Winterlong’, which later graced a Young tribute album alongside tracks by Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr. and Bongwater. Black Francis later rated the Pixies' rendition as “the best thing we ever recorded - kinda depressing if you think about it". All proceeds from the album were to benefit San Francisco's Bridge School for handicapped children.