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“Hang Onto Your Ego” by Frank Black

From the album Frank Black (1993)

“Hang Onto Your Ego” by Frank Black appears on 16 radio countdowns from 2 stations between 1993 and 2014. It was first released in 1993 on the album Frank Black. Its best result is #96 on the Q101 Top 101 Songs of 1993. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #290 alternative song of 1993 and #1,835 alternative song of all time.

16countdowns

2stations

#96best position

0#1 finishes

0top 10 finishes

1993–2014years charted

On his 1993 album Frank Black, the Pixies' own Frank Black went digging through the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds sessions and pulled out "Hang Onto Your Ego", the earlier lyric of the song Brian Wilson, Terry Sachen and Mike Love finished as "I Know There's an Answer". That version had surfaced as a bonus track on the 1990 CD reissue of Pet Sounds.

The history is half the fun. Wilson's song grew out of his LSD experiences and his struggle with ego death, and Love balked at words he felt were selling the drug, steering the finished track toward looking inward and letting other people live their own way. Black went with the ego version, and it's easy to hear why that lyric appealed to him.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.

RockLists rankings

Alternative & Modern Rock

All Rock Formats

Year-end countdowns

Year	#	Station	Countdown	of
1993	96	Q101 Chicago, IL	Q101 Top 101 Songs of 1993	101

All-time and decade countdowns

Year	#	Station	Countdown	of
1999	593	Q101	Q101 Top 1,011 Songs of All-Time (December 1999)	1017
1999	1315	CD101	CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999)	2000
2000	1315	CD101	CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000)	2001
2001	1320	CD101	CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001)	2002
2002	1319	CD101	CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002)	2003
2003	1304	CD101	CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003)	2004
2004	1304	CD101	CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004)	2005
2005	1304	CD101	CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005)	1994
2007	1314	CD101	CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007)	2008
2008	1307	CD101	CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008)	2009
2009	1323	CD101	CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009)	2010
2010	1360	CD101	CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010)	2011
2011	1421	CD101	CD101 Top 2012 Songs of All-Time (December 2011)	2011
2013	1464	CD101	CD101 Top 2013 Songs of All-Time (December 2013)	2012
2014	1512	CD101	CD101 Top 2014 Songs of All-Time (2014)	2013

Also listed as: Hang on to Your Ego; Hang On To Your Ego.

Charting alongside it in 1993

Best songs of 1993 →

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