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Cover of Trompe le Monde by The Pixies — Cover: Trompe le Monde

Song · The Pixies

“Alec Eiffel” by The Pixies

From the album Trompe le Monde (1991)

“Alec Eiffel” by The Pixies appears on 20 radio countdowns from 6 stations between 1999 and 2023. It was first released in 1991 on the album Trompe le Monde. Its best result is #382 on the WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2006). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #893 alternative song of all time.

20countdowns

6stations

#382best position

0#1 finishes

0top 10 finishes

1999–2023years charted

Watch

PIXIES - Alec Eiffel (Official Video)

Video from YouTube (PixiesOfficial). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube

"Alec Eiffel" comes from Trompe le Monde, the Pixies' 1991 album on Elektra, and it's Black Francis getting a song out of the man who designed the Eiffel Tower, and by his account the Statue of Liberty too. Francis found Alexandre Gustave Eiffel a fascinating subject and liked the pun on "smart Alec" as well. He wrote it and sings it, with Kim Deal's voice in there beside him.

Gil Norton produced, and the band plays it like a machine in full flight: Francis and Joey Santiago's electric guitars charge and chime, Deal and Dave Lovering push hard underneath, and Eric Drew Feldman's keyboards add a sci-fi sheen. It was the album's third single, and the video put the band in a wind tunnel with physics formulas behind them, a nod to Eiffel's work on aerodynamics.

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

RockLists rankings

Alternative & Modern Rock

#893 of all time

Indie & Adult Alternative

All Rock Formats

All-time and decade countdowns

Year	#	Station	Countdown	of
1999	597	CD101	CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999)	2000
2000	597	CD101	CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000)	2001
2001	597	CD101	CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001)	2002
2002	597	CD101	CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002)	2003
2003	597	CD101	CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003)	2004
2003	1393	Fred (XM 44)	Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003)	2044
2004	597	CD101	CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004)	2005
2005	398	WOXY 97X	WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2005)	500
2005	598	CD101	CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005)	1994
2006	382	WOXY 97X	WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2006)	499
2007	669	CD101	CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007)	2008
2008	623	CD101	CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008)	2009
2009	644	CD101	CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009)	2010
2010	660	CD101	CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010)	2011
2011	683	CD101	CD101 Top 2012 Songs of All-Time (December 2011)	2011
2013	696	CD101	CD101 Top 2013 Songs of All-Time (December 2013)	2012
2014	728	CD101	CD101 Top 2014 Songs of All-Time (2014)	2013
2016	402	WYEP	WYEP 913 Countdown 2016	913
2022	699	The Colorado Sound	The Colorado Sound Top 900 Songs of the '90s	900
2023	399	The Current	The Current's 893 Essential Songs of the '90s	893

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