Where Is My Mind?

Black Francis wrote it, and he told the Guardian in 2020 that it is about a small fish, about four inches long, that followed him and poked him while he swam. Joey Santiago composed the guitar line, and said it was the first thing he tried, a lazy arpeggio that sounded strong and hooky straight away. Francis said the shift from major to minor chords resonates and that if he had to pick one song to sum up the band it would be this one.

It was recorded in 1987 with Steve Albini and released on Surfer Rosa the next year. Albini said he suggested Marshall amplifiers for the loud parts, and that the communal washroom became a reverb chamber for Kim Deal's backing vocals, which he exaggerated with a long electronic reverb. The song plays in the final scene of the 1999 film Fight Club. On 13 April 2004 NASA used it to wake the team working on the Spirit Mars rover. Francis said it is the song that pays his mortgage, and that he says yes to offers to license it. Rolling Stone placed it at number 493 on its 2021 list of the 500 greatest songs.