This line appears in the song “The Happening” on the album Bossanovaby the band Pixies:
i was driving doing nothing on the shores of Great Salt Lake
when they put it on the air i put it in the hammer lane
i soon forgot myself and i forgot about the brake
i forgot all laws and i forgot about the rain
they were talking on the 9 and all across the amy band
Does anyone have any idea what the “amy band” is?
It appears to be a deliberate pronunciation of AM, as in AM radio. The singer is listening to a radio broadcast about UFOs on an AM radio station (the “9” probably refers to it’s frequency, 900 on your dial).
Yeah, I know what your talking about, Ive questioned it before.
Such a sweet song, I guess only Frank will know
Or, as I recall maybe the 9 band is a CB channel number, I think the 9, or the 19 was the designated channel for police or something.
The AM Radio theory seems plausible to me.
Then again, I stopped trying to “understand” Frank’s lyrics the second I got into the Pixies.
I seem to recall my reaction as being “Oh my God, this guy is obviously insane, but does this band rock or what?”
Theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeme Frooooooooom NARC!
CB channel 9 is usually emergency-only (19’s what most truckers use).
The AM explanation is probably the right one, since Frank was obsessed with aliens and Roswell for years (right after he got over his obsession with rich, incestuous South American jetsetters). I haven’t heard the song, but any explanation having to do with UFO’s is probably the right one.