Debaser forms: live, studio and demo. A version of this song was also used in the game "DJ Hero 2", remixed with The Prodigy's song "Invaders Must Die"; this mix is available as downloadable content for the game. The lyrics are based on a surrealist film by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí called "Un Chien Andalou". The film includes a scene in which a woman's eye is slit by a razor, which is referenced in the song lyric "Slicin' up eyeballs/I want you to know." According to Black Francis: The title "Debaser" references the fact that "Un Chien Andalou" debases morality
Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot the tune's middle section when he called home to check his messages. The lyrics for "Spirit Ditch" include the line "horse-laughter is dragging pianos to the ocean", which was inspired by a scene from the Luis Buñuel film "Un chien andalou". Although he once explained the album's idiosyncratic sound by admitting "I didn't know what I was doing", Linkous purposely used found sounds throughout the recording of the album – these included sounds that he found on records, sounds that he recorded and, in one instance ("Ballad of a Cold Lost Marble"), the sound that a defective amplifier was making