Imbued by the spirit of the late eccentric Dutch painter/musician Herman Brood, Frank Black donned his decades-old moniker of Black Francis and recorded eleven songs - ten by Black Francis, one a Brood cover - for Bluefinger. "I privately went back to the old stage name, if that even makes any sense, almost as a joke," explains Black Francis. "I couldn't get the Pixies back into a studio, but I would transform into my alter ego of yesteryear."

All songs on Bluefinger directly or indirectly reference Brood who was known as the "Dutch personification of 'sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll'." Brood was a rock musician going back to the 1960s, and he and his band, Herman Brood and His Wild Romance, experienced success in Europe, and even scored a top 40 hit in the U.S.A. in 1979 with "Saturday Night."