Vocals by Inyang Bassey.

«First to start with the title, Victoria Lu… Read Full Bio ↴Vocals by Inyang Bassey.

«First to start with the title, Victoria Lucas was Sylvia Plath’s pseudo name when she wrote ‘The Bell Jar’. I keep going on bay, trying to find an original copy of ‘The Bell Jar’ written by Victoria Lucas and they show up every now and then but they are very pricy.

A lot of the titles in the record are inspired by either my favourite writers or works by my favourite writers and this one it’s an instrumental. So there is always that question when you write an instrumental, what do you call it? So why not name it after one of my favourite writers?

The way I write, composing or compiling a song, I start with one arbitrary, decontextualised element and in this case it was a backwards guitar loop. I have a foot switch where you play something into it, you push a button, and it takes what you played and plays it backwards but really lo-fi. I was playing guitar onto it and I ended up with this really weird sounding guitar loop that doesn’t sound like a guitar loop, I recorded that and started adding different elements.

At first it was this very slow ballad like song and then I added house music drums to it, and house piano to it and ended up with this weird hodgepodge of quiet, disconcerting, atmospheric elements with house music elements. I hope it works.

The guitar loop for Victoria Lucas was recorded here in New York. I was just living with the guitar loop listening to it over and over again. I had this terrible case of insomnia in Los Angeles. I was staying in a hotel there and so I started adding the quiet atmospheric elements to the song when I was in L.A. and I brought everything back to New York and turned it into a weird messed up, house music song.»

thelittleidiot

Victoria Lucas
Moby Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Oh when you had the time to give
Oh when I had a life to live
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow

But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow

But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow

Oh when you had the time to give
Oh when I had a life to live
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow

Oh when you want, you want from me,
Oh when you want, you want from me,
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow
Yeah, yeah

Oh when you had the time to give
Oh when I had a life to live
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow

Oh when you want, you want from me,
Oh when you want, you want from me,
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow
Yeah

(But my mind was slow)
(But my mind was slow)
Yeah
(But my mind was slow)

(But my mind was slow)
(But my mind was slow)
Yeah
(But my mind was slow)

(But my mind was slow)
(But my mind was slow)
Yeah
(But my mind was slow)

(But my mind was slow)
(But my mind was slow)
Yeah
(But my mind was slow)

(But my mind was slow)
(But my mind was slow)
Yeah
(But my mind was slow)

Oh when you had the time to give
Oh when I had a life to live
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow

Oh when you want, you want from me,
Oh when you want, you want from me,
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow
Yeah, yeah

Oh when you had the time to give
Oh when I had a life to live
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow

Oh when you want, you want from me,
Oh when you want, you want from me,
But my mind was slow
But my mind was slow
Yeah

(But my mind was slow)
(But my mind was slow)
Yeah
(But my mind was slow)
(But my mind was slow)
(But my mind was slow)
(But my mind was slow)
Yeah
(But my mind was slow)
(But my mind was slow)
(But my mind was slow)
(But my mind was slow)
Yeah
(But my mind was slow)
(But my mind was slow)
(But my mind was slow)
(But my mind was slow)
(But my mind was slow)
(But my mind was slow)

(But my mind was slow)
(But my mind was slow).

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Moby's song "Victoria Lucas" seem to explore the theme of missed opportunities and the feeling of regret that comes with it. The lines "Oh when you had the time to give" and "Oh when I had a life to live" suggest that the singer of the song and Victoria Lucas (who may be a fictional character or a reference to Sylvia Plath's real name) had a chance to live their lives to the fullest, but something held them back. The repetition of the phrase "But my mind was slow" further emphasizes this feeling of missed opportunities and suggests that the singer may have been struggling with mental health issues.

The repeated line "Oh when you want, you want from me" suggests that there may have been some expectations or demands placed on the singer by Victoria Lucas, but because of their slow mind and missed opportunities, the singer was not able to meet those expectations. The song ends with a haunting repetition of the phrase "But my mind was slow," a reminder that the singer is still grappling with the mistakes of the past.

Line by Line Meaning

Oh when you had the time to give
When you once had the generosity to spare

Oh when I had a life to live
When I had a time and purpose in my existence

But my mind was slow
But my brain wasn't functioning at full capacity