Nick Currie (born February 11, 1960 in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, UK)… Read Full Bio ↴Nick Currie (born February 11, 1960 in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, UK), more popularly known under the artist name Momus (after the Greek god of mockery), is a songwriter, writer, blogger and artist. Most of his songs are self-referential or postmodern.

For more than twenty years he has been releasing, to only marginal commercial and critical success, playful and transgressive albums on labels in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Japan. In his lyrics and his other writing he makes seemingly random use of decontextualized pieces of continental (mostly French) philosophy, and has built up a personal world he says is "dominated by values like diversity, orientalism, and a respect for otherness." He is also known in certain circles outside the U.S. as a producer. He is fascinated by identity, Japan, the avant-garde, time travel and sex. Live Momus shows are rare but when he does perform he often sings the crowd favourite 'maf' from the Stars Forever LP.
He wears a patch over his right eye because he lost the use of it after contracting acanthamoeba keratitis from a contact lens case washed with Greek tap water.

Nick Currie currently resides in Osaka, Japan.

Hotel Marquis de Sade
Momus Lyrics

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There were three of us always
Walking abreast
Towards a siesta
In two single beds

The thrill of the bullring
Was our thrill as well
There was blood on the bell-pull

In the hot hotel
Mediterranean

The middle of the world
Two middle-class English boys
And a middle-class English girl
But in the Hotel Marquis de Sade
In the middle of a single bed
The beast with three backs
The beast with three backs
The beast with three backs

And after siesta
The table is set
With a leg and a breast and a drumstick
And we eat and forget

Then Colin loves Alice
And Alice loves me
And I love the stains on the ceiling
And pump like the sea
Mediterranean

The middle of the world
Two middle-class English boys
And a middle-class English girl
But in the Hotel Marquis de Sade
In the middle of a single bed
The beast with three backs
The beast with three backs
The beast with three backs

"Who is the third who walks always beside you?
When I count, there are only you and I together
But when I look ahead up the white road
There is always another one walking beside you
Gliding wrapt in a brown mantle, hooded

I don't know whether a man or a woman
But who is that on the other side of you?"

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Momus's song "Hotel Marquis De Sade" describe a sexual encounter between three people in a Mediterranean hotel room. The song opens with the three individuals walking together towards the hotel room and anticipating a mid-day nap in separate single beds. The song mentions the thrill of the bullring, perhaps indicating a sense of excitement or danger in the air. The hotel room itself is described as being hot, with blood on the bell-pull, providing a sense of ominousness.

The second verse gets more explicit, talking about the sexual encounter that occurs after the siesta. The table is set with food, but it is the sexual tension between Colin, Alice, and the singer that takes center stage. The singer of the song describes his love for the stains on the ceiling and pumps like the sea as the three engage in a sexual act known as the beast with three backs. The closing lines of the song reference a quote from T.S. Eliot's poem "The Waste Land," where the singer wonders who the mysterious third person is that seems to be walking beside them.

Line by Line Meaning

There were three of us always Walking abreast Towards a siesta In two single beds
We were three people always together, walking side by side towards a time to rest in two separate beds.

The thrill of the bullring Was our thrill as well There was blood on the bell-pull In the hot hotel Mediterranean
The excitement of the bullfight was what we enjoyed too, and in our hotel there was evidence of blood on the pull of the bell cord. We were staying in a warm Mediterranean location.

The middle of the world Two middle-class English boys And a middle-class English girl But in the Hotel Marquis de Sade In the middle of a single bed The beast with three backs The beast with three backs The beast with three backs
We were just normal, middle-class English people, two boys and a girl, but in the Hotel Marquis de Sade we did things that some might consider perverse. We engaged in a threesome.

And after siesta The table is set With a leg and a breast and a drumstick And we eat and forget
After our rest, we were served a meal of meat, which we ate and then moved on from.

Then Colin loves Alice And Alice loves me And I love the stains on the ceiling And pump like the sea Mediterranean
Colin had feelings for Alice, who in turn had feelings for me. I found myself enamored with the stains on the ceiling and thrusting rhythmically like the sea outside in the Mediterranean.

"Who is the third who walks always beside you? When I count, there are only you and I together But when I look ahead up the white road There is always another one walking beside you Gliding wrapt in a brown mantle, hooded I don't know whether a man or a woman But who is that on the other side of you?"
A question is posed about another figure who always seems to be with us, but isn't counted among us. This figure is described as cloaked and mysterious, and its true identity is unknown.

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: NICHOLAS CURRIE

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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