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.
Love Wakes The Devil
Momus Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And love makes for trouble
And love makes you feeble
And love makes you evil
And love wakes the devil
And love makes you trivial
Then love makes you quibble
And love makes you squabble
Love is a bitch
And love makes me itch
And if I were rich
I'd no longer be rich
When that beautiful bitch
Showed up on my patch
Stealing my semen
And taking my cash
And that's just the good side of love
Love wakes the devil
And love has no rival
For cutting survival
When you're suicidal
And love is reliably
Unreliable
Hopelessly horrible
Tauntingly terrible
And that's just the good side of love
Love is a toothache
And love is a pain
I'd be happy if I never saw
Love again
I'd be happy to exorcise love from my life
Cos love makes me do such
Irrational things
And love makes a fool
Out of a king
And love is a toothache
And love is a pain
I'd be happy if I never saw
Love again
Let me show you the backside of love
Why must the spring
Ruin everything
Injecting its sting
Under my skin
Making my head spin
Making me turn
Making me flirt
With every bit of skirt
Yeah I'll show you the backside of love
Show you crimes passionel
That play merry hell
With unholy yells
In the middle of the night
Like the sound of cats rutting
The sound of bats battling
They're all sent from hell
Yeah to get my nerves rattling
I'll show you the backside of love
Love is a toothache
And love is a pain
I'd be happy if I never saw
Love again
I'd be happy to exorcise love from my life
Momus's "Love Wakes The Devil" is a cynical take on love, and how it brings out the worst in people. The lyrics suggest that love is not only treacherous but an unpredictable force that can leave one helpless and vulnerable. The song opens with the repetition of the line "Love makes you" followed by a series of negative adjectives such as feeble, evil, trivial. The chorus reinforces the idea that love is a curse with the line, "Love wakes the devil, and love has no rival, for cutting survival when you're suicidal."
The second verse of the song focuses on the personal experience of love that has gone wrong. The singer notes that "love is a bitch" and that it makes him itch. Even if he were rich, the presence of the "beautiful bitch" would take away his money and his semen. The emphasis is on the destructive power of love and how it can ruin a person's life. The third verse shows a more violent side of love with the description of passion crimes that take place in the middle of the night. The sound of cats rutting and bats battling comes from the depths of hell, and it is meant to rattle the nerves.
In conclusion, the song "Love Wakes The Devil" is a bitter reflection on love as a force that brings out the worst in people. It shows that even the positive aspects of love can turn sour and that the negative aspects of love can be dangerous. The lyrics are a warning against the potential dangers of love and a reminder that it is not always a positive force in our lives.
Line by Line Meaning
Love makes you dribble
Love makes you lose control and act foolishly
And love makes for trouble
Love often brings problems and difficulties
And love makes you feeble
Love can make you weak and vulnerable
And love makes you evil
Love can provoke negative emotions and bad behavior
And love wakes the devil
Love can bring out the worst in people and make them act wickedly
And love makes you trivial
Love can make you silly and unimportant
Then love makes you quibble
Love can cause petty arguments and disputes
And love makes you squabble
Love can lead to more serious conflicts and fights
And that's just the good side of love
These are the relatively harmless effects of love compared to its darker side
Love is a bitch
Love is a difficult and unpleasant experience
And love makes me itch
Love is annoying and bothersome
And if I were rich
Even if I had everything, love could still disrupt my life
I'd no longer be rich
Love could make me lose all my money and possessions
When that beautiful bitch
When love, which is often represented as a woman, comes into my life
Showed up on my patch
Appeared in my territory or space
Stealing my semen
Robbing me of my reproductive power or virility
And taking my cash
Depleting my financial resources
And that's just the good side of love
These are relatively mild consequences of love compared to the more severe ones
Love has no rival
There is nothing that can match the power of love
For cutting survival
For destroying one's will to live
When you're suicidal
When you contemplate taking your own life because of love
And love is reliably
Love is consistently
Unreliable
But cannot be depended on or trusted
Hopelessly horrible
Hopelessly terrible
Tauntingly terrible
Mockingly awful
And that's just the good side of love
These are the more manageable effects of love compared to the ones that are crushing
Love is a toothache
Love is a source of pain and discomfort
And love is a pain
And love is a cause of suffering
I'd be happy if I never saw
I would be delighted if I never had to experience
Love again
The pain and misery of love
Let me show you the backside of love
Let me reveal the uglier, less glamorous aspects of love
Why must the spring
Why does the season of new life and growth
Ruin everything
Turn everything upside down and spoil it
Injecting its sting
Causing pain and discomfort
Under my skin
In my body and my psyche
Making my head spin
Making me feel dizzy and confused
Making me turn
Making me change my mind
Making me flirt
Making me act in a coquettish or teasing way
With every bit of skirt
With every woman that catches my eye
Yeah I'll show you the backside of love
I will demonstrate how the darker aspects of love can be painful and destructive
Show you crimes passionel
Revealing the violent and murderous side of love
That play merry hell
That cause chaos and destruction
With unholy yells
With demonic and frightening screams
In the middle of the night
At a time when one is vulnerable and defenseless
Like the sound of cats rutting
Like the intense and disturbing noise of animals mating
The sound of bats battling
Like the aggressive and unsettling sounds of bats fighting
They're all sent from hell
They all have a demonic and infernal origin or nature
Yeah to get my nerves rattling
To make me feel intensely anxious and nervous
Love is a toothache
Love is a source of pain and discomfort
And love is a pain
Love is a cause of suffering
I'd be happy if I never saw
I would be delighted if I never had to experience
Love again
The pain and misery of love
Let me show you the backside of love
Let me reveal the uglier, less glamorous aspects of love
Contributed by Nora S. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
ronnieboy0
This is the first track on his Thunderclown album,and i cant think of a better opening track than this.Absolutely fantastic song,absloutey fantastic album
Dance God
The EQ sweeps haha. You should re do the vocal mix and do a spin-around binaural effect.
The James brothers band
This is great. Reminds me of memories by Leonard Cohen. Like a terrible 50s song
George Henderson
If he wasn't in a pop group (and hence a type of young clown) he might be a very dangerous psychopath on the rampage on that plane. Where's the air warden when you need him? Great song, we need more Momus in our lives please.
oorlab
best track of the album!
Tania World
Happy Birthday, Momus! ❤
Jon Sheffield
It's fucking beautiful...
Unknown Passenger
For some reason, this reminds me of Syd Barrett.
Josh Jacques
Now that you mention it I can totally see that
A doctor writes
many years ago there was a beautiful girl called Harriet and now Love Wakes The Devil