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.
Lute Score
Momus Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
But sadness never floods a house where wine flows, I'm here playing
Lute Score, the video game where you hit the high score by composing
Lute Scores, and shooting off the pop up panda's head
Shooting off the pop up panda's head
Lute Score, the video game where you hit the high score by composing
Shooting off the pop up panda's head
When the monster attacked the city everyone was just too busy making money
To give a shit, some fled, most kept on doing what they were doing
In Samarkand, Uzbekistan, the Vietnamese chiropodist
Extracted a glass of clear green tea from his samovar
Extracted green tea from his samovar
A ghost tended two moss gardens, one marshmallow, one ectoplasm
Something to do with the free bamboo, something to do with the snow
Green plants, folk and fairy tales from German Africa
Swamp leg, an inner lightbulb, tragedy on stilts
An inner lightbulb, tragedy on stilts
Pins and needles, shoes and stockings, aches and pains, and vermin
Panthers waging war on cranes and storks
A battered, bandaged head climbs up an uphill landscape
A 200 foot wingspan black butterfly in space
200 foot black butterfly in space, space, space, space
An eager red-eyed dog licks red raw meat from an open ash can
Lamps, chairs, books, lightbulbs, cherries from a knife
A Decca-Deram furbelow, master of the bungalow
Writing with the white ink, the white ink of life
Lute Score, the video game where you hit the high score by composing
Lute Scores, and shooting off the pop up panda's head
Shooting off the pop up panda's head
Lute Score, the video game where you hit the high score by composing
Lute Scores, and shooting off the pop up panda's head
Shooting off the pop up panda's head
The lyrics of Momus's song Lute Score are a series of seemingly unrelated images and ideas tied together by a common theme of escapism. The first stanza describes being locked in a bathroom but finding solace in playing a lute, suggesting that music is a way of escaping from reality. The repeated chorus of "Lute Score, the video game where you hit the high score by composing/Lute Scores, and shooting off the pop up panda's head" emphasizes this idea of escaping into a virtual world.
The following stanzas continue to paint surreal, dream-like scenes that evoke a sense of detachment from reality. The mention of a monster attacking a city and people being too busy making money to care suggests that people are often too caught up in their own lives to pay attention to the larger issues around them. The descriptions of unusual objects and creatures - like the Vietnamese chiropodist's glass of green tea and the ghost tending to moss gardens - add to the whimsical, otherworldly atmosphere.
The overall effect of the song is one of detachment and distance from reality, with the repeated chorus of the video game serving as a metaphor for escaping from the stresses and difficulties of everyday life.
Line by Line Meaning
You locked me in the bathroom long ago, you bloody bastard
Despite being locked in the bathroom by an unknown person in the past, sadness doesn't prevail when wine is involved; the singer is currently playing music.
Lute Score, the video game where you hit the high score by composing Lute Scores, and shooting off the pop up panda's head Shooting off the pop up panda's head
Lute Score is a video game where the objective is to score high by creating Lute Scores and killing an enemy in the game called 'pop up panda.'
When the monster attacked the city everyone was just too busy making money To give a shit, some fled, most kept on doing what they were doing
When a monster attacked the city, people were more focused on making money and didn't care much about the situation. Some ran away, but most carried on with their normal activities.
In Samarkand, Uzbekistan, the Vietnamese chiropodist Extracted a glass of clear green tea from his samovar Extracted green tea from his samovar
In Uzbekistan, a Vietnamese foot doctor extracted green tea from their samovar.
A ghost tended two moss gardens, one marshmallow, one ectoplasm Something to do with the free bamboo, something to do with the snow An inner lightbulb, tragedy on stilts
A ghost took care of two gardens, one filled with moss and the other with marshmallows and ectoplasm. These gardens had something to do with free bamboo and snow. Additionally, there was an inner lightbulb and the tragedy in the garden was like stilts.
Green plants, folk and fairy tales from German Africa Swamp leg, an inner lightbulb, tragedy on stilts An inner lightbulb, tragedy on stilts
Green plants and folklore from Africa were present in a swamp with characters experiencing inner pain and tragedy.
Pins and needles, shoes and stockings, aches and pains, and vermin Panthers waging war on cranes and storks
The singer mentions various everyday objects such as pins and needles, shoes, and vermin. Meanwhile, there's also a state of war between panthers and cranes and storks.
A battered, bandaged head climbs up an uphill landscape A 200-foot wingspan black butterfly in space 200-foot black butterfly in space, space, space, space
There is a battered and bandaged head climbing up a landscape. Additionally, there is also a 200-foot black butterfly in space.
An eager red-eyed dog licks red raw meat from an open ash can Lamps, chairs, books, lightbulbs, cherries from a knife
An enthusiastic dog is found eating raw meat from an open ash can, while the artist observes various objects such as lamps, chairs, books, lightbulbs and cherries from a knife.
A Decca-Deram furbelow, master of the bungalow Writing with the white ink, the white ink of life
A person who masters in a type of fabric called Decca-Deram is writing with 'the white ink of life.'
Lute Score, the video game where you hit the high score by composing Lute Scores, and shooting off the pop-up panda's head Shooting off the pop-up panda's head
Reiteration of the previous lyrics; emphasizing the concept of Lute Score video game.
Contributed by Kaitlyn M. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Aldo Charles
on Morality Is Vanity
I’ve been listening to this song last two weeks.