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.
The Loneliness of Lift Music
Momus Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And I your perfect strangler
In the brushed steel lift
Of the great department store
The tightening grip of leather gloves
Purchased from the floor above
La la la...
Those helpless, twitching movements
The lips discoloured slightly round the edge
The loneliness of lift music
Its beauty and arithmetic
La la la...
A foggy night in London town
The office workers calmly going about their business
The shops and markets closing down
People buying murder mysteries for the night train back to Cheam
The tightening grip of leather gloves
I purchased from the floor above
The slipping girl I could have loved
I squeeze your tiny, pointless life away
Mantovani, James Last... and you
The loneliness of lift music
Its magic and magnificence
I squeeze your tiny, pointless life away
You a perfect stranger
And I your perfect strangler
La la la...
The Loneliness of Lift Music by Momus is a hauntingly eerie song that tells a story of a man who meets a stranger in a brushed steel lift of a department store. The lyrics suggest that the man is inflicting harm on the stranger with his leather gloves, and he sings about the helplessness and confusion in the stranger's eyes. The lift music is described as both beautiful and lonely, with its arithmetic and magic. The man seems to revel in the act of taking a life and squeezing it away, even though it is someone he could have loved.
The song provides a social commentary on the dehumanization that often occurs in modern society. People become anonymous and disconnected, and it is easy to turn into a stranger. The lift symbolizes the isolation and loneliness that often afflict urban dwellers, as they are enclosed in small spaces with other people, yet they do not communicate with each other. The man's desire to squeeze the stranger's life away represents the frustration and alienation that some people feel in their lives, and the way they feel disconnected from others.
Line by Line Meaning
You were a perfect stranger
You were someone I didn't know at all
And I your perfect strangler
But I felt an urge to harm, or strangle you
In the brushed steel lift
We were both inside the elevator made of metallic material
Of the great department store
Located in a big marketplace, with various shops and sections
The tightening grip of leather gloves
I was wearing leather gloves that fit me tightly
Purchased from the floor above
I had bought them on a different level of the store
La la la...
There was some music playing in the background
Your eyes filled with confusion
You looked at me with a mixed feeling of puzzlement and uncertainty
Those helpless, twitching movements
You were making sudden and spasmodic gestures that seemed uncontrollable
The lips discoloured slightly round the edge
Your lips were changing color, and becoming pale and irregular as if in distress
The loneliness of lift music
The music being played in the elevator highlights how isolated and unconnected I am to others
Its beauty and arithmetic
The music is pleasing to listen to, and the sounds are arranged in a mathematical sequence
A foggy night in London town
It was a night in London with the weather so thick that you could barely see anything
The office workers calmly going about their business
People working in their white collar jobs, going about with their daily routine
The shops and markets closing down
The stores, shops, and other businesses were shutting their doors for the day
People buying murder mysteries for the night train back to Cheam
Customers were purchasing books with crime and mystery themes to read while travelling back home to a place called Cheam
I squeeze your tiny, pointless life away
I intentionally put pressure on your body with the intent of causing harm or death
Mantovani, James Last... and you
Musicians with easy-listening and instrumental styles of music, along with you - the person I harmed
The loneliness of lift music
Again, the music in the elevator provides an ambiance of solitude
Its magic and magnificence
The music conveys exceptional qualities of wonder and grandeur
You a perfect stranger
Once again, you were someone I had never met before
And I your perfect strangler
Reiterating how I felt like harming or killing you
La la la...
The music keeps playing as the elevator continues moving
Contributed by Ruby V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Aldo Charles
on Morality Is Vanity
I’ve been listening to this song last two weeks.