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.

Withinity
Momus Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

And on the mountain tell me there's a lady
And in the lady tell me there's a baby
And in the baby tell me there's a blood cell
And in the blood cell tell me there's a T cell

And in the T cell tell me there's an empire
And in the empire tell me there's a vampire
And in the vampire tell me there's a baby

And in the baby tell me there's a lady

And in the empire tell me there's a mountain
And on the mountain tell me there's a fountain
And in the fountain tell me there's a vampire
And in the vampire tell me there's an empire

And in the empire tell me there's a baby
And in the baby tell me there's a lady

And in the lady tell me there's a baby
And in the baby tell me that I'm crazy!

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to "Withinity" by Momus take the listener on a surreal journey through layers of existence, from the physical to the metaphorical. The first stanza begins with a lady on a mountain, who contains a baby, which contains a blood cell, which contains a T cell, which ultimately leads to an empire, and then a vampire. The sequence then reverses itself, with the vampire leading back to the lady on the mountain. The final stanza repeats the pattern, but ends with a twist - the baby in the lady on the mountain tells the singer that he is crazy.

The lyrics can be interpreted in many ways, but one possible meaning is that they reflect the interconnectedness of all things - from the smallest cells to the largest empires, everything is related and dependent on each other. The vampire could represent the destructive forces in the world that threaten to undermine this delicate balance, while the lady and the baby could symbolize innocence and purity. The final stanza's twist could suggest that the journey through the different levels of existence has led the singer to question his own sanity and wonder if it was all just a dream.

Overall, "Withinity" is an enigmatic and thought-provoking song that invites the listener to contemplate the mysteries of the world and the connections between all things.

Line by Line Meaning

And on the mountain tell me there's a lady
There is an image of a lady on top of the mountain

And in the lady tell me there's a baby
There is a baby inside the lady

And in the baby tell me there's a blood cell
Inside the baby, there is a blood cell

And in the blood cell tell me there's a T cell
Inside the blood cell, there is a T cell

And in the T cell tell me there's an empire
The T cell has the power to control an empire

And in the empire tell me there's a vampire
The empire is ruled by a vampire

And in the vampire tell me there's a baby
The vampire has a baby

And in the baby tell me there's a lady
The baby has a female caretaker

And in the empire tell me there's a mountain
The empire surrounds a mountain

And on the mountain tell me there's a fountain
There is a fountain on top of the mountain

And in the fountain tell me there's a vampire
The fountain is inhabited by a vampire