In late 2010 the band's bandcamp account featured their single ‘Ffunny Ffrends’, a sort of alien beatnik pop music that echoed 60s psychedelia and krautrock minimalism with just a hint of gentle weirdness that suggested its roots might equally lie in the verdant indie of the equally distant New Zealand scene.
Ruban Nielson is a New Zealand native who transplanted to Portland, Oregon, USA with his band The Mint Chicks. UMO was a project conceived as Ruban’s escape hatch to a new musical dimension where his vision of junkshop record collector pop could be realised in a sound that recalled Captain Beefheart, Sly Stone and RZA jamming on some kids TV theme too dark to ever be broadcast.
The eponymous UMO debut album was released in 2011 on Fat Possum Records, followed by II (2013), Multi-Love (2015), Sex & Food (2018), IC-01 Hanoi (2018) and V (2023).
Multi-Love
Unknown Mortal Orchestra Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Checked into my heart and trashed it like a hotel room
Who is your God? Where is she?
She wants to bury me in Austin under Uchiko
She don't want to be a man or a woman
She wants to be your love
Multi-Love
May all her minds be made up
I'll be your Vicodin, expired and escaped to Valhalla
She don't want to be a man or a woman
She wants to be your love
Multi-Love has got me on my knee
We were one, then become three
Mama what have you done to me
I'm half crazy
Multi-Love
It's not that this song's about her
All songs are about her
Sun shines underneath us
Fearing new kinds of mind control and just blaming each other
She don't want to be a man or a woman
She wants to be your love
Multi-Love
Checked into my heart and trashed it like a hotel room
Who is your God? Where is she?
She wants to bury me in Austin under Uchiko
She don't want to be a man or a woman
She wants to be your love
Multi-Love has got me on my knee
We were one, then become three
Mama what have you done to me
I'm half crazy
Multi-Love has got me on my knee
We were one, then become three
Mama what have you done to me
I'm half crazy
Unknown Mortal Orchestra's Multi-Love is deliberately vague in its lyrics, creating a dream-like, abstract atmosphere that is both alluring and unsettling. The song seems to be about a woman who has entered the singer's life and disrupted its balance. She wants to be his love, without conforming to societal gender norms or expectations. The line "Multi-Love has got me on my knee, we were one then became three" suggests that this new love interest has also involved another person in their relationship, turning it into a polygamous arrangement. The transformation from one to three may have overwhelmed the singer, hence his "half-crazy" state.
The line "Mommy, what have you done to me?" is particularly poignant and suggests a potential Freudian interpretation. It is possible that the singer had an overbearing mother who has influenced his relationship patterns, leading him to gravitate towards unconventional love dynamics. The line "All songs are about her" could mean that the woman embodied in Multi-Love is a representation of a larger concept. It could be interpreted that the singer is singing about love itself or the human experience.
Line by Line Meaning
Checked into my heart and trashed it like a hotel room
Someone has entered my heart and treated it carelessly, leaving it in a state of disarray
Who is your God? Where is she?
Questioning one's beliefs and the role of a higher power in their life
She wants to bury me in Austin under Uchiko
An intense desire to be with someone, even to the point of death and burial in a specific location
She don't want to be a man or a woman / She wants to be your love
Gender is irrelevant to her; her desire is to be loved
All of the other stalker daughters dragged her under / May all her minds be made up
Other obsessive individuals have dragged her down, and she hopes to come to a resolution within herself
I'll be your Vicodin, expired and escaped to Valhalla
Offering oneself as a way to escape reality, to a place of glory and honor
Multi-Love has got me on my knee / We were one, then become three / Mama what have you done to me / I'm half crazy
The feeling of being overwhelmed and unhinged due to a situation where love has expanded beyond traditional boundaries
It's not that this song's about her / All songs are about her
The person behind the inspiration for this song holds a significant place in the artist's life
Sun shines underneath us / Fearing new kinds of mind control and just blaming each other
Despite the positivity of life around them, there is an irrational fear and distrust of external forces
Lyrics © DOMINO PUBLISHING COMPANY
Written by: Carl Kody Nielson, Ruban Nielson
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@CerebrumNigthmare
Multi-Love
Checked into my heart and trashed it like a hotel room
Who is your God? Where is she?
She wants to bury me in Austin under Uchiko.
She don't want to be a man or a woman
She wants to be your love
Multi-Love
All of the other stalker daughters dragged her under
May all her minds be made up
I'll be your Vicodin, expired and escaped to Valhalla
She don't want to be a man or a woman
She wants to be your love
Multi-Love has got me on my knee
We were one, then become three
Mama what have you done to me
I'm half crazy
Multi-Love
It's not that this song's about her
All songs are about her
Sun shines underneath us
Fearing new kinds of mind control and just blaming each other
She don't want to be a man or a woman
She wants to be your love
Multi-Love
Checked into my heart and trashed it like a hotel room
Who is your God? Where is she?
She wants to bury me in Austin under Uchiko.
She don't want to be a man or a woman
She wants to be your love
Multi-Love has got me on my knee
We were one, then become three
Mama what have you done to me
I'm half crazy
Multi-Love has got me on my knee
We were one, then become three
Mama what have you done to me
I'm half crazy
@yourbayra276
[Verse 1]
Multi-love
Checked into my heart and trashed it like a hotel room
Who is your God, where is she?
She wants to bury me in Austin under Uchiko
She don't want to be your man or woman
She wants to be your love
[Verse 2]
Multi-love
All of the other stalker daughters dragged her under
May all her minds be made up
I'll be her Vicodin, expired and escaped to Valhalla
She don't want to be your man or woman
She wants to be your love
[Chorus]
Multi-love's got me on my knee
We were one, then become three
Mama, what have you done to me?
I'm half crazy
[Verse 3]
Multi-love
It's not that this song's about her
All songs are about her
The sun shines underneath us
Fearing new kinds of mind control and just blaming each other
She don't want to be your man or woman
She wants to be your love
@athenaserna3215
This is my neighbors favorite song, whether he likes it or not.
@nattie59
Khali hahahahaha favourite comment 😂😂😂😂❣️
@jasonhernandez8146
that was actually pretty funny
@joncooper1145
You have no idea how hard I laughed at this
@samvena426
truth!!!!
@TMNation
Khali 🤣🤣🤣
@benathan6239
Producer: "What music video you want fam?"
Them: "Just fuck me up"
Producer: "Say no more"
@jazuajfr2610
Hahahahha... 😂
@jessiegarcia9410
Lol
@panospataos1498
lol