beaucoup fish = concept album? or similar themes?
 

about the similar themes thread, i came up with the idea after listening to beaucoup fish multiple times, and i listened to it a couple of times again on vacation. i heard repeated vocals in push upstairs, downstairs, and moaner about seeing a girl or meeting her 'in the air where it's thin' and 'tiny holes' and 'fat circles', and i'm wondering if we put all the lyrics together if they'd tell a story. or what if we read every other word and it was some secret code? okay, maybe i'm getting ahead of myself, but i think i might be onto something here.

i'm going to try to analyse the lyrics for 'cups'...

seems to be a song about rain falling or something, maybe fog or condensation?

push upstairs:

this song is pretty obviously about sex. i always thought it was a song about a prostitute, like roxanne or something, but my dad says it's about banging some chick named tina..

jumbo:

seems to be a song about a date.. girl never showed up, or hung up on him?

shudder/king of snake:

seems to be about drinking or getting drunk.

winjer:

seems to be about a dream? or being hungover? or something

skym:

seems to be from a third person perspective about loving a girl and doing her wrong or something.

bruce lee:

seems to be utter nonsense about some kid and a juice box at first, but then goes into 'bullet got the wrong bloke'... don't know about this one. maybe a song about sex as well? doesn't seem likely to me.

push downstairs:

a reprisal of push upstairs. very proggy thing to do. the music here is much more moody though..

something like a mama:

possibly another song about sex? who knows?

moaner:

lots of lyrics here. features a reprisal of the push upstairs theme, about the air being thin and tiny holes.. does this mean whatever is being discussed has urgency? and 'you left me alone'... does this mean the girl has left him for another man? possibly.


just a theory, but once again, i think i'm onto something. i hope you'll read through this because it makes sense to me. i think it's pretty neat.

Re: beaucoup fish = concept album? or similar themes?
 

i'm feeling really hesitant about this..

aw dude noooooo

Re: beaucoup fish = concept album? or similar themes?
 

Haha. So maybe it should be called 'Something like a MILF'? :)

My impression of what Jumbo is about is a guy riding in the subway and seeing a girl he fancies nearby. He goes to talk to her and introduce himself, but she's too caught up in talking/sms-ing on the phone to really care.

Re: beaucoup fish = concept album? or similar themes?
 

what funny - is that the only theme I've ever noticed through BF was telephones and associated stuff

• Push Upstairs - her voice so seldom on my machine [answering machine]
her voice so intentionally smilling and a cloud between us [long distance call]

• Jumbo - you pick up the phone

-and well we know that KoS is based off the stories that they heard about well... fighting snakes (I think it was in Japan)

• Skym - and your voice again
I don't want you to call again

• Moaner - she's calling from America

Re: beaucoup fish = concept album? or similar themes?
 

I feel that most of the songs have different themes in one. Like some of the early lyrics in Jumbo have nothing to do with the later ones.

Re: beaucoup fish = concept album? or similar themes?
 

well BF was recorded using various elements of trips to the States and the US, sounds and vibes gathered from both places...

i think thats all really, there appears to be nothing more to it than what the boys were doing at the time and grabbed their moods...

i know that there may well be more to it than simply that, but mainly Karl gets his lyrical inspirations from the streets and things he encounters,

she's calling from america would be a girl on a phone, for example

her voice - overheard conversations...

king of snake, beaucoup fish etc all references to conversations and overheard phrases...its all fairly simple really - i think

Re: beaucoup fish = concept album? or similar themes?
 

so it could just be an album about overheard conversations and not neccessarily a personal story?
hmmm....

Re: beaucoup fish = concept album? or similar themes?
 

that's what most UW lyrics are IMO. Karl goes around carrying a notebook and just writes down stuff about whatever he encounters in whatever place he is. I'm sure there's also more personal stuff like BS Nuxx (and also Leutin i) think being about alcohol abuse and the dark places this gets you to. MoMove is pretty literally about a dream he had ("i dream that I'm chemical"). Some other songs maybe really just "nonsense" in the way that it's just funny or interesting phrases put together and of course sometimes it's a bit of everything.

Re: beaucoup fish = concept album? or similar themes?
 

well i think its KH's personal 'journey' through the US and Japan, possibly

who knows...most of it is abstract noodlings - especially if you listen to the lyrics and samples in King of Snake...its just Karl at a snake fighting event

fire - to goad the snakes, glass around the edges to protect the veiwers...

"snake fighting velly dangerous"

its just Karl's telling of a visit to a snake fighting den

Jumbo sounds like a journey from a Hotel room then on a tube, then some overheard conversations... about it being better in the morming

i need sugar - is what i see as a reference to a cup of tea / coffee with sugar in it or maybe a sugar drink like pepsi / coke - to wake him up in the morning...

again the abstractness of KH's lyrics leave it open to our own interpretations, but for me its a lot of little journey's and the people that KH encountered on those journies...

but other people may hear / think differently

Re: beaucoup fish = concept album? or similar themes?
 

Here's what I saw while reading your post:

Re: beaucoup fish = concept album? or similar themes?
 

Problem with the concept album idea is that Karl said himself (on the BF Interviews/Darren Emerson remix Promo discs) that the track order changed many times and that Moaner was a last-minute addition.

i just listened to Beaucoup this weekend on a cartrip, and the idea of long-distance relationships (through the wire, over the phone) is very distinct throughout. Not really a concept, though. Most songs have personal/relationship elements. Plus, since Karl says "girl" and "boy" so often in songs, you never really know if its relevant to a set of lyrics or more of a "sound" word...something that fills the place and sounds cool, but doesn't mean much.

Re: beaucoup fish = concept album? or similar themes?
 

Ahh, that must be why I like it so much. :D

Seriously: I find its pushing beats and overall danceability... well, kind of sexy. And my girlfriend really digs Moaner although she's only learning to love UW.

Re: beaucoup fish = concept album? or similar themes?
 

Freud would be proud... Something like Electra?
:D

As for Moaner, wasn't it recently stated on UWLive that Moaner was a one-take rant by Karl? If so, I'd think it was mostly improvised/peiced together, which could explain why those themes (boy, girl, calling, america, etc.) are mentioned again.
I don't want to knock BryantM3's idea of a concept album, but I think it just has some recurrent themes and just has its own vibe like all UW albums/releases. It stands alone as a fantastic album but fits perfectly into their catalog.
This was my first UW CD, so it holds a special place in my heart. :)

Re: beaucoup fish = concept album? or similar themes?
 

Same here. A friend of mine played his copy to me and I had to have it, too. He even had (and has) the digipak but now he's not that much of an UW fanatic. The digipak could have been mine. It should be mine!

Re: beaucoup fish = concept album? or similar themes?
 

this is why i love underworld so. Just beautiful poetry.

Skym

a song that transitions from first person to third person.

first person parts:

mmmmm...

do you still feed the animal?

animalfinger
fingeronthephone
curvearoundcorners

do you still feed the animal?

yourmuffledvoice
isairupthesideofyourhead

and the wires come in

open eyes close us
(slide beneath the city)
slide beneath the city
and the feet in the streets above us
(and your voice again)
and your voice again
(and your voice again)
(and your voice again)

i dont want you to call again

do you still feed the animal?

muffled madness

quietcalmprevadeher
i couldn't go through this again



The person, is on the phone with his/her mate. He/She is asking him/her if they have fed the animals - -- - a DOG!!!!!!!!!!!

Because since they dated, they both had a pet.

then he uses words they evoke a feeling, an emotion. They dont make sense, they make art.


Third person:



you say you love her
you know you love her
you never want to be without her

you say you never want to hurt her
you know you hurt her

how many lives you've lived
how many hurts you've done
how many times you've come to this place
how much you want it

you say you love her

do you-



now karl is the narrator to the guy, giving him advice.


i love this song!!!!