[bryantm3]

many underworld lyrics, i find, tend to be in an abstract random fashion, but all point in a certain direction. there are exceptions, such as 'push upstairs' which is a pretty clear plotline, but for example, 'dirty epic', although it doesn't tell a cohesive story, uses words and phrases to point towards a particular theme, when by themselves seem like random words.

however, not all of the tracks are in this fashion. for example, from beaucoup fish forwards, many of the tracks tend to use lyrics in a rhythmic fashion, sort of as a unique musical instrument, rather than actually making any sense through the use of words. for example, crocodile (correct me if i'm wrong) is basically using the music to create words. the two best examples outside of underworld i can think of are scat lyrics, and latin choral pieces that rely on the harmony of voices while simply using the lyrics as jumping off points. the key difference in these two and underworld is that underworld will develop nonsense sounds into lyrics that streamline along with the music, serving no purpose other than to create emotion by using the voice as an instrument.

that's the best way i could explain it, maybe someone else could do better.