Karls Poetry

[Shevek]

Karl is definitely one of my favourite lyricists and his lyrics are definitely the strong points of much of their work.

I don't grasp the meaning exactly all the time and I don't think you're supposed to. I enjoy analysing my responses to the music and the words over and over as I go through their music, trying to pinpoint the emotions they evoke and their meaning to me. Songs like SolaSistim are for some reason very moving to me. Other songs express anger or feelings of mystery and of joy.

Whatever the words do to me in the end, it is an uplifting and inspirational experience that drives me to think about life. What is does is really really difficult to describe I think but for me a line that perfectly illustrates this is:

I'm just a waitress she said.

The unexpected randomness of this is brilliant and you automatically try to link it with the words:

now I kiss you dark and long

that went before making you think about a relationship between two people. The emotion of the song changes from dark, broody sexuality into a feeling of smallness in the world, the big city or wherever, and the dark feel to the song empowers this smallness. The line I'm just a waitress... therefor all of a sudden sounds very pure, sweet and innocent. Something meaningful is established in the world between these two people and the lines that follow after it might support this (not that that is necessary) but to me that onel ine shows the essence of Underworld. The ability to trigger in you this pure emotion of identifying yourself and your place in this world.

I just reread this and once again I failed to explain it as I feel it. I tried to write such a thing down for myself earlier but I can't exactly define the meaning I attach to Karl's words and underworld's music in general. Ah well I tried. Hope it makes a bit sense.