Luscious Apparatus

← 02. Drifting

03. Luscious Apparatus List of Unsound Methods songs

04. Stalker →

Luscious Apparatus
Song	Luscious Apparatus
By	Recoil
Songwriter	Alan Wilder Maggie Estep
Produced by	Alan Wilder
Recorded at	The Thin Line (Sussex)
Mixed by	Alan Wilder
Mixing assistance	Paul Stevens Simon Shazell
Mastered by	Ian Cooper
Studio assistance	Hepzibah Sessa
Published by	Mute Song Not Normal Music Zoetrope Music Company Carlin Music Corp. Chappell, Inc. Warner/Chappell Music Ltd.
Recorded	September 1996 - June 1997
Originally released	27 October 1997
Live performances as Recoil	0 times *
Total live performances	0 times *

"Luscious Apparatus" is a song from the 1997 album Unsound Methods by Recoil.

Lyrics

Luscious Apparatus

Carla was on her break from the

Graveyard shift at the mayonnaise factory

She sat at a teetering picnic table

There was a toxic orange moon

And it was slightly cold

Carla took out her knife and began etching

Random words into the table's surface

Then, she thought of her co-worker Jack

Carla liked to think of Jack

As a luscious apparatus

He was meaty but graceful

His flesh seemed folded onto his body

Like a suit made of meat

Carla started to think of Jack as a

Luscious apparatus in a meat suit

Thinking this gave Carla a dreamy smile

Her mouth was small to begin with

But dreaming made it even smaller

That's just how some people are

Their mouths get smaller with dream

Carla's small mouth was dreaming

As her knife began carving a poem into the table

I like hot voids, smooth pants, lazy beds in the rain

I like tongue petals, lather, a blistering sun

but what I like best is the worship

Of a luscious apparatus

When Carla was done carving

She went back to her work station

And scooped shiny white goop into jars

That's just how some people are

Their mouths get smaller with dreaming

The next day Jack took his own 1am lunch break

At the same picnic table

He noticed the poem carved into the wood

Although he didn't know who had written it

He coincidentally thought

'Luscious Apparatus' aptly described him

So he took out his own knife and wrote

'Luscious apparatus was here'

After a few days both Jack and Carla

Happened to sit at the picnic table

At the same time

They both started to look

At the things carved in the table

Then they looked at each other

They knew who each other was

Carla's mouth got small and dreamy

Jack's eyes got round and hot

When they got done

With the graveyard shift

They went back to Jack's apartment

And had sex

Wordless sex, slow sex

Fast sex, talking sex

Sex like animals have

Sex like boys have, sex like girls have

Sex upside down, sex inside out

Sex with grins, sex with tears

Sex, sex, sex

Then she noticed the knife by the side of Jack's bed

Jack picked the knife up And Carla knew at once

That Jack's wounds were from carving himself

Jack was trying to carve poems into himself

And now he wanted to carve some in her

This was where she drew the line

She'd have any kind of sex but not with a knife

When Carla refused to let Jack carve her up

Jack felt cheated and misled

He felt that by carving a poem in the table

Carla had been begging to be carved upon

Carla didn't see it that way at all

She got up and started putting on her clothes

Jack went nuts, he was coming at her with a knife

Carla was scared, Carla was shaking and sweating

Then, because she was small and could move fast

She ducked and Jack tripped and fell

And impaled himself in the arm with his own knife

He howled and howled and Carla got the hell out of there fast

Carla didn't think of Jack as a luscious apparatus after that

Songwriter: Alan Wilder/Maggie Estep
Publishing Information: ℗ 1997 Reprise Records

Composition

Sample sources

"Luscious Apparatus" Recoil 1997
	Sample sources
	Sample	Source	Status	Notes	Audio
	Percussive elements	Mick Harvey - Altea Marea & Vaterland - "The Mountain, Pt. 1" - 1993	Confirmed	A manipulated sample of audio derived from the opening moments of "The Mountain, Pt. 1" by Mick Harvey is utilised sporadically throughout "Luscious Apparatus".	Click to display/hide audio example
	Guitar, bass guitar, vocal elements	Wiseblood - PTTM - "Hey Bop a Ree Bop" - 9 September 1991	Confirmed	A reversed section of audio derived from "Hey Bop a Ree Bop" by Wiseblood is utilised sporadically throughout "Luscious Apparatus".	Click to display/hide audio example
	Bass guitar elements	Lotion - full Isaac - "Tear" - 1994	Confirmed	A manipulated sample derived from the opening moments of "Tear" by Lotion featuring a bass guitar performance by Lotion bassist Bill Ferguson is utilised throughout "Luscious Apparatus".	Click to display/hide audio example
	Guitar elements	Mother Goose - Too Many Tintins - "Wintertime" - 22 March 1993	Confirmed	A manipulated section of audio derived from the outro section of "Wintertime" by Mother Goose as featured on the 1993 Paul Kendall-produced album Too Many Tintins is utilised sporadically throughout "Luscious Apparatus". Notably, following the identification of this sample source in January 2023, a CD copy of Too Many Tintins was among the items sold as part of the 18 August 2024 Alan Wilder (Depeche Mode / Recoil) Personal Record and CD Collection sale, hosted at Beat The Clock Records in Hove. This CD, sold online by Beat The Clock Records in the months following the event, was purchased by Depeche Mode Live Wiki in December 2024 and referenced throughout the process of reviewing the use of this sampled audio within "Luscious Apparatus".	Click to display/hide audio example
	Ambient elements	Sergio Cervetti - The Hay Wain - "Fall Of The Rebel Angels" - 1987	Confirmed	A manipulated ambient pad derived from "Fall Of The Rebel Angels" by Sergio Cervetti is utilised sporadically throughout "Luscious Apparatus".	Click to display/hide audio example
	Drum elements	Senser - Stacked Up - "Age Of Panic" - 1994	Confirmed	A series of manipulated, re-sequenced sections of audio derived from the outro of "Age Of Panic" by Senser are utilised throughout "Luscious Apparatus".	✖
	Guitar elements	The Cure - Wild Mood Swings - "Club America" - 6 May 1996	Confirmed	An audio stem featuring guitar atmospherics originally recorded for "Club America" by The Cure are utilised mid-way through "Luscious Apparatus". Notably, Wild Mood Swings was co-produced by Recoil and Depeche Mode associate Steve Lyon, who assisted in the production and programming of Unsound Methods. Though unconfirmed as of January 2025, it is Depeche Mode Live Wiki's opinion that stems for select songs featured on Wild Mood Swings may have been made available to Wilder through Steve Lyon, who produced Wild Mood Swings between 1994 and 1996 and assisted in the production and programming of Unsound Methods between September 1996 and March 1997.	✖
	Guitar elements	The Cure - Wild Mood Swings - "Want" - 6 May 1996	Confirmed	An audio stem featuring guitar atmospherics originally recorded for "Want" by The Cure are utilised mid-way through "Luscious Apparatus". Notably, Wild Mood Swings was co-produced by Recoil and Depeche Mode associate Steve Lyon, who assisted in the production and programming of Unsound Methods. Though unconfirmed as of January 2025, it is Depeche Mode Live Wiki's opinion that stems for select songs featured on Wild Mood Swings may have been made available to Wilder through Steve Lyon, who produced Wild Mood Swings between 1994 and 1996 and assisted in the production and programming of Unsound Methods between September 1996 and March 1997.	✖
	Guitar elements	The Creatures - Anima Animus - "Disconnected" - 15 February 1999	Likely	A section of audio featuring screeching guitar atmospherics utilised mid-way through "Luscious Apparatus" is likely derived from the outro of "Disconnected", an album track recorded by The Creatures with Siouxsie Sioux between 1995 and 1997 for the 1999 album Anima Animus. Notably, Anima Animus was co-produced by Recoil and Depeche Mode associate Steve Lyon, who assisted in the production and programming of Unsound Methods.	✖
	Drum elements, open hi-hat, closed hi-hat	Korg Inc. - Korg 01/W > PROG BANK A > A29: Dance Kit - "Open HH", "Close HH"	Confirmed	A series of open and closed hi-hats utilised sporadically throughout "Luscious Apparatus" are sequenced using Korg 01/W Bank A Voice #29 "Dance Kit".	✖

Dates where Luscious Apparatus was played

Luscious Apparatus has never been played live.