Music Review: Fall Out Boy "Uma Thurman"

Fall Out Boy

Uma Thurman

Album: American Beauty/American Psycho

Year: 2015

           Patrick Stump finds his girlfriend’s obsession with Pulp Fiction cute in the  enthralling “Uma Thurman.”

                 Racing guitars opens the single, setting a frantic tone. In the pre-chorus, he says he can do whatever he puts his mind to. It’s because of his girlfriend, though. He plans on having a future with her. (“I can move mountains/I can work a miracle, work a miracle/Oh, oh, keep you like an oath/May nothing but death do us apart.”)

                 The Munster’s Theme sample appears, setting a 90s postmodern tone.

                 In the chorus, as they watch Pulp Fiction for the millionth time, she puts her hands up to her face, seperating her fingers once the part comes on. It gets him every time. He wants to blurt out “marry me!” right then and there. (“She wants to dance like Uma Thurman/Bury me 'till I confess/She wants to dance like Uma Thurman/And I can't get you out of my head.”)

                Her head is on his chest. In the air, there is a scent of Calvin Klein’s Eternity, sweat. He puts some clothes on and opens a window, the smell freshly cut grass hitting his nose. In that instant, he knows she is capable of damaging in ways he has yet to learn. Nonetheless, he still wants her. (“The stench, the stench, of summer sex/And CK eternity, oh hell yes/Divide me down to the smallest I can be/Put your, put your venom in me.”)

                 The pre-chorus and chorus are sung again.

                 He had sacrificed another relationship and lost a couple of friends. Some people were hurt. Last night, he was up thinking about what he’d done. He laid in his bed and once it was time for him to sleep, he flipped over the covers and went to sleep. As he walks into the bathroom in his wrinkled jeans and oily hair, he thinks of the previous events that led him to where he is now. The reality of it smacks him in the face. (“The blood, the blood, the blood of the lamb/Is worth two lions, but here I am/And I slept in last night's clothes and tomorrow's dreams/But they're not quite what they seem.”)

                The pre-chorus is sung again.

                In the bridge, they’ll move out of Los Angeles and back home to Dayton. Ohio. Perhaps in her guilt, she’ll be able to get back to herself. They’ll make changes and become better people. (“You'll find your way/And may death find you alive/Take me down the line/In Gem City we turn the tide/You'll find your way/And may death find you alive/Take me down the line/In Gem City we turn the tide.”)

                The chorus is sung again.

                 The pre-chorus is sung twice to end the single.

                 Stump can usually handle anything. It’s his girlfriend that will take him down, rendering him unable to function. If he ever loses her, it will be the end of the him.

              The sampling of “The Munster’s” 1964 theme song is unexpected and goes well with the Pulp Fiction theme. It’s within the era that the movie takes place. The obvious route would’ve been Dick Dale’s “Misirlou” but thankfully, Fall Out Boy take it a step further.

                     The fascinating  “Uma Thurman” has done its pop culture homework and finds the band returning to form.