Comments on: Friday Song Lyric: Nick Cave

By: ‘Into My Arms, O Lord’ | All Things Seen and Unseen

‘Into My Arms, O Lord’ | All Things Seen and Unseen — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 13:15:36 +0000

[...] I just came across a beautiful post from Sean Carroll at Cosmic Variance: the lyrics and video of a great song by Nick Cave. [...]

By: Jennifer Ouellette

Jennifer Ouellette — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 01:57:57 +0000

For the record, “Songbird” bores me to tears. I vastly prefer the Cave piece…

By: Sean

Sean — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 13:26:06 +0000

Jimbo, I’ll have to respectfully disagree. And choosing Fleetwood Mac as a favorable comparison to Nick Cave isn’t helping your case any.

More substantively: sure, Cave isn’t an especially talented singer, nor a great pianist. But he’s a very good songwriter, an excellent performer, and a consistently intelligent, imaginative, and provocative lyricist. Into My Arms is a spare lyric, but in a very few straightforward words he manages to subtly pinpoint an expression of sympathy with the emotional weight of his lover’s religious beliefs, without accepting their metaphysical prerequisites. That’s the kind of nuance which was unavailable to Christine McVie at the height of her powers.

By: Jimbo

Jimbo — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 05:52:59 +0000

Sean,
Usually your diverse tastes which you share with the public here, are impeccable, and I really dig your GR book, your blogging, & share your philo of sci.atheism….
But, I’m also a musician, and a songwriter, for several decades now, and I can tell you that song has gotta be THE musical `bottom of the barrel’…The guy cannot sing, the lyrix are unsophisticated philosophical whining, devoid of wit, moxie, or hipness…Now if you want a piano-accompanied love song for your girl, play her Christine McVie’s `SongBird’ from the FleetwoodMac DVD `The Dance’, and she’ll melt in your arms…Trust me.

By: Julianne

Julianne — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 05:30:31 +0000

My bad — I had decided it was on “From Her to Eternity” for some reason. Hadn’t listened to either album in far too long.

Sadly, my encyclopedic knowledge of music has apparently been replaced by all the lyrics for “Wheels on the Bus”.

By: Rien

Rien — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 04:54:35 +0000

I thought it was for PJ Harvey…

By: James

James — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 04:24:53 +0000

I’m fairly sure this song was NOT written for Anita Lane. They were an item in the 80s and this song dates from ’95-’96. I had always assumed he wrote it for the lovely Susie Bick (since they were married around that time).

By: Andrew

Andrew — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 02:57:47 +0000

I think I liked Nick Cave more back when he sang about stuff like anally raping Billy in Stagger Lee.

By: Sean

Sean — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 02:11:11 +0000

That would be me, yep. No time to enjoy the town, I’m afraid; I’m just zipping in to do my thing in between talks at NSF and Caltech. Glamorous jet-setting lifestyle, &c.

By: mollishka

mollishka — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 23:52:55 +0000

… Interesting … the lyrics seem to be just very sweet, but the video is just so sad ….

By: spyder

spyder — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 22:14:05 +0000

I was cruising around the Sonoran desert over the last ten days or so, and passing through Tucson i saw this cool poster with a Dali print of the melting dripping clocks. Turns out that it was announcing a special Gravity conference, and there on the list of participants was the name Sean Carroll. Do have some fun. That town is full of some of my favorite bands and artists, and its proximity to getting deep into one of the most significant of the planet’s deserts is stimulating and exciting. Go for it.

By: Yossarian

Yossarian — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 04:11:28 +0000

The Boatman’s Call is one of my favorite albums of all time!

My favorite song on it is Idiot Prayer. Here’s a memorable passage:

If you’re in Heaven then you’ll forgive me, dear
Because that’s what they do up there
If you’re in Hell, then what can I say
You probably deserved in anyway

Nick Cave is the man.

By: Amara

Amara — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 01:10:13 +0000

And the black-and-white camera work on that video is gorgeous. Thank you for the art!

By: Scott H.

Scott H. — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 22:05:26 +0000

Cave has stated that the visible scar on his left cheek was given to him by then-girlfriend Anita Lane during a knife fight between the two.

Ha. That fits in so well with much of the rest of his work …

By: Julianne

Julianne — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 21:38:14 +0000

It all seems very romantic, until you read the following sentence from Wikipedia relating to the woman he probably wrote it for:

Cave has stated that the visible scar on his left cheek was given to him by then-girlfriend Anita Lane during a knife fight between the two.

By: Corvus

Corvus — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 18:35:40 +0000

Please tell me you’ve seen The Proposition. Nick’s script is incredible and offers some wry insight into the nature of evolution and the advent of “civilization.”

By: spyder

spyder — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 18:31:06 +0000

Bad Seed rebuttal (homage to arrow of time:

You don’t know what’s going on
You’ve been away for far too long
You can’t come back and think you are still mine
You’re out of touch, my baby
My poor discarded baby
I said, baby, baby, baby, you’re out of time

Well, baby, baby, baby, you’re out of time
I said, baby, baby, baby, you’re out of time
You are all left out
Out of there without a doubt
‘Cause baby, baby, baby, you’re out of time

You thought you were a clever girl
Giving up your social whirl
But you can’t come back and be the first in line, on no
You’re obsolete my baby
My poor old-fashioned baby
I said baby, baby, baby you’re out of time

Well, baby, baby, baby, you’re out of time
I said, baby, baby, baby, you’re out of time
Yes, you are left out
Out of there without a doubt
‘Cause baby, baby, baby, you’re out of time

By: Scott H.

Scott H. — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 18:07:17 +0000

Nick Cave is amazing … excellent choice.