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Nick Cave Monday #35: “The Lyre of Orpheus”

Tony DuShane — Mon, 13 May 2013 16:00:53 +0000

Happy Mother’s Day. And a big hug to Dawn Cave, the mother who gave us the King of The Bad Seeds.

Thank you, Dawn, and thank you, Calliope. Calli-a-who?

Calliope was the mother of the greatest musician of all time, Orpheus. So it’s quite proper that Nick would turn some Greek mythology on its head and give it a spin.

“The Lyre of Orpheus” live in 2008:

“The Lyre of Orpheus” is the title track of the 2004 release. In Nick’s version, the music of Orpheus creates chaos and death. In the original mythology, Orpheus tries to use his beautiful music to get his wife out of hell. So there’s violence and humor in Nick’s version of the tale, which is always fun and feels a little dirty, especially when Orpheus makes it to hell and Eurydice says of his lyre:

“If you play that fucking thing down here, I’ll stick it up your orifice.”

Can’t a guy just play some music for Christ’s sake?

“The Lyre of Orpheus” live in 2004. NOTE: fast forward the video to the 8-minute mark:

Calliope, Orphy’s mom, was a muse of “epic poetry,” which could suggest how Orpheus took it to the next level and became a musician so talented rocks and stones would be emotionally transformed by his music. I’m assuming that’s why there is the “O momma” part in Nick’s tale of Orpheus, kind of like: Momma, look what you have made of me!

Or: Mom, you may be beautiful and inspirational, but I have become your wretched offspring.

More fun with “The Lyre of Opheus” live:

The Bad Seeds let the song develop into a ritual by having the audience reply to his “Oh momma” on the “Dig, Lazarus, Dig” tour. It was a great setup to get the whole crowd to sing the “Oh momma” part in at the wrong spot.

Wouldn’t it be great to create music that would make your spouse’s eyes pop from her sockets and her tongue burst through her throat? Come on, haven’t we all had those thoughts? Wait, or is that why I’m a single Bad Seeder?

The lesson we have learned is that if a girl gets in the way of your creativity, or even God with his frickin’ hammer bludgeons you for your songs, keep strumming anyway. Who needs God or a snakebitten Eurydice?

And even if you’re staring into the abyss and it’s your last moments of existence, it’s your purpose is to create music. Keep strummin’ that lyre and dedicate your last song to mom.

“Orpheus strummed ’til his fingers bled
He hit a G minor 7
He woke up God from a deep deep sleep
God was a major player in heaven
Oh momma, oh momma.

Thanks for reading, and come back next week for another edition of Nick Cave Monday.

Nick Cave Monday #34: “The Ship Song”

Tony DuShane — Mon, 06 May 2013 16:00:47 +0000

“The Ship Song” can induce emotions of love, lust and affection. It’s a sexy and soft ballad. If you listen to the song and no one is around to kiss or fondle, there is no shame in showing your affection to a soft pillow.

Many children were conceived while listening to “The Ship Song” when it came out. Studies show there was a population surge in early 1991 and we can see the effects of that now as many 22 year old men and women crowd Nick Cave shows. The song was released in 1990 and is on “The Good Son” album.

It was the first single of the record released also on 7″ vinyl: “The Ship Song” b/w “The Train Song.”

Here’s the original video:

That was Mick Harvey, Blixa Bargeld and Kid Congo Powers lined up as the background singers, organized, soft and polite.

Nick mentioned in an interview that the video was really hard to shoot because he was just released from rehab and his body felt beaten up. He also had fallen in love and moved to Brazil to be with Viviane Carnerio, the mother of his son Luke.

Here’s “The Ship Song” live in 1992:

How many couples have used this song for their wedding song?

Brace yourself, here is Nick performing it solo on the piano:

How sexy was that?

Here’s the guys doing a practice session of the song:

“The Ship Song” is a part of the 2013 shows:

The song is just too good, watch more videos of Nick and the guys performing it:

In 1994:

2009:

1998:

2008:

Black Sessions 1998:

1990 at Pinkpop:

For those of you who have properly watched all of the above videos, here is the extra credit. The Sydney Opera House paid tribute to “The Ship Song.”

Nick’s reaction to the honor of the Sydney Opera House project is in the interview below around the 4 minute mark:

Here is a documentary of how the project came together in all of it’s utter beauty:

Be careful with “The Ship Song.” Do not play it around a woman or man you are not interested in falling in love with….there are other songs for sport fucking.

Do not play it on a first date unless you already know you want to have children with the other person.

And, don’t listen to it on your headphones while taking public transit if you have just been through a break up because your uncontrollable sobs may interfere with getting off at the right stop.

“Come sail your ships around me/
And burn your bridges down/
We make a little history, baby/
Every time you come around.”

Thanks for reading and come back next week for another edition of Nick Cave Monday.

Nick Cave Monday #33: “I’m Gonna Kill That Woman”

Tony DuShane — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 16:00:07 +0000

Have you ever been harassed by a bully? Someone who comes up to you on the school playground. And all you’re trying to do is eat your ice cream cone in peace.

So the bully comes up to you and first asks why you’re wearing a fitted suit and have your hair slicked back. You hear this all the time from those muscle car jocks since us Bad Seeders had to put up with a lot of crap for styling proper.

Then, all you’re trying to do is enjoy your ice cream and the bully says, “Let me just have a lick.”

You know that means he’s going to take the whole ice cream and you’ll be left with nothing. So you throw the ice cream on the ground and stomp on it with your left foot, getting your classy shoes dirty and say, “I was done anyway.”

You wanted more of that ice cream, but you’ll be damned if that bully will even get one lick of that cold, sugary bliss.

In 1986 Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds put out a record called “Kicking Against The Pricks.” It was a bunch of cover songs filtered through the sound of The Bad Seeds.

Here’s “I’m Gonna Kill That Woman” live:

So, if your woman leaves you and gave you nothing but trouble, you just may have to make sure no one else has a chance with the lady by doing something like when that bully tried to take that ice cream cone away.

Hey, if you can’t have her, then no one can have her.

Sinister? Of course. We’re talking Nick Cave covering a John Lee Hooker song.

Here’s John Lee Hooker’s version:

Now that is one bad ass motherfucker! Bad Seed stamped and approved.

Here are The Bad Seeds in 1988 with the song. There are short interview segments before and after the song performed in former Yugoslavia:

How fun was the interview at the end of the song? Our lord Nick was getting a bit flirty with the interviewer.

Today’s lesson….when you’re young and in school an ice cream cone can mean as much to you as a woman when you get older. Sometimes drastic measures are called upon so you don’t get screwed over.

“Oh God knows/
God knows her movements/
God knows her movements are killin’ me.”

Thanks for reading and come back next week for another edition of Nick Cave Monday.

Nick Cave Monday #32: “West Country Girl”

Tony DuShane — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:00:47 +0000

What do you do when you think a girl is hot and you really want to get with her? You write her a song.

Nick Cave did that for PJ Harvey and “West Country Girl” was released on “The Boatman’s Call” in 1997.

Thus kindled the romance between Nick and Polly.

Let this be a lesson, if it can work for Nick, it just might work for you.

Here are The Bad Seeds performing “West Country Girl” for MTV when the song came out:

And they lived happily ever after. Well, not exactly.

Let’s listen to Nick’s introduction to the song in the clip below:

Someone he once found attractive. Ouch.

Did you notice the lyrics have changed?

From the original song he held in his hand “her Spanish Fly and monkey gland.” In later live versions the line is changed….”I held in her hand, her hippy mom and her sad old man.”

In the interview below, Nick discusses the personal songwriting that happened with “The Boatman’s Call.”

Mick Harvey dropping’ the knowledge. I should have talked to him before I got the acknowledgements together on my first book. When I told my girlfriend at the time that I was going to include her in the acknowledgements she was so flattered. When she saw that she wasn’t first in the acknowledgements and given a special sentence like my friends who really helped me for years….that lead to days of weeping and crying and now she’s first in the acknowledgements. I should have talked to Mick and learned from “West Country Girl.”

I learned my lesson and won’t make that mistake again. But, check out how glorious it has turned out for Nick now that he has Susie as his wife. She’s on his latest album cover, naked and lovely, and he writes all of his songs for her.

Amen Nick, you finally found your lady and we raise a glass to you.

Segue, back to “West Country Girl.” The video here is a little rough, but it’s a brilliant performance where Nick practically strangles the piano and spews with rage as he sings a love song for a lady that he once had the hots for:

Let’s travel to Poland. Nick Cave Monday is huge in Poland so we like to find videos that include Polish subtitles when we can:

Ah, it’s such a great song, even though it may have a history of hurt for Nick. Let’s indulge in our mistakes and keep art alive. Nick includes the song in his setlist in 2009 when he was already very happily married to Susie. Video is a little rough, but the sound is decent:

And, a little sweet extra credit…another song we’ll feature in a later edition of Nick Cave Monday.

Our lesson today was how to woo a woman, Bad Seeder style. It may go wrong, but at least beautiful art can be extracted from love and heartbreak.

“Into my human heart and filled me/
With love up to the brim and killed me/
And rebuilt me back anew/
With something to look forward to…”

Thanks for reading and come back next week for another edition of Nick Cave Monday.

Nick Cave Monday #31: “Deanna”

Tony DuShane — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 16:00:22 +0000

Deanna was a girl from Melbourne, Australia. She meant so much to Nick she got her own song on the 1988 album, “Tender Prey.” If you have ever seen The Bad Seeds live in the last 25 years there is a very good chance “Deanna” was on the set list.

The Bad Seeds even performed it last week in San Francisco. It was spectacular.

Here’s the original video:

The video was shot by Mick Harvey on 8mm film.

- Up against the white wall guys. Now start lip syncing.

When Grinderman performed at two small venues in San Francisco in 2007, the audience was filled Bad Seeders and rock stars like Henry Rollins. Rollins was in Lebanon for some reason, flew all the way back to California to see Nick’s new project, then went back to Lebanon afterwards. Nick and Henry have history together. Even though the video below is a little spotty, Nick invited Henry and Jello Biafra for the “Deanna” encore at Slim’s in San Francisco.

Jello didn’t know the song, naughty man, so Henry had to give him a quick primer, “Just keep singing Deanna,” he said. I believe. I have been looking for the Henry Rollins video as he tells it…it used to be on the ‘net, now I can’t find it.

“Deanna” live and pretty:

That was 2008, here’s 1998 in Russia:

Nick is a master at balance. Watch his live sets and you’ll see him balance on monitors, on barriers, on people’s heads…..I swear he is a secret tai chi master.

Oh, but this one time:

“Deanna” in 1990:

There is a killer acoustic version of “Deanna” here:

In that version, Nick kicks in his gospel influence by adding a couple of lines from “Oh Happy Day”:

I had to grab the Elvis Presley version, though the song dates further back than that. And, what’s up with the cast from The Sopranos in the crowd?

Last Tuesday, Nick performed at Civic Center in San Francisco. Earlier he dedicated “Wide Lovely Eyes” to his wife and after they played “Papa Won’t Leave You, Henry” Nick said, “This song is about a girl.”

“Is it your wife?” someone yelled from the crowd.

“She may as well have been.”

Sad to say, but I don’t think the San Francisco crowd was contributing as they should: flipping out, writhing every second at the Church of Nick and reaching out for a chance to touch the fitted suit of Our Lord of The Bad Seeds.

Or there were issues with the venue or sound since I shouldn’t make such a hasty decision regarding SF Bad Seeders…..still, where John Hell and I were in the crowd we danced our asses off. Unfortunately most people around us had their arms folded and were slightly nodding their heads. (Trespassers, not Bad Seeders.)

On the set list was “Into My Arms” (the greatest love song ever) and they skipped it and performed “The Weeping Song.” Then they skipped three songs for a second encore that were ready to go. My man Patrick McCracken showed me the set list and other songs we missed, “God is in the House”, “People Ain’t No Good”, and the one that rips at my heart that could have been: “Stranger Than Kindness.”

I wept outside when I saw the set list. No, it was more like I got something in my eye, then it watered. A true Bad Seeder holds in their tears and shows their despair, sorrows and murders with lyrics and song.

The show started with four tracks from “Push The Sky Away” and they paused for a moment. Then Nick said the words everyone wants to hear: “I wanna tell you about a girl.”

It was that girl from room 29….and the next hour they pummeled our souls the best of The Bad Seeds.

It was religious, amazing, erotic, violent, [insert your adjective here].

Is Deanna still alive? Does she know she will live forever in song?

“I ain’t down here for your money, I ain’t down her for your love,
I ain’t down here for your love or money, I’m down here for your soul.”

Thanks for reading and come back next week for another edition of Nick Cave Monday.

Nick Cave Monday #29: “Avalanche”

Tony DuShane — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 16:00:25 +0000

Around the year of our Lord 1984, there were fans of The Birthday Party wandering aimless through the streets. Their post-punk gods vanished. But, just like a dude named Jesus, there would soon come a resurrection, into a different body of sorts.

The first song on the first record of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds was a cover of a Leonard Cohen song. “Avalanche” starts with a progressive rumble, like a signaling of a rebirth.

This was how the kids of that era were introduced to The Bad Seeds. Slick your hair back, put on that classy suit and tie, adorn your bling and click the play button below:

Who knew that a Leonard Cohen song could sound like a violent death? I love how Nick snarls, growls and at times in the song sounds like a wounded beast.

Here is Leonard Cohen singing “Avalanche”:

Check out a fun interview from February 2013. It was the first time Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds performed in Mexico. Yeah, who would have thought? Bienvenido compañero Bad Seeders.

Nick did a Q & A before their gig and gave Leonard Cohen props. If you want to skip right to the Leonard Cohen comments, they are at 5:15, but true Bad Seeders will watch this in full. Twice:

Nick found “Songs of Love and Hate” by Leonard Cohen when he was 15 or 16 years old and it seems to have changed his life. “Avalanche” was on that album.

In 1985 The Bad Seeds performed at The Hacienda. Drunk blokes crowd surf along with the dirge of Cohen:

The video is spotty, but it seems Nick has more of a handle on the song as well as what The Bad Seeds were about to do….which was ride the celestial chariot above the murky clouds of pop music.

It has been almost 30 years since their inception, and they ain’t even done yet.

“Avalanche” in Chicago in 1984:

For those of you lucky enough to have heard “Avalanche” live, we salut you.

“Do not dress in those rags for me, I know you are not poor, and do not love me quite so fiercely know, when you know that you are not sure.”

Thanks for reading and come back next week for another edition of Nick Cave Monday.

Nick Cave Monday #28: “Jack The Ripper”

Tony DuShane — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 16:00:28 +0000

Jack the Ripper killed women in real life. He is known as Jack the Ripper, and was never caught for his violent crimes.

Nick Cave kills people in his music. He is known as the greatest singer in the world, and is in a band called The Bad Seeds. He has been caught by video cameras and audio recordings performing his murderous songs.

It’s only fitting that Jack the Ripper would make it into Nick’s brilliant back catalog.

Fellow Bad Seeders, indulge in “Jack The Ripper”:

It’s not only a video, it’s a public service announcement. So, ladies, if you’re overbearing on your man, it’s best to hide the cutlery and other sharp objects.

Here’s “Jack The Ripper” from their 1992 tour:

I covet those white shoes. The Bad Seeds dress code is toeing that thin line between looking like a well dressed preacher or a high-end pimp.

Germany, 1996:

Those awful festival barriers. As you have seen from earlier Nick Cave Mondays, these days Nick likes to jump out into the crowd even if they’re 30 feet away from the stage. I can’t wait until the Bad Seeders shoot video from Coachella.

If you haven’t seen Nick Cave yet on the 2013 tour, you’re in luck, “Jack The Ripper” is on their set list.

Here they are in Nashville, including some fun banter with a drunk audience member:

Jack The Ripper has been the subject of song by other musicians over the years. By far my second favorite song referencing Jack the Ripper is by Screaming Lord Sutch.

Marilyn Manson’s grandpa is pretty scary.

In other Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds tour news, here’s a great segment on his back up singers in Canada a few days ago.

How cute are those petit Bad Seeders? Welcome to the club kids.

“Well you know the story of the viper, it’s long and lean with a poison tooth.”

Thanks for reading and come back next week for another edition of Nick Cave Monday.

Nick Cave Monday #27: “Tupelo”

Tony DuShane — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 16:00:45 +0000

It was a dark and stormy night in April 1936. The city of Tupelo, Mississippi was ravaged by a tornado that killed more than 230 people. It is ranked as the fourth deadliest tornado in U.S. history.

Tupelo is also the birthplace of Elvis Presley. But the real reason we’re here is because “Tupelo” is one of the defining songs of The Bad Seeds….a song that tends to make it frequently into their live sets.

My fellow Bad Seeders, here is the original video from 1985:

“Tupelo” is the first track off “The Firstborn Is Dead.” On the B-side of the single version is a brilliant re-do of “The Six Strings That Drew Blood” originally released by The Birthday Party.

The Bad Seeds on the record are Barry Adamson, Blixa Bargeld and Mick Harvey.

I love the the “Looka, looka yonder” line in the song. A reference to Leadbelly’s song “Black Betty” which Nick Cave has also covered.

Of course, leave it to Nick to make a storm and the birth of Elvis Presley sound apocalyptic.

From the song:

“Well Saturday gives what Sunday steals,
And a child is born on his brother’s heals,
Come Sunday morn the first-born’s dead,
In a shoe-box tied with a ribbon of red.”

The firstborn who’s dead is Jesse Garon Presley, Elvis Presley’s twin brother. Jesse was stillborn and Elvis was delivered 35 minutes later.

It’s currently in their live set as they tour the world. Since Barry Adamson is back with The Bad Seeds, it’s really cool to have him perform songs he worked on years ago with the band.

Here’s a great live version from 1992:

It’s a good thing Gladys rocked baby Elvis to sleep and kept him safe from the brutal pounding of nature on their “clapboard shack with a roof of tin,” or we wouldn’t have “The King.”

Here’s a photo of the house Elvis was born in and what Nick was referencing.

Here are The Bad Seeds performing the song for the BBC in 2008:

“The Firstborn is Dead” has been referred to as the blues record. The Bad Seeds have a habit of trying to keep things fresh and not delivering what’s expected. I love their anti-formula of sorts.

“The public gets what they deserve, not what they demand, unless we all decide to be a business, not a band.” (“Breakdown” by Agent Orange.)

This wasn’t the first time a song was written about the tornado of Tupelo, John Lee Hooker recorded his own version. In the video below the title says it’s about the 1927 flood of Tupelo, but that has to be a mistake since the major one happened in 1936.

Here are The Bad Seeds performing the song in 2009:

Some have pointed out the line in the song, “Water water everywhere” is a reference to “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

The video below is from their show in Mexico last month. The video isn’t too sharp, but the audio is decent.

In other news, The Bad Seeds are on world tour and as they perform I’ll try to keep up with video gems from recent shows.

Here they are in Brisbane on March 8th doing a killer version of “Stagger Lee”:

“O God help Tupelo, O God help Tupelo!”

Thanks for reading and come back next week for another edition of Nick Cave Monday.

Nick Cave Monday #26: “Brother, My Cup is Empty”

Tony DuShane — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 16:00:49 +0000

When the the relationship is over, when your heart is cracked open and leaking blood on your pinstripe suit, when you’re out of cash and you need something to numb the pain of a break up, tell that wretched dude at the bar to buy you a drink.

“Brother, My Cup is Empty” is the fourth track from the album “Henry’s Dream” released in 1992.

It takes two to make a breakup happen so Nick admits:

“I cannot blame it all on her,
To blame her all would be a lie…”

But, he’s stilled pretty pissed at the lady:

“For many a nights I lay awake,
I wish that I could watch her die,
To see her accusing finger spurt,
To see flies swarm her hateful eye,
To watch her groaning in the dirt,
To see her clicking tongue crack dry.”

Nick has said he kills people in his songs so he doesn’t have to kill them in real life.

“Brother, My Cup is Empty” performed in 1996:

Nick is one of the greatest lyricists and sometimes his songs aren’t so easily defined. Could his cup be his soul? We can get deep here.

Relationships don’t start out bad, they just sometimes take a wrong turn. Before Nick was the captain of his pain he was “sliding down on rainbows” and “swinging from the stars.”

I wonder if he wrote it for one lady and she knows it’s about her and can’t stand the song. Or if a few different ladies think it’s about them.

In other news, Thomas Wydler isn’t on The Bad Seeds world tour because he is sick. I haven’t heard anything specific, but Nick has said that it’s not life threatening, just enough to keep him from touring right now.

Thomas we hope you get well soon.

“My friend, my only brother, do not let the party grieve,
throw a dollar on the bar, now kiss my ass and leave.”

Thanks for reading and come back next week for another edition of Nick Cave Monday.

Nick Cave Monday #25: “Abattoir Blues”

Tony DuShane — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 17:00:40 +0000

Sometimes things get murky in our brains. The depression takes hold. It’s more than melancholy, it’s to the point of absolute despair.

“Abattoir Blues” is the title track on the double album released with “Lyre of Orpheus” by The Bad Seeds in 2004. With their intent on keeping things fresh for every new release, the band brought in the London Gospel Community Choir. Not only for the recording, but also for the world tour.

If Nick was playing the role of a preacher on earlier records, he took it to a whole new height here. Members of the choir didn’t know who Nick Cave was and received their education fast. They were also Christians, so they needed to be okay with the songs. (More on that in a few months when we get to “Hidin’ All The Way.”)

Why is it when Nick calls upon outside people to help him out they don’t know who he is? Us fans would die for a chance to perform as part of The Bad Seeds. It makes me depressed. It gives me the “Abattoir Blues.”

Only Nick Cave could make a Starbucks drink sound sinister and violent. Is Frappucino a metaphor? Is he giving a dig to our global world of Starbucks in almost every city, partially responsible for turning the world’s metropolises into generic strip malls? That bums me out too.

Nick calls out to his lady for some understanding and comfort.

Can she sees what he sees? “Mass extinction darling, hypocrisy, these things are not good for me.”

An abattoir is literally defined as a slaughterhouse…where they kill the animals for meat. It’s from the French the word abattre, which means to strike down. Abattoir is also used to imply something is as devastating as entering a slaughterhouse to be killed with the rest of the animals.

Later he wants a way out with his lady. “Can we leave this place now dear? Is there someway out of here?”

Ah, but life goes moves forward here on this planet and we have to plug away as humans. One of the oddly inspirational lyrics from Nick Cave for me comes in the last verse of the song:

“I awake with the sparrows and hurry off to work/
the need for validation, babe, gone completely berserk/
I wanna be your superman but I turned out such a jerk/
I got the Abattoir Blues….”

The creative life is a topsy-turvy existence and we can’t avert our eyes to the crap going around us…we just have to get back to work. Sometimes that takes its toll on our relationships, and sometimes we’re lucky enough to find a woman who understands.

That’s part of my abattoir blues. Your abattoir blues mileage may vary.

Thanks for reading and come back next week for another edition of Nick Cave Monday.

The Rumpus.net » nick cave

Nick Cave Monday #35: “The Lyre of Orpheus”

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Nick Cave Monday #34: “The Ship Song”

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Nick Cave Monday #33: “I’m Gonna Kill That Woman”

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Nick Cave Monday #32: “West Country Girl”

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Nick Cave Monday #31: “Deanna”

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Nick Cave Monday #29: “Avalanche”

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Nick Cave Monday #28: “Jack The Ripper”

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Nick Cave Monday #27: “Tupelo”

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Nick Cave Monday #26: “Brother, My Cup is Empty”

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Nick Cave Monday #25: “Abattoir Blues”

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