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?

More:

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.

Related Posts:

• Nick Cave Monday #31: “Deanna”
• Nick Cave Monday #27: “Tupelo”
• Nick Cave Monday #25: “Abattoir Blues”
• Nick Cave Monday #23: “Hard On For Love”
• Nick Cave Monday #36: “Dead Joe”

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.

Related Posts:

• Nick Cave Monday #10: “The Carny”
• Nick Cave Monday #24: “Mack The Knife”
• Nick Cave Monday #23: “Hard On For Love”
• Nick Cave Monday #14: “Wild World”
• Nick Cave Monday #9: “Papa Won’t Leave You, Henry”

“What?!” Nick walked towards me, pointing his finger. Like God striking me with leprosy for blaspheming his name. Nick glared into my eyes and I was on the spot. He actually listened and I was conversing with THE Nick Cave.

“Play Hard On For Love,” I said with more of a squeak.

“We have our set taken care of, thank you,” He replied.

Nick and I actually spoke to each other. I was so scared of him as a young worshiper. Nick Cave was God.

The song wasn’t performed live by The Bad Seeds until their 2008 tour.

Their live version had more ferocity than the recorded version on “Your Funeral, My Trial.”

The 1986 recording was a prophecy for what Nick Cave would become in future years, especially after 2007.

Nick has embraced his inner perv, the animal he is as a man….at least through his lyrics and his novel “The Death of Bunny Munro” which was about a pervy, degenerate bloke. In the hands of Nick, sex crazed literary brilliance.

Hard On For Love could have been included on the first Grinderman record in 2007 and it would have been just as fresh as “No Pussy Blues.”

The first Grinderman release had an obvious influence on the next Bad Seeds record “Dig, Lazarus, Dig” and it made sense to add Hard On For Love to their set for the live tour of the record. The song even included a lyric about Lazarus, “Coming at her like Lazarus from above.”

A song I thought I would never hear live and if it wasn’t for Grinderman, there’s a chance we wouldn’t have heard a live version of the song.

Here’s the studio version of the song:

I adore how Nick takes Psalms 23 and flips it into lyrical pornography.

The Lord is my shepherd and I shall not want
The Lord is my shepherd and I shall not want
But he leadeth me like a lamb to the lips
Out of the valley of the shadow of death
I am his rod and his staff
I am his scepter and shaft
And she is heaven and hell
At whose gates I ain’t been delivered
I’m going to give those gates a shove.

Psalms 23 is now a biblical chapter of horny innuendo, rewritten by Nick, who should have his lyrics included in a future bible cannon.

Maven did a cover of Hard On For Love featuring Marilyn Manson on vocals:

Well, Marilyn Manson gave it a go and picked a great song, but he may want to stick to covering acts like The Eurythmics.

When I interviewed Nick before their gig in San Francisco in 2008, I told him about our 1994 encounter.

“What did I say?” he asked.

“You said our set was taken care of.”

He laughed. “We probably didn’t know how to play the song. We’re playing it in our set now, a very aggressive version of the song.”

Nick Almighty is sweet and gracious and funny in person.

Other magical lyrics from the song:

“My aim is to hit this miss.” – “I am the fiend hid in her skirts and it’s as hot as hell in here.”

And the repeated chant, “Rise and fall her breasts, rise and fall her breasts….”

After our interview in 2008, at the Warfield theater I was at the front of the stage and about an hour into their set, Nick pointed at me and said, “This song’s for you.”

I wasn’t sure if it was really happening, I pointed at myself, “Me?”

“Yeah, you with the beard and hat.”

My friends all in the front row knew me and were excited and yelled to Nick, “His name is Tony, his name is Tony.”

Nick looked at them confused, like – leave us alone, we’re connecting here – then he went into the song. My friends didn’t know I interviewed Nick earlier that day.

It only took 14 years, but Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds finally performed my request from when I was a kid. For extra credit, he dedicated the song to me.

“It is for she that the cherry bleeds…”

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

Related Posts:

• Nick Cave Monday #27: “Tupelo”
• Nick Cave Monday #10: “The Carny”
• Nick Cave Monday #26: “Brother, My Cup is Empty”
• Nick Cave Monday #25: “Abattoir Blues”
• Nick Cave Monday #24: “Mack The Knife”