Music
Five of the Best: Nick Cave
Today’s Five of the Best explores the best of Australian music legend Nick Cave. The 2007 ARIA Hall of Fame inductee has been producing music for just over 35 years. He formed ‘The Birthday Party’ in the late 70s (originally known as ‘The Boys Next Door’) but it is for his work with ‘Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ that he is best known. Cave’s various bands have released 21 eclectic studio albums which makes his music difficult to tie down to a single genre. Whilst it is often labelled as alternative rock it features influences from gothic rock, punk rock and blues amongst others. We had a difficult time whittling this list down to just five songs, but they are rules.
5. Straight to You
Straight to You was the first single released from Henry’s Dream, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ 1992 album. Surprisingly the band wasn’t entirely happy with the outcome of this record despite the critical acclaim it received. Although Straight to You only peaked at number 96 on the ARIA charts, the big catchy chorus has won plenty of fans and is a worthy number 5 on this list.
4. Red Right Hand
Red Right Hand is a wonderfully spooky and sinister sounding song that epitomises Nick Cave’s sound for many fans. Released in 1994 on the Let Love In album it has been used in a number of TV shows and films; everything from Dumb and Dumber to the Scream Trilogy. The title itself was taken from a poem by John Milton called Paradise Lost and the protagonist in this story is alluded to in a later Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds song ‘Song of Joy’. For us, it’s the ability for Nick Cave to make the classic bell sound at the crescendo of the “Red Right Hand” sound cool throughout the song that cements this song in the top 5.
3. Where the Wild Roses Grow
It wouldn’t be a Nick Cave top 5 without a song from the 1996 album Murder Ballads. As the title of the album suggests this was an album of songs specifically about murder. While we love the sometimes more gory, explicit and heavier tunes such as Stagger Lee, Henry Lee and The Curse of Millhaven, we couldn’t go past Where the Wild Roses Grow. Nick Cave teamed up with pop princess Kylie Minogue to produce this song which won awards for ARIA Song of the Year and Best Pop Release. The song contains dialogue between a killer and his victim which Cave had written specifically with Kylie in mind. He is quoted as saying that her innocent voice “makes the horror of this chilling lyric all the more compelling”. Nick Cave’s inspiration for this enthralling song was the traditional song ‘Down in the Willow Garden’ which has a similar storyline.
2. The Ship Song
From The Good Son, a 1990 album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, comes The Ship Song, a lovely romantic ballad. Cave was in Brazil and in love at the time of writing this album and was intent on producing a collection of classic love songs. Incredibly, the words to The Ship Song were rushed. Cave had to quickly jot down lyrics to put into a book and wrote down the beginning of the chorus ‘Come sail your ships around me’ without noticing beauty of the line until much later.
1. Into My Arms
Into My Arms is a wonderful example of Nick Cave’s ability to produce a restrained yet beautiful love song. Surprisingly, this opening song from the 1997 album The Boatman’s Call, was written in the aftermath of two failed relationships and was performed by Cave at the funeral for his friend, INXS singer Michael Hutchence. This suggests the melancholy piano and acoustic bass may be more of a hint to its meaning to Cave than the lyrics themselves. No matter what meaning you derive from this song, it is inarguably one of Nick Cave’s best and tops our list of Nick Cave’s top 5 songs.
Nick Cave will perform at Sydney’s State Theatre on December 11, 12, 13 and 14. There are limited tickets remaining, click here to purchase.
