| Grinderman – Heathen Child Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Yes, scumm is right--Nick has said this hundreds of times. | |
| Grinderman – Bellringer Blues Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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This song is not about the Bible. Nick Cave loves the Bible and has stated in interviews that he reads it to his kids. The old testament inspired most of his more violent songs, and the new testament inspired the rest. He even wrote an introduction to the Gospel According to Mark recently, which you can read on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Gospel-According-Pocket-Canons-ebook/dp/B004E9TOBE/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1356127933&sr=8-1 He doesn't hate the Bible--he hates how organised religion and the church perceive Christ's words etc. He believes that Christ had a huge imagination, and that everyone else, the church included, suffers from "a lack of imagination", and that this is a crime. I'm just paraphrasing from a bunch of his interviews here. |
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| Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – West Country Girl Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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You're welcome. I've found a version of him singing it the original line. http://www.2shared.com/file/6384571/4f33c09f/003_West_Country_Girl_Barbican_Centre_Oct_31_1997.html |
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| PJ Harvey – Before Departure Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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The lyrics are "any course of distance, any cause of sorrow" not "On a course of distance, you're a cause of sorrow". I think it's simply about Polly leaving America and going back to England. |
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| Einstürzende Neubauten – The Garden Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| I like Blixa's museum shop story - good to know how song narratives and vignettes come to life in the mind, simply from overhearing a snippet of conversation. Before I read the comments above, I always thought that the song was about a fair weather friend, as opposed to a foul weather friend who is there no matter what. | |
| PJ Harvey – Teclo Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| The King died, and the Queen died of grief. | |
| PJ Harvey – Rub 'til It Bleeds Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| Oh, and 'rub it till it bleeds' could be more word play, or a poetic way to say 'comes'. | |
| PJ Harvey – Rub 'til It Bleeds Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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It is about a hand-job. Men have two 'heads', Zulu, and in this case, it's very naughty and funny word play--and we already know that Polly likes to write about things that she finds amusing, and often there's sex involved. Just look at the song 'Dry'--she said she thought it would be funny to write a song about dry fannies. Enough said. "And I, I was joking Sweet babe, let me stroke it " I think this line has to do with her teasing him because she has to 'rub it till it bleeds'--and by bleeding, I don't think she means that literally, either, I think she means rub it till it swells, till the blood goes down south, so to speak. She's teasing him for not being hard already, and yet she still wants it, she's just "getting even" for some imagined or unimagined slight that's been left unsaid. |
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| PJ Harvey – No Girl So Sweet Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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It's actually "looked down at his angel where she lay" and "outside the heat and the summer fade" (according to the lyrics printed inside the album sleeve). Great song. Though most of her songs are great, so that's not saying much. |
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| PJ Harvey – White Chalk Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Oh, and, I'm pretty sure it's "I walk the valleys by the surf" instead of "families by the surf". | |
| PJ Harvey – White Chalk Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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One small correction. It's actually "white chalk cutting down the sea at Lyme" instead of "at night". Lyme as in Lyme Regis, Dorset, England. http://www.thedorsetpage.com/locations/Place/L230.htm |
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| Grinderman – No Pussy Blues Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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LOL at your "it's the 'tash" comment, Morbid, because I had the same thought. I'm not too sure about all the songs coming from his "fertile imagination" though, since Boatman's Call was straight from the heart and real life. Maybe it's just a certain someone who "just fucking doesn't want to". Susie Bick? |
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| Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Night of the Lotus Eaters Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Me again. Nick's explanation: Nick Cave (From The Sun March 7, 2008): "'Night Of The Lotus Eaters' is about apathy in the face of catastrophe. Why aren't we running through the streets in a state of hysteria? I often wonder that. It surprises me that we are able to just sit around while some esteemed scientists say the apocalypse will have arrived in half a century." |
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| Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Moonland Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Nick Cave (From The Sun March 7, 2008): "'Moonland' is about a guy whose woman has criticized him sexually. There might be some men on this planet who have never had that experience. Not many. It's part of the male experience and it's devastating. To criticize a man's sexual prowess can reduce that man to a dribbling wreck." For further info, see the Grinderman song Decoration Day |
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| Grinderman – Decoration Day Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I'm not ezactly sure of the meaning here ... but the battlefield as a metaphor for sex appears in the Grinderman song When My Love Comes Down, and the line "I'm not your favourite lover" appears in the Bad Seeds song Moonland. I suppose, taking the metaphor further, Decoration Day here is used for fallen lovers/love affairs, instead of fallen soldiers ... and his ex hasn't even recognised him. So, possibly one partner's bitterness and resentment, and, in the end, boredom and/or possibly suffering at not being the other's "favourite lover". |
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| Grinderman – When My Love Comes Down Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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These lyrics are from www.grinderman.com: "I thought I saw a thundercloud on the avenue Lightning rattled through the streets, the little storm was you" "Your skin is like the falling snow, your hair is like the rising sun Your tongue is like a kalishnakov or some other foreign gun I see you standing there way down upon the street Marching victorious with your banners of defeat" Beautiful song. The battlefield of sex between two lovers who have not seen each other for some time. Hence "drumming on their way back home". And there is victory even in defeat because he sees himself conquoring and she submitting, even though they both strive to overpower/defeat the other, there is more victory in her defeat. It's really about intense passion. |
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| PJ Harvey – We Float Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I've read somewhere that this is about her relationship with Nick Cave. He says this about his song Brompton Oratory: " ... But it's supposed to be where Christ, after the Resurrection, returns to his friends and shows himself to his disciples. I guess I was making a point in that song that some people have it lucky that people do return to them, and in my situation, it didn't seem like that was happening; in my ... in the relationship that I'm talking about within that song it doesn't seem like that was going to happen." So, the person who left him had done so about a month prior to the pentacost, which would have been Good Friday: "Die on Good Friday? While holding each other tight " |
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| PJ Harvey – Catherine Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I've read that, too, JanuaryGirl25. Apparently, quite a few of them are, but they're scattered all over different post-Nick albums because it takes her "a couple of years" to process certain things in her life, and it takes her a while to be able to distance herself enough in order to be able to write about things that have affected her. Completely paraphrasing here, btw. | |
| Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – More News from Nowhere Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Appers66 did a great job explaining the song - it is the Odyssey. Here's my Random Useless Fact contribution. When Nick compares Polly to a siren, it's a double entendre because her biography is titled 'Siren Rising' (the first chapter of which is titled West Country Girl). And here's a link to a preview of the book: http://books.google.com/books?id=1yvx5EW3Tm8C&dq=siren+rising+pj+harvey&pg=PP1&ots=PM_LGYiF8F&source=bn&sig=S6rESDwciAbOZJs6jSkXXIIbpP8&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result#PPP13,M1 |
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| Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Night of the Lotus Eaters Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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A heater is a "knightly shield", which makes sense since he's telling us to shield ourselves and, if he had the strength, he'd pick up his sword. A sap is a "blackjack or short club". This song is about resisting and fighting back against all the crap that's taken over the world - the "catastrophic leaders" and the money-obsessed materialistic masses "roaming the shopping malls". And since Nick uses knighly/chivalrous symbolism for his role and ours against the "philistines and barbarians", the song is also about not letting ourselves/yourself get brain-washed and dumbed down, but fighting back to keep your chivalry and honour and integrity etc. Excellent, amazing song. |
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| Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Lucy Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Great song - one of his "dark eyed, gloomy children". A random reporter asked Nick whether this song is about a real person named Lucy, and Nick replied that it was not, and that he'd written it while in rehab. |
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| Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Sorrow's Child Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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This song is full of symbols and metaphors, and should not be taken literally, so I don't think it's about a girl killing herself, as mentioned above. I think it's about trying to fight a mental state and emotion that makes the person feel as if they are being dragged under. I stumbled upon the following quote by accident, but it made me see the song in a new light, since Nick mentioned that he used to take heroin to stop all the thoughts and voices/songs/stories in his head and just be 'normal': "Genius is sorrow's child." Adams, John |
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| Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Brompton Oratory Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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It's a beautiful, fragile song; and although he's exhausted, the organ still rises and rises above the situation, elevating the singer as well. At least, that's what I feel ... Here's what Nick has to say about it (in an interview with Jim Pascoe): " ... But it's supposed to be where Christ, after the Resurrection, returns to his friends and shows himself to his disciples. I guess I was making a point in that song that some people have it lucky that people do return to them, and in my situation, it didn't seem like that was happening; in my ... in the relationship [PJ Harvey] that I'm talking about within that song it doesn't seem like that was going to happen." |
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| Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – She Passed by My Window Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I think the following lines, and the chorus are the key to the song: Have you time for my company? No, I said. I have none to spare You gotta sanctify my love You gotta sanctify my love You gotta sanctify my love I ain't no lover-boy It seems to be about a woman who wishes to be in a sexual relationship with him (hence the references to spring and fruits that "soon wither on the ground", which I interpret as meaning that a relationship without love soon withers), but he associates this person with winter, "brittle snow", with things cold and dead; and he 'ain't no lover-boy', he doesn't have time for flings. Love for him is something religious, holy, to be set apart, and he wishes to keep it free from the sin of having this person in his company. When she slaps the snow off her glove and moves on without a sound, it seems as if her reaction to his cool response is to brush his coldness aside, just like the snow. She appears unbothered, but her silence says otherwise. I think that the glove also gives away both of their feelings, because the glove is a symbol/token of affection and love. She drops it near his window, but gets snow all over it. |
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| Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Hallelujah Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Substitute the word 'nurse' with the word 'wife'. | |
| Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – And No More Shall We Part Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I agree with mackka and StickityWicket - there's absolutely nothing about murder or suicide here. At one of his concerts, Nick introduced this as 'the wedding song'. |
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| Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Green Eyes Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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This is another song about the West Country Girl (most of TBC is about Polly, the songs that are not about her are about Viv). "A West country girl with a big fat cat That looks into her eyes of green And meows, "He loves you", then meows again" |
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| Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – West Country Girl Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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According to the info over at the Nick Cave Collector's Hell site, at a 1997 London gig, Nick changed the last line to: "and meows, `He loves you, Polly Jean'". Anyway, I've been reading PJ Harvey's biography 'Siren Rising', and she mentions getting "palpitations" before going on stage to perform. So I think that Nick's line: 'that I have embraced, her palpitations' refers to this - him embracing her/providing comfort/soothing her nerves before the beginning of her show. |
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| Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – I Do, Dear, I Do Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Sorry - actually, I think you were right about the 'litter' lyric. I checked Still Your Face Comes Shiing Through in the Complete Lyrics book, and the last two lines of the first verse are as follows: You up in your litter With your ivory and apes |
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| Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – I Do, Dear, I Do Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Goood effort at getting the lyrics right - every other site I've come across has got them all wrong. Here are some corrections: "I wish for you the stars baby" is "I wish for you the stars, babe." (I think ...) "May no ill wind blow you way-whispered you will keep sake up there" is: "May no ill wind blow your way whispered you will keep safe up there in your leather babe with your ivory and apes" (As a side note, Nick re-used the "ivory and apes" line in another song/Boatman's Call Outtake titled Still Your Face Comes Shining Through.) I think your "things down here are fragmented, frankly they've exploded all over the rooom" lyric is spot on, which is wonderful, because I couldn't really understand the slurred "franlly they've" line until I read this while listening to the song. So, thanks. "May your day be as bright as the Ivories(?). The girl that I once knew." is: "May your day be as bright as the eyes of the girl that I once knew" I miss your manic scratches/scratchings? Everything else is correct, from what I can tell. It's a pity that the song cuts off after about 5 minutes. I've heard that the original is about 7 minutes long, but have not been able to find it anywhere (or the rest of the lyrics) ... Anyway, here's the whole song with corrections: I wish you happy Christmas, I do dear, I do I wish for you the stars, babe and I wish for you the moon You can sit and you can drink your champagne with your gibbering goon I hope he's being good to you I do ,dear, I do May no ill wind blow your way whispered you will keep safe up there in your leather, babe with your ivory and apes Things down here are fragmented, frankly, they've exploded all over the room. I think everything's a little off-centre, babe, I do, dear, I do. You said that to love me you must set me free, ah, That may all be very well Still I miss you, baby more than words can really tell. Sometimes I cannot sleep the greatness of my hate for you Sometimes I cannot sleep for I miss you May your day be as bright as the eyes of the girl that I once knew. May your sun be happy yellow, and your sky be baby blue. I miss your manic scratches/scratchings(?) and your howling at the moon. Ten steps behind me, with your dust pan and your broom. I hope you wish for me all the things I wish for you - health, hope and happiness, the sun and the moon. Say hello to the one who really don't have a clue. I'll be calling you soon, I think I love you, I do, dear, I do. |
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| Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Far from Me Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| No, this song is not about Vivienne Carneiro. Nick has admitted in a couple of interviews, and also in his Secret Life of the Love Song lecture that the song is about Polly Jean Harvey. | |
| PJ Harvey – The Whores Hustle and the Hustlers Whore Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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This is another song about/directed to Nick (Cave). These lines give it away: "Speak to me Of heroin and speed Genocide and suicide Of syphilis and greed Speak to me The language of love The language of violence The language of the heart" Nick used to enjoy his heroin and speed, his songs are all about love/the heart (he aslo lectures about the love song), and usually contain a decent portion of violence, and "syphilis and greed" is a lyric borrowed directly from his song Mercy: "A viper's voice would plead Thick with innuendo syphilis and greed And she cried `Mercy' Have mercy upon me And I told her to get down on her knees" I'm not sure whether Polly is comparing him to the viper's voice, or whether she is asking for mercy, since she left him, and he didn't exactly take it well (we have her to thank for most of his beautiful album, The Boatman's Call). Just my two cents. |
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