Animal X

That is a totally disturbing and beautiful song, and a real Nick Cave. I discovered it today and I would like to give my thoughts and lyrics interpretation, I would be grateful if anyone gives more ideas.

There was a girl - call her Animal X 22, 24, 25, it's hard to tell, it's hard to tell

So there is nothing we need in that girl's personality - even her age is vague. What we need are instincts, that is why she is called an animal.

She comes from the city where there is light and air Where you can watch television And you can go to the movies And read books just for the joy of it

So the 'city' is a place associated here with civilization. You can make things just for the joy of it, not because you have to survive.

And she went out walking She was drawn along by a kind of humming A kind of praying, a kind of prayer And she winds up down on the waterfront Out on the boondocks, out on the boondocks

Animal X leaves civilized city and turns up at the waterfront. Now, water could be a symbol of nature, from where the instincts come. She is drawn by some 'humming' which leads her to Animal Y, as if by some divine design.

But he wasn't her type, he was a different kind They were built for each other Bit by bit and piece by piece They were built for each other By some cosmic hand just for the joy of it

They were built for each other, but he isn't her type - and that was made for the joy of it. Designed that way, she would never notice him if he didn't turn up here that night by some divine intervention. He calls out to her in a language she doesn't understand, but still it is seen later in the song that they are able to communicate somehow, probably by instinctive means.

But his stomach was where his head was And she put her hand on his head just for the joy of it But his head was where his feet were

That sounds very cryptic - it seems he is internally a very different creature from what human being is. He is a 'Frankenstein's Monster'. What I think that means is that he was build up by different events of his life, which act as his 'body parts'.

They can build their gods way up high They can build their gods but they don't own the sky

Animal X may be speaking of the fact, that humankind was able to imagine gods but wasn't able to be close to them. Another possibility, more probable, is that she says that all creations of human mind - such as God's law and morale - are just creations of imagination and can easily be neglected. She wants to 'lay right down beside' Animal Y and 'be [...] Bride of Frankenstein', which apparently is against morale or divine law.

He was a head with no heart He was an arm with no hand He was a leg with no feet He was a head with no heart She was a head with no heart She was an arm with no hand She was a leg with no feet She was a head with no heart

They are misfits. They possess the general features (not directly arms and legs, perhaps general intelligence or something like that) but they don't have the most vital parts of these features and thus cannot fit into the society.

Realizing that, perhaps they wander off at that point never to be seen again - indications of height can be a reference to the fact that they were looked for later, and the last lines state that she was last seen going down to the waterfront.

I may be looking at things too shallowly, but that is how I see that magnificent piece of lyric. The lyrics themselves fit the atmosphere of 'Push the Sky Away' but the music doesn't fit the overall placidity of the album, which could be the reason why the song was left out. Anyway, thank Nick Cave for another beautiful piece of music.