I think when he wrote it he was having serious problems overcoming drug addiction.
Various people have various reactions to various drugs, but I'm also pretty sure before No More Shall We Part came out he was suffering either a lack of creative inspiration or just a form of writers block as a result of either withdrawl from the drugs or a direct result of the drugs themselves (im a bit hazy about it, but there's something to do with drugs).
To me,
"My typewriter had turned mute as a tomb
And my piano crouched in the corner of my room
With all its teeth bared"
furthers this idea - he is unable to write or play due to craving, so he leaves the saftey of his home in order to find a drug dealer to help him write again.
"There rose before me a little house
With all hope and dreams kept within
A womans voice close to my ear Said, "Why dont you come in here?""
He reaches the threshhold of his dealer, and is tempted to accept their offer of whatever drug.
"All hope and dreams lay within" surely hinting at the potential highs achievable.
However, he is aware that the "nurse" - presumably the side of his consciousness which wants him to overcome his addiction, or perhaps just the expectations of society - has helped him with the bad side of the drugs;
"But with her hot cocoa and her medication
My nurse had been my one salvation"
and so decides to return to the safe and secure confines of what is social normality (journeying back from a place remote in the countryside to the town: i'm guessing going to see a drug dealer isnt a highstreet affair).
The tears he cries on the way back are perhaps instilled by a sense of loss - although he is relieved to have made the choice he did ("hallelujah"), he did quite like drugs, and decides to bury the tears associated with them deep underground where they cant affect him, in a symbolic gesture.
I dont know. I'm only 16. I cant begin to scratch the surface of the depth of nick cave's lyrics.
I mostly agree with everyone, but most of you seem to think the nurse is good and the house is drugs, but I think it's the exact opposite. Nurse = drugs; woman/house = love.
I mostly agree with everyone, but most of you seem to think the nurse is good and the house is drugs, but I think it's the exact opposite. Nurse = drugs; woman/house = love.
He stops taking drugs (give his nurse weekend off) and he can't write or exist anymore.
He stops taking drugs (give his nurse weekend off) and he can't write or exist anymore.
Then somehow this woman/house appears, a saviour of love who says she'll provide him shelter, care for him, etc.
Then somehow this woman/house appears, a saviour of love who says she'll provide him shelter, care for him, etc.
But in the end, he goes back to his nurse (drugs) and in the process loses the love he could've had for the crutch the nurse provides.
But in the end, he goes back to his nurse (drugs) and in the process loses the love he could've had for the crutch the nurse provides.
I think when he wrote it he was having serious problems overcoming drug addiction.
Various people have various reactions to various drugs, but I'm also pretty sure before No More Shall We Part came out he was suffering either a lack of creative inspiration or just a form of writers block as a result of either withdrawl from the drugs or a direct result of the drugs themselves (im a bit hazy about it, but there's something to do with drugs).
To me, "My typewriter had turned mute as a tomb And my piano crouched in the corner of my room With all its teeth bared" furthers this idea - he is unable to write or play due to craving, so he leaves the saftey of his home in order to find a drug dealer to help him write again.
"There rose before me a little house With all hope and dreams kept within A woman
s voice close to my ear Said, "Why dont you come in here?""He reaches the threshhold of his dealer, and is tempted to accept their offer of whatever drug. "All hope and dreams lay within" surely hinting at the potential highs achievable.
However, he is aware that the "nurse" - presumably the side of his consciousness which wants him to overcome his addiction, or perhaps just the expectations of society - has helped him with the bad side of the drugs;
"But with her hot cocoa and her medication My nurse had been my one salvation"
and so decides to return to the safe and secure confines of what is social normality (journeying back from a place remote in the countryside to the town: i'm guessing going to see a drug dealer isnt a highstreet affair).
The tears he cries on the way back are perhaps instilled by a sense of loss - although he is relieved to have made the choice he did ("hallelujah"), he did quite like drugs, and decides to bury the tears associated with them deep underground where they cant affect him, in a symbolic gesture.
I dont know. I'm only 16. I cant begin to scratch the surface of the depth of nick cave's lyrics.
I mostly agree with everyone, but most of you seem to think the nurse is good and the house is drugs, but I think it's the exact opposite. Nurse = drugs; woman/house = love.
I mostly agree with everyone, but most of you seem to think the nurse is good and the house is drugs, but I think it's the exact opposite. Nurse = drugs; woman/house = love.
He stops taking drugs (give his nurse weekend off) and he can't write or exist anymore.
He stops taking drugs (give his nurse weekend off) and he can't write or exist anymore.
Then somehow this woman/house appears, a saviour of love who says she'll provide him shelter, care for him, etc.
Then somehow this woman/house appears, a saviour of love who says she'll provide him shelter, care for him, etc.
But in the end, he goes back to his nurse (drugs) and in the process loses the love he could've had for the crutch the nurse provides.
But in the end, he goes back to his nurse (drugs) and in the process loses the love he could've had for the crutch the nurse provides.
So he cries.
So he cries.