Hmmm, i never took this song as being particularly sinister. Nothing about it struck me as such. I'll say, the Lolita reference is a bit unnerving, but the whole idea that he is a pedophile isn't working for me. If the knife is significant, and only mentioned once, and if the Lolita reference is also significant (which is debatable, considering the nature of the quote) then the line "The wind it bit bitter, for a boy of no means" should also be significant. They are both young, not just the girl. Infact, the only impression we get of her being young is a small breast, and that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with age.
I think the knife, like many of the strange details that accompany the characters from this album, serves to describe the boy. He is poor, has no shoes, and carries a knife possibly for protection, or maybe hunting.
Once the idea that he kills her is tossed out there, the whole chorus becomes somewhat spooky. "Please don't cry.....now go to sleep" .....eerie. I guess the benevolence in me never read this song as being violent, and even after hearing the claim, i'm still not sure it is. The "i'll never bring you harm" line could serve that point, but that just sounds like the kind of thing a killer in a Nick Cave songs might say right before he kills someone. The untrodden path might lend to a murder scene, but i'm still not convinced, especially since they are both there at the end. I think it's just a sad song about a poor boy and his girl, walking along the beach, staring at the moon, maybe I'm just naive and romantic.
indeed, the least sinister song of Cave's. i thought it might be a faint reference to a possible murder "out of unbearable love" (as usual for Cave), but reading the text through and through i conjecture NO.
at first glance (and also second and all consequent ones) this song reminds me of some days of my youth lived in a depressive, almost deserted town.
indeed, the least sinister song of Cave's. i thought it might be a faint reference to a possible murder "out of unbearable love" (as usual for Cave), but reading the text through and through i conjecture NO.
at first glance (and also second and all consequent ones) this song reminds me of some days of my youth lived in a depressive, almost deserted town.
Hmmm, i never took this song as being particularly sinister. Nothing about it struck me as such. I'll say, the Lolita reference is a bit unnerving, but the whole idea that he is a pedophile isn't working for me. If the knife is significant, and only mentioned once, and if the Lolita reference is also significant (which is debatable, considering the nature of the quote) then the line "The wind it bit bitter, for a boy of no means" should also be significant. They are both young, not just the girl. Infact, the only impression we get of her being young is a small breast, and that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with age.
I think the knife, like many of the strange details that accompany the characters from this album, serves to describe the boy. He is poor, has no shoes, and carries a knife possibly for protection, or maybe hunting.
Once the idea that he kills her is tossed out there, the whole chorus becomes somewhat spooky. "Please don't cry.....now go to sleep" .....eerie. I guess the benevolence in me never read this song as being violent, and even after hearing the claim, i'm still not sure it is. The "i'll never bring you harm" line could serve that point, but that just sounds like the kind of thing a killer in a Nick Cave songs might say right before he kills someone. The untrodden path might lend to a murder scene, but i'm still not convinced, especially since they are both there at the end. I think it's just a sad song about a poor boy and his girl, walking along the beach, staring at the moon, maybe I'm just naive and romantic.
indeed, the least sinister song of Cave's. i thought it might be a faint reference to a possible murder "out of unbearable love" (as usual for Cave), but reading the text through and through i conjecture NO. at first glance (and also second and all consequent ones) this song reminds me of some days of my youth lived in a depressive, almost deserted town.
indeed, the least sinister song of Cave's. i thought it might be a faint reference to a possible murder "out of unbearable love" (as usual for Cave), but reading the text through and through i conjecture NO. at first glance (and also second and all consequent ones) this song reminds me of some days of my youth lived in a depressive, almost deserted town.