I always interpreted this song as being about Nick (or the speaker, if you prefer) struggling to conquer his drug addiction after getting married. I know that when Nick Cave met his wife, Susie Bick, he was just getting off his heroin addiction.
The song suggests that he promised her that he would stay off drugs, but some time after their wedding he broke that promise and he's now begging for her forgiveness. The line, "our friends awarded her courage with gifts," always seemed so sad to me -- it's like their friends were telling her that she was brave to marry him and stay with him considering his addiction and, maybe, other problems that he could bring to the relationship. Perhaps others warned her against the marriage, but she went ahead with it anyway because they were in love.
I think the most telling lines are these:
"The task of remembering the telltale clues
Goes to my lovely, my sorrowful wife
Who is counting the days on her fingers"
The "counting the days" line could refer to pregnancy, as others have noted, but I think it's also likely that she's counting the days that he's been clean...kind of like how recovering alcoholics keep track of their days of sobriety in an AA program. The "telltale clues" are probably signs that he's been using again. Or, perhaps even if he isn't using, she still has the burden of keeping her eye out for the signs.
The whole "come on and help me, babe" at the end, which sounds so different from the rest of the song, pretty clearly communicates that he deeply regrets breaking his promise and he wants her to help him so that he never does it again. Such sad, humble, vulnerable lyrics. One of Cave's best.
I always interpreted this song as being about Nick (or the speaker, if you prefer) struggling to conquer his drug addiction after getting married. I know that when Nick Cave met his wife, Susie Bick, he was just getting off his heroin addiction.
The song suggests that he promised her that he would stay off drugs, but some time after their wedding he broke that promise and he's now begging for her forgiveness. The line, "our friends awarded her courage with gifts," always seemed so sad to me -- it's like their friends were telling her that she was brave to marry him and stay with him considering his addiction and, maybe, other problems that he could bring to the relationship. Perhaps others warned her against the marriage, but she went ahead with it anyway because they were in love.
I think the most telling lines are these:
"The task of remembering the telltale clues Goes to my lovely, my sorrowful wife Who is counting the days on her fingers"
The "counting the days" line could refer to pregnancy, as others have noted, but I think it's also likely that she's counting the days that he's been clean...kind of like how recovering alcoholics keep track of their days of sobriety in an AA program. The "telltale clues" are probably signs that he's been using again. Or, perhaps even if he isn't using, she still has the burden of keeping her eye out for the signs.
The whole "come on and help me, babe" at the end, which sounds so different from the rest of the song, pretty clearly communicates that he deeply regrets breaking his promise and he wants her to help him so that he never does it again. Such sad, humble, vulnerable lyrics. One of Cave's best.