I’ve been listening to a lot of Nick Cave recently, and also reading about his life and work. It’s interesting how different people like his catalogue in different ways, but this isn’t surprising since he’s been going for 40+ years now. Coming up with a list of my favourite songs was a herculean task, but I’ve done it. Putting them in order would be impossible, so here I’ll present them chronologically:
The Mercy Seat (1988)
I hear stories from the chamber how Christ was born into a manger
And like some ragged stranger died upon the cross
This is one of his signatures now isn’t it? I was a big fan before this one was released, but when I first purchased and played the (vinyl!) single I had a feeling Nick Cave wasn’t going to remain ‘my’ guy any more. Previously I had tried to turn my friends on to him with no success; after this one it was easy. And rightly so; it’s a fantastic song and a deserved classic.
The Ship Song (1990)
We talk about it all night long, we define our moral ground
But when I crawl into your arms everything, it comes tumbling down
Nick Cave had emerged from the wasteland with his Tender Prey album (in 1988) and now he was on TV and magazine covers and (at least in Australia) most people no longer said ‘Nick who?’ And then this song – the first single from The Good Son album – came out, and the whole world started paying attention. It’s not that he hadn’t written love songs before, but I think this was the first time his signature mix of melancholy and beauty reached a sublime level. I’ve heard this countless times over the years, and it can still bring a tear to my eye. This one will be played at my funeral. (Also this unique cover version is extraordinary.)
Loom Of The Land (1992)
I told her that the moon was a magical thing
It shone gold in winter, and silver in spring
The 7th album Henry’s Dream was a tour-de-force, and while Cave himself apparently was not a fan of the production, it was around this time that I felt the band transitioned from making great albums with a few fantastic songs into fantastic albums with nearly perfect songs. For me this one is the standout of the album, and one of my all-time favourites of his. Here he tells a seemingly simple story of a boy and a girl using poetic lyrics laced with menace and despair. The melody and instrumentation are beautiful, and his vocal is virtuoso. This is a masterpiece and – for me – quintessential Nick Cave.
Do You Love Me (1994)
The moon in the sky is battered and mangled
And the bells in the chapel went jingle-jangle
Another raw ‘love song’ that suggests violence, madness and death. This was the first single from the Let Love In album and it’s yet another step in the path that led to Murder Ballads. This is a melodic and very singable song that celebrates the darker sides of life and I have loved it since the first moment I heard it.
Do You Love Me? (Pt 2) (1994)
Dreams that roam between truth and untruth
Memories that become monstrous lies
I hesitated to include both Do You Love Me‘s, because I didn’t want to eclipse this one. It’s the last song on the album, and wasn’t released as a single, but for me it’s without question the best song on that album and a fitting mirror of it’s namesake. In lesser hands this would be a dirge, but Cave transforms it into a beautiful and moving chronicle of (his?) lost youth and innocence. Do we love him? Of course we do!
Sail Away (1994)
She came beside me amongst my coat
Her breath was warm against my throat
We clung to each other so very close
For the worst had come true
This was the b-side to the Do You Love Me single, and I’ll never understand why because it is – and probably always will be – my favourite Nick Cave song. There’s so much great about this – the music, the performance, the delivery – but chief amongst them is the wonderful lyric, which contrasts innocence and fragility with literally ‘the worst’ coming true. Like all Cave songs it doesn’t matter to me what it is about, since the emotion it evokes is more important, and here those feelings are painful and so close.
That’s the thing with Nick Cave: his lyrics are so often dark and tortured and describe horrors that most people would run from (he wrote an entire album about murder) but they are also transcendent, and strangely reassuring. The best Nick Cave songs make you happy-sad in the best way: they remind you of life, and how special that is. For me, Sail Away is one of the best examples of this.
Black Hair (1997)
Today she took a train to the west…
For me, The Boatman’s Call is the best Nick Cave album; so good that it was a true struggle not putting half or more of the album on this list. The album – which Cave has since described as a “heroic melodrama born from rejection” – was spun from a turbulent love affair with singer PJ Harvey, and the songs and performances are intentionally slower and simpler than anything he had done before. It’s a poignant and sincere album filled with exquisite examples of his craft, and perhaps more than anything he had previously done it makes the listener feel they are right there with him as he sings. This particular song is a musical mantra, repeating over and over again his wish that Polly (and her Black Hair) perhaps didn’t choose to take that train and leave him. A moving song about failed love.
Where Do We Go Now But Nowhere (1997)
If I could relive one day of my life
If I could relive just a single one
You on the balcony my future wife
Oh who could have known, but no one
This is one the saddest songs he has ever written: the lyrics speak of love and loss and addiction and death and there’s no sunny sky on the horizon in the singer’s world. Put this one on when your overwhelmed or need to be sad, or when you just want to spend a few minutes ‘nowhere’.
Oh My Lord (2001)
They claimed that I had lost the plot
Kept saying that I was not the man I used to be
By now the young anti-establishment punk from Melbourne had become an acclaimed songwriter and performer that was being called the next Leonard Cohen. He was a ‘superstar’; famous worldwide. Of course the more famous one is, the less private one’s life becomes, and if this song is sincere it speaks volumes of the difficulty he had with the intrusions from the media into his private world. A dark topic for him perhaps (at the time), but once again he managed to spin the negative feelings into a marvelous and powerful song.
Nature Boy (2004)
She moves among the shadows
She floats upon the breeze
She moves among the candles
And we moved through the days and through the years
There’s always been that thought in me that Cave writes (and delivers) his lyrics with just a little twinkle in his eye. Could it be that his talent is even greater than we know: that the pain and darkness he puts onto his songs is an act delivered by an entertainer of superhuman ability? If true, then surely he would drop that disguise every now and then and show us the ‘real’ Nick Cave? And if he did, then surely it would be this lovely and wonderfully happy song about love.
(For the record I don’t believe the above. I think the truth is he is an astonishingly talented writer and performer that has always struggled with addiction and loss and even guilt and – to our benefit – has successfully channeled his struggles into verse and song. I don’t think there’s any doubt he’s one of the most talented songwriters of all time, and quite possible the best alive today.)
As I said this was an impossible list to compile, and even writing this I removed and added songs several times. I also omitted cover versions, despite some of them (Long Time Man, Running Scared) being amongst my favourites. You’ll also note the latest song is almost 20 years old now, since Cave’s last few albums haven’t spoken to me like his earlier work (especially the mid 90s stuff) does, despite them being amongst his most acclaimed.
I know a few of you are big fans of his work as well. Which songs did I leave off that should have been on this list?