That's the one song Cave later regretted singing, instead of letting Roland S. Howard (the songwriter) do it.
I just searched for something that looked good to me lol. I like these threads to be dressed up a little. Glad you liked them!
Jack's Shadow This is a great song, which in effect sounds like a more focused version of the styles found on From Her To Eternity. Lost of drama and tension and the abrasive atmospherics that help build the dynamic of the song. Lyrics They dragged Jack and his shadow From the hole And the bulb that burned above him Did shine both day and night And his shadow learned to love his Little darks and greater light And the sun it shined And the sun it shined And the sun it shined A little stronger Jack wept and kissed his shadow “Goodbye” Spat from their dirty dungeons Into a truly different din Shat from their institutions Into a fully different din And his shadow soon became a wife And children plagued his latter life Until one night he took a skinning knife And stole into the town And tracked his shadow down Said the shadow to Jack Henry “What’s wrong?” Jack said “A home is not a hole” “And Shadow, you’re just a gallow that I hang my body from” “O Shadow, your a shackle from which my time is never done” Then he peeled his shadow off in strips He peeled his shadow off in strips Then kneeled his shadow on some steps And cried “What have I done!?” And the sun it shined And the sun it shined I say “Love is blind” “And is it any wonder?!” “Is it any wonder?!” Jack and his damned shadow Is gone And though each one of us are want to duly mourn And though each one of us are want to duly mourn ‘Tis done in brighter corners now ‘Tis done in brighter corners now Now that Jack’s black shadow’s gone And the sun it shines And the sun it shines And the sun it shines A little stronger I swear, love is blind Ooh love is blind Yeah love is blind And is it any wonder? ‘Tis done in brighter corners now ‘Tis done in brighter corners now Now that Jack’s black shadow’s gone Etcetera Etcetera
Hard On For Love Again this song echoes the sound and feel of the earlier albums. Lyrics It is for she that the cherry bleeds That the moon is steeped in milk and blood That I steal like a robber From her altar of love O money lender! O cloven gender! I am the fiend hid in her skirts And it’s as hot as hell in here Coming at her as I am from above Hard on for love hard on for love Hard on for love hard on for love Well, I swear I seen that girl before Like she walked straight outa the book of Leviticus But they can stone me with stones I don’t care Just as long as I can get to kiss Those gypsy lips! Gypsy lips! My aim is to hit this Miss And I’m movin in (I’m movin in) Coming at her like Lazarus from above Hard on for love hard on for love Hard on for love hard on for love The Lord is my shepard I shall not want The Lord is my shepard I shall not want But he leadeth me like a lamb to the lips Of the mouth of the valley of the shadow of death I am his rod and his staff I am his sceptre and shaft And she is heaven and hell At whose gates I ain’t been delivered I’m gunna give them gates a shove Hard on for love hard on for love Hard on for love hard on for love And her breasts rise and fall Her breast rise and fall Her breast rise and fall Her breast rise and fall And just when I’m about to get my hands on her Just when I’m about to get my hands on her Just when I’m about to get my hands on her Just when I’m about to get my hands on her You are beautiful! O dove! Hard on for love hard on for love Hard on for love hard on for love Just when I’m about to get my hands on her Just when I’m about to get my hands on her Her breasts rise and fall Her breasts rise and fall Just when I’m about to get my hands on her Just when I’m about to get my hands on her Hard on for love hard on for love Hard on for love hard on for love
She Fell Away This song has quite a sensational soundtrack and leaves you with the feeling that the band had used the popular soft side, hard side with this album. This song kicks along with a basic theme that continues throughout with accents and nice musical effects thrown in to accentuate dynamics and melody. Lyrics Once she lay open like a road Carbed apart the madness that I stumbled from But she fell away She fell away Shed me like a skin She fell away Left me holding everything Once the road lay open like a girl And we drank and laughed and threw the bottle over But she fell away She fell away I did not see the cracks form As I knelt to pray I did not see the crevice yawn, no Sometimes At night I feel the end it is at hand My pistol going crazy in my hand For she fell away O she fell away Walked me to the brink Then fell away I did not see her fall To better days Sometimes I wonder was she ever there at all She fell away She fell away She fell away
Long Time Man This is such a great song in this form. The song was written by Tim Rose and released as a single by him in 1967. I haven't heard the original, but i reckon it may be worth posting .... I really like the feel of this song. I think it is very effective and ends this great album well. Lyrics Yeah, they came to take me away Said I'd be sitting here for the rest of my life But I don't really care, I shot my wife And brother, I can't even remember the reason why [Chorus:] Oh, it makes a long time man feel bad Yeah, it makes a long time man feel bad Well I ain't had no love since I don't know when It sure makes a long time man feel bad We was down in Jacksonville A cold winter night My baby and I, we began to fight I heated up, and I grabbed my gun I get so cold on those nights down south She was laying in a pool right there on the kitchen floor She looked up at me and began to smile Her gasping words: "Baby, I love you" Then she closed those baby blue eyes [Chorus] Sometimes I hear you call my name in the dead of the night I ain't had those arms around me I ain't had those lips, those lips, around me It sure makes a long time man feel bad So bad
Tim Rose - Long Time Man Much more like a country song and sounding musically a little like the Decemberists. Certainly an excellent choice of a song to cover and arranged really well by the band.
"Well I think Your Funeral... My Trial was particularly narrative," Cave told New Musical Express in 1988. "The way I'm portrayed I find particularly funny sometimes, this supposed pessimism I'm meant to harbour towards everything and anything. I think something like Your Funeral... My Trial has got its humorous side, because I'm reasonably aware of the reputation that I've got. I find it curious to think certain people would find songs I write so continually harping on the same themes to be irritating, pathetic and so on. I kind of find some sort of enjoyment in that." To call Your Funeral... My Trial a "rock and roll" album would be somewhat misleading, though it certainly does rock.
Tender Prey Studio album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Released 19 September 1988 Recorded August–November 1987 Studio Vielklang Studios and Hansa Tonstudio in West Berlin, Germany; Trident Studios and Strongroom Studios in London, United Kingdom Length 54:34 Label Mute Producer Flood, Tony Cohen, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Tender Prey is the fifth studio album by Australian rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released on 19 September 1988 on Mute Records. Produced by Flood, the album was recorded during several sessions over the course of four months in West Berlin—where the band were based at the time of its release—and London and dedicated to Fernando Ramos da Silva. The album opens with frontman Nick Cave's signature song, "The Mercy Seat," which has been subsequently played at almost all of the band's live performances since 1988, and was later covered by one of Cave's influences, Johnny Cash, on American III: Solitary Man (2000). "The Mercy Seat" was released as a single in May 1988 prior to the album's release and "Deanna" was released in September. On the CD version, the video mix of "The Mercy Seat" is also included as the last track. Upon its release, Tender Prey received positive reviews and charted in the United Kingdom and Greece. However, the album failed to chart in either the band's native Australia or the United States Billboard charts. The album was remastered and reissued on 29 March 2010 as a collector's edition CD/DVD set and in October 2010. It was also listed in the book 100 Best Australian Albums, alongside The Boatman's Call (1997), in the Top 30.[8] Cave later said, "It was a nightmare, that record. It is reflective of a group - particularly myself - who was just writing songs and there was no larger idea behind it. Sometimes some of the group was there, sometimes they weren't. I hear bad production and I hear bad performances as well."[9] Cave later admitted that the album, "was made at a difficult time in my life when things were spiralling out of control in a lot of areas."[10] In 2012, the album was added to the National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia. This album seemed to be like a coming of age for the band. In a lot of people's minds it is the best thing they have done. I am not one of those people, though I do love the album. For me Your Funeral... My Trial is where the band found themselves and stepped on up. What Tender Prey did have was the phenomenal and epic Mercy Seat, probably considered by most as his most important and possibly signature song. It also had a rip roaring second single in the song Deanna which also pricked up a lot of ears with its Bonnie and Clyde like imagery. This is certainly an important album in the sense that these two songs, at least, brought wider exposure to the band and some momentum started to pick up for them on a wider scale. They managed to slowly move out of the underground and yet keep their alternative banner flying high. Tomorrow morning we'll start going through this album and hopefully you all feel like joining in the fun.
before moving on to tender prey i would just like to comment on jack"s shadow, it was written about jack henry abbot who was a convict released early due to his literary talent and championed by such people as norman mailer and other well known celebrities, it didn't take too long after his release to stab to death a local restaurant worker , jack henry wound up back in prison from which he never should have been released and commited suicide i think the power of this story lends some credence to mr. caves lyrics Jack Abbott (author) - Wikipedia
The brilliant Mercy Seat aside,Up Jumped The Devil & New Morning are (my) favorites from that album. Never been a huge fan of Deanna. I guess during that time the drug abuse took its toll (didn’t Cave enter rehab after Tender Prey?). However,the next album would sound quite different and marked a new chapter for the band. O poor heart I was doomed from the start Doomed to play The villian's part I was the baddest Johnny In the apple cart My blood was blacker Than the chambers of a dead nun's heart
I am closer to this opinion, most of the time i love it. I just think it was an important song for the band. It has a certain accessibility for those less drawn to the really alt. stuff
Sorry to interrupt your train of thought mw, just wanted to mention the final unlisted track on "Your Funeral .." (at least on my CD Stumm ..) The first time I heard "Scum" it immediately struck me with it's extreme bitterness/venom directed, it would seem, against a pair of music critics. Think of the bitterest Dylan/Costello lyrics and add an order of magnitude Forum discussion re. Scum