The Singer

Not sure if I've ever seen this performance. I think I'd remember the weird, slightly creepy way Nick is looking at the camera at the beginning.

Video from marcoscraggs. Nick looks so handsome. And I love that he's chewing gum. Is it just me or are his live vocals not in this? Isn't that the album version? I don't know; it doesn't sound live to me.


And my favorite N.C. song (along with "Are You the One..."), from StinkyBohoon. I never have seen this done live, so I think the quality is forgivable:

The 'Stache is Back!!!!

Click for a close-up of this exciting news!

Kicking Against the Originals

First of all, sorry for the ungodly length of this post. That's what I get for embedding videos. Anyway, I've been wanting to do this for awhile, just for my own benefit. I figured some of you might enjoy this as well. Original versions of songs covered on Kicking Against the Pricks. Some originals are so different that it's insane.

Rhapsody allows 25 free streamings a month. Only linking to them here because some of these aren't on youtube.

1. "Muddy Waters" by Phil Rosenthal (performed here by Johnny Cash)

2. "I'm Gonna Kill That Woman" by John Lee Hooker (streaming on Rhapsody)

3.

4.

5.

6.

7. "Black Betty" by Leadbelly
"Looky Yonder" by Leadbelly

8.

9. I highly prefer the V.U. version, I gotta say (I love Nico):


10. I REALLY like Nick's version more...leaving it at that.


11. WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH THE CLOWN?!


12. I'm sorry...this cracked me up...SO MUCH.


13. Recorded earlier by other people, but jeez...I'm glad I'm almost done.


14.

Remind me to never do this again. It started off fine, with fuckin' JOHNNY CASH, then it took a turn for the horribly, horribly LAME (in my opinion). Dear god...make it stoooooooooooooooop! Love the Cave album and this just shows his covers KICK ASS!!! (Or kick pricks, if you prefer.)

I also added more (thanks to you all!) to the Books and Authors Nick likes list. Woohoo!

Books and Authors Enjoyed by Mr. Cave

You can definitely tell, listening to Mr. Cave, that he is a well-read individual. Something I've been meaning to do for a long time is come up with some sort of definitive list of books/authors he either likes and/or has mentioned in his songs.

It is my goal to explore all of these at some point. Whether or not you are thinking of doing the same, please help me by submitting references from songs, interviews, etc. that I have missed. YAY!

To get things started, you must, as a Cave fan, read his own two books:

And the Ass Saw the Angel (1989) [PLOT SYNOPSIS]
The Death of Bunny Munro (2009) [PLOT SYNOPSIS]

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Now, here is what will be, I assume, a constantly-updated list of authors and novels mentioned by Mr. Cave. See something missing? Let me know!

In the Belly of the Beast by Jack Abbott¹
Thank You by W.H. Auden¹
Flowers of Evil by Charles Baudelaire¹
Collected Poems by John Betjeman¹
American Murder Ballads and Their Stories by Olive Woolley Burt¹
The Anatomy of Melancholy by Roger Burton¹
Butler's Lives of the Saints¹
Louis Wain The Man Who Drew Cats by Rodney Dale¹
Late Victorian Holocausts by Mike Davis¹
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky⁵
George Eliot⁸
The Informers by Bret Easton Ellis¹¹
Harlot by Jill Alexander Essbaum²
The Unvanquisher by William Faulkner¹
Paul Gauguin³
The Odyssey by Homer⁷
High Windows and Selected Letters by Philip Larkin^1,3
Federico Garcia Lorca and his concept of "duende"¹⁰
The Bad Seed by William March ⁹
Das Kapital by Karl Marx³
Paradise Lost by John Milton⁶
News From Nowhere by William Morris⁴
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov ¹
Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor¹
The Collected Works of Billy the Kid edited by Michael Ondaatje¹
The Cantos by Ezra Pound¹
A Flower Book For the Pocket by Skene¹
W.H. Auden a Tribute edited by Stephen Spender¹
The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross¹
The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila¹
Inferno / From an Occult Diary by August Strindberg¹
Dylan Thomas³
John Wilmot³
W.B. Yeats⁸
And, of course...The Bible

¹ Shown in Stories, with a caption of "a selection of Nick Cave's favourite books." In the case of Lolita, Nick has mentioned numerous times his love for this book. He mentions Nabokov in "There She Goes, My Beautiful World" and in Nick Cave Stories [LINK], which is way over-priced, in my opinion (and I can say that since I own it).

²The picture at the top of this entry, which came from HERE.

³Mentioned in the song "There She Goes, My Beautiful World" from Abattoir Blues.

⁴One can only assume he is referencing this book with the song "More News From Nowhere". I have this book because of a utopia/dystopia class I took, but I've yet to read it.

⁵Here, among other places. His dad made him read it. (Thanks, scarletts-web!)

⁶As in "Song of Joy" and "Red Right Hand". (Thanks, Caroline!)

⁷From "More News From Nowhere". (Thanks again to Caroline.)

⁸From "No Pussy Blues," as pointed out by jutkacsak.

⁹Title of the band, duh. :) (Thanks, manilla-manish!)

¹⁰Nick Cave's Love Song Lecture [LINK], as pointed out by corpse-in-snow.

¹¹HERE, as pointed out by abattoir_blues)

He Tries to Run But He Don't Get Far

Sorry for the lack of updates. I have three massive tests this upcoming Tuesday and Wednesday, and I've been busy not preparing for them.

It would really behoove you (if I used that right) to check out this amazing photo from Rui Mendes on Flickr: Oh, the beauty!

Just click that. I am too lazy to ask the photographer if I can post it here, and there you go. It's a damned great picture.

I can't remember if I've seen this interview, but it deserves multiple viewings:


Basically, ALL of youtube user jokkoapa6's channel rules. Just browse through it and you'll find stuff like this: TADA! and a bunch of great 70's punk stuff as well.

Also, this is bloody amazing (black sparkles! the hair!):


And pvblovideos has a nice concert that starts with this:

Playlist: Cave's 1994 Favorites

RutgerHK over on the nick-cave.com forums posted this. I thought it was interesting to see what Mr. Cave enjoyed in 1994.

This is from a 1994 episode of MTV's 120 Minutes. RutgerHK says, "The episode is hosted by Nick Cave and he plays his favourite videos as well as some of his own music. I tried to find the playlist online, but I could hardly find any page referring to this particular show. So I thought I might as well post it here. Hope you like it."

PLAYLIST, anyone? I know I'm making it one.

1.The Birthday Party – Nick the Stripper
2.Einstürzende Neubauten – Blume
3.Tom Waits – I Don't Wanna Grow Up
4.Denis Walter – The Ship Song
5.The Saints – (I'm) Stranded
6.The Sex Pistols – Anarchy in the UK
7.Kylie Minogue – Better the Devil You Know
8.Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – The Mercy Seat
9.John Lee Hooker ft. Carlos Santana – The Healer
10.The Pogues & Kirsty MacColl – Fairytale of New York
11.Beasts of Bourbon – Chase the Dragon
12.Barry Adamson – The Man With the Golden Arm
13.Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Deanna
14.Massive Attack – Unfinished Sympathy
15.Neil Young – Touch the Night
16.Danzig – Killer Wolf
17.Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Jack the Ripper
18.Rollins Band – Low Self Opinion
19.Nick Cave and Shane MacGowan – What a Wonderful World
20.Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – In the Ghetto
21.Anita Lane – Jesus Almost Got Me
22.Leonard Cohen – First We Take Manhattan
23.Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Do You Love Me?

Top 50 Cave Songs: Yours

What are your top 50 Nick Cave songs?



Songs can include anything done with The Bad Seeds, Boys Next Door, Birthday Party, Grinderman, special appearances, soundtrack work, etc.

Try to rank them, #1 being your favorite, all the way down to #50. I want to come up with a list of what some of us(we?) random fans really love.

Post your choices here (in order), and I'll post all the results. I also need to finally post some mixes and work some more on the mood theme.

Ciao! (wtf?) I'll post mine sometime this weekend.