Nick Cave and Sarah Lee. Nick Cave: what those who have never heard of him should know about the cult musician

I can"t get down and I won"t get down
And stay all night with them
For the girl I have in that merry green land
I love far better than you
And the wind did howl and the wind did blow
La la la la la
La la la la lee
A little bird lit down on Henry Lee

She leaned herself against a fence
Just for a kiss or two
And with a little pen-knife held in her hand
She plugged him through and through
And the wind did roar and the wind did moan
La la la la la
La la la la lee
A little bird lit down on Henry Lee

Come take him by his lilly-white hands
Come take him by his feet
And throw him in this deep deep well
Which is more than one hundred feet
And the wind did howl and the wind did blow
La la la la la
La la la la lee
A little bird lit down on Henry Lee

Lie there, lie there, little Henry Lee
Till the flesh drops from your bones
For the girl you have in that merry green land
Can wait forever for you to come home
And the wind did howl and the wind did moan
La la la la la
La la la la lee
A little bird lit down on Henry Lee

Translation of the song

Unknown author (Translation of meaning)

I can't and won't go down
And I won't spend the whole night with you,
'Cause in a happy green land I have a girl
Which I love more than you.
And the wind howled, and the wind howled
La la la la la
La la la la li
A bird circles Henry Lee.

She leaned over the fence
Like a couple of kisses
And the little penknife that was in her hand,
She striped him length and breadth.
And the wind roared, and the wind moaned
La la la la la
La la la la li
A bird circles Henry Lee.

Come on, take his hands, white as lilies,
Come on, take him by the feet
And throw him into a deep, deep well,
Which is hundreds of feet deeper.
And the wind howled, and the wind howled
La la la la la
La la la la li
A bird circles Henry Lee.

Lay there, lie there, young Henry Lee,
Until the flesh falls from your bones
And your girl is in a happy green country,
Let it wait for you for at least an eternity.
And the wind howled, and the wind moaned
La la la la la
La la la la li
A bird circles Henry Lee.

Nick Cave is one of the most original musicians of our time, a true rock poet whose work is famous for its dark atmosphere, lyricism and unique, ever-changing sound. He began his career in the late 1970s in his homeland of Australia, where at the age of 23 he founded The Birthday Party, one of the first gothic rock bands in history. Blue-eyed, with a shock of jet-black hair, a thick baritone voice and a pale, emaciated appearance, Cave was instantly recognized as an exemplary representative of the new genre.

Young Nick Cave in Berlin, 80s

However, later Cave repeatedly changed both his own style and the style of the groups in which he played. He gained the greatest fame as the permanent leader and vocalist of the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, formed in 1983. The group, which has changed its lineup several times over a career spanning more than thirty years, has released 16 albums under Cave's leadership. Their songs not only won numerous music awards and achieved professional recognition, but were also covered by many famous performers: from Johnny Cash to Metallica.

What else is he famous for?

Cave is known not only as a songwriter, but also as a writer, screenwriter, soundtrack creator and even an actor. So, in 1989, he released his first extremely provocative novel, “And the Donkey Beheld the Angel of God.” In it, the musician, known for his complex relationship with religion, dissected the Old Testament into a brutal tale of a mute youth raised in a fanatical religious community with an innate desire for revenge for his worthless life. In 2009, Cave released an equally sensational second book, The Death of Bunny Munro. It is dedicated to the life of an alcoholic named Bunny, who indulges in all seriousness after the suicide of his wife.

As a screenwriter, Cave had a hand in several important Australian films of the 21st century. We are talking about John Hillcoat's westerns "The Proposal" and "The Drunkest County in the World." Cave is even more famous for his languid, hypnotic soundtracks, which he created with Bad Seeds bandmate Warren Ellis: “The Proposal” and “The Drunkest County in the World,” as well as “The Road” with Viggo Mortensen, “Like a Coward.” Robert Ford Killed Jesse James" with Brad Pitt, recent "At Any Cost" and "Wind River".

The musician’s appearance on screen in Wim Wenders’ classic “Sky Over Berlin” is also famous. In it, together with the Bad Seeds, he performed two hits from his early albums. And already in 2014, a documentary film “20,000 days on Earth” was shot about Cave and his creative process, in the creation of which the musician also had a hand as a screenwriter.

It's clear. Can you tell me more about his group?

For most of his creative life, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds have been around the world. Depending on these movements, which took place every few years, the material that the group created also changed.

One of the main members of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

The band spent the early stage, which lasted from 1983 to 1989, in West Berlin, where Cave was serving a suspended sentence for drug possession. The music of this period is characterized by a raw, almost unpolished sound in a gothic-blues style. During these same years, almost all of the band members, like Cave himself, were actively struggling with heroin addiction, which gave their music a particularly disturbing tone.

Beginning in 1989, Cave traveled to Brazil, where he began an affair with a local journalist. As a result, the group's gloomy style is temporarily replaced by lyrical ballads with a predominance of keyboard instruments. However, gradually the music becomes more multifaceted and experimental, and the number of band members is constantly growing (a second drummer appears).

Around the mid-1990s, Cave moved to England, where he met his second and settled in Brighton with his family. From this moment on, a new stage in the group’s work begins: the Bad Seeds are no longer so fixated on the figure of Cave himself, they demonstrate virtuoso mastery of instruments and an impressive genre range.

Already at the peak of his career, Cave devoted several years of his life to the side project Grinderman. Initially appearing under the name Mini-Seeds, the band consisted of four Bad Seeds musicians and was distinguished by a heavier style of playing, rooted in garage rock. Between 2006 and 2013, Grinderman released two excellent self-titled albums and successfully toured the world for several years, after which he announced his disbandment.

Finally, with the release of the album Push the Sky Away in 2013, the band came to a new sound and lyrically addressed the global theme of a rapidly changing world. Thanks to the talented arrangements of multi-instrumentalist Warren Ellis, the music from the last two albums becomes more minimalistic and takes on an intimate tone. Cave practically no longer sings about violence and experiences, but actively rethinks the path he has taken in life.

What should you listen to from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds?

Three of the most recognized albums are: Murder Ballads, The Boatman's Call and Push the Sky Away.

The first of them, released by the group in 1996, literally translates as “Murder Ballads.” The disc can be called conceptual: each of its ten songs tells a cruel and gloomy story, invariably ending in a bloody massacre. Cave invited familiar artists to participate in the recording: PJ Harvey, Shane MacGowan and Australian pop star Kylie Minogue. With the latter, the musician performed Where the Wild Roses Grow - an undisputed romantic hit, which still remains the group's most successful single. For this album, Cave was nominated for the popular American MTV Award, but asked the organizers to remove his name from the list of nominees.

Unlike the harsh (and cruel) Murder Ballads, The Boatman’s Call, recorded a year later, seems to be the absolute opposite: harmonious piano chords, Cave’s gentle baritone, lyrics - all about. It may even seem that a completely different group is playing. The song "Into My Arms" from this album is considered one of the best love tracks in the history of blues rock, and the disc itself was included in the authoritative anthology "A Thousand and One Music Albums You Should Listen to Before You Die."

The band's penultimate album, Push the Sky Away, is notable for its completely new sound, unlike anything the Bad Seeds had done before. Throughout the '90s and early 2000s, the band was repeatedly criticized for being too sentimental and wanting to return to the early style that made the Bad Seeds popular. The reproaches were accepted, and in the new album, instead of the usual ballads and sharp rock chords, you can hear laconic instrumental arrangements and viscous unique compositions, interspersed with Cave’s reflections on life in the era of Google and Wikipedia.

What are the songs about?

Cave's lyrics are widely known due to the musician's treatment of difficult topics of death, violence, and religion. However, he wrote his best songs, of course, about love.

The artist’s life was invariably accompanied by meetings with women who had a direct influence on the musician’s creative process. First it was Australian singer Anita Lane, who took part in the creation of songs such as From Her To Eternity and Stranger Than Kindness. Then Cave on the Brazilian journalist Vivian. He lived with her for six years and dedicated the entire album The Good Son (1990) to her with one of the most romantic songs in his discography - The Ship Song.

For some time, Cave also met with the famous rock singer PJ Harvey, who had a significant influence on the musician: West Country Girl, Black Hair and Green Eyes from the tenth album The Boatman’s Call are dedicated to her.

The singer's last muse was the British model Susie Beak, whom he married in 1999. Two years after this, Cave released his 11th album with the eloquent title No More Shall We Part, which can be translated as “We will not part again.” The musician kept his promise: Nick and Susie are still there.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' latest album was released in September 2016. The Skeleton Tree record can be considered the saddest ever created by the band and the most personal for Cave himself: during its recording, the musician’s 15-year-old son died. After the tragedy, Cave did not return to work for several months, and when he decided to do so, he radically changed the sound of the album. The musician’s process of overcoming a sudden surge of grief is fully reflected in the lyrics of some songs.

The difficult recording of Skeleton Tree and the death of his son were reflected in the documentary film by Australian director Andrew Dominick, “Once More with Feeling,” which premiered simultaneously with the release of the new disc. Anyone who wants to experience Nick Cave's music live can attend the Bad Seeds concerts in St. Petersburg (July 25) and Moscow (July 27), which became part of the band's large-scale tour in support of their latest album.

Nick Cave is a talented rock musician, writer and poet, screenwriter and composer of music for many famous films, leader of the group “Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds”.

Nicholas Edward Cave was born in September 1957 in the Australian city of Warracknabeal. In addition to Nick, three more children were growing up in the family of library employee Dawn Treadwell and English teacher Colin Frank Cave: sons Tim and Peter and daughter Julie.

Nick Cave's musical abilities showed up early. After high school, the young man entered an art college, where he met like-minded person Mick Harvey, without whom not a single project of the star could be completed in the future.

Music

In the late 1970s, Cave and Harvey formed a musical group called Boys Next Door. The team existed for several years, but by 1980 it broke up. To replace him, Nick and Mick created a new group, calling it “The Birthday Party”. But this band also turned out to be short-lived: in 1983, after touring European countries, the musicians separated.

At the very beginning of the 1980s, Nick Cave met the leader of the German group Blixa Bargeld. The Australian singer liked Blixa’s work so much that he invited the German to play together. Bargeld agreed. This cooperation lasted almost 20 years.

In 1984, Cave’s renewed group, called “Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds” (unlike previous projects, it still exists today), presented fans with the debut album “From Her To Eternity”. The disc received critical acclaim and was warmly received by the band's fans. 8 years later, the group recorded a stellar disc called “Henry’s Dream.” The authoritative British tabloid "Melody Maker" recognized this album as the best in Nick Cave's work and even gave it 7th place in the list of the best discs of 1992.

In the mid and late 1990s, the creative biography of Nick Cave and the group was enriched with two more albums “Let Love In”, which included the tracks “Red Right Hand”, “Do You Love Me?”, “Loverman” and “Murder Ballads” with songs "Song of Joy", "Stagger Lee". Fans of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds consider the compositions included in these discs to be the best in Cave’s work.

The end of the century was marked by the recording of two more albums in his creative career - “The Boatman’s Call”, which took 26th place in the list of “Top 100 Australian Albums”, and the live album “Live at the Royal Albert Hall”. In 2001, after two years of creative search, Cave released the disc “No More Shall We Part”. In 2003, the video for Nick Cave's song “Bring It On” was very popular.

In 2013, Nick Cave fans welcomed his 15th album, “Push the Sky Away.” Shortly before its release, Mick Harvey, with whom Nick Cave had walked hand in hand for 30 years, left the band. In 2015, the track “All The Gold In California” was included in the soundtrack album of the second season of the cult American TV series “True Detective”. In addition to Cave, Lera Lynn also participated in the recording of the music for the film. Nick Cave's work is often compared to the compositions of Tom Waits and. They are related by overlapping gloomy motifs.

In addition to his musical activities, Nick Cave also became famous for his literary work. The musician wrote the novel “And the Donkey Beheld the Angel of God,” which was published in 1989. Cave is a wonderful poet. Two published collections “King Ink. Volume I" and "King Ink. Volume II" are popular among lovers of the poetic word and have been translated into Russian.

Nick Cave has written many film tracks. His music can be heard in the films “Love and Cigarettes”, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”, “The Drunkest District in the World” and three dozen others. The video of Nick Cave's performance at the concert ended up in the cult film by Wim Wenders "Sky over Berlin".

In the film “Dandy” directed by Peter Zempel, Cave starred as an actor along with Blixa Bargeld. The debut was successful, and in 2005 the musician appeared in the western “The Proposal.” In 2007, the crime film “How the Coward Robert Ford Killed Jesse James” was released with the participation of Nick Cave.

At the same time, Nick Cave continued to write music for films. Among the musician’s works are the documentary “The English Surgeon”, the post-apocalyptic film “The Road” about a civilization destroyed by natural disasters, and the crime drama “The Drunkest District in the World” with and starring. In 2014, the artist released his own film project “20,000 Days on Earth,” for which he wrote the music and played himself in the leading role. In the next biographical film "The Shepherd's Sacrifice" Nick Cave again played the main role and also wrote the music.

Nick Cave’s connection with cinema is not only music or acting experiences. The artist acted as a talented screenwriter with whom many directors collaborated. The films “The Drunkest County in the World,” “The Death of Bunny Munro,” “The Raven,” and “Ghosts of Civil Death” were made based on Cave’s stories.

Personal life

For a long time, Nick Cave’s personal life was connected with a member of the group he led, “Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds,” Anita Lane. The girl was called Nick's muse. But 10 years later the young people broke up.

In 1991, Nick Cave became a father twice: Brazilian journalist Vivienne Carneiro gave birth to one son, and compatriot Bo Lazenby gave birth to the second. But the musician did not want to connect his life with any of the named women for a long time. The affair with PJ Harvey, a member of his group in the 1990s, also turned out to be short.

Nick Cave's personal life took a permanent turn after meeting with English fashion model Susie Beak. They met in 1997, and got married in 1999. This marriage produced twin boys, Arthur and Earl.

In 2015, it became known that 15-year-old Arthur. The teenager fell off a cliff and died from multiple injuries. The musician’s family was in mourning for a long time.

Among Nick Cave's hobbies is the creation of designer outfits, which the musician himself calls Soundsuits - “sound suits.” Unusual outfits are created from various materials, while they remain comfortable and completely hide the person inside. Cave uses any kind of waste as material: branches, dyed human hair, faux fur, wire, glitter, buttons, feathers.

Nick Cave now

Nick Cave, remaining a legend of rock music, continues to sell out stadiums. In 2016, together with the musicians of the group, Nick released another album, “Skeleton Tree”. The concert, which featured new musical compositions from the stage of the Danish Royal Arena, was recorded as a musical documentary film by director David Barnard. At the same time, Nick Cave delighted fans with videos for the musical compositions “Jesus Alone” and “Red Right Hand” (Angel Heart).

Now the concert film has begun its journey around the world. In 2018, in April, Nick Cave's video was broadcast in Ukraine and Russia. At the same time, a full-scale tour began in support of the album. Nick Cave plans to perform in Russia in July. The musician will give concerts in two cities - Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Discography

• 1979 – Door Door

The Birthday Party

• 1980 – The Birthday Party
• 1981 – Prayers On Fire
• 1982 – Junkyard

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

• 1984 – From Her to Eternity
• 1985 – The Firstborn Is Dead
• 1990 – The Good Son
• 1992 – Henry's Dream
• 1994 – Let Love In
• 1996 – Murder Ballads
• 2003 – Nocturama
• 2008 – Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
• 2013 – Push the Sky Away
• 2016 – Skeleton Tree

Passionate love, treacherous betrayal, furious jealousy and cruel revenge - dozens of famous folk ballads are based on this simple storyline, including the song Henry Lee by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds featuring PJ Harvey, discussed below.

The history of the Henry Lee song began, according to researchers, no later than the fifteenth century. It is generally accepted that its homeland is Scotland, but subsequently the ballad was well known in England and the USA. As is usually the case in folklore, the song had several versions of the lyrics and was found under different names: Henry Lee, Proud Girl, Earl Richard, Young Hunting, Love Henry and others.

They all talked about a young man who wants to leave his beloved for another, more beautiful woman. The insulted girl gets him drunk, kills him and throws his body into the river. Sometimes the song mentions a witness to a crime - a small bird. As a rule, most versions ended the same way: the truth came out, after which the woman was executed.

It is possible that the song would not have survived to this day if Richard “Dick” Justice had not recorded it in 1929. His version of the song was included in the collection English and Scottish Popular Ballads by Francis James Child. Henry Lee was later sung by many artists, including Bob Dylan.

Modern music lovers who are not interested in folk music know the song thanks to Nick Cave, who performed it in a duet with PJ Harvey. They took Richard Justice's composition as a basis, but musically changed it so much that it is not easy to recognize the original.

Henry Lee is included in , the ninth studio album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. It was also released as a single in Australia.

The video for the song Henry Lee - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds was directed by Rocky Schenk.

• Music lovers eager for sensation claim that the song is about the American serial killer Henry Lee Lucas.
• and PJ Harvey were dating at the time of the recording of Henry Lee.

Henry Lee Lyrics

Get down, get down, little Henry Lee
And stay all night with me
You won't find a girl in this damn world
That will compare with me

La la la la la
La la la la lee

I can't get down and I won't get down
And stay all night with them
For the girl I have in that merry green land
I love far better than you
And the wind did howl and the wind did blow
La la la la la
La la la la lee
A little bird lit down on Henry Lee

She leaned herself against a fence
Just for a kiss or two
And with a little pen-knife held in her hand
She plugged him through and through
And the wind did roar and the wind did moan
La la la la la
La la la la lee
A little bird lit down on Henry Lee

Come take him by his lilly-white hands
Come take him by his feet
And throw him in this deep deep well
Which is more than one hundred feet
And the wind did howl and the wind did blow
La la la la la
La la la la lee
A little bird lit down on Henry Lee

Lie there, lie there, little Henry Lee
Till the flesh drops from your bones
For the girl you have in that merry green land
Can wait forever for you to come home
And the wind did howl and the wind did moan
La la la la la
La la la la lee
A little bird lit down on Henry Lee

Henry Lee Lyrics

Lay down, lie down, little Henry Lee
And stay with me all night
You won't find a girl in this damn world
What can compare to me

La-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-li

I can't lie down and I don't want to lie down
And stay with you all night
After all, the girl who is waiting for me in the cheerful green land,
I love much more than you
And the wind kept howling, and the wind kept blowing
La-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-li
A little bird flew to Henry Lee

She leaned on the fence
To kiss him once or twice,
And a small penknife
She hit him several times
And the wind kept howling, and the wind kept blowing
La-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-li
A little bird flew to Henry Lee

Take him by the pale hands,
Take him by the feet
And throw it into a deep, deep lake,
Which is more than a hundred feet to the bottom
And the wind kept howling, and the wind kept blowing
La-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-li
A little bird flew to Henry Lee

Lay there, lie there, little Henry Lee
Until the flesh leaves the bones
And the girl you got in the cheerful green land,
Can wait forever for your return home
And the wind kept howling, and the wind kept blowing
La-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-li
A little bird flew to Henry Lee

Quote about the song

A Tale of the Fury of a Spurned Woman

Nicholas Edward Cave was born on September 22, 1957 in Warracanabile, Victoria, Australia. He grew up in an Anglican family. While studying at art college, Cave met Mick Harvey, with whom he organized almost all of his subsequent musical projects. The first was the Boys Next Door group in the late 1970s, which broke up by 1980. After this, the group The Birthday Party is created, named so in memory of one of the scenes from Dostoevsky’s novel “Crime and Punishment”. The group went to Europe, and broke up by 1983. Shortly before, Nick Cave met Blixa Bargeld, the leader of the German group Einstürzende Neubauten, and soon invited him to play at his place. Blixa agrees, and has been involved in Cave's projects for almost 20 years. So, in 1984, the first album of Cave’s new group - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - From Her To Eternity was released. Cave gained great popularity from his albums Let Love In, Henry's Dream and Murder Ballads. The Murder Ballads album features Cave's duets with Kylie Minogue and PJ Harvey. Cave is characterized as a dark and gloomy musician, he is often put on a par with Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen. Nick Cave and PJ Harvey
Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue
In 2006, Nick Cave created a new project - the Grinderman quartet based on the group that accompanied him during the so-called. "solo" tour. In 2007, their debut self-titled album was released. Grinderman
Nick Cave's personality and work have been greatly influenced by fiction, which has made a great impression on him since childhood. According to Cave himself, he had a good literature teacher, and his father tried to “drill” two fragments from books into his head: the opening scene from Nabokov’s Lolita and the murder scene from Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment. Cave wrote the novel And the Donkey Beheld the Angel of God, published in 1989. In addition, Nick Cave is the author of the poetry collections “King Ink. Volume I" and "King Ink. Volume II". “And the donkey saw the Angel of God” was translated into Russian by Ilya Kormiltsev. In September 2009, Cave's second novel, The Death of Bunny Munro, was published. All these books have been translated into Russian.
Nick Cave collaborates with filmmakers. His band's performance can be seen in Wim Wenders' film "The Sky over Berlin" (German: Der Himmel über Berlin, 1987). Cave also starred with Blixa Bargeld in Peter Sempel's Dandy. In 2005, the western The Proposition was released, written by Nick Cave, with a soundtrack by Cave and his Bad Seeds colleague Warren Ellis.
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