Friday Song Lyric: Nick Cave

Amara reminds me that we haven’t had any poetry here for a while. Don’t have a good stand-alone poem on hand, but I’ve always had a soft spot for these lyrics from Nick Cave’s The Boatman’s Call album.

Into My Arms

I don’t believe in an interventionist God
But I know, darling, that you do
But if I did I would kneel down and ask Him
Not to intervene when it came to you
Not to touch a hair on your head
To leave you as you are
And if He felt He had to direct you
Then direct you into my arms

Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms

And I don’t believe in the existence of angels
But looking at you I wonder if that’s true
But if I did I would summon them together
And ask them to watch over you
To each burn a candle for you
To make bright and clear your path
And to walk, like Christ, in grace and love
And guide you into my arms

Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms

But I believe in Love
And I know that you do too
And I believe in some kind of path
That we can walk down, me and you
So keep your candles burning
And make a journey bright and pure
That you’ll keep returning
Always and evermore

Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms

See the video on YouTube for full effect.

18 Comments

18 thoughts on “Friday Song Lyric: Nick Cave”

  1. Bad Seed rebuttal (homage to arrow of time:

    You don’t know what’s going on
    You’ve been away for far too long
    You can’t come back and think you are still mine
    You’re out of touch, my baby
    My poor discarded baby
    I said, baby, baby, baby, you’re out of time

    Well, baby, baby, baby, you’re out of time
    I said, baby, baby, baby, you’re out of time
    You are all left out
    Out of there without a doubt
    ‘Cause baby, baby, baby, you’re out of time

    You thought you were a clever girl
    Giving up your social whirl
    But you can’t come back and be the first in line, on no
    You’re obsolete my baby
    My poor old-fashioned baby
    I said baby, baby, baby you’re out of time

    Well, baby, baby, baby, you’re out of time
    I said, baby, baby, baby, you’re out of time
    Yes, you are left out
    Out of there without a doubt
    ‘Cause baby, baby, baby, you’re out of time

  2. Please tell me you’ve seen The Proposition. Nick’s script is incredible and offers some wry insight into the nature of evolution and the advent of “civilization.”

  3. It all seems very romantic, until you read the following sentence from Wikipedia relating to the woman he probably wrote it for:

    Cave has stated that the visible scar on his left cheek was given to him by then-girlfriend Anita Lane during a knife fight between the two.

  4. Cave has stated that the visible scar on his left cheek was given to him by then-girlfriend Anita Lane during a knife fight between the two.

    Ha. That fits in so well with much of the rest of his work …

  5. The Boatman’s Call is one of my favorite albums of all time!

    My favorite song on it is Idiot Prayer. Here’s a memorable passage:

    If you’re in Heaven then you’ll forgive me, dear
    Because that’s what they do up there
    If you’re in Hell, then what can I say
    You probably deserved in anyway

    Nick Cave is the man.

  6. I was cruising around the Sonoran desert over the last ten days or so, and passing through Tucson i saw this cool poster with a Dali print of the melting dripping clocks. Turns out that it was announcing a special Gravity conference, and there on the list of participants was the name Sean Carroll. Do have some fun. That town is full of some of my favorite bands and artists, and its proximity to getting deep into one of the most significant of the planet’s deserts is stimulating and exciting. Go for it.

  7. That would be me, yep. No time to enjoy the town, I’m afraid; I’m just zipping in to do my thing in between talks at NSF and Caltech. Glamorous jet-setting lifestyle, &c.

  8. I’m fairly sure this song was NOT written for Anita Lane. They were an item in the 80s and this song dates from ’95-’96. I had always assumed he wrote it for the lovely Susie Bick (since they were married around that time).

  9. My bad — I had decided it was on “From Her to Eternity” for some reason. Hadn’t listened to either album in far too long.

    Sadly, my encyclopedic knowledge of music has apparently been replaced by all the lyrics for “Wheels on the Bus”.

  10. Sean,
    Usually your diverse tastes which you share with the public here, are impeccable, and I really dig your GR book, your blogging, & share your philo of sci.atheism….
    But, I’m also a musician, and a songwriter, for several decades now, and I can tell you that song has gotta be THE musical `bottom of the barrel’…The guy cannot sing, the lyrix are unsophisticated philosophical whining, devoid of wit, moxie, or hipness…Now if you want a piano-accompanied love song for your girl, play her Christine McVie’s `SongBird’ from the FleetwoodMac DVD `The Dance’, and she’ll melt in your arms…Trust me.

  11. Jimbo, I’ll have to respectfully disagree. And choosing Fleetwood Mac as a favorable comparison to Nick Cave isn’t helping your case any.

    More substantively: sure, Cave isn’t an especially talented singer, nor a great pianist. But he’s a very good songwriter, an excellent performer, and a consistently intelligent, imaginative, and provocative lyricist. Into My Arms is a spare lyric, but in a very few straightforward words he manages to subtly pinpoint an expression of sympathy with the emotional weight of his lover’s religious beliefs, without accepting their metaphysical prerequisites. That’s the kind of nuance which was unavailable to Christine McVie at the height of her powers.

  12. Pingback: ‘Into My Arms, O Lord’ | All Things Seen and Unseen

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