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Some time ago, I was reading in a newspaper a review of a Rolling Stones album; it was described as grandiose due to the drugs taken by the band during the making of the album, concluding the article by saying that in many cases, inspiration is given to artists from drug use.
Even dear Nick Cave has been accused of this; many critics claimed that after "Tender Prey" (and after the end of his heroin addiction), the ink king had lost a bit of his fury. Yet Nick managed to pull masterpieces like "The Good Son" and "Let Love In" out of the hat; but since these have already been reviewed, I will focus on the wonderful "Murder Ballads."
Defined by some genius as Cave's "commercial album" (due to the usual nonsense: successful album = commercial album); "Murder Ballads" is a great concept album that does not talk about death as many mistakenly say, but rather about murdered deaths and their killers (take that, commercial).
I wouldn't know how to explain the beauty of the album, but I will recommend the simplest method to appreciate it: do not try to understand whether it is a commercial product or not, do not go looking for hidden meanings or stupid fascist content (someone also said this) but just listen to not one but two handfuls of stunningly beautiful ballads: from the fierce "Stagger Lee" to the beautiful duets with Kylie Minogue " Where the Wild Roses Grow" or with PJ Harvey " Henry Lee" or the cover of Bob Dylan "Death Is Not the End".
One last thing: "Thank you, Nick, for throwing away the syringe but not the pen, and most importantly, not the anger."
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
04 Lovely Creature (04:18)
There she stands, this lovely creature
There she stands, there she stands
With her hair full of ribbons
And green gloves on her hands
So I asked this lovely creature
Yes, I asked. Yes I asked
Would she walk with me a while
Through this night so fast
She took my hand, this lovely creature
"Yes", she said, "Yes", she said
"Yes, I'll walk with you a while"
It was a joyful man she led
Over hills, this lovely creature
Over mountains, over ranges
By great pyramids and sphinxs
We met drifters and strangers
Oh the sands, my lovely creature
And the mad, moaning winds
At night the deserts writhed
With diabolical things
Through the night, through the night
The wind lashed and it whipped me
When I got home, my lovely creature
She was no longer with me
Somewhere she lies, this lovely creature
Beneath the slow drifting sands
With her hair full of ribbons
And green gloves on her hands
06 The Curse of Millhaven (07:00)
I live in a town called Millhaven
And it's small and it's mean and it's cold
But if you come around just as the sun goes down
You can watch the whole thing turn to gold
It's around about then that I used to go a-roaming
La la la la La la la lie
All God's children they all gotta die
My name is Loretta but I prefer it Lottie
I'm closing in on my fifteenth year
If you think you have seen a pair of eyes more green
Then you sure haven't see them around here
Well my hair is a-yellow and I'm always a-combed
La la la la La la la lie
Mama often told me that we all got to die
You must have heard about The Curse Of Millhaven
How last Christmas Bill Blake's little boy didn't come home
They found him the next week in One Mile Creek
His head bashed in and his pockets full of stones
Well, just imagine all the wailing and moaning
La la la la La la la lie
Even Billy Blake's boy, he had to die
Then Professor O'Rye from Millhaven High
Found nailed to his door his prize-winning terrier
Then next day the old fool brought little Biko to school
And we all had to watch as he buried her
Well his eulogy to Biko had all the tears flowing
La la la la La la la lie
Even God's little creatures, they have to die
Our little town fell into a state of shock
A lot of people were saying things that made little sense
Then the next thing you know the head of Handyman Joe
Was found in the fountain of the Mayor's residence
Well foul play can really get a small town going
La la la la La la la lie
Even God's children they have to die
Then, in a cruel twist of fate, old Mrs Colgate
Was stabbed but the job was not complete
Well the last thing she said before the cops pronounced her dead
Was, "My killer is Loretta and she lives across the street!"
Twenty cops burst through my door without even phoning
La la la la La la la lie
The young ones, the old ones, they all gotta die
Yes, it is I, Lottie. The Curse Of Millhaven
I've struck horror in the heart of this town
Like my eyes ain't green and my hair ain't yellow
It's more like the other way around
I gotta pretty little mouth underneath all the foaming
La la la la La la la lie
Sooner or later we all gotta die
Since I was no bigger than a weavil they've been saying I was evil
That if "bad" was a boot that I'd fit it
That I'm a wicked young lady, but I've been trying hard lately
O fuck it! I'm a monster! I admit it!
Well it makes me so mad that my blood really starts a-going
La la la la La la la lie
Mama always told me that we all gotta die
Yeah, I drowned the Blakey kid, stabbed Mrs. Colgate, I admit
Did the handyman with his circular saw in his garden shed
But I never crucified little Biko, that was two junior high school psychos
Stinky Bohoon and his friend with the pumpkin-sized head
I'll sing to the lot, now you got me going
La la la la La la la lie
All God's children have all gotta die
Than there are all of the others, all our sisters and brothers
You assumed were accidents, best forgotten
Recall the children who broke through the ice on Lake Tahoo?
Everyone assumed the "Warning" signs had followed them to the bottom
Well, they're underneath the house where I do quite a bit of stowing
La la la la La la la lie
Even twenty little children, they had to die
And the fire of '91 that razed the Bella Vista slum
That was the biggest shit-fight this country's ever seen
Insurance companies ruined, land lords getting sued
All cause of wee little girl with a can of gasoline
Those flames really roared when the wind started blowing
La la la la La la la lie
Well the rich man, and the poor man, they all got to die
Well I confessed to all these crimes and they put me on trial
I was laughing when they took me away
Off to the asylum in an old black Mariah
Well it ain't home, but you know, it's better than jail
It ain't such bad old place to happy home in
La la la la La la la lie
All God's children they all gotta die
Now I got shrinks that will not rest with their endless Rorschach tests
I keep telling them that I think they're out to get me
They ask me if I feel remorse and I answer, "Why of course!
There's so much more I could've done if they'd let me!"
So it's Rorschach and Prozac and everything is groovy
Singing La la la la La la la lie
All God's children they all have to die
La la la la La la la lie
I'm happy as a lark now and everything is fine
Singing La la la la La la la lie
Yeah, everything is groovy and everything is fine
Singing La la la la La la la lie
All God's children they gotta die
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Other reviews
By metafisico
The slow progression of the first heavy beats of the opening track foreshadow a world made of shadows and ghosts.
'Murder Ballads' is a work steeped and overflowing with Nick Cave, in the guise of a filthy and dirty poet as always.
