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Rating: The fifth official album signed by Nick Cave and his loyal Bad Seeds, Tender Prey (Tenera Preda) was released in 1989, marking the beginning of a second phase of artistic maturity for the renowned Australian singer-songwriter. Coming off the critical acclaim of the intense and poetic Your Funeral... My Trial, with this new work Cave raises the stakes. Inspired in some way by the darkest and most ominous sides of society (and the human soul), he writes a handful of songs that once again leave their mark.
The work is expressly dedicated to Pixote, alias Fernando Ramos da Silva, the young protagonist of the film Pixote: la legge del più debole (Pixote: a lei do mais fraco, by Hector Babenco - 1981), which tells the harrowing realities of the Brazilian favelas and the ninos da rua, the children exploited by crime in the most sordid criminal affairs. This tribute to Ramos, the actor who died tragically at the age of twenty, represents the trait d'union between the spirit that moved Cave and—in part—guitarist Mick Harvey, his longtime collaborator in the Bad Seeds, and the romantically cursed atmosphere that imbues the album and its lyrics.
The opening track The Mercy Seat—co-written with Mick Harvey—is in itself a masterpiece within the masterpiece, almost a standalone work, such is its resonance in terms of writing and pathos. Considered by many to be the most beautiful and important song ever written by Nick Cave—and indeed one of the most powerful songs in rock history—it is a kind of intimate river-like confession by a man condemned to the electric chair (the mercy seat), who stubbornly repeats his innocence and his utter serenity in the face of death.
Occhio per occhio
e dente per dente
e comunque io ho detto la verità
e non ho paura di morire
Visually translated by a videoclip in which Cave himself plays the song's protagonist, sitting on the cot of a bleak death row cell, The Mercy Seat is truly one of the pinnacles of his poetics: a cold, brash, disenchanted awareness from a criminal who repeats his perspective endlessly—but never surrenders—only to admit in the final line that he might, after all, have told a lie.
The song’s evocative power alone is worth the price of the album. The strident sounds of violins and guitars, the relentless drumming reminiscent of the execution drums of the past, the steady gait of a voice rich in dramatic nuances capable of sketching out the protagonist's figure and attitude even if one does not understand English. An incredible tour-de-force lasting several minutes that sweeps up and overwhelms the listener. There are numerous references to the tradition of Christian worship and more. From the above biblical quote to the double meaning of mercy seat—which refers not just to the electric chair but also to the propitiatory, the golden lid of the mythical Ark of the Covenant. The truth is, just analyzing the lyrics themselves would deserve a separate review.
About the song and his perception of death, Nick Cave said in an interview: "Once I was able to write things like ‘I am not afraid to die.’ And kids would come up to me and say: ‘Hey, that line means so much to me.’ But I have to say I don’t feel that way anymore. I don't feel so arrogant about death as I once did. I wake up sometimes in a panic about death drawing nearer."
Tender Prey thus continues with nine more songs, and one might say that lined up behind The Mercy Seat they struggle to stand out, even though some display remarkable poetic and artistic quality. Personally, I've always found the tracklist a bit uneven, musically speaking. While the lyrics almost always keep the fil rouge of a romantic and disenchanted gaze on guilt and forgiveness, at times the sound becomes predictable and formulaic. Songs like Deanna, for example, have the flavor of a filler divertissement. The same goes for the insistent and frankly tedious City of Refuge. This, however, is not the case with the nostalgically delicate Watching Alice—the story of a woman shut away in her room and her sad routines—and Mercy (here's a word that comes back), an invocative lament that seems to follow the inner labyrinths of the aforementioned The Mercy Seat; not by chance, also co-written with Mick Harvey. Then comes Slowly Goes the Night, a melancholic ballad that Cave delivers with a crooner’s voice over vintage piano textures. And again, Up Jumped the Devil, the only song co-signed by all the Seeds, with a syncopated and deliberately approximate aura, typically "Cave-like", which we will find again on future albums.
A forerunner of those albums, Tender Prey is, in fact, like a new planting with some forgivable missteps that would soon bear good fruit. Starting with the next remarkable The Good Son, which definitively established the Bad Seeds as flag-bearers of a stylistic crossover rooted in distinguished masters like Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan and itself became a creative template for countless other bands.
Nevertheless, over time the album has solidified its cultural stature. In Australia it is considered a cornerstone of national musical history, included in various elite rankings and halls of fame. At the time, Nick Cave himself did not cast a serene or constructive light on the making of the album, declaring that it had been a nightmare and reflected an almost idea-less collective, with dreadful performances from a musical perspective. Though later he reconsidered, with hindsight.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 The Mercy Seat (07:17)
It began when they come took me from my home
And put me in Dead Row,
Of which I am nearly wholly innocent, you know.
And I'll say it again
I..am..not..afraid..to..die.
I began to warm and chill
To objects and their fields,
A ragged cup, a twisted mop
The face of Jesus in my soup
Those sinister dinner meals
The meal trolley's wicked wheels
A hooked bone rising from my food
All things either good or ungood.
And the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I'm yearning
To be done with all this measuring of truth.
An eye for an eye
A tooth for a tooth
And anyway I told the truth
And I'm not afraid to die.
Interpret signs and catalogue
A blackened tooth, a scarlet fog.
The walls are bad. Black. Bottom kind.
They are sick breath at my hind
They are sick breath at my hind
They are sick breath at my hind
They are sick breath gathering at my hind
I hear stories from the chamber
How Christ was born into a manger
And like some ragged stranger
Died upon the cross
And might I say it seems so fitting in its way
He was a carpenter by trade
Or at least that's what I'm told
Like my good hand I
tatooed E.V.I.L. across it's brother's fist
That filthy five! They did nothing to challenge or resist.
In Heaven His throne is made of gold
The ark of his Testament is stowed
A throne from which I'm told
All history does unfold.
Down here it's made of wood and wire
And my body is on fire
And God is never far away.
Into the mercy seat I climb
My head is shaved, my head is wired
And like a moth that tries
To enter the bright eye
I go shuffling out of life
Just to hide in death awhile
And anyway I never lied.
My kill-hand is called E.V.I.L.
Wears a wedding band that's G.O.O.D.
`Tis a long-suffering shackle
Collaring all that rebel blood.
And the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I'm yearning
To be done with all this measuring of truth.
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth
And anyway I told the truth
And I'm not afraid to die.
And the mercy seat is burning
And I think my head is glowing
And in a way I'm hoping
To be done with all this weighing up of truth.
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth
And I've got nothing left to lose
And I'm not afraid to die.
And the mercy seat is glowing
And I think my head is smoking
And in a way I'm hoping
To be done with all this looks of disbelief.
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth
And anyway there was no proof
Nor a motive why.
And the mercy seat is smoking
And I think my head is melting
And in a way I'm helping
To be done with all this twisted of the truth.
A lie for a lie
And a truth for a truth
And I've got nothing left to lose
And I'm not afraid to die.
And the mercy seat is melting
And I think my blood is boiling
And in a way I'm spoiling
All the fun with all this truth and consequence.
An eye for an eye
And a truth for a truth
And anyway I told the truth
And I'm not afraid to die.
And the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I'm yearning
To be done with all this measuring of proof.
A life for a life
And a truth for a truth
And anyway there was no proof
But I'm not afraid to tell a lie.
And the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I'm yearning
To be done with all this measuring of truth.
An eye for an eye
And a truth for a truth
And anyway I told the truth
But I'm afraid I told a lie.
03 Deanna (03:45)
O DEANNA
O Deanna!
O DEANNA
Sweet Deanna!
O DEANNA
You know you are my friend, yeah
O DEANNA
And I ain't down here for your money
I ain't down here for your love
I ain't down here for your love or money
I'm down here for your soul
No carpet on the floor
And the winding cloth holds many moths
Around your Ku Klux furniture
I cum of death-head in your frock
We discuss the murder plan
We discuss murder and the murder act
Murder takes the wheel of your Cadillac
And death climbs in the back
O DEANNA
This is a car
O DEANNA
This is a gun
O DEANNA
And this a day number one
O DEANNA
Our little crimeworn histories
Black and smoking christmas trees
And honey, it ain't mystery
Why you're a mystery to me
We will eat out of their pantries
And their parlours
Ashy leaving in their beds
And we'll unload into their heads
On this mean season
This little angel that I squeezin'
She ain't been mean to me
O DEANNA
O Deanna!
O DEANNA
You are my friend and my partner
O DEANNA
On this house on the hill
O DEANNA
And I ain't down here for your money
I ain't down here for your love
I ain't down here for your love or money
I'm down here for your soul
O DEANNA
I am a-knocking
O DEANNA
With my toolbox and my stocking
O DEANNA
And I'll meet you on the corner
O DEANNA
Yes, you point it like a finger
O DEANNA
And squeeze its little thing
O DEANNA
Feel its kick, hear its bang
And let no worry about its issue
Don't worry about where its been
and don't worry about where it hits
Cause it just ain't yours to sin
O DEANNA
No it just ain't your to sin
O DEANNA
Sweet Deanna
O DEANNA
And we ain't getting any younger
O DEANNA
And I don't intend gettin' any older
O DEANNA
The sun a hump at my shoulder
O DEANNA
O Deanna!
O DEANNA
Sweet Deanna
O DEANNA
And I ain't down here for your money
I ain't down here for your love
I ain't down here for your love of money
I'm down here for your soul
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Other reviews
By Enkriko
"A slap, a horrendous scream of despair, and a cry for help: all these things are locked in the unhealthy treasure chest of Tender Prey."
"'Mercy Seat' is a masterpiece of arrangements and a true sonic maelstrom without borders to contain it."
By RedStrawHat
"He declares himself innocent in the legendary 'The Mercy Seat' from the darkness of a cell to the electric light of the chair."
"'Slowly Goes The Night' piano-bar-heroin, torments, pleas, bitterness, and darkness blend softly with the most sentimental Cave."
