Murder Ballads

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Murder Ballads
Studio album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Released	February 20, 1996
Recorded	1993 - 1995
Genre	Post-punk
Length	58:43
Label	Mute Records
Producer(s)	Victor Van Vugt, The Bad Seeds
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds chronology
Let Love In (1994)	Murder Ballads (1996)	The Boatman's Call (1997)

Murder Ballads is an album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released in 1996 on Mute Records. As its title suggests, the album consists of new and traditional murder ballads, a genre of songs that relays the details (and often consequences) of crimes of passion.

"Where the Wild Roses Grow", a duet featuring Cave singing with Kylie Minogue, was a hit single and received two ARIA Awards in 1996. Other prominent guest musicians on the album include PJ Harvey and Shane MacGowan.

Murder Ballads is the band's biggest commercial success to date, most likely helped by the unexpected repeated airplay of the "Where the Wild Roses Grow" video on MTV. MTV even nominated Cave for their "best male artist" award of that year, though this nomination was later withdrawn at Cave's request [1].

Contents 1 Track listing 2 Musicians 2.1 The Bad Seeds 2.2 Guests 2.3 The Moron Tabernacle Choir on "The Curse of Millhaven" 3 Songs 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Track listing

Tracks written by Nick Cave, except where noted.

1. "Song of Joy" – 6:47
2. "Stagger Lee" – 5:15 (traditional)
3. "Henry Lee" – 3:58 (traditional)
4. "Lovely Creature" – 4:13
5. "Where the Wild Roses Grow" – 3:57
6. "The Curse of Millhaven" – 6:55
7. "The Kindness of Strangers" – 4:39
8. "Crow Jane" – 4:14
9. "O'Malley's Bar" – 14:28
10. "Death Is Not the End" – 4:26 (Bob Dylan)

[edit] Musicians

[edit] The Bad Seeds

• Nick Cave - Vocals (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10), Piano (1,5,8,9), Organ (1,2,4,6,10), Hammond (1), Gun Shots (2), String Arrangement (5)
• Blixa Bargeld - Guitar (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,10), Screams (2), Vocals (10)
• Martyn P. Casey - Bass (1,2,3,4,5,7,8)
• Mick Harvey - Drums (1), Guitar (2,4,5,7,10), Acoustic Guitar (3,5), Organ (3), Wind Organ (4), Backing Vocals (5), String Arrangement (5), Bass (6,9), Hammond (8), Space Belt (8), Percussion (9)
• Conway Savage - Piano (2,3,4,7,10), Backing Vocals (5), Organ (9)
• Jim Sclavunos - Drums (2,8), Percussion (4,10), Bells (5), Tambourine (6)
• Thomas Wydler - Maracas (2), Drums (3,4,5,6,7,9,10), Tambourine (8), Vocals (10)

[edit] Guests

• PJ Harvey - Vocals (3,10)
• Terry Edwards - Horns (4)
• Katharine Blake - Additional Vocals (4)
• Kylie Minogue - Vocals (5,10)
• Jen Anderson - Violin (5)
• Sue Simpson - Violin (5)
• Kerran Coulter - Viola (5)
• Helen Mountfort - Cello (5)
• Hugo Race - Guitar (6)
• Warren Ellis - Violin (6), Accordion (6)
• Marielle Del Conte - Additional Vocals (7)
• Anita Lane - Crying (7), Vocals (10)
• Geraldine Johnston - Additional Vocals (8)
• Liz Corcoran - Additional Vocals (8)
• Shane MacGowan - Vocals (10)
• Brian Hooper - Bass (10)

[edit] The Moron Tabernacle Choir on "The Curse of Millhaven"

• Nick Cave
• Martyn P. Casey
• Conway Savage
• Thomas Wydler
• Warren Ellis
• Brian Hooper
• Spencer P. Jones
• Dave Graney
• Katharine Blake
• Clare Moore
• Rowland S. Howard
• James Johnston
• Ian Johnston
• Geraldine Johnston
• Astrid Munday

[edit] Songs

1. "Song of Joy" is a story of a man whose wife Joy and their three children, Hilda, Hattie and Holly, are murdered, leaving the man a drifter, as all he loves and holds dear has been stolen from him. In Cave's biography (Bad Seed, Ian Johnston), which only goes up to the preceding album Let Love In, it is mentioned that he was working on a new song called "Red Right Hand II", involving a man killing his three children. This may be the same song in a finished form, and, indeed, the lyrics mention "in my house he wrote his red right hand, which I'm told is from Paradise Lost". The Narrator portrays himself as the victim of the crime, however, other references to Milton suggest the narrator is obsessed with him and in fact, perpetrated the crime himself.
2. "Stagger Lee" is based on a traditional song about the African-American murderer of the same name (see article Stagger Lee). Cave's version draws most of the lyrics from a 1967 transcription published in the 1976 book The Life: The lore and folk poetry of the black hustler (see reference).
3. "Henry Lee" is also based on a traditional song (or two), often referred to as Young Hunting. It tells of a woman who kills a man because he did not sleep with her or love her. It is a duet with Polly Jean Harvey, a British rock singer who was in a relationship with Cave at the time.
4. "Lovely Creature" tells an abstract tale of finding and losing love through death. It is possible to interpret the lyrics as a sort of vanishing hitchhiker legend.
5. "Where the Wild Roses Grow" was a very popular duet with Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue. Nick says the traditional song "The Willow Garden" was the song that inspired him to write "Where The Wild Roses Grow". It's a classic tale of a man courting a woman and killing her while they're out together.
6. "The Curse of Millhaven" is a song of a mad girl called Loretta whose "eyes are green" and "hair is yellow". She describes the deaths of townsfolk, pointing out how "all God's creatures, they've all got to die". It is then revealed, in the failed stabbing of Mrs. Colgate, that Lottie is in fact the killer. "Curse" uses the fictional town of Millhaven, created by Peter Straub and came out on paper in his books regarding "The Blue Rose Murders". In particular, the novel The Throat has been recommended by Nick.
7. "The Kindness of Strangers", the title of which is presumably a play on the early Bad Seeds song "Stranger than Kindness", centers on a young girl named Mary Bellows, who travels to see the ocean. On the way she meets Richard Slade, but tells him to leave once she has a room. She finds herself lonely and unlocks her door, only to be killed by (presumably by, although it is not explicitly stated) Slade.
8. "Crow Jane" shares its title with a traditional blues song. Cave's version appears to be entirely original. In his version, it seems Crow Jane is gang raped, then visits a gunshop, arms herself, and kills the twenty miners who raped her.
9. "O'Malley's Bar" is a long song about a man who goes into a bar and kills his fellow townsfolk. He feels elated and sexually aroused by this killing, but is caught by the police. In the car, moving away from the bar, he begins counting those he killed on his fingers. The chances are he'll have a hard time keeping track; the song runs for over fourteen minutes.
10. "Death Is Not the End" is a song featuring several vocalists, such as Anita Lane, Kylie Minogue, PJ Harvey, and Shane McGowan, including Cave himself and his bandmembers drummer Thomas Wydler and guitarist Blixa Bargeld. They each sing a verse in this cover of a Bob Dylan song, the only song in which an actual death does not occur.

[edit] References

• The Life: The Lore and Folk Poetry of the Black Hustler, Wepman, Newman & Binderman, Holloway House, 1976, ISBN 0-87067-367-X

[edit] External links

• Lyrics: [2] [3]

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Nick Cave | Mick Harvey | Blixa Bargeld | Warren Ellis | Martyn P. Casey | Thomas Wydler
Discography
Albums: From Her to Eternity | The Firstborn Is Dead | Kicking Against the Pricks | Your Funeral... My Trial | Tender Prey | The Good Son | Henry's Dream | Let Love In | Murder Ballads | The Boatman's Call | No More Shall We Part | Nocturama | Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus
Live: Live Seeds
Compilations: The Best of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds | B-Sides & Rarities
Videos: Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - The Videos | Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - God Is In The House | Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - Road To God Knows Where / Live At The Paradiso | The Abattoir Blues Tour
Related articles
The Birthday Party | The Dirty Three | Einstürzende Neubauten | Grinderman | The Proposition
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