They have a concern for common, non-hierarchical suffering. My songs seem to be resistant to fixed, inflexible points of view.
Rather, it draws together so many of the threads of Cave’s ethos _ his music, spirituality, and beliefs - articulating a measured overview of his own work: I love your music and its ability to relate common suffering Do you ever look back at your anthology and wish you had been more overtly politically outspoken - referring to activism rather than politics per se - in your art?Ĭave’s response is elegant and thoughtful, not rushing to defend himself, or disagree. But interestingly, one correspondent, JMF of Auckland, does not see Cave’s work as predominantly political. So mercy, according to Cave, is both personal and political. However, it is intriguing to consider the verbal echo between The Red Hand Files and Cave’s dark 1994 song Right Red Hand, which suggests the vengeful right hand of punishment from God.
It is personal, and it defines a society. This realisation is the spring from which mercy arises: mercy as a sacred value rooted in many religious and humanist practices. It will not be offered to you through any direct consequence of your actions, necessarily but will be manifest in the way it opens your eyes to your own imperfect and fallible self. The thought behind the declaration about mercy is complex and rigorous: if you act with mercy, you will garner mercy. How marked is the difference between Cave’s stance and that of, say, the merciless trumpeters of venality and intolerance supposedly leading the world right now?įriday essay: popular music's search for the sacred in a secular world Not everyone will agree with his beliefs, (Cave’s views on cancel culture as “mercy’s antithesis” made international headlines) or value his attempts at frankness, but few would want to tangle with the passion of the believer. This is discourse steeped in experience and authority. Without mercy a society loses its soul, and devours itself. Mercy ultimately acknowledges that we are all imperfect and in doing so allows us the oxygen to breathe -to feel protected within a society, through our mutual fallibility. Mercy is a value that should be at the heart of any functioning and tolerant society. In a recent epistle he writes about mercy - a value which is as much metaphysical as it is political: The pitch and focus of The Red Hand Files take us on a wild ride, as the tall, thin man of Gothic beginnings draws us into frank conversations (or at least an ongoing representation of frankness) about values, beliefs, doubts and hopes. Nick Cave performing with Kylie Minogue at Glastonbury last year. He began these after a period of intense mourning for his son Arthur who died tragically at the age of 15 in 2015.
#Redhand science co series
Whether you’re a full-blooded fan or an intrigued observer, you will most likely be acquainted with Cave’s online series The Red Hand Files, “love letters” written to his fans, “no moderator between you and me”. You can’t help but ask how much is Cave’s own projecting here - Cave as Nina as Cave, “transcendent rage conflicted and defiant pull the heavens crashing down around our ears”. Simone, he writes, is “this exhilarating collision of opposing forces - love and scorn”. Simone’s performance is a glorious melding of George Harrison’s song and David Nelson’s poem, producing for Cave, “the voice of protest we need right now - intelligent, questing, transcendent, raging and thrillingly complex”. At the close of a recent The Red Hand Files letter, Cave describes the angelic, feisty, Nina Simone singing My Sweet Lord/Today is a Killer.
Nick Cave is a tough knot of wonders to his fans, and seemingly so to himself.
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