The band has featured international personnel throughout its career and presently consists of Cave, violinist and multi-instrumentalist Warren Ellis, bassist Martyn P. Casey (all from Australia), guitarist George Vjestica (United Kingdom), keyboardist/percussionist Toby Dammit (United States) and drummers Thomas Wydler (Switzerland) and Jim Sclavunos (United States). The band has released sixteen studio albums and completed numerous international tours, and has been considered "one of the most original and celebrated bands of the post-punk and alternative rock eras in the '80s and onward".
The band was founded in 1983 following the demise of Cave and Harvey's former group the Birthday Party, the members of which met at a boarding school in Victoria. By the release of their fifth studio album Tender Prey in 1988, they shifted from post-punk towards an experimental alternative rock sound, later incorporating various influences throughout their career. For example, the 2008 album Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! and the side-project Grinderman were strongly influenced by garage rock. Synthesizers and minimal guitar work feature prominently on Push the Sky Away (2013), recorded after Harvey's departure from the band in 2009.
The project that would later evolve into Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds began following the demise of The Birthday Party in August 1983. Both Cave and Harvey were members of the Birthday Party, along with guitarist Rowland S. Howard and bassist Tracy Pew. During the recording sessions of the Birthday Party's scheduled EPs Mutiny/The Bad Seed, internal disputes developed in the band. The difference in Cave and Howard's approach to songwriting was a major factor, as Cave explained in an interview with On The Street: "the main reason why The Birthday Party broke up was that the sort of songs that I was writing and the sort of songs that Rowland was writing were just totally at odds with each other." Following the departure of Harvey, they officially disbanded. Cave also said that "it probably would have gone on longer, but Mick has the ability to judge things much more clearly than the rest of us."[8]
Cave and guitarist Kid Congo Powers during the band's 1986 tour.
An embryonic version of what would later become Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds was formed in the Birthday Party's then-home of London in September 1983, with Cave, Harvey (acting primarily as drummer), Einstürzende Neubauten guitarist Bargeld, Magazine bassist Barry Adamson, and Jim G. Thirlwell. The band was initially formed as a backing band for Cave's intended solo project Man Or Myth?, which had been approved by the record label Mute Records. During September and October 1983, they recorded material with producer Flood,[9] although the sessions were cut short due to Cave's touring with the Immaculate Consumptive, another project formed with Thirlwell, Lydia Lunch and Marc Almond.[10] In December 1983 Cave returned to Melbourne, Australia, where he formed a temporary line-up of his backing band, due to Bargeld's absence, that included Pew and guitarist Hugo Race. The band performed their first live show at Seaview in St. Kilda on 31 December 1983.
Following a short Australian tour, and during a period when they were without management, Cave and his band returned to London. Cave, Harvey, Bargeld, Race and Adamson formed the project's first consistent line-up, while Cave's longtime girlfriend Anita Lane was credited as a lyricist on the band's debut album.[citation needed] The group, which up to this time had been nameless, adopted the moniker Nick Cave and the Cavemen, which they used for the first six months of their career. However, they were later renamed Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in May 1984, in reference to the final Birthday Party EP The Bad Seed.[citation needed] They began recording sessions for their debut album in March 1984 at London's Trident Studios and these sessions, together with the abandoned Man Or Myth? sessions from September–October 1983 that were recorded at The Garden studios, formed the album From Her to Eternity, released on Mute Records in 1984.
Jack The Ripper
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
She rules my house with an iron fist
I got a woman
She rules my house with an iron fist
She screams out Jack the Ripper
Every time I try to give that girl a kiss
Oh well I got a woman
Oh well I got a woman
She strikes me down with a hand of lead
We bed in a bucket of butcher's knives
I awake with a hatchet hanging over my head
Well you know the story of the viper
It's long and lean with poison tooth
Oh well, you know the story of the viper
It's long, it's lean, it's got a poison tooth
Well they're hissing under the floorboards
Hanging down in bunches from my roof
I got a woman
She just hollers what she wants from where she's at
I got a woman
She just hollers what she wants from where she is
She screams out Jack the Ripper
Every time I try to give that girl a kiss
The song "Jack the Ripper" by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds is a dark and enigmatic tune that seems to describe a tumultuous and potentially dangerous relationship between the singer and a woman who rules his house "with an iron fist." The lyrics paint a vivid picture of a woman who is both alluring and terrifying at the same time- she screams out "Jack the Ripper" every time the singer tries to kiss her, suggesting that she is either wildly passionate or violently unstable.
The song also includes references to the story of the Viper, a long and lean snake with a "poison tooth" that is known for its lethal bite. These lines could be interpreted as a metaphor for the singer's relationship with this woman, which is both dangerous and alluring, and could potentially lead to his downfall.
Overall, "Jack the Ripper" is a haunting and unsettling song that speaks to the darker aspects of human relationships, and the power struggles that can exist between two people.
Line by Line Meaning
I got a woman
I have a female partner
She rules my house with an iron fist
She controls and dominates my home life with strict authority
I got a woman
I have a female partner
She screams out Jack the Ripper
She shouts the name of a notorious serial killer
Every time I try to give that girl a kiss
Whenever I attempt to show her affection
Oh well I got a woman
Despite the difficulties, I still have a female partner
She strikes me down with a fist of lead
She physically attacks me with a heavy hand
Oh well I got a woman
Despite the difficulties, I still have a female partner
We bed in a bucket of butcher's knives
We sleep in a container filled with sharp kitchen tools
I awake with a hatchet hanging over my head
I wake up with a dangerous weapon placed above me
Well you know the story of the viper
You are familiar with the tale of a venomous snake
It's long and lean with poison tooth
It has a slim body and sharp fangs capable of injecting venom
Well they're hissing under the floorboards
They are making sibilant sounds underneath the flooring
Hanging down in bunches from my roof
They are suspended in groups from the ceiling above me
She just hollers what she wants from where she's at
She loudly demands what she desires from her current location
She screams out Jack the Ripper
She shouts the name of a notorious serial killer
Every time I try to give that girl a kiss
Whenever I attempt to show her affection
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: Nicholas Cave
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind