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.
Long Black Veil
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Lyrics
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She visits my grave when the night winds wail
Nobody knows, nobody sees
Nobody knows but me
Ten years ago, on a cold dark night
Someone was killed, 'neath the town hall light
There were few at the scene, but they all agreed
Well, the judge, he said "Son, what is your alibi
If you were somewhere else, then you won't have to die"
But I spoke not a word, though it meant my life
For I'd been in the arms of my best friend's wife
She walks these hills in a long black veil
She visits my grave when the night winds wail
Nobody knows, nobody sees
Nobody knows but me
Now the scaffold is high and eternity's near
She stood in the crowd, but shed not a tear
But sometimes at night, when the cold winds moan
In a long black veil, she cries on my bones
She walks these hills in a long black veil
She visits my grave when the night winds wail
Nobody knows, nobody sees
Nobody knows but me
No, no, nobody knows but me
I said, nobody knows but me
Yeah, nobody knows but me
"Long Black Veil" is a song by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds that tells the story of a man who has been wrongfully accused of murder and executed. The story is told from the perspective of the man, who never reveals his innocence to the judge for fear of exposing his affair with his best friend's wife. He is buried secretly by the woman he loved, who mourns him in a long black veil, visited by no one else. Even as she mourns him, she remains silent about his innocence, choosing to keep their secret affair hidden.
The song is a hauntingly beautiful testament to love and loyalty, as well as the dark secrets that we carry with us. The lyrics are a mix of sadness, despair, and hope, as the man's lover continues to mourn him even as he is no longer with her. She is caught between her love for him and her secrets about the murder, unable to speak out about his innocence but still caring for him deeply.
Line by Line Meaning
She walks these hills in a long black veil
She roams the hills while hiding her identity with a black veil
She visits my grave when the night winds wail
She comes to my grave when the wind howls in the night
Nobody knows, nobody sees
No one is aware of this secret or witnesses it
Nobody knows but me
Only I am privy to this information
Ten years ago, on a cold dark night
A decade ago, during the darkness of night
Someone was killed, 'neath the town hall light
A murder took place under the light of the town hall
There were few at the scene, but they all agreed
Although few were present, they all held the same account
That the slayer who ran, looked a lot like me
It is believed that I resemble the murderer who fled
Well, the judge, he said "Son, what is your alibi
The judge asked me for my alibi
If you were somewhere else, then you won't have to die"
If I had been elsewhere, I could have avoided execution
But I spoke not a word, though it meant my life
Despite knowing that this would condemn me to death, I remained silent
For I'd been in the arms of my best friend's wife
The truth was that I had been with my best friend's wife at the time of the murder
Now the scaffold is high and eternity's near
I am now facing the gallows and approaching the end of my life
She stood in the crowd, but shed not a tear
Despite her close connection to me, she remained stoic in the crowd
But sometimes at night, when the cold winds moan
During the night, when the winds are chilling
In a long black veil, she cries on my bones
She weeps in a black veil upon my grave
No, no, nobody knows but me
Only I am aware of this secret
I said, nobody knows but me
I reiterate that this information is exclusively known to me
Yeah, nobody knows but me
Again, I confirm that I am the sole possessor of this knowledge
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Danny Dill, Marijohn Wilkin
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
ramonanos80
The best version ever for me! 🖤🎼
Chris M
Thanks for the upload, I like Nick Cave, I don't think he does anything outlandishly complex and his singing his not exactly polished...that's what I love about it, the expression, the words. Good cover this one.
Øystein Edvardsen
Fuckin' awesome! Thank you!
DoobTube
Nick does this song so much better than anyone else by far
Evan Hutcheson, CPA, LLC
This is damn good but Rick Danko’s is up there too I think.
Vlajo Jd
Uhhh , Cave is fuckin king...The best version.
Nathan Scott
I prefer Johnny Cash's version myself but Nick Caves is good.
Johnny Mondizia
Interpretation by what definition. Instrumentation, Timbre, Singing, variation of Re-composition, Which one?
Andra Elena Ionescu
💙
I N
спасибо