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 Time Man
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Said I'd be sitting here for the rest of my life
But I don't really care, I shot my wife
And brother, I can't even remember the reason why
Oh, it makes a long time man feel bad
Yeah, it makes a long time man feel bad
Well I ain't had no love since I don't know when
We was down in Jacksonville
A cold winter night
My baby and I, we began to fight
I heated up, and I grabbed my gun
I get so cold on those nights down south
She was laying in a pool right there on the kitchen floor
She looked up at me and began to smile
Her gasping words "Baby, I love you"
Then she closed those baby blue eyes
Oh, it makes a long time man feel bad
Yeah, it makes a long time man feel bad
Well I ain't had no love since I don't know when
It sure makes a long time man feel bad
Yeah, it makes a long time man feel bad
Yeah, yeah it makes him feel bad
Sometimes I hear you call my name
In the dead of the night, yeah
It sure makes a long time man feel bad
It sure makes a long time man feel bad
It sure makes a long time man feel bad
I ain't had those arms around me
I ain't had those lips, those lips, around me
It sure makes a long time man feel bad, so bad
It sure makes a long time man feel bad, so bad
It sure makes a long time man feel bad, yeah so bad
The song "Long Time Man" by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds recounts the story of a man who has been sentenced for life in prison for killing his wife but doesn't feel remorseful about his actions. The singer, who remains unnamed, reflects on the circumstances that led him to commit the crime and the haunting memories that still plague him.
The song starts with the man being taken away to prison, where he is to spend the rest of his life. He admits to killing his wife but claims that he cannot remember why he did it, suggesting that he may have been overwhelmed with emotions during an argument. The man seems unrepentant about his actions, and his lack of empathy contrasts sharply with his tragic circumstances.
Further into the song, the man takes us back to the night of the murder, describing a heated argument with his wife that culminated in him shooting her. He remembers feeling cold on those nights down south and grabbing his gun. He, then, sees his wife's body lying motionless on the kitchen floor, and she looks up and smiles at him before dying. The implication is that he could have been driven by jealousy or rage, but he doesn't elaborate on the cause.
Overall, the song portrays a morbid yet thought-provoking account of a man who appears to be at peace with the consequences of his action. His lack of empathy towards his victim, coupled with his prison sentence, underscores the grim reality of crime and punishment.
Line by Line Meaning
Yeah, they came to take me away
The authorities took the singer to jail
Said I'd be sitting here for the rest of my life
The singer has been given a life sentence
But I don't really care, I shot my wife
The singer murdered his wife and is unapologetic about it
And brother, I can't even remember the reason why
The artist doesn't remember why he killed his wife
Oh, it makes a long time man feel bad
The artist is haunted by what he's done
Well I ain't had no love since I don't know when
The singer hasn't experienced love in a long time
We was down in Jacksonville
The singer and his wife were in Jacksonville
A cold winter night
It was cold on the night of the murder
My baby and I, we began to fight
The artist and his wife got into an argument
I heated up, and I grabbed my gun
The artist got angry and reached for his gun
I get so cold on those nights down south
The singer feels emotionally cold in the South
She was laying in a pool right there on the kitchen floor
The wife was lying in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor
She looked up at me and began to smile
The wife smiled at the singer before dying
Her gasping words "Baby, I love you"
The wife's dying words were "I love you"
Then she closed those baby blue eyes
The wife died
Sometimes I hear you call my name
The artist hears his wife's voice in his head
In the dead of the night, yeah
The voice comes to him at night
I ain't had those arms around me
The singer misses his wife's embrace
I ain't had those lips, those lips, around me
The singer misses kissing his wife
It sure makes a long time man feel bad, so bad
The artist's guilt and loneliness torment him
It sure makes a long time man feel bad, yeah so bad
The artist's emotions are overwhelming and painful
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Mute Song Limited
Written by: Michael Harvey, Nicholas Cave
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind