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.
Wide Lovely Eyes
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Waves and waves of love goodbye
And through the garden with your secret key
Down the tunnel that leads to the sea
Step on the beach beneath the iron sky
You wave and wave with your wild lovely eyes
Crystal waves and waves of gloom
Your dress size with your wild lovely strides
And all along the street and lately the stories abound
They've dismantled the fun fair and they've shut down the rides
And they've hung the mermaids from the streetlights by their hair
And with wide lovely eyes you wave at the sky
And me at the high window watching the ride
The waves of blue and the waves of love
You wave and say goodbye
The night expands, I am expanding
I watch your hands like butterflies bending
All among the myths and the legends we create
And all the laughing stories we tell our friends
Close the windows, clear up the mess
It's getting late, it's darker and closer to the end
Through the tunnel and down to the sea
And on the pebble beach, your laces you untie
And arrange your shoes side by side
You wave and wave with wide lovely eyes
Distant waves and waves of distant love
You wave and say goodbye
The lyrics to "Wide Lovely Eyes" by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds are a melancholy ode to a love that has ended. The singer describes his lover waving goodbye with "wild lovely eyes" and disappearing through a tunnel that leads to the sea. As he watches her go, he describes the dismantling of a nearby fun fair and the hanging of mermaids from streetlights by their hair. The singer is stuck in his high window watching the tide, while his lover walks down to the beach and unties her shoes in the pebble sand. She waves goodbye once more with "wide lovely eyes" as she disappears into the distance.
Line by Line Meaning
You wave at the sky with wild lovely eyes
You look up at the sky with an intense and untamed expression
Waves and waves of love goodbye
Expressing goodbye with countless feelings of love
And through the garden with your secret key
You move through the garden with your own means of access
Down the tunnel that leads to the sea
Walking through the passage that goes to the ocean
Step on the beach beneath the iron sky
Standing on the shore below the gray sky
You wave and wave with your wild lovely eyes
Waving repeatedly with your unrestrained and pretty eyes
Crystal waves and waves of gloom
Waves of both clear beauty and darkness
You wave and say goodbye
Waving and departing
Your dress size with your wild lovely strides
Your feminine size and gait are both beautiful and wild
And all along the street and lately the stories abound
There are rumors spreading recently along the street
They've dismantled the fun fair and they've shut down the rides
The amusement park has been taken apart and is not functioning
And they've hung the mermaids from the streetlights by their hair
The mermaid statues are displayed on lamp-posts by their hair
And with wide lovely eyes you wave at the sky
You look up at the sky with large, pretty eyes as you wave
And me at the high window watching the ride
I'm at the high window watching the scene
The waves of blue and the waves of love
Blue water and love both come in waves
You wave and say goodbye
Waving and leaving
The night expands, I am expanding
The night is growing, and I'm expanding with it
I watch your hands like butterflies bending
I'm observing your hands, which move like butterflies
All among the myths and the legends we create
We're making up stories and legends together
And all the laughing stories we tell our friends
And we share all the funny tales with our pals
Close the windows, clear up the mess
Time to shut the windows and clean up the mess
It's getting late, it's darker and closer to the end
It's getting late and darker, and the end is near
Through the tunnel and down to the sea
Going through the tunnel and down to the ocean
And on the pebble beach, your laces you untie
On the stony beach, you untie your shoelaces
And arrange your shoes side by side
And you put your shoes together in a neat manner
You wave and wave with wide lovely eyes
Continuously waving with your charming wide eyes
Distant waves and waves of distant love
Waves of faraway oceans and love with distance
You wave and say goodbye
You wave as a farewell gesture
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Mute Song Limited
Written by: Nicholas Edward Cave, Warren Ellis
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@colinsmith2742
You wave at the sky with wide lovely eyes
Waves and waves of love goodbye
And through the garden with your secret key
Down the tunnel that leads to the sea
Step on the beach beneath the iron sky
You wave and wave with your wide lovely eyes
Crystal waves and waves of gloom
You wave and say goodbye
Your dress size with your wide lovely strides
And all along the street and lately the stories abound
They've dismantled the fun fair and they've shut down the rides
And they've hung the mermaids from the streetlights by their hair
And with wide lovely eyes you wave at the sky
And me at the high window watching the ride
The waves of blue and the waves of love
You wave and say goodbye
The night expands, I am expanding
I watch your hands like butterflies bending
All among the myths and the legends we create
And all the laughing stories we tell our friends
Close the windows, clear up the mess
It's getting late, it's darker and closer to the end
Through the tunnel and down to the sea
And on the pebble beach, your laces you untie
And arrange your shoes side by side
You wave and wave with wide lovely eyes
Distant waves and waves of distant love
You wave and say goodbye
Songwriters: Nicholas Edward Cave / Warren Ellis
@annmarieray3922
Mum, with your big beautiful eye's, when you heard this song you winked at me, i knew you liked it.. Our trip to the seaside.. I miss you so much.... Bye for now mum.. X
@SkeebWilcox
He's about the only human alive that can string that many beautiful words together...
@Samus1234567890
Utterly devastating. This entire album contains multitudes but this is clearly THE song that rises above the rest.
@lh7254
Devastatingly restrained and emotional song. I love how it leaves emotional space for the listener to interact with it.
@tjitse3916
Many songs leave it, but only few manage to put it so nicely in words as you do, in how you name it. This gave me a lovely mental picture, an almost theatrical idea. :)
@manuelraposo1130
Sooo beautiful. Sad thoughts and writting can truly be the most beautiful when it comes to Nick Cave.
@langstongrandma
Don't know why, but this just reminds me of superstorm Sandy's destruction of the New Jersey/New York amusement parks. . . . .through the tunnel and down to the sea. . . You wave and say goodbye. Such a wonderful song.
@dannymcconnell9009
this song makes me think of my bastonishing friend who died one year ago. she was too beautiful to describe at all ever to anyone who never met her. but this song has her spirit completely. and me and her went to see nick cave together. and I love her forever. and the best thing about this song, that only I know, is that when I hear it I can imagine her here in my room. sitting in the corner. not saying anything. and sometimes im too scared to listen to it. but when im brave enough she is here with me. its absolutely incredible what music and beautiful writing can do. thanks nick. we love you xx
@Hirnlego999
Best song on the album.
@nxhb
The live version of this has quickly become my favourite Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds song. Its unspeakably melancholy and beautiful.