Nick Cave has reminisced on the time he spent at his favourite bar in the world, Merceario São Pedro in a recent blog post on The Red Hand Files.
A fan wrote in to Cave, notifying him that the Merceario São Pedro bar in São Paulo was due to the subjective of a redevelopment.
They said, “Nick, the bar “Mercearia São Pedro”, a place you used to go when you lived in São Paulo, will close its doors and be replaced by an expensive building. What do you think about it?”
Cave recalled, “In the early nineties I lived in an area of São Paulo called Vila Madalena with my then partner, Viviane, and our son, Luke. At the end of our street was Merceario São Pedro, a grocery store that doubled as an outdoor bar.”
What follows is a bittersweet and touching farewell to the bar, with Cave recalling the days he spent there with his son, Luke.
“Every day at around 11 o’clock I would round up Luke, who was about two at the time, and together we would set out up the hill to Pedro’s,” Cave said.
“I would sit Luke up on a stool next to me at the bar and we would eat cheese pastels, and the owner, Pedro, would talk to Luke till the workers came in for lunch.”
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“Those days at São Pedro’s were simple and good,” he continued. “They were the best of times.”
Cave also recalled that he wrote songs lyrics there including for ‘The Ship Song’, ‘Papa Won’t Leave You, Henry’ and ‘Foi Na Cruz’.
“Now, developers are tearing the bar down and building a luxury apartment block in its place. I understand that this is the way of world — things come and go — and I know that we are facing more pressing problems than the demolition of a little bar in Sao Paulo, yet even still, a piece of Vila Madalena’s soul will be lost when they rip that place down, and a piece of mine too.”
“So, I say goodbye to Merceario São Pedro, the world’s greatest bar, and I say thank you to Pedro, for the kindness that he always showed to my little boy, Luke.”
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