Nick Cave has shown off his charitable side, offering songwriting advice and new lyrics to an inquisitive fan on his website.
For decades now, Nick Cave has been one of the most celebrated Australian songwriters, praised for the tender, emotional way in which he can turn a phrase, alternately making us laugh or cry with each new line.
Add in Cave’s penchant for answering the questions of fans, and we’ve recently seen one fan come to the Melbourne music icon seeking help in regards to the ancient art of songwriting.
Taking to Nick Cave’s Red Hand Files website, a fan called David asked the artist, “I’m a songwriter. I’m seriously blocked,” before trying his luck by adding; “Do u have any spare lyrics I can have?”
As it turns out though, Cave did have some spare lyrics for David, offering them up in a lengthy response that included his tips for writing a great song.
Sharing lyrics to a song called ‘Incinerator Man’, Nick Cave concedes that the new verses are a “little on the dark side and pretty obscure, and perhaps a bit too heavy on the old Frederick Seidel,” which he chalked up to having just read Peaches Goes It Alone.
“There is some nice symbolism in there and if you chuck on a simple chorus, like ‘Wo! I’m the Incinerator Man!’ and throw it on a lean circular chord formation, with lots of space and air, so that you can really creep the vocal and tell the story, then brother, you may be able to make something worthwhile out of it,” Cave explains. “I couldn’t.”
Nick Cave’s ‘Incinerator Man’
The moon holds itself in the dark with its glow
The monster moves through the garden
And waits beneath the window
I take the monster for a walk and plough on into town
My monster has a chimney sticking out of its back
I try to find a single story I can bring home
That won’t give you a flat-out heart attack
To be honest I’m not allowed back in the house
It’s Bethlehem there with its cribs and moping beasts
I’m either underneath the school desk braced
Or commuting between Auschwitz and outer space
I’m thinking of drinking something truly horrible
I’m a slow moving monster with a giant chimney
Sticking out of my back. Look out!
I’m coming now just like I came before!
I’m all over the place. I’m the same but more.
There never ever was any turning back
I’m coming now! I’m a full on heart attack.
Of course, the songwriting lesson doesn’t end there, with Nick Cave going to share his belief that a great song isn’t trapped inside your mind, rather, it’s trying to find its way to you.
“My advice to you is to change your basic relationship to songwriting,” he explained. “You are not the ‘Great Creator’ of your songs, you are simply their servant, and the songs will come to you when you have adequately prepared yourself to receive them.
“They are not inside you, unable to get out; rather, they are outside of you, unable to get in.
“Songs, in my experience, are attracted to an open, playful and motivated mind. Throw my song away – it isn’t that good anyway – sit down, prepare yourself and write your own damn song.
“You are a songwriter,” Cave continues. “You have the entire world to save and very little time to do it. The song will find its way to you. If you don’t write it, someone else will. Is that what you want? If not, get to it.”
Check out ‘Skeleton Tree’ by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds:
