I love it when the same song gets twisted in two very different directions. Dylan’s Death Is Not The End has an inbuilt ambiguity – the tension between the horror of the verses and the soothing message of the chorus is always going to be somewhat unsettling – but his original version leans towards hope and comfort, the idea that no matter how desperately hard this life becomes, something better awaits.
Nick Cave’s cover version, on the other hand, uses a hell-choir consisting of, among others, Blixa Bargeld, PJ Harvey, Shane MacGowan and Kylie Minogue to forward another view. Without changing a word, he leaps on the song’s ambiguity like a highwayman and ransacks it for all he’s worth. The net result is a blackly comic evocation of a world where the myriad horrors of earthly existence are destined to be replayed over and over and over again into eternity. If death is not the end, then there is no end to our suffering. As a man in a moustache and singlet once asked, who wants to live forever?
I know which one I like best. What about you?
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About Me
Regular contributor to the Guardian, The Word, Uncut, New Statesman, the Herald and theartsdesk. My work has also appeared in the Observer, the Telegraph, Esquire, Mojo, Time Out, Rolling Stone, HMV Choice, Oxford American, the Sunday Business Post and Record Collector. Occasionally I’m allowed to break cover on Radio 2, Radio 4 and Radio Scotland.
Author of five books: Complicated Shadows: The Life & Music of Elvis Costello (Canongate, 2004); Willie Nelson: The Outlaw (Virgin, 2006); I Shot a Man in Reno (Continuum, 2008); and Under the Ivy: The Life & Music of Kate Bush (Omnibus, 2010). I’ve just published The Resurrection of Johnny Cash (Jawbone, 2011).
I’ve sat on a sofa in the control room of Abbey Road's Studio 2 and watched Paul McCartney remove his socks. Keith Richards phoned me at 4 a.m. to ask, 'Whatya doing up so late, old boy?'. I've been offered a potentially fatal Camberwell Carrot by Willie Nelson. I've made Bob Geldof cry into his meat loaf, and Elvis Costello once threw a peach stone in my general direction. He's even less friendly these days.
LINKS
- Word magazine
- Under The Ivy: The Life & Music of Kate Bush
- Time Out articles
- The Herald
- The Arts Desk
- Reviews: The Outlaw
- Reviews: I Shot A Man In Reno
- Reviews: Complicated Shadows
- RENO at Amazon US
- RENO at Amazon UK
- Powell's
- Once Upon A Time A Song
- Observer articles
- New Statesman
- Last Year's Girl
- Journalisted
- Jeremy Thomas
- Jenny Brown Associates (Agent)
- Guardian music
- Guardian articles
- Continuum
- 33 1/3 blog
2 comments:
Ever heard the Waterboys version of this song? It's awesome!
Yes, the Waterboys version is a cracker - and the absolute antithesis of the Cave one in that it offers comfort and reassurance.
I talked with Mike Scott for the book, if you're a fan. He has a fascinating angle on the subject of death and music.
Graeme
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