The staying power of music is partly due to how timeless the lyrics are as they capture confused or illicit passions and channel love, lust, rage, desperation and everything in between. Ideally, lyrics are like paintings as colorful images are painted with language, altering and changing whatever preconceived notions the listener might have.
One of the finest contemporary songwriters is Nick Cave, who over close to five decades has established himself firmly as an artist whose emissions defy comparison and classifications as he has carved an ever evolving niche for himself.
Lyrically, the way Cave channels his alchemy proves to be a poetically rich gift that keeps on giving no matter if the perspective is from the vantage point of a rejected lover, the brink of apocalypse or a killer on the prowl.
Over the years, there have been quite a few iterations of books capturing his output and this is the updated 2022 version with a foreword by Andrew O'Hagan paying homage to NC’s lyrical craftmanship, which despite lacking musical accompaniment bounce off the page.
