According to Nick Cave, “writing songs is an f*cking nightmare.” But, that haven’t in any way impacted the quality of his work.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ latest Wild God offering, “,” is all the evidence you’ll ever need. The gloomy track is musical purgatory in the best sense. Despair, anguish, and are all too common emotions to experience given today’s global circumstances. However, the track doesn’t guilt you for succumbing to those heavy feelings. Instead, “Long Dark Night” gives you the language to process that anxiety.
“I was long inside a dream, I could not get loose / I will tell you of it, although there is little use / To tell a dream, when dreaming is all you ever do / But things were not so good, I can’t make light of it / My poor soul, it was having a dark night of it / It was a long night, a week, maybe a year,” sings Nick.
In a statement, the band revealed that the track pulled inspiration from 16th-century Spanish poet St. John of the Cross piece, “Dark Night of the Soul.”
“One of the greatest and most powerful poems of conversion ever written,” said Cave. “Ultimately, though, it’s a beautiful country tune. It feels like a sweet companion to the song ‘Wild God.’”
Listen to Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ new song “Long Dark Night” above.
Wild God is out 8/30 via Play It Again Sam. Find more information here.