"I was just a boy when I sat down to watch the news on TV / I saw some ordinary slaughter, I saw some routine atrocity..." The opening line of Nature Boy could come from Murder Ballads. But no, this is one of Nick Cave's most gorgeous love songs, and an upbeat one at at that.
Only Cave can get away with lyrics like: "I was walking round the flower show like a leper coming down with some kind of nervous hysteria / I saw you standing there, green eyes, black hair up against the pink and purple wisteria..." Connoisseurs will recognise many motifs from earlier songs. The sound is new though: almost folk-rock, with a distinct nod to Steve Harley's Make Me Smile (honest), deceptively simple backing from Mick Harvey and the rest of The Bad Seeds and the London Gospel Community Choir giving the chorus an infectious swirl.
B-side She's Leaving You is more standard Cave fare but great fun, and both tracks bode well for the forthcoming album Abbatoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus.
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