Author Will Self argues the virtues of Nick Cave, the poet

Posted June 4th, 2007 by eric

In an excellent piece from Saturday’s Guardian, Cock and Bull author Will Self argues why Nick Cave is one of the greatest writers on love of our times:

“Cave, as a poetic craftsman, provides all the enjambment, ellipsis and onomatopoeia that anyone could wish for. A word on eroticism and the dreadful dolour of knowing not only that all passion is spent – but also that you’re overdrawn. If Cave were to be typified as a lyricist of blood, guts and angst, it would be a grave mistake. He stands as one of the great writers on love of our era. Each Cave love song is at once perfumed with yearning, and already stinks of the putrefying loss to come. For Cave, consummation is always exactly that.”

Cave’s Grinderman group currently has a self-titled record out on Anti.

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1 response so far ↓

  • 1 jenny orchard // Dec 17, 2009 at 4:56 am

    I think Nick is the greatest songwriter of our time – in a world of banal lyrics and forgettable melodies he has the immense courage to express the sublime, the glorious as well as bottomless pits of sorrow, and the sheer absurdity of humankind. he does it so well.
    Truely wonderful, inspiring and endlessssly inventive -(not bad looking either!)