The concept holding
\nFirst Born Is Dead<\/i> together is the lifecycle of someone
\nspecial; a diety, a messiah, a Christ; and the inevitable
\nturbulence which will be manifested within the cycle. The album
\nopens with a thunderburst and a downpour of thick, heavy rain –
\nflooding the land (“Tupelo”), and ends with a storm and the dying
\nmoments of “Blind Lemon Jefferson.” Like all Cave’s work, religious
\nimagery is central to the concepts and characters held within –
\nhence the title. The storm is ever present, always in the life of
\nthe characters – from the child molesting monster of “Say Goodbye
\nTo The Little Girl Tree” – to the resignation to suffering of the
\nhopeless inmate of “Knockin’ On Joe”, and the loner – the outcast
\nof “Wanted Man”. The Devil is on the heels of everyone, looking
\nback is not an option – they must always move forward – the past is
\nsadness and despair, the future promises no redemption; there is
\nalways a desperate foreboding in this world and the next.<\/p>\n
“Tupelo” is the start of the storm (“A Big Black Cloud Come”). A
\nsong which sets out to redefine Elvis – mixing the Presley myths,
\nwith Old Testament myth – essentially providing an explanation as
\nto the very lifecycle of the King. It allegorizes Elvis as the
\nmessiah, left to carry the burden (by force of fate) throughout his
\nyears in this mortal coil. Cave’s work is always based on a grander
\nscale than most; from the outset Cave believes in a grand scheme,
\npeople do not make their own destinies – fate predetermines. The
\nbloated Elvis, languishing in kitch 70s Vegas, a joke, a junkie – a
\nfigure of fun, slashing his soul open for the entertainment of the
\npaying public – not there to watch a performance – but to witness a
\nonce proud national hero debase himself for their pleasure. Cave’s
\nsong gives us insight into what burden the King was carrying and
\nthe forces of fate being the primary instigator –<\/p>\n
Saturday gives what Sunday steals \/<\/p>\n
and a child is born on the brothers heels \/<\/p>\n
Sunday mornin the firstborn dead \/<\/p>\n
with a shoebox tied and a ribbon a red<\/p>\n
Like Christ himself, the King had a cross to bear – he spent his
\nwhole life coming to terms, trying to comprehend the hand which
\nfate had dealt him. Someone like Elvis was always going to be
\nspecial, he never asked for it – Now do you understand what you did
\nto Elvis?<\/p>\n
“Say Goodbye To The Little Girl Tree” is the epilogue of a
\ndesparate man, who has developed an obsession with a young girl.
\nUnlike most rock standards dealing with such a subject – Chuck
\nBerry and”Little Queenie,” Rolling Stones and “Stray Cat Blues,”
\nwhich glamorize the sleaziness of underage women, celebrate it even
\n– Cave resists this. However sickening they may be, Cave’s
\ncharacter does have feelings. Cave acknowledges the desparation and
\ndeep rooted torment a man in such a position must be feeling. “I
\nrise up her girl child lumps and sliping knots \/ into her laden
\nboughs” interjects Cave, as the Character relises that the little
\ngirl is more important and pure than he, who is decayed and evil.
\nAlthough giving little detail to the background of his character,
\nCave manages to reveal enough – a broken down, lonesome reprobate –
\nleft to roam an uncaring and contradictory world – like Martin
\nBlanchard in Bukowski’s
\nThe Fiend<\/i>. He knows he cannot remain here after knowing this
\ngirl, he is resigned to his fate. Cave’s character wants the girl
\nto stay as she is – he can’t harm her – she is too special, too
\nprecious – “With this silver hoop of wire \/ I bind your maiden
\nmainstem just to keep you as a child” – the character can only keep
\nthe memory pure by bringing his own existence to an end.<\/p>\n
Some believe Cave to be the most mysoginistic songwriter around,
\npersonally I think to hold this opinion is to not understand where
\nhe’s coming from – why not try listening to the words?<\/p>\n
Anyway – moving on we have “Black Crow King”:A portrait of
\nChrist (or a would be Christ) dying on his cross, crowned in
\nthorns, alone as the storm rolls in. He is no hero now, the
\ngreatness has left him, he is naked – his followers have gone. “My
\nshadow’s made of timber” poignant words which cast a glance over
\nfuture years – He knows the shadow will become a spectre on his
\nvisions and prophecies – almost rendering them meaningless. The
\nfollowers have experienced the man, listened to his words, they
\ndon’t need him anymore – it was the followers who elevated him to
\nthe platform history gives him. As he writhes in pain, he realises
\nhis greatest torment is the perversion and twisting of his words
\nwhich will echo down the ages – “the storm is rolling down on me”.
\nChrist is left with nothing but crows, awaiting the departure of
\nhis soul. Blixa Bargeld’s guitar softly, strums out a melody, as
\nCave’s every word is echoed (hollow) by the Bad Seeds; his words
\nare reduced to meaningless sounds. Was this really Christ’s self
\nimage?<\/p>\n
“Blind Lemon Jefferson” represents the end of the lifecycle –
\nthe dying man laying down to face the inevitable end; as the
\n“Sycamore stretches its arms across the storm”. The song fades in
\nand out slowly – harmonica setting the tone – all long notes and
\nsorrow – eventually developing into blues; slide gutars and heavy
\nbass, with big beating drums – like a slow motion march through the
\nmud and swamps of the Mississippi – you can feel the humidity here;
\nNew Orleans funeral procession beats’n’blues. Crows once more hover
\nawaiting the final moments (“tap-tap-a-tappin”) – waiting to carry
\nthe soul to the trials yet to come. The locomotive is the metaphor
\nfor the journey to judgement, like “People Get Ready” only with
\ngreater depth – as if the burden being carried is much too much,
\nwill death give redemption? The listener can feel the bleakness,
\nbut not sadness or regret; death is a fact of life – inevitable.
\nJefferson knows this, he accepts; the day ends, night begins – “If
\nthat sky serves as his eyes \/ then that moon is a cataract”….<\/p>\n
\nFirst Born Is Dead<\/i> is an excellent record. Music made
\nreflecting Cave’s own problems and obsessions – his second solo LP
\nand he is clearly (perhaps egotistically) feeling an inevitable
\nimpossibility to deliver to his listeners anything approaching the
\nheights scaled by his previous band. I feel he represents all these
\nfeeling well in this album.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":24472,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5785],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-35676","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-nick-cave-and-the-bad-seeds","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35676\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35676"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=35676"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=35676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}