‘I Let Love In’: The incredible song Nick Cave wrote in five minutes
Since his musical emergence in the 1970s, Nick Cave has remained one of the most enigmatic figures in the industry. Beginning his career as the frontman of The Birthday Party, Cave carved out a distinctive identity with his messy black hair and intense live performances. Known for their dark and violent lyrical material, The Birthday Party became one of Australia’s most influential post-punk bands, aiding the development of gothic rock.
However, after the band split, the musician formed Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, carrying the emotional intensity and darkness of his lyricism in The Birthday Party into his new project. The band’s first release was From Her to Eternity, a turning point for Cave. He once explained, via Your Name’s On The Door: “Well, I guess we weren’t kicking people in the teeth anymore. I mean, it just became different. I wanted it to be more lyrically orientated, and getting Blixa Bargeld from Einstürzende Neubauten in the group made an incredible difference. He’s a completely kind of atmospheric guitarist and incredibly economical and it gave me room to breathe.”
While The Bad Seeds’ early material contained echoes of The Birthday Party’s raw energy, these days, the members are much more attuned to writing less abrasive songs, predominantly focusing on ballads. However, Cave’s emotional vigour has never weakened, and he remains one of music’s greatest lyricists; whether Cave is singing against a wail of trumpets or mesmerizing string arrangments and synths, he consistently crafts rich stories and imagery.
Let Love In is arguably one of the band’s best albums, blending the band’s current penchant for ballads with their earlier heaviness. With cuts like ‘Red Right Hand’, which came to soundtrack the Scream franchise and Peaky Blinders, and the indomitable ‘Do You Love Me?’, the album contains some of the Bad Seeds’ greatest tracks.
The album also features ‘I Let Love In’, a track Cave penned in just five minutes. Opening with the unforgettable lines, “Despair and Deception, Love’s ugly little twins/ Came a-knocking on my door, I let them in/ Darling, you’re the punishment for all of my former sins,” Cave explores the dangers of love.
Talking to Uncut, guitarist Mick Harvey explained that the band had to force Cave to include the track on the album. “Nick wrote in five minutes, but he didn’t feel any relationship with it, like it wasn’t important to him because he hadn’t had to struggle with it or something. It was the Bad Seeds who insisted we record it.”
The song is just another example of Cave’s excellent lyricism, describing his experience of love as more painful than a series of intense physical sensations, “I’ve been lobotomized/ But never has my tormentor/ Come in such a cunning disguise,” he sings.
Listen to the song below.
