Nick Cave on songs being cancelled: “It fills me with a kind of professional pride”
As times change, not every rock song is going to age well. For every great song that holds true to the present day, there are a few songs that some think should never be listened to again due to their grotesque nature. Although songs getting cancelled is nothing new, Nick Cave sees some of the cancellations as a badge of honour.
Since Cave started life singing about topics like murder, he mentioned having a sense of pride when it comes to cancelled songs, saying: “I like the fact that some songs are controversial enough to be outlawed”. The song in question was ‘Delilah’ by Tom Jones. While the song is about unrequited love, it isn’t for the faint-hearted, as the narrator kills Delilah after he sees her making passes at other men.
The song has since been removed from the Welsh Rugby Union team’s playlist, with a spokesperson saying, “The WRU condemns domestic violence of any kind. We are respectfully aware that it is problematic and upsetting to some supporters because of its subject matter”.
Although Cave loves the idea of it being outlawed, he did mention not caring for the song that much. While Cave spoke highly of Jones as a performer, the tone of the song didn’t quite fit the lyrics for him saying, “‘Delilah’ is all too waltzy and strident and hammy and mariachi and triumphant. And the words are ugly”.
While Cave still stood his ground when it came to cancellation, he just wished it was for a better song that he was involved in saying, “It fills me with a kind of professional pride to be a part of the sometimes contentious business of songwriting. I just wish it was a more worthy song to be awarded that greatest of honours, indeed that supreme privilege, of being banned”.
It would make perfect sense why something like ‘Delilah’ would raise some eyebrows, but the king of macabre rock always relishes a little bit of controversy in music.
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