今天的NICK CAVE在样貌上已经没有了从前那么阴森邪恶。其实踏入九十年代，NICK在生活上亦出现了一定的改变。当年
他在巴西遇上了一见钟情的美术指导VIVIANE CARNEIRO，二人便火速结婚，在圣保罗洲定居了两年，诞生了一名儿子LUKE，那时NICK已不
再沉溺于海洛英里，性情亦转向温和。虽然不久后他亦与VIVIANE分离，但到了现在，现实生活中这位黑暗教父却是以与五岁儿子一起生活为
荣。远离了海洛英，不单没有影响到NICK的创作灵感，反而回复独身的他笔触亦趋向细嚼深入。94年的LET LOVE IN便以角度写尽了他与
妻子的感情问题与失败，而THIRSTY DOG更是一首他自言为“自传式”忏悔心曲。如果说LET LOVE IN是一张很私人的作品的话，那么新作
MURDER BALLADS便是一套纯粹由NICK假想出来的短篇谋杀案故事。
大碟THE BOATMAN’S CALL，感觉像是翻开NICK CAVE的私人日记。随着歌曲翻开的，是一段段很私人的情感，一些往事的片段速写，一些残留
在时间背后的感觉。正如NICK CAVE自己承认，THE BOATMAN’S CALL是他
的创作生涯中，最个人的一张大碟。去年的MURDER BALLADS，无疑是NICK事业上的一个高峰。这张大碟，为他带来前所未有的商业成就。但在NICK
而言，MURDER BALLADS不但并非自己的最好作品，同时他更对MURDER BALLADS的艺术成就有所怀疑，认为并非外界所评价的那么高。接着另一张BA
LLAD大碟——THE BOATMAN’S CALL。相对于MURDER BALLADS的虚构杀
人情歌，THE BOATMAN’S CALL是一张很私人的伤感情歌集。THE BOATMAN’
S CALL中的所有歌曲全是他在过往几年的情感记录。风格洋溢着一派PIANO（钢琴）美感，木结他、小提琴...其简单而基本组合，随心而发的细腻感
情纠缠，一切来自NICK CAVE痛苦的源泉。THE BOATMAN’S CALL蕴涵着
NICK CAVE傲骨的感情世界，你是否有兴趣从这张唱片一窥NICK CAVE在MURDER BALLADS中屠杀人数超过六十人的“杀人魔王”的内心世界。

一些歌词
WEST COUNTRY GIRL

With a crooked smile

And a heart-shaped face

Comes from the West country

Where the birds sing bass

She's got a house-big heart Where we all live

And plead and counsel and forgive

Her widow's peak,her lips i've kissed

Her glove of bones at her wrist

That i have held in my hand

Her spanish fly and her monkey gland

Her godly body and its fourteen stations

That i have embraced,her palpitations

Her unborn baby crying ,"Mummy"

Amongst the rubble of her body

Her lovely lidded eyes i've sipped

Her fingernails, all pink and chipped

Her accent which i'm told is "broad"

That i have heard and has been poured

Into my human heart and filled me

With love ,up to the brim,and killed me

And rebuilt me back anew

With something to look forward to

Well,who could ask much more than that?

A west country girl with a big fat cat

That looks into her eyes of green

And meows,"He loves you",then meows again

----------From"The Botman's Call"

I LET LOVE IN

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 my former sins

i let love in

the door it opened just a crack,but love was shrewd and bold

my life flashed before my eyes,it was a horror to behold

a life-sentence sweeping confetti from the floor of a concrete hole

i let love in

well i've been bound and gagged and i've been terrorized

and i've been castrated and i've been lobotomized

but never has my tormenter come in such a cunning disguise

i let love in

o lord, tell me what i done

please don't leave me here on my own

where are my friends?

my friends are gone

so if you're sitting all alone and hear a-knocking at your door

and the air is full of promises, well buddy,you've been warned

far worse to be love's lover than the lover thathas scorned

i let love in

--------FROM"Let love in"

NOBODY'S BABY NOW

i've searched the holy boods

tried to unravel the my stery of jesus christ,the saviour

i've read the poets and the analysts

searched through the books on human behaviour

i travelled the whole world around

for an answer that refused to be found

i don't know why and i don't know how

but she's nobody's baby now

i loved her then and i guess i love her still

here is the face i see when a certain mood moves in

she lives in my blood and skin

her wild feral stare,her derk hair

her winter lips as cold as stone

yeah,i was her man

but there are some things even love won't allow

i held her hand but i don't know how

but she's nobody's baby now

this is her dress that i loved best

with the blue quilted violets across the breast

and these are my many letters

torn to pieces by her long-fingered hand

i was her cruel-hearted man

and though i've tried to lay her ghost down

she's moving through me,even now

i don't know why and i don't know how

but she's nobody 's baby now

-------FROM "Let love in"

HENRY LEE

Get kown,get down,little henry lee

And stay all night with me

You won't find a girl in this damn world

That will compare with me

And the wind did howl and the wind did blow

La la la la la

La la la la lee

A little bird lit down on henry lee

I can't get down and i won't get down

And spend all night with thee

For the girl i have in that merry green land

I love far better than thee

And the wind did howl and the wind did blow

La la la la la

La la la la lee

A little bird lit down on henry lee

She leaned herself against a fence

Just for a kiss or two

And with a little pen-knife held in her hand

She plugged him through and through

And the wind did roar and the wind did moan

La la la la la

La la la la lee

A little bird lit down on henry lee

Come take him by his lilly-white hands

Come take him by his feet

And throw him down this deep deep well

Which is more than one hudred feet

And the wind did howl and the wind ded blow

La la la la la

La la la la lee

A little bird lit down on henry lee

Lie there,lie there,little henry lee

till the flesh drops from your bones

For the girl you have in that merry green land

Can wait forever for you to come home

And the wind did howl and the wind did moan

La la la la la

La la la la lee

A little bird lit down on henry lee

--------From"Murder Ballads"

WHERE THE WILD ROSES GROW

They call me the wild rose

but my name was Elisa Day

Why they call me it i do mot know

For my name was Elisa Day

From the first day i saw her i knew she was the one

As she stared in my eyes and smiled

For her lips were the colour of the roses

That grew down the river ,all bloody and wild

When he knocked on my door and entered the room

My trembling subsided in his sure embrace

He would be my first man,and with a careful hand

He wiped at the tears that ran down my face

On the second day i 'd seen

I said,"Do you know where the wild roses grow

So sweet and scarlet and free?"

Oh the second day he came with a single red rose

Said:"Will you give me your loss and your sorrow?"

I nodded my head,as i lay on the bed

He said,"If i show you the roses will you follow?"

On the third day he took me to the river

He showed me the roses and we kissed

And the last thing i heard was muttered word

As he stood smiling above me with a rock in his fist

Oh the last day i took her where the wild roses grow

And she lay on the bank,the wind light as a thief

As i kissed her goodbye,i said,"All beauty must die"

And lent down and planted a rose between her teeth

---------From"Murder Ballads"

DEATH IS NOT THE END

When you're sad and when you're lonely

And you haven't got a friend

Just remember that death is not the end

And all that you held sacred

Falls down and does not mend

Just remember that death is not the end

Not the end,not the end

Just remember that death is mot the end

When you're standing on the crossroads

That you cannot comprehend

Just remember that death is mot the end

And all your dreams have vanished

And you don't know what's up the bend

Just remember that death is not the end

Not the end, not the end

Just remember that death is not the end

When the storm clouds gather round you

And heavy rains descend

Just remember that death is not the end

And there is no-one there to comfort you

With a helping hand to lend

Just remember that death is not the end

Not the end, not the end

Just remember that death is not the end

For the tree of life is growing

Where the spirit never dies

And the brght light of salvation

Up in dark and empty skies

When the cities are on fire

With the burning flesh of men

Just remember that death is not the end

And you search in vain to find

Some law-abiding citizen

Just remember that death is not the end

And you search in vain to find

Some law-abiding citizen

Just remember that deathis not the end

Not the end,not the end

Just remember that death is not the end

Not the end,not the end

Just remember that death is not the end

Not the end,not the end

Just remember that death is not the end

----------From"Murder Ballads"

LIME- TREE ARBOUR

The boatman calls from the lake

Alone loon dives upon the water

Iput my hand over hers

Down in the lime-tree arbour

Through every breath that i breathe

And every place i go

Thee is a hand that protects me

And i do love her so

There will always be suffering

It flows through life like water

I puts her hand over mine

Down in the lime tree arbour

The boatman he has gone

And the loons have flown for cover

She puts her hand over mine

Down in the lime tree arbour

Through every word that i speak

And every thing i know

There is a hand that protects me

And i do love her so

---------From"The Boatman's Call"

“Do You Love Me……”

整张专辑的写照