Nick Cave regularly walks his Q&A platform “Red Hand Files” in exchange with fans and users of the platform. He recently shared his thoughts there about music being banned or removed due to controversial content.
Tom Jones’ song “Delilah” was banned (not in general, just in one stadium).
Specifically, Cave was asked on the site for his opinion on Tom Jones’ song “Delilah,” which was recently banned at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, England. The 1968 track is banned there because “Delilah” is stabbed to death after her jealous husband discovers she is flirting with another man; the husband later begs forgiveness for her dead body.
In a statement, a spokesman for Principality Stadium said of the song’s ban: “The WRU condemns domestic violence of all forms. We have taken professional advice on the issue of the song’s censorship and recognize that the song’s subject matter may have offended some fans is problematic and troubling.”
Nick Cave: “What is your stance on such censorship?”
A fan named Tom asked Cave on the platform: “As an artist who has released an entire album of murder ballads called ‘Murder Ballads’, how concerned are you? [1996] that is, about your future annulment, and how do you feel about such censorship?”
Cave responded that he wasn’t a fan of “Delilah.” However, he said he does like Jones as an artist: “I sang a duet with him at a charity event a few years ago (‘Green, Green Grass Of Home’ – a far better killer song) and I like his version of ‘Weeping Annaleah’ that The Bad Seeds recorded on our ‘Kicking Against The Pricks’ album.”
The highest privilege according to Cave: When a song is banned because it is too controversial
He then writes that he has nothing against such songs being banned: “I can’t get too upset about the fact that ‘Delilah’ was banned. I understand that there is a principle at stake here, but on a certain level I like the fact that some songs are controversial enough to be banned. It fills me with a kind of professional pride to be part of the sometimes controversial business of songwriting.”
He ends his response by saying, “It’s cool. I like it. I just wish there was a song more worthy of that greatest honor, indeed that supreme privilege, of being banned. With love, Nick.”
When is new Nick Cave music coming out?
It has been more than four years since Nick last worked with his band The Bad Seeds. GHOSTEEN was released in 2019, then B-SIDES & RARITIES (Part II) in 2021. Since then, Cave has been busy with solo work, collaborating with Warren Ellis on the albums CARNAGE (2021) and SEVEN PSALMS (2022). At the beginning of January 2023, Nick Cave announced that his new album, which he is currently working on with his band, will be released in 2023.
On February 13, 2023 PUSH THE SKY AWAY turned 10 years old:
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