Nick Cave Lists His Favorite Love Songs

Nick Cave has delivered many gems on his new social platform Red Right Hand Files where he connects personally with his fans and admirers alike but none quite more than when someone brilliant named Mack from Australia asked: “You’ve written at length in song, poetry & prose about love. What is love? Why do love songs so frequently move us? Perhaps a list of your top 10 love songs?”

In a beautifully detailed response, Cave wrote: “It’s the early hours of the morning, here in Los Angeles, and I can’t sleep. I’ve been in the studio all night, working on new songs. The melodies and words are running around in my head, so excuse this letter if it’s kind of scrambled. You asked about love, Mack, and maybe that’s what love is right there – maybe songs are the parlance of love.“

Maybe that’s what we have conceived them for – to give a voice to this strange, inscrutable feeling that tears away at us, all our lives. – Nick Cave

He continues: “Maybe some songs are the embodiment of love itself and that’s why they move us so deeply. They are simple, plainspoken, incendiary devices that bomb the heart to pieces – something other art forms can’t do with the same sudden and frightening precision.”

About his top ten list he says: “Here is a list of ten of my most treasured love songs – old, sad songs mostly, and sentimental too, that have travelled with me through the years, holding sway over my world and never failing to rescue me. They are just small unassuming love bombs, but dear Luiza, as important as anything can ever be.”