For that reason, Cave was embarrassed by the album for years, telling NME in 2021: “It feels like I’ve been showing too much. These hyper-personal songs suddenly seem self-pity-driven enlargement. of what is essentially a common everyday ordeal.”
However, as time passed, Cave realized that Boatman Call and Into My Arms is a work he can be proud of. “There was a radical change in the way I wrote songs. Now I understand that the record was an important step towards an almost completely autobiographical way of writing.” In his lecture Cave The Secret Life of the Love Song, he said that Into My Arms was even one of the songs he was most proud of.
Calm and unpretentious
In addition to very personal texts, Into My Arms, and albums Boatman Call overall, also musically a new step for Cave. The Australian began his career in the 1980s as the vocalist of the chaotic post-punk lineup The Birthday Party, with neither the band nor the audience ever making it through without a bruise.
With The Bad Seeds Cave things got a little easier, but there was still quite a bit of noise in the group’s early work. So is Murder Ballad1996 predecessor of Boatman Calla collection of songs where the main character is brutally killed or killed.
Watch the clip below one of those Murder BalladShake Lee:
“Falls down a lot. General tv buff. Incurable zombie fan. Subtly charming problem solver. Amateur explorer.”
