Into My Arms (1997) – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Posted on November 9, 2022 by observationblogger — 5 Comments

Nick Cave’s delivery and lyric in this song are magnificent. It is one of my favourite songs of his although there are many. Into My Arms was released as the first single from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ tenth studio album The Boatman’s Call in 1997. In Cave’s lecture “The Secret Life of the Love Song” to the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, he counts the song among those he is most proud of having written.

And I don’t believe in the existence of angels
But looking at you I wonder if that’s true
But if I did I would summon them together
And ask them to watch over you
Oh, to each burn a candle for you
To make bright and clear your path
And to walk like Christ in grace and love
And guide you into my arms

Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms, O Lord

The song was also nominated for Single of the Year at the 1997 ARIA Awards, and came No. 18 in the Triple J Hottest 100 of that year. According to Songfacts: Cave wrote this piano-based love song whilst in rehab. He explained to Mojo magazine March 2009: “In the first couple of days when you haven’t slept, you’re withdrawing from drugs, you’re sick. You try and make the best of a bad situation.”

Regarding the song’s official music video, Nick Cave praised the video as well-produced, but said he considered it a poor fit with the song as the video’s depressing imagery overrode the melancholic optimism Cave had intended the song to convey. I have forwarded below a version with Spanish subtitles.

Reference:
1. Into My Arms – Wikipedia
2. Into My Arms – Songfacts