Jubilee Street (2013) – Nick Cave

I went into two musical appreciation ages of Nick Cave. I discovered his music in my late teens and devoured his records The First Born is Dead, The Good Son and Henry’s Dream and then much later in 2014 I saw his musical documentary 20000 days on Earth which featured today’s song Jubilee Street. Just prior to that I saw Cave singing Leonard Cohen’s Susan in the music concert – documentary ‘I’m Your Man‘.

Asked by The Sun if he is referencing the Jubilee Street located in his hometown of Brighton (England) Cave replied: “If people think they’re going to have a good time down Jubilee Street, I’d say forget about it unless they’re particularly interested in going to the library or Yo Sushi. When I was writing that, I had it in my mind that Jubilee Street was another, more colourful street. Then I was actually walking along it, looked up and went, ‘Oh no, this is f—ing Jubilee Street‘.

And here I come up the hill
I’m pushing my own wheel of love
I got love in my tummy and a tiny little pain
And a ten ton catastrophe on a 60 pound chain
And I’m pushing my wheel of love on Jubilee Streets
Oh, look at me now

The problem was she had a little black book
And my name was written on every page
Well, a girl’s gotta make ends meet even down Jubilee Street
I was out of place and time, and over the hill
And out of my mind on Jubilee Street
I ought to practice what I preach

I’m glad I returned to Nick’s music. He would later compose the modern-day classic album ‘Ghosteen‘ (2019) about the sorrow of the death of his son. I wrote about his remarkable song Bright Horses which remains the most viewed article on my blog by far. I count Nick Cave’s poetry and value to music up there with the contemporary-modern greats including Dylan, Cohen, and Waits. Cave seems to do with style and class what the beatniks could only do on paper and then deliver it on stage.

I have to relay below Cave’s reflections of music and his performance of Jubilee Street at the Sydney Opera House. Below that is the original music video directed by John Hillcoat and featuring Ray Winstone. Cave wrote the screenplay of Hillcoat’s Australian Western film – The Proposition (2005) which Hillcoat directed and Winstone starred in.

Reference:
1. Jubilee Street (song) – Wikipedia

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“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand