We Call Upon The Author
by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
From the album: Lovely Creatures: The Best of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds (1984-2014)
Track 39 of 84 on Lovely Creatures: The Best of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds (1984-2014) (2017).
Lyrics for We Call Upon The Author
What we once thought we had, we didn't And what we have now will never be that way again So we call upon the author to explain Our myxomatoid kids spraddle the streets We've shunned them from the greasy-grind The poor little things they look so sad and old As they mount us from behind I ask them to desist and to refrain! Then we call upon the author to explain Well, rosary clutched in his hand He died with tubes up his nose And a cabal of angels with finger cymbals Chanted his name in code We sour fists at the punishing rain And we called upon the author to explain He said, everything is messed up round here Everything is banal and jejune There is a planetary conspiracy against the likes of you and me In this idiot constituency of the moon Well, he knew exactly who to blame! And we call upon the author to explain Prolix! Prolix! Nothing a pair of scissors can't fix Well, I go guruing down the street And young people gather round my feet And they ask me things – but I don't know where to start They ignite the powder-trail straight to my father's heart And, yeah, once again I call upon the author to explain Who is this great burdensome slavering dog-thing That mediocres my every thought? I feel like a vacuum cleaner – a complete sucker! It's fucked up and he is a fucker But what an enormous and encyclopaedic brain! I call upon the author to explain Rampant discrimination Mass poverty, third world debt Infectious disease, global inequality And deepening socio-economic divisions Well, it does in your brain We call upon the author to explain Now hang on My friend Doug is tapping on the window! Hey Doug, how you been? (hey Doug) Well, he brings me a book on holocaust poetry – complete with pictures And then he tells me to get ready for the rain And we call upon the author to explain Prolix! Prolix! Something a pair of scissors can fix! Bukowski was a jerk! Berryman was best! He wrote like wet papier maché But he went the Hemming-way Weirdly on wings and with maximum pain We call upon the author to explain Down in my bolthole I see they've published Another volume of unreconstructed rubbish "The waves, the waves were soldiers moving" Well, thank you – thank you! Thank you and again I call upon the author to explain Prolix! Prolix! Nothing a pair of scissors can't fix
Listen On
More from Lovely Creatures: The Best of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds (1984-2014)
- From Her To Eternity
- In The Ghetto
- Tupelo
- I'm Gonna Kill That Woman
- The Carny
- Sad Waters
- Stranger Than Kindness
- Scum
- The Mercy Seat
- Deanna
- Up Jumped The Devil
- The Weeping Song
- The Ship Song
- Papa Won't Leave You, Henry
- Straight To You
- Do You Love Me?
- Nobody's Baby Now
- Loverman
- Red Right Hand
- Stagger Lee
- Where The Wild Roses Grow
- Into My Arms
- People Ain't No Good
- Brompton Oratory
- (Are You) The One That I've Been Waiting For?
- Come Into My Sleep
- Love Letter
- God Is In The House
- He Wants You
- Shoot Me Down
- Hiding All Away
- There She Goes, My Beautiful World
- Nature Boy
- Breathless
- Babe, You Turn Me On
- O Children
- Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
- Night Of The Lotus Eaters
- We Call Upon The Author
- Jesus Of The Moon
- More News From Nowhere
- We No Who U R
- Jubilee Street
- Higgs Boson Blues
- Push The Sky Away
- Interview (Kippevel, Netherlands, 1988)
- Night Of The Lotus Eaters (Docks Des Suds, Marseilles, France, 2008; Live)
- Red Right Hand (Glastonbury Festival, UK, 1998; Live)
- The Weeping Song (Glasgow TV Studios, UK 2001; Live)
- Interview (New York, USA, 2013)
- Higgs Boson Blues (La Fabrique Studios, France, 2012)
- Interview (Stranger In A Strange Land Documentary, Berlin, Germany, 1987)
- From Her To Eternity (Perkins Palace, Pasadena, USA, 1984; Live)
- Love Letter (ABC Studios, Australia, 2001)
- Interview (Bish's Biz, Australia, 2013)
- Do You Love Me? (Boxed Set, Glasgow STV Studios, UK, 2001; Live)
- Interview (Boxed Set, Glasgow STV Studios, UK, 2001; Live)
- Into My Arms (Inmusic Festival, Zagreb, Croatia, 2008; Live)
- We Call Upon the Author (B1 Maximum Club, Moscow, Russia, 2009; Live)
- Interview (Ein Abend In Wien , Rotterdam, Netherlands, 1991)
- The Mercy Seat (Bizarre Festival, Germany, 1996; Live)
- Interview (Columbus, Ohio, USA, 1984)
- God Is In The House (Later With Jools Holland, London, UK, 2001)
- Interview (Bish's Biz, Australia, 2013)
- Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! (Globe Annexet, Stockholm, Sweden, 2008)
- Brompton Oratory (MTV Live'n'Loud, 1997)
- I'm Gonna Kill That Woman (Posthof, Linz, Austra, 1986)
- Jubilee Street (The Fonda Theatre, LA, USA, 2013)
- The Ship Song (Live At The Paradiso, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1992)
- Interview (Lollapolooza, USA, 1994)
- Loverman (Bizarre Festival, Germany, 1996)
- Interview (Australia, 1998)
- In the Ghetto (Exit, Chicago, USA, 1984)
- Hiding All Away (The Abattoir Blues Tour, Brixton Academy, London, UK, 2004)
- Interview (Australia, 1992)
- Where The Wild Roses Grow (MTV Most Wanted, London, UK, 1995)
- Deanna (St. Luke's, London, UK, 1995)
- O Children (Le Trianon, Paris, France, 2013; Live)
- Interview (Festival Crazy Rock, Chile, 1996)
- Stagger Lee (The White Room, London, UK, 1996; Live)
- Interview (Austin City Limits, Texas, USA, 2014)
- Interview (Australia, 1985)
- Push The Sky Away (The Fonda Theatre, LA, USA, 2013; Live)
- There She Goes, My Beautiful World (The Abattoir Blues Tour, Brixton Academy, London, UK, 2004)