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).

Lovely Creatures: The Best of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds (1984-2014) cover art

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)

  1. From Her To Eternity
  2. In The Ghetto
  3. Tupelo
  4. I'm Gonna Kill That Woman
  5. The Carny
  6. Sad Waters
  7. Stranger Than Kindness
  8. Scum
  9. The Mercy Seat
  10. Deanna
  11. Up Jumped The Devil
  12. The Weeping Song
  13. The Ship Song
  14. Papa Won't Leave You, Henry
  15. Straight To You
  16. Do You Love Me?
  17. Nobody's Baby Now
  18. Loverman
  19. Red Right Hand
  20. Stagger Lee
  21. Where The Wild Roses Grow
  22. Into My Arms
  23. People Ain't No Good
  24. Brompton Oratory
  25. (Are You) The One That I've Been Waiting For?
  26. Come Into My Sleep
  27. Love Letter
  28. God Is In The House
  29. He Wants You
  30. Shoot Me Down
  31. Hiding All Away
  32. There She Goes, My Beautiful World
  33. Nature Boy
  34. Breathless
  35. Babe, You Turn Me On
  36. O Children
  37. Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
  38. Night Of The Lotus Eaters
  39. We Call Upon The Author
  40. Jesus Of The Moon
  41. More News From Nowhere
  42. We No Who U R
  43. Jubilee Street
  44. Higgs Boson Blues
  45. Push The Sky Away
  46. Interview (Kippevel, Netherlands, 1988)
  47. Night Of The Lotus Eaters (Docks Des Suds, Marseilles, France, 2008; Live)
  48. Red Right Hand (Glastonbury Festival, UK, 1998; Live)
  49. The Weeping Song (Glasgow TV Studios, UK 2001; Live)
  50. Interview (New York, USA, 2013)
  51. Higgs Boson Blues (La Fabrique Studios, France, 2012)
  52. Interview (Stranger In A Strange Land Documentary, Berlin, Germany, 1987)
  53. From Her To Eternity (Perkins Palace, Pasadena, USA, 1984; Live)
  54. Love Letter (ABC Studios, Australia, 2001)
  55. Interview (Bish's Biz, Australia, 2013)
  56. Do You Love Me? (Boxed Set, Glasgow STV Studios, UK, 2001; Live)
  57. Interview (Boxed Set, Glasgow STV Studios, UK, 2001; Live)
  58. Into My Arms (Inmusic Festival, Zagreb, Croatia, 2008; Live)
  59. We Call Upon the Author (B1 Maximum Club, Moscow, Russia, 2009; Live)
  60. Interview (Ein Abend In Wien , Rotterdam, Netherlands, 1991)
  61. The Mercy Seat (Bizarre Festival, Germany, 1996; Live)
  62. Interview (Columbus, Ohio, USA, 1984)
  63. God Is In The House (Later With Jools Holland, London, UK, 2001)
  64. Interview (Bish's Biz, Australia, 2013)
  65. Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! (Globe Annexet, Stockholm, Sweden, 2008)
  66. Brompton Oratory (MTV Live'n'Loud, 1997)
  67. I'm Gonna Kill That Woman (Posthof, Linz, Austra, 1986)
  68. Jubilee Street (The Fonda Theatre, LA, USA, 2013)
  69. The Ship Song (Live At The Paradiso, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1992)
  70. Interview (Lollapolooza, USA, 1994)
  71. Loverman (Bizarre Festival, Germany, 1996)
  72. Interview (Australia, 1998)
  73. In the Ghetto (Exit, Chicago, USA, 1984)
  74. Hiding All Away (The Abattoir Blues Tour, Brixton Academy, London, UK, 2004)
  75. Interview (Australia, 1992)
  76. Where The Wild Roses Grow (MTV Most Wanted, London, UK, 1995)
  77. Deanna (St. Luke's, London, UK, 1995)
  78. O Children (Le Trianon, Paris, France, 2013; Live)
  79. Interview (Festival Crazy Rock, Chile, 1996)
  80. Stagger Lee (The White Room, London, UK, 1996; Live)
  81. Interview (Austin City Limits, Texas, USA, 2014)
  82. Interview (Australia, 1985)
  83. Push The Sky Away (The Fonda Theatre, LA, USA, 2013; Live)
  84. There She Goes, My Beautiful World (The Abattoir Blues Tour, Brixton Academy, London, UK, 2004)