Heart and Soul: Nick Cave on grief, faith and music

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Documentary, Society & Culture

4.3 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 30 June 2023

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The songwriter, poet and author, Nick Cave has a conversation about grief, faith and the spirituality of music with the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby. Nick writes hauntingly beautiful songs – the themes of which tackle deep questions about humanity – often drawing from biblical sources. In 2015, NIck's son Arthur, died in a tragic accident at the age of 15, after falling from a cliff. Last year, Nick’s eldest son Jethro also died in Melbourne at the age of 31. Much of Nick’s art in recent years has dealt with grief, suffering and forgiveness. He reflects on this in his book, Faith, Hope and Carnage, written during the pandemic with the journalist Sean O’Hagan. And he openly explores love and loss with those who write to him on his online forum called The Red Hand Files.

Transcript

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0:00.0	The HappyPod is a special weekly episode from the Global News podcast bringing new positive stories and uplifting interviews from around the world.
0:09.0	I've got some good news for you. It's a beautiful place to be.
0:12.0	A really good vibe, you know.
0:14.0	It's the audio equivalent of rose tinted spectacles.
0:17.0	The world's happier stories for your stories. Absolutely inspirational.
0:20.0	A plething. Remarkable.
0:22.0	Listen now by searching for the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service, wherever you get your podcasts.
0:31.0	This is the documentary from the BBC World Service.
0:35.0	I'm Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and in this episode of Heart and Soul,
0:41.0	I'm talking to the Australian musician Nick Cave about his inner life, about what he believes and how that shapes his values.
0:48.0	Nick was born in rural Victoria in Australia in the late 50s, a cathedral choraster turned chaotic teenager,
0:56.0	who dropped out of art school to pursue a music career.
1:00.0	After his first band, The Birthday Party, broke up in 1983, he formed Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds,
1:08.0	and went on to have hits including the Mercy Seed, where the world roses grow into my arms and red-right hand.
1:16.0	He and his second wife Susie moved to Brighton in the early 2000s, where they raised their twin sons Arthur and Earl.
1:29.0	In 2015, Arthur died in a tragic accident at the age of 15, after falling from a cliff,
1:36.0	and last year Nick's eldest son, Jethro, also died in Melbourne at the age of 31.
1:46.0	Just waiting now for peace to come.
1:54.0	Much of Nick's art in recent years, particularly his 2019 album Ghostine, has dealt with grief, suffering and forgiveness.
2:03.0	He reflects on this in his remarkable book Faith Open Carnage, written during the pandemic with the journalist Shorno Hagen,
2:11.0	and he openly explores love and loss with those who write to him on his online forum called The Red Hand Files.
2:20.0	Nick Cave, welcome to the Archbishop interviews here in the crypt of Lambeth Palace.
	...

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