Where the Wild Roses Grow
| Where the Wild Roses Grow | |
|---|---|
|
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds with Kylie Minogue |
|
| publication | October 2, 1995 |
| length | 3:57 |
| Author (s) | Nick Cave |
| Publisher (s) | Mute Records |
| album | Murder Ballads |
Where the Wild Roses Grow is a song by the Australian band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in a duet with Kylie Minogue from 1995. It tells of a man who kills his beloved and, in general, of the passing of beauty (“all beauty must die ").
Where the Wild Roses Grow is the band's most successful single worldwide to date. For Kylie Minogue it was the most successful single of the 1990s and also significant because the piece made it acceptable to music critics and listeners who had previously smiled at her for their pop songs of the 1980s.
In Germany, Where the Wild Roses Grow reached gold status and number 12 in the charts. In 2008 it reached the German Top 100 again through frequent downloads after it was played repeatedly in the television series Gute Zeiten, Bad Zeiten .
In the list of the '100 best songs of the 90s' by the music magazine New Musical Express , the single ranks 35th.
Background / origin
Nick Cave had the idea for "Where the Wild Roses Grow" through the traditional "Down in the Willow Garden" (also "Rose Conley"), originated in the 19th century in Ireland and over the years has become popular in America Man tells who killed his lover.
“I wrote 'Where The Wild Roses Grow' to Kylie in my mind. I had wanted to write a play for her for many years. I had a silent affection for her for about 6 years. I wrote several songs for her, but I didn't find any suitable or good enough for her. But when I wrote this song - a conversation between a murderer and his victim - I thought I had written the right song for Kylie. I sent her the song and she answered the next day. "
Kylie Minogue had also said in an interview in 1995: "I dreamed of working with Blur or Nick Cave (...) to see what they could do with me."
The piece was produced by Tony Cohen and Victor Van Vugt.
The song describes the last encounters between a man and his lover, sung by one of the two alternately. The man describes the beauty of the woman ('Elisa Day' / 'The Wild Rose'). The woman also sings of her feelings of love (“he'd be my first man”). They meet for three days, until it finally comes to murder. In the recurring chorus, the dead woman seems to be singing, wondering why people at this point by the river keep talking about 'The Wild Rose' (“They call me the wild rose, but my name was Elisa Day”).
Video
The video for Where the Wild Roses Grow takes place at the scene of the murder, in a tree-lined scenery on a river bank. Elisa Day (Kylie Minogue) lies in the water - maybe already murdered, but somehow alive, with open eyes and full of beauty, she sings in retrospect of her encounters with her lover. The man (Nick Cave) moves helplessly along the bank, looking at his lover lying in the water. Towards the end he holds the stone with which he killed her in his hand.
The images in the video are reminiscent of the painting “ Ophelia ” by the painter John Everett Millais .
The video was directed by Rocky Schenck .
Chart placements
| Charts | Top ranking | Weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Chart placements | ||
 Australia (ARIA)
|
2 (12 weeks) | 12 |
 Germany (GfK)
|
12 (27 weeks) | 27 |
 Austria (Ö3)
|
4th (19 weeks) | 19th |
 Switzerland (IFPI)
|
11 (20 weeks) | 20th |
 United Kingdom (OCC)
|
11 (4 weeks) | 4th |
Prizes and awards
- 'Single of the Year', 'Song of the Year' and 'Best Pop Release' from the Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards, 1996.
| country | Sales | Award |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | 250,000+ | gold |
| Australia | 50,000+ | gold |
Effect and reception
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Kylie Minogue played and sang the piece for the first time on August 4, 1995 in Cork , Ireland . “One of the most terrifying and passionate lyrics in pop music. (…) There is an innocence in Kylie Minogue's singing that makes the horror of this chilling text all the more convincing. ” , William Baker sums up in his biography of Kylie Minogue.
Nick Cave attributed the success of the entire Murder Ballads album to Kylie Minogue's involvement in Where the Wild Roses Grow . Kylie Minogue described the piece as "a crucial turning point".
In the 2012 season, the Leipzig Opera House , in cooperation with the Leipzig Ballet, staged “Murder Ballads”, including Where the Wild Roses Grow .
Other versions
On the album B-Sides & Rarities by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds a simplified version appeared in which Blixa Bargeld , guitarist at the time with the Bad Seeds , sang Kylie Minogue's vocals.
Cover versions
- Gregorian on The Dark Side (2004)
- Chamber on The Stolen Child (2004)
- Kamelot on Poetry for the Poisoned (2010)
- Fusspils 11 on electric police: Alarm for Fusspils 11! (German text)
- Sara Noxx & Mark Benecke (2011)
- Floor skis from Subway to Sally , together with his wife, on the car! (2012, German text)
- Chris "The Lord" Harms by Lord of the Lost, feat. Scarlet thorn. (2016)
Web links
- Yvonne Wasserloos: Where the Wild Roses Grow . In: Song Lexicon . Retrieved May 21, 2014.
- Video on YouTube
- simplified version with Blixa Bargeld (vocals)
- the English lyrics and a good German translation
Individual evidence
- ↑ Release date on chartsurfer.de
- ↑ a b http://www.musikindustrie.de/gold_platin_datenbank/#topSearch Official website of the German music industry. Accessed April 8, 2011.
- ↑ Charts , accessed on May 10, 2012 from GfK Entertainment
- ↑ 100 best songs of the 1990s ( New Musical Express ), accessed May 21, 2012
- ↑ Wayne Peas: Rural roots of bluegrass: songs, stories & history . Mel Bay Publications, 2003, ISBN 0-7866-7137-8 , p. 71.
- ↑ For more information on this song, see Wikipedia
- ^ Jeff Jenkins, Ian Meldrum : Molly Meldrum presents 50 years of rock in Australia , Wilkinson Publishing, Melbourne 2007, p. 227 ISBN 978-1-921332-11-1
- ↑ Original quote: " Where The Wild Roses Grow was written very much with Kylie in mind. I'd wanted to write a song for Kylie for many years. I had a quiet obsession with her for about six years. I wrote several songs for her, none of which I felt was appropriate to give her. It was only when I wrote this song, which is a dialogue between a killer and his victim, that I thought finally I'd written the right song for Kylie to sing. I sent the song to her and she replied the next day. "
- ^ A b Siegfried Schmidt-Joos, Wolf Kampmann: Pop-Lexikon , Rowohlt Verlag, Hamburg 2002, p. 400, ISBN 3-499-61114-7
- ↑ a b c d e Chart sources: DE AT CH UK
- ^ ARIA Awards - History: Winners by Year 1996: 10th Annual ARIA Awards . Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Retrieved October 23, 2009.
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from May 11, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ vianetworks.nl Nick Cave - chronological song list, accessed October 23, 2009
- ^ William Baker, Kylie Minogue: Kylie: La La La [English], Verlag Hodder & Stoughton, 2003, p. 99.
- ^ Robert Dimery: 1001 albums; Music you should hear before life is over . Edition Olms, 6th edition 2006, p. 788, ISBN 978-3-283-01155-0
- ↑ kulturstimmen.de ( Memento of the original from April 28, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed September 2, 2012
- ^ Official homepage of 'Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' , accessed on September 2, 2012
Remarks
- ↑ The piece did not appear on a studio album by Kylie Minogue, but on the best-of albums Hits + , Greatest Hits 1987-1999 and Ultimate Kylie .
- ↑ The play ran in several episodes in the background in scenes that deal with the lovers Lucy Cöster and Philip Höfer.
- ↑ based on a so-called guide track