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How Nick Cave's songs reveal themselves painfully to him
- Interview
- Music
The singer songwriter Nick Cave was cast away by Lauren Laverne in 2025. He has written huge hits such as "Into My Arms" and "Where the Wild Roses Grow", but songwriting doesn't come easily to him. His notebooks are full of what he describes as "bad stuff", and he'd like them to be burned after his death, thank you very much. The best way to approach the job, he says, is in office hours and wearing a suit. You can listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds.
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B2 · Upper-intermediate
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Into My Arms, Red Right Hand and Where the Wild Roses Grow.
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he was keen to disabuse anyone of the notion
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Is this episode right for you?
B2 · Upper-intermediate
Comfortable if you already follow TV news
- 96% of the words are B1 or easier.
- 157 words a minute: a natural pace.
- 9 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.
Transcript
The opening of the episode. The whole transcript is in the player.
harder words (B2+)
Welcome to Desert Island Discs postcards. I'm Lauren Laverne. We've cast away thousands of people to our imaginary desert island, among them many singers. This week's last postcard is penned by singer-songwriter Nick Cave. Huge hits have flowed from his pen, including Into My Arms, Red Right Hand and Where the Wild Roses Grow.
When I spoke to him in 2025, however, he was keen to disabuse anyone of the notion that writing songs comes easily to him. Mostly when I write, it's despairing in the fact
that all I'm doing is writing bad stuff. I have endless notebooks, which I've told my wife to burn upon my death. In case anyone decides that they should look through them
That was the opening. The rest of the episode (3 min) is in the player: every word clickable, with translation, saved words and flashcards.
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