1001 Songs Challenge #866: Into My Arms (1997)

On 11 February 2019 I set myself the challenge of reading 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die by Robert Dimery (ed.) and following the book’s advice to the letter. I’ve previously read 1001 Films… and started 1001 Albums… but felt 1001 Songs… would be a sensible place to start for what I have in mind here.

My challenge is to read about one song per day and listen to it (YouTube and Spotify, I need you tonight!) before sharing my own thoughts. Some songs I will love, others I’ll hate, and I’m sure there will be those that leave me perplexed but listen to them I shall.

I’ll also try, and most likely fail, to pinpoint the best song from the 1001 on offer but I’m nothing if not foolhardy. Instead of one song, I’m predicting I’ll have about 100 favourites by the end and may have to resort to a Top 10 so far to maintain any semblance of sanity.

So long as I post every day (including Christmas) then this challenge should come to an end on Wednesday 8 November 2021. Staying with the Barney Stinson theme I am hoping that the whole experience will prove to be… legendary!

 

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Into My Arms (1997)

 

 

The end is nigh for 1997. We’re leaving the UK behind, dear reader, and making our way back to Australia. It is a fourth appearance on our list from Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, an impressive tally given we only have 1001 Songs to play with here. We join Nick Cave in 1997 with the release of his tenth album, The Boatman’s Call, and from there 1001 Songs have gone with the record’s opening track – Into My Arms. 

Into My Arms is said to have been inspired by two breakups that Nick Cave endured. The first was a long term relationship with Viviane Carneiro and the second a brief affair with P J Harvey. The song itself takes on a simple form being driven by the piano while Nick Cave’s heartfelt and poignant vocals dominate proceedings. The song itself sees Cave suggesting that he does not have faith in religion, however, he could soon find it within himself to praise the Lord if it meant the one he lost would be back with him and in his arms. The song is a painful lament of lost love and the desperate desire to restore one’s life to happier times. Sadly, life doesn’t always work out that way.

I have enjoyed all four of Nick Cave’s appearances on this list and his discography is another that I am seriously considering going through in depth and, perhaps, devoting future blog posts to. I was blown away by Into My Arms. It is completely different to Cave’s other songs we have had on our list but it is sumptuous, tender, beautiful and tragic in equal measure. If the rest of The Boatman’s Call is as good as this song then it must be a truly stunning album.

 

Favourite songs so far:

The Animals – House of the Rising Sun (1964)

Simon & Garfunkel – The Sounds of Silence (1965)

The Beatles – A Day in the Life (1967)

The Doors – The End (1967)

Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here (1975)

Meat Loaf – Bat Out of Hell (1977)

Tracy Chapman – Fast Car (1988)

U2 – One (1991)

Jeff Buckley – Hallelujah (1994)

Radiohead – Paranoid Android (1997)