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Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds — Where The Wild Roses Grow (w/Kylie Minogue)
Album: Murder Ballads
Avg rating:
5.8

Your rating:
Total ratings: 911









Released: 1996
Length: 3:51
Plays (last 30 days): 0
They call me the Wild Rose,
But my name was Elisa Day;
Why they call me that I do not know,
For my name was Elisa Day

From the first day I saw her I knew she was the one
She stared at my eyes and smiled
For her lips were the colour of the roses
That grew down the river, all bloody and wild

When he knocked on my door and entered the room
My trembling subsided in his sure embrace
He would be my first man, and with a careful hand
He wiped at the tears that ran down my face

They call me the Wild Rose,
But my name was Elisa Day;
Why they call me that I do not know,
For my name was Elisa Day

On the second day I brought her a flower;
She was more beautiful than any woman I've seen
I said, "Do you know where the wild roses grow,
So sweet and scarlet and free?"

On the second day he came with a single red rose
He said: "Give me your loss and your sorrow!"
I nodded my head, as I lay on the bed
"If I show you the roses will you follow?"

They call me the Wild Rose,
But my name was Elisa Day;
Why they call me that I do not know,
For my name was Elisa Day

On the third day he took me to the river
He showed me the roses, and we kissed
And the last thing I heard was a muttered word,
As he knelt above me with a rock in his fist

On the last day I took her where the wild roses grow
She lay on the bank, the wind light as a thief
As I kissed her goodbye, said: "All beauty must die",
And lent down and planted a rose between her teeth

They call me the Wild Rose,
But my name was Elisa Day;
Why they call me that I do not know,
For my name was Elisa Day
Comments (242)add comment
 eeveebabee wrote:
Bleck!!!!   Please put us out of our misery and take it off the play list!
 
Or just listen to another station, since it appears that you don't like anything much..😉
Hmmm...Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood
Beautiful.  Beautiful and CREEPY! {#Sorry}

What the huh?
I'm a pretty tolerant listener.  But puh-leez.  Ugh.
MUTE!
 fredriley wrote:

Is it me, or does yer man look a bit, erm, tumescent in that photo? Not that I'd blame him, mind. Dirty thoughts aside, this really is a disturbing and creepy song, well performed by two fine singers 8 from the Nottingham jury.

 
I think it's just the cut of his slacks and the lighting. I've seen "tumescent," and that AIN'T it. {#Lol}  All lechery aside, I thought this was Kate Bush doing the female vocal!  Kylie - wow. Sounds like you've grown up.  This was pretty good.

OK, so we had a very good Dar Williams song, then that awesome track by the Levelers.  I suppose I can live through this crappy duet.
A-lies-a-Day keeps the doctor away.
 gshrieves wrote:
Outstanding! Love this song - best thing Kylie Minogue has ever done. I actually like this song so much I wish it WERE Kate Bush duetting - it should be. 
 
She needs to do another duet with Nick.
One of Nick's best records. Love it.
Nick Cave is the only artist whose ENTIRE body of work I despise.  I am truly amazed that I have not heard one thing by him that I enjoy.  A first.  Awful.
Outstanding! Love this song - best thing Kylie Minogue has ever done. I actually like this song so much I wish it WERE Kate Bush duetting - it should be. 
 oppositelock wrote:
but my name was Elisa Day
Kylie and Nick
 
Is it me, or does yer man look a bit, erm, tumescent in that photo? Not that I'd blame him, mind. Dirty thoughts aside, this really is a disturbing and creepy song, well performed by two fine singers 8 from the Nottingham jury.

 fredriley wrote:

What do you expect from Nick Cave - feel-good ballads? SingalongaNick?

 
Nickalodeon {#Roflol}
Good song and Nick Cave is great. I like his other murder balads to.
creepy....just creepy
Bleck!!!!   Please put us out of our misery and take it off the play list!
 Welly wrote:
{#Puke}maudlin
 
What do you expect from Nick Cave - feel-good ballads? SingalongaNick?

{#Puke}maudlin
I quite like this tune. I Like Kylie's voice - doesn't sound like Kate Bush, nope not at all but Nick kind of sounds like Madrugada in this song.

 liser wrote:
Interesting how many people dislike this song.  His voice is kind of irritating, but as far as murder songs go it's a pretty good one.  The guy always just loves the woman to pieces but is compelled to kill her.  There are a million of this type of song in bluegrass and my husband seems to know them all.  Hmmm...{#Think}
 
You need to make him sing some Happy Love Songs... {#Dance}{#Kiss}

but my name was Elisa Day
Kylie and Nick
Interesting how many people dislike this song.  His voice is kind of irritating, but as far as murder songs go it's a pretty good one.  The guy always just loves the woman to pieces but is compelled to kill her.  There are a million of this type of song in bluegrass and my husband seems to know them all.  Hmmm...{#Think}
 On_The_Beach wrote:
Nick doing his best Leonard Cohen impression.
Coming up next, Lemmy sings a duet with Barbra Streisand.

 
LOL...spot on.

Cave has flat pitch, flat affect, flat tone. And she's trying to be breathy sexy, but it comes off fake.
 Thistle wrote:

No. She is terribly average in the musical sense. She is, on the other hand, extraordinarlily sexy. Nick gave her a glowing review because she f**ked him. How could he say anything bad after that? 

 
Thanks for explaining. To stay popular though, she's got a long row to hoe......   ....

Nick doing his best Leonard Cohen impression.
Coming up next, Lemmy sings a duet with Barbra Streisand.

There are some songs that make me turn off RP for an hour, or a few hours... this is one of them.
Alright...gotta drop this down to a 1...don't mind Kylie all that much, but she reminds me of Kate Bush in this song, who I don't like...and I've yet to hear anything by Nick Cave that I like.

Don't care for the Dead song after this all that much, either...think I'll go check out the LRC for a while.


 Mandible wrote:
What's the big deal about Kylie Minogue? Her voice is weak....
 

Maybe, but the real problem here is Nick Cave's voice.
I can only vote "sucko-barfo" once, so today I'll have to be satisfied with just saying it. Suck-barfo!!!  {#Puke}
I've been gone a while. Lost at sea.
But today I find my way back to familiar territory and have to suffer through this. Things change while you're away and i'm not sure I like it. Certainly can't take this, gotta go. Maybe I'll come around again to see what's happening here but this song sux.
 Poacher wrote:
Mandible wrote:
What's the big deal about Kylie Minogue? Her voice is weak....
  
 
jagdriver wrote:

Like some other well-known pop stars (I don't need to remind you who they are), methinks it's based on sex appeal alone {#Arrowd}.
 
No completely. . . 

"Herald Sun Australia: May, 2008 12:00am 

IT’S not often you hear the dark prince of rock, Nick Cave, deliver a glowing endorsement. But one of the most esteemed musicians in Australia has come out for Kylie. Cave has traded his snarling cave-man charm for adoring appreciation. 

As the divine Miss M began her X 2008 tour in Paris yesterday, Cave delivered a glowing review when asked his thoughts on the singer, with whom he collaborated on the 1996 hit Where the Wild Roses Grow. 

“Kylie Minogue is the greatest thing that has happened to Australian music,” Cave told Cream magazine. 

“Before her the world didn’t have a f…ing clue about our music nor any interest in it. Kylie has more greatness in her little fingernail than every f…ing Aussie indie band put together.” The man has spoken. "

. . . But then she does have a great arse.

:) 

 
No. She is terribly average in the musical sense. She is, on the other hand, extraordinarlily sexy. Nick gave her a glowing review because she f**ked him. How could he say anything bad after that? 

 thomakuk wrote:
i D LIKE TO SAY TO THE ENTIRE BRITISH MONARCH SET THAT THEY ARE MORE CLOSE TO CLOSING A DAM THAN MAKING SOFTWARE WORK AGAINST ONE AND THAT THEY ARE NOT AT ALL MONARCHS JUST COMMON TOO COMMON BULGARIAN WARSAW PACT POLICE MEN AND WOMEN AND GIPSIES
 
what

This is such a perversely funny album.
wierd!?!
Mandible wrote:
What's the big deal about Kylie Minogue? Her voice is weak....
  
 
jagdriver wrote:

Like some other well-known pop stars (I don't need to remind you who they are), methinks it's based on sex appeal alone {#Arrowd}.
 
No completely. . . 

"Herald Sun Australia: May, 2008 12:00am 

IT’S not often you hear the dark prince of rock, Nick Cave, deliver a glowing endorsement. But one of the most esteemed musicians in Australia has come out for Kylie. Cave has traded his snarling cave-man charm for adoring appreciation. 

As the divine Miss M began her X 2008 tour in Paris yesterday, Cave delivered a glowing review when asked his thoughts on the singer, with whom he collaborated on the 1996 hit Where the Wild Roses Grow. 

“Kylie Minogue is the greatest thing that has happened to Australian music,” Cave told Cream magazine. 

“Before her the world didn’t have a f…ing clue about our music nor any interest in it. Kylie has more greatness in her little fingernail than every f…ing Aussie indie band put together.” The man has spoken. "

. . . But then she does have a great arse.

:) 

 Mandible wrote:
What's the big deal about Kylie Minogue? Her voice is weak....
 
Like some other well-known pop stars (I don't need to remind you who they are), methinks it's based on sex appeal alone {#Arrowd}.
This is fairly pretentious...
What's the big deal about Kylie Minogue? Her voice is weak....
 vit wrote:
This is like that cheese Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra made.

Kinda like this.
 

Exactly, and kinda creepy too...
 thomakuk wrote:
FOF Myself got under Duke City law
Are you sure Kylie did throw whole Foster can on my head in 1969
Are you sure Kylie kidnapped into Portugal into Atlantic
I happen to be a master in Mathematics
I happen to be running from the real law
Hi ther Duke City
 

WTF??
This is really awful.
This is like that cheese Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra made.

Kinda like this.
Sorry....this is just turn-off-the-radio-bad. I'll turn it on ...oh wait...it's Jack-A-Roe!

I don't want to know where the wild roses grow if this is what it sounds like there!
Just... EW. (I don't post negatives, usually, but... yeah, totally sucko-barfo. and FTR, not liking the set much before that. Grateful Dead redeemed it, but... ew.) {#Hand}
i D LIKE TO SAY TO THE ENTIRE BRITISH MONARCH SET THAT THEY ARE MORE CLOSE TO CLOSING A DAM THAN MAKING SOFTWARE WORK AGAINST ONE AND THAT THEY ARE NOT AT ALL MONARCHS JUST COMMON TOO COMMON BULGARIAN WARSAW PACT POLICE MEN AND WOMEN AND GIPSIES
FOF Myself got under Duke City law
Are you sure Kylie did throw whole Foster can on my head in 1969
Are you sure Kylie kidnapped into Portugal into Atlantic
I happen to be a master in Mathematics
I happen to be running from the real law
Hi ther Duke City
This songs just plods along. I can't say it's boring — more like annoying.
Dinges,_the_Dude wrote:
great song!

F***ing awful song, with no redeeming features whatever.

I thought these two singers had more intelligence.

great song!
I don't often hate a song but this was pretty awful.....sorry.....yuck!  {#Eek}
 haljordan wrote:
Egad, just hit her in the head and let's move on to the next song.
 
Amen.  The earplugs, they do nothing!

I like Nick Cave... always hated this song.  Not sure why.
 keller1 wrote:
This oughta take yer mind off the song (Y chromosome category):

 
I have more respect for Kylie now {#Yes}
This song really bites.
The first time I heard of this song was during my (*cough*second*cough*) student teaching year in France. One of my colleagues had spent time in Australia, and one day she belted out the chorus (OK, I might've been creating a website about Australian pop music) to this song. I don't think I included it in my site, but the song stuck with me.

Meh. Give me Yothu Yindi over this particular song anyday.

Oh, the continued agony of this song. The equivalent of watching a needle coming at your eye.


This tune is weird on many levels.
This oughta take yer mind off the song (Y chromosome category):

Wow. First time I've EVER heard hobbitt mute and switch to other music. Thank the gods!
Thought it was Kate Bush at first. 
Egad, just hit her in the head and let's move on to the next song.
 smilestoomuch wrote:
I have more respect for Kylie now.
 
i have less respect for Nick now.

 smilestoomuch wrote:
I have more respect for Kylie now.
 
ditto

I have more respect for Kylie now.
interesting....IF today were Halloween
 robco1 wrote:
Murder always seems to be so entertaining to those who have never lost someone to violence. So to those who find this entertaining, I sincerely hope you always can.
  If you have lost someone to violence, my sincerest condolences. I cannot imagine how much something like that affects a person. I personally have not suffered through that, but do know some people who have. I can't tell you how to feel about a song like this, I'll just offer another take on it.

This song is about an act of senseless violence. Said The Master of the Obvious. But I still like it. Is it 'entertaining'? Well, no, not in a feel-good get-happy kind of way. Duh. It tells a story, a gruesome, horrible story. Bob Dylan's 'Hattie Carroll' tells a similar story of violence, with a dose of social commentary thrown in. And that one's a true story. This one is more in the 'Frankenstein' vein, a story of pure horror. It's SUPPOSED to be upsetting. It's supposed to shock and disgust you. For some people I'm sure it brings up REAL horrors. And if they need to turn this off, or give it a 1, or tell folks how much this song hurts them, that's cool. I'm just saying I like this song. I would never call it 'entertaining' though, not by a long shot.

Again, my sincerest condolences for your loss.

Peace,

c.


Oddly dull for a murder ballad.

(Wow, that's a lot of 1 ratings.)


 agnes wrote:
Damn. I like Kylie Minogue.

I f*cking HATE Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

Such inner turmoil!!!!
 
I agree.

Can't Get You Out Of My Head is one of the great pop songs/guilty pleasures of the last 10 years.

Murder Ballad is correct - I now feel dead.  Blah.
Too much Kylie is not enough!
Worst song I've ever heard on RP... below zero. It's not horrifying and chilling, nor is it campy horror, nor is it scintillating drama, it's just a cardboard attempt at shock, with dull music. It's dullingly awful, in a smirking posing attempt. The musical equivalent of a failed attempt to violate.


very good pairing of voices to my ear.
I guess you would call this a snuff song.
creepy creepy creepy
Hmm. I like it... Silly me...
Phlegmaticman wrote:
For the flipside, give a listen to The Curse of Millhaven from the same album.
Or try John Wesley Harding's "Sussex Ghost Story."
Excellent! He'll be playing tomorrow night here in Barcelona. And that's precisely when I'm off to the mountains. Life can be cruel sometimes.
Murder always seems to be so entertaining to those who have never lost someone to violence. So to those who find this entertaining, I sincerely hope you always can.
I really like Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, but this song is a little weaker than their other tracks. They do the psychopathic killer thing really well, but in comparison to their others, this song seems kind of flimsy and watered down to me.
Damn. I like Kylie Minogue. I f*cking HATE Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Such inner turmoil!!!!
For the flipside, give a listen to The Curse of Millhaven from the same album. manzanitafire wrote:
This song sucks. Can we please have a version of the song where she offs him instead?
The more I hear this the more I puke. One of the few times I listen to something other than RP.
This song sucks. Can we please have a version of the song where she offs him instead?
FlatCat wrote:
Not shocked. Bored. There are much better psychopathic killer songs.
This is the tamest song on the whole Murder Ballads album. If you want to be shocked try Stagger Lee or O'Malley's bar. Parental discretion required. Not for the easily offended. If you are truly warped I guess you can dance to it: (click here)
This song is perfect for this dark, snowy morning.
pedrock77 wrote:
Beauuuutifull song. I guess people underrating it are just shocked by the lyrics...
Not shocked. Bored. There are much better psychopathic killer songs.
prickelpit96 wrote:
My question is: Did you mute before writing the comment?
I did.
rklein wrote:
You sure know your math.
I should, I have a degree in it.
RobRyan wrote:
Wow. More than one person in twenty rating this song thinks it's "Godlike."
You sure know your math. Do you realize that the median rating actually is "quite likable".
pedrock77 wrote:
Beauuuutifull song. I guess people underrating it are just shocked by the lyrics...
I haven't been able to thoroughly listen to the lyrics yet! The woman's voice is so irritatingly breathy and little girlish and the male's sounds like a bad imitation of Johnny Cash. I can't get past that to listen. Just the sounds are unpleasant.
Beauuuutifull song. I guess people underrating it are just shocked by the lyrics...
cindrocks wrote:
I have to run to the computer when this song comes on so I can (rarely) turn OFF RP!! Yuck! This is the most awful song. Ever.
My question is: Did you mute before writing the comment?
Wow. More than one person in twenty rating this song thinks it's "Godlike."
RobRyan wrote:
The following is my comment: Hideous.
You're far too kind.
I think all of Murder Ballads is pretty hit or miss. I love the twisted tales myself. This song isn't anywhere near as "evil" as Stagger Lee.
Jamunca wrote:
I really want to like this. Then again, I also wanted to buy a PlayStation 3.
The following is my comment: Hideous.
I have to run to the computer when this song comes on so I can (rarely) turn OFF RP!! Yuck! This is the most awful song. Ever.
If I remember well, Nick said once that he chose Kyle Minogue because he heard a dance song by her and thought that her voice was somehow devilish... but I think that his real goal was another... Maybe P.J. Harvey wasn't enough? Not a bad song, anyway... though I prefer other murder ballads (Song of Joy or The Curse of Millhaven, for example)
creepy is always cool...8
I just run to the computer to turn off Paradise every time this comes on. Even so, the slime lingers.
My very first 1 rating.
Hey, I liked it. Nick Cave is the coolest (after Leonard Cohen, of course).
Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue singing a murder ballad? Schweet. And very creepy.
EleventhMan wrote:
heh. at first I thought this was Kate Bush & Leonard Cohen!
Sooo nasty! oh, the song, not the comment. Agreed, when I heard the song the first time, I had to check the playlist to see if it was Cohen. The song is creepy in a really insidious way. The duet, dual first-person, is too voyeuristic or something. When Tom Jones sings "Delilah", it doesn't make me feel dirty the way this does. Ew!
phaedra wrote:
Bill please don't play this. Nick has so much great stuff but PLEASE - FOR THE LOVE OF GOD - NO KYLIE on RP!!!
Bill please don't play this. Nick has so much great stuff but PLEASE - FOR THE LOVE OF GOD - NO KYLIE on RP!!!
A duet between Kylie Minogue and Nick Cave on paper shouldn't work. In practice however I rather like it.
Kaiser wrote:
Harry Chapin called and asked what's up with the depressing music, Bill.
Yeah, this is even worse than The Shortest Story, which is horrid but at least has a social message behind it. I just downgraded this from a 2 to a sucko-barfo 1. Gag.
SPOILER WARNING: They call you the Wild Rose because the guy brained you with a big rock and left a rose in your mouth. SIDE NOTE: This song creeps me out.
Just don't like it. I tried, but it's a bit too overwrought for me.
heh. at first I thought this was Kate Bush & Leonard Cohen!
I can't find lyrics in Internetland.
big_gare wrote:
How come he hit her with a rock? She sounded like a "hottie" to me!
because he's criminally insane.
creeeeeeeeeepy. cool.