The Good Son (album)


The Good Son is the sixth album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released in 1990.
After two dark and harrowing albums with Your Funeral... My Trial and Tender Prey, The Good Son was a substantial departure with a lighter and generally more uplifting sound. The change of mood was greatly inspired by singer Nick Cave falling in love with Brazilian journalist Viviane Carneiro, and an apparently salutary spell in rehab which purged much of the despair and squalor reflected in the previous two albums. Cave later said, "I guess The Good Son is some kind of reflection of the way I felt early on in Brazil. I was quite happy there. I was in love and the first year or two was good. The problem I found was ... in order to survive you have to adopt their attitudes towards everything, which are kind of blinkered."

Singles and release history

The Good Son was preceded by the release of "The Ship Song" single. A different version of "The Weeping Song" was later released as a single, with a different mix from the album version.
The closing track "Lucy" was resurrected in 1993 as a B-side of "What a Wonderful World", a collaboration of the Bad Seeds and the Pogues' Shane MacGowan.
The album was remastered and reissued on 29 March 2010 as a collector's edition CD/DVD set.

Track listing

All songs written by Nick Cave unless otherwise stated.
  1. "Foi Na Cruz" – 5:39
  2. "The Good Son" – 6:01
  3. "Sorrow's Child" – 4:36
  4. "The Weeping Song" – 4:21
  5. "The Ship Song" – 5:14
  6. "The Hammer Song" – 4:16
  7. "Lament" – 4:51
  8. "The Witness Song" – 5:57
  9. "Lucy" – 4:17

    Song details

"Foi Na Cruz" is based partly upon the traditional Brazilian Protestant hymn of the same title. The title translates roughly as "It Happened on the cross".
"The Good Son" - the opening chant is based loosely upon the African-American traditional song "Another Man Done Gone". A recording of this traditional song, by Odetta, later appeared on Original Seeds Vol. 1, a compilation of material that influenced Cave. The Biblical story of Cain and Abel is an obvious influence on the song, which describes a "a tiller and he has a tiller's hand" like Cain, a farmer who feuds with and kills his brother.
"The Witness Song" is based loosely upon the traditional American gospel song "Who Will be a Witness?".
The single mix of "The Weeping Song" is a different mix than the one found on the album.
Four of the songs on the album were left with their working titles.
The instrumental b-side "Cocks 'n' Asses" was retitled "The B-side Song" for the USA release.

Singles

;Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
with:
;String Section