Generally, if someone started talking about spoken words over rock I'd think of the two albums William Shatner recorded. They veer between being so bad they're good, and so bad that your eyebrows can't go any higher. I'd never heard Nick Cave before and, to be honest, if I'd have known that the first track had a large amount of spoken word then I wouldn't have bothered - however, I'm really glad I did. It's just right: he sounds appropriately like a rambling, impassioned preacher. The exaggerated facial expressions he pulls in the video only make it better. And what a moustache.
The lyrics are fantastic: a narrative of what happened after Lazarus of biblical fame rose from the dead at Jesus's bidding - except set in modern day USA. The idea is strikingly similar to a subplot in the current season of Torchwood revolving around Owen being brought back to life by Captain Jack (incidentally, tonight's episode of Torchwood was AWFUL, quite literally the most boring episode of a show that I have seen in a good few years). Owen doesn't especially want to be alive. The song explores how Lazarus responds to being risen from the dead...
"I mean he, he never asked to be raised from the tomb"
... all over a funky organ riff.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!
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