Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Straight to You

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All the towers of ivory are crumbling
And the swallows have sharpened their beaks
This is the time of our great undoing
This is the time that I'll come running
Straight to you
For I am captured
Straight to you
For I am captured
One more time


The light in our window is fading
The candle gutters on the ledge
Well now sorrow, it comes a-stealing
And I'll cry, girl, but I'll come a-running
Straight to you
For I am captured
Straight to you
For I am captured
Once again


Gone are the days of rainbows
Gone are the nights of swinging from the stars
For the sea will swallow up the mountains
And the sky will throw thunder-bolts and sparks
Straight at you
But I'll come a-running
Straight to you
But I'll come a-running
One more time


Heaven has denied us its kingdom
The saints are drunk howling at the moon
The chariots of angels are colliding
Well, I'll run, babe, but I'll come running
Straight to you
For I am captured
Straight to you
For I am captured
One more time

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Lyrics submitted by Girgo, edited by Mellow_Harsher

Track duration: 04:36


Straight to You song meanings
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7 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:Worthwhile to note that Brother, My Cup Is Empty (also from Henry's Dream) contains the lines

    "Well I've been sliding down on rainbows
    Well I've been swinging from the stars"

    Flag ellystripeson September 02, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I take the description of the destruction of the world to be judgement day, the end of the world. Particularly the image of the 'ivory tower' crumbling, which connotes civilisation and privilege. The fact that he returns to 'her' infers that she is the one, the one he is meant to be with, that he will take refuge with.

    If we take the 'end of the world' to be a metaphor for difficult times in our lives, times when everything falls apart- this is when he goes to the girl he loves as 'I am captured' which connotes a difficult unbalanced relationship. Perhaps he is running to her despite knowing it is the wrong thing to do.

    The repetition of 'one more time' and 'once again' supports this idea that he is returning to this woman every time things go wrong, and that this is an unhealthy and destructive relationship.

    Beautiful lyrics- my favourite is the 'gone are the days of rainbows/and gone are the nights of swinging from the stars'
    Flag msron July 09, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This almost seems like a pleasant daydream, for Nick Cave. It's grandiose! Exciting! Everything can go f**k itself! There's nothing left holding things in their places and he can take off and go running, straight to the one he loves.
    Flag inhumandecencyon September 09, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Just perfect. This was the song that made me buy everything Nick Cave had recorded. I think it's about star-crossed love, about everything being against you. That third verse is tremendous - "the sky will throw thunderbolts & sparks/ straight at you". That's not an accident, it's personal - something is out to destroy them. But he doesn't care. This has got to be one of the most powerful love songs ever written.
    Flag morbid moragon July 06, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:To me this seems to be about his drugs addiction.

    The moment when the highs are not so great anymore and the lows are worse and worse. But still he has been captured and keeps going back.
    The second verse describes this perfectly:
    "Gone are the days of Rainbows"
    "For the sea (the low) will swallow up the mountains (the high)"

    The recurring sentence "one more time" seems also an obvious pointer towards addiction.
    Flag erikpieteron June 26, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This used to be my fav. It probably isn't anymore but it still ranks pretty highly.

    Anyway, I always thought the idea was no matter what, the narrator would always love this girl and always make an effort to be with her.

    Nick uses a lot of religous imagery to convey a bleak apocalyptic picture which I don't think is a metaphor for the relationship at all but is either a deepistion of the world at large at the moment or an actual description of the world ending as Nick see's it and despite what's going on around him still wanting to only be with his love.

    In terms of meaning it is a very similar song, I would argue, as (I'll Love You) Till the End of the World.

    Another possibility is that Nick is describing the death of religion or it's lack of compatability in modernity and decline and failure to remain relevent i particular amongst the intelligentsia.

    Heaven has denied us its kingdom
    The saints are drunk howling at the moon
    The chariots of angels are colliding

    It's quite an ambigous song and I still havn't concluded as to what its about other than love, rleigion etc
    Flag Dressed2Depresson July 26, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:My favorite Nick Cave song. It floats very well throughout the song.

    I'm guessing it's about a dying relationship that the singer can't get over.
    Flag finnurtgon July 19, 2005   Link

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