Today's Lesson

Album: Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! (2008)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Nick Cave (From The Sun March 7, 2008): "'Today's Lesson' came about because I wanted to write a lyrically chaotic song concerning the received masculine erotic desire on women."
  • Nick Cave (From Mojo magazine April 2008): "It came from a series of stories - from my wife, Susie, and from Marilyn Monroe. (Marilyn) talked about noticing that, once she'd started to mature, she made people happy - which was actually the way that Susie put it. It's always felt that Marilyn died of other things than a simple drug overdose, that it was the extent of the male attention, which a human can't really take without something bad happening. You only have to look at certain women in the media these days, the way they're pursued. It's sickening."
  • Nick Cave elaborated to Q magazine June 2008 as to how his wife Susie, at the age of 12, realized she was sexually potent when lorry drivers started parping their horns at her. He explained: "The song's about the pleasure and pain she took in that. There's a great French film about a fat girl who has a beautiful sister. They share a room and the beauty is always bringing men back and having lots of sex. Then one day the beauty and her mother are stabbed and beaten to death by a psychopath and the fat one is dragged into the woods. When the police find her there's a little smile on her face. It's perverse in the extreme. But I'm interested in what male attention and libido does to women."
  • Nick Cave (From lastbroadcast.co.uk interview): "The song 'Today's Lesson' has a fairytale quality. But it's an evil fairytale. It's an evil song. The male attention in that song has crossed a kind of line and it's evil. It's malign and destructive but the song kind of bops along, you know. There's a fair amount of, sometimes intentional, sometimes unintentional kind of counterpoint that's being used between the music being a certain way and the lyrics being another way." >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Flixa - London, United Kingdom

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Rock Revenge Songs

Rock Revenge SongsMusic Quiz

John Lennon, Paul Simon and Lynyrd Skynyrd are some of the artists who have written revenge songs. Do you know who they wrote them about?

Maria Muldaur

Maria MuldaurSongwriter Interviews

The "Midnight At The Oasis" singer is an Old Time gal. She talks about her jug band beginnings and shares a Dylan story.

Arrested For Your Art - The Story Of 2 Live Crew's "Obscene" Album

Arrested For Your Art - The Story Of 2 Live Crew's "Obscene" AlbumSong Writing

In the summer of 1990, you could get arrested for selling a 2 Live Crew album or performing their songs in Southern Florida. And that's exactly what happened.

Loreena McKennitt

Loreena McKennittSongwriter Interviews

The Celtic music maker Loreena McKennitt on finding musical inspiration, the "New Age" label, and working on the movie Tinker Bell.

Sugarland

SugarlandSongwriter Interviews

Meet the "sassy basket" with the biggest voice in country music.

Is That Song Public Domain?

Is That Song Public Domain?Fact or Fiction

Are classic songs like "Over The Rainbow" and "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" in the public domain?