Nick Cave: 'Thom Yorke Is Wiser Than Me'

Nick Cave has been speaking ahead of the release of his new album with The Bad Seeds ‘Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!’ and one of the subjects he touched upon is the difference between himself and Thom Yorke as a songwriter.

Cave was referring to the lyrical content of the record when he mentioned the word “myxomatoyd” a word very similar to the title of the 2003 Radiohead track ‘Myxomatosis.’

This got Cave talking about how Yorke is a “wiser” songwriter when comparing their different takes on the apocalyptic world.

He joked to the Scotsman: "Well, (my lyrics are) better articulated than Thom's, but I don't think I'm the bearer of any wisdom. It's my point of view, which I'll willingly concede is peripheral. I wouldn't encourage everyone to have that worldview. I'm not pretending to speak for a larger section of society.

"That's Thom's job: he's speaking for 'us'. I'm not. I never had that talent. There are people, great artists, who are equipped to do that, who have the capacity to be the voice of the people. Not me."

Referring to his stage act, he continued: "I feel more like a spectacle. You become that person that you always wanted to be.

“Even though, ten minutes before I go on, I stand at the side of the stage and feel acutely all the shit that you can feel; all the nerves and feelings of inadequacy and physical ailments and aches and creaks. But then something magical happens and you feel godlike. I love it.

"Really, though, I'm like the friend it's fun to go out with but don't tell your problems to. You tell them to Thom Yorke."