Into My Arms

For the Lemonheads song, see Into Your Arms.
"Into My Arms"
Single by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
from the album The Boatman's Call
B-side "Little Empty Boat"
Released 27 January 1997
Format CD single, 7"
Recorded 1996 at Sarm West and Abbey Road Studios, London, United Kingdom
Genre Alternative rock, Piano rock
Label Mute Records
Writer(s) Nick Cave
Producer(s) Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Mark Ellis
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds singles chronology
"Henry Lee"
(1996)
"Into My Arms"
(1997)
"(Are You) The One That I've Been Waiting For?"
(1997)

"Into My Arms" is a song written by Nick Cave, and released as the first single from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' tenth studio album The Boatman's Call in 1997. The single, released on 27 January 1997, was pressed on 7" vinyl, as well as a standard CD single. A promotional music video for the song was also recorded.

Background and history

The song takes the form of a love ballad, with a piano and an acoustic bass as the sole instruments used. Music journalist and critic Toby Creswell included "Into My Arms" in his book 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time and the Artists, Stories and Secrets Behind Them, in which he attributed the song's melancholic lyrics to the break-up of Cave's long-term relationship with Viviane Carneiro and his subsequent brief relationship and break-up with English musician PJ Harvey.[1][2] In Cave's lecture "The Secret Life of the Love Song" to the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, he counts the song among those he is most proud of having written.[3]

Cave performed the song at the funeral of his friend, INXS singer Michael Hutchence, but requested the cameras recording the service be switched off as he performed.[4][5]

Track listing

UK CD single (Mute Records, CD MUTE 192)[6]

  1. "Into My Arms" – 4:15
  2. "Little Empty Boat" – 4:25
  3. "Right Now I'm A-Roaming" – 4:21

UK 7" single (Mute Records, MUTE 192)

  1. "Into My Arms" – 4:15
  2. "Little Empty Boat" – 4:25

Music video

The song's music video was directed by British director Jonathan Glazer. In an interview on the DVD The Work of Director Jonathan Glazer, Nick Cave praised the video as well-produced, but said he considered it a poor fit with the song as the video's depressing imagery overrode the melancholic optimism Cave had intended the song to convey.[7][8]

Chart positions

Chart (1997) Peak
position
Australian Charts[9] 26
New Zealand Singles Chart[10] 41
Norwegian Singles Chart[11] 8
Swedish Singles Chart[12] 46
UK Singles Chart[13] 53

The song was also nominated for Single of the Year at the 1997 ARIA Awards,[14] and came No. 18 in the Triple J Hottest 100 of that year.[15] It was No. 84 in the 1998 Hottest 100 of All Time, and No. 36 in the 2009 Hottest 100 of All Time.[2]

"Into My Arms" featured in the films About Time (2013), Gettin' Square (2003), Zero Effect (1998), the television film On the Beach (2000), and He Died with a Felafel in His Hand (2001). It also appeared in The L Word episode "Luck, Next Time". It is also used in John Patrick Shanley's 2012 play Storefront Church and series 4, episode 7 of British teen drama Skins. It has also been used in the 5th episode of the first season of City Homicide - Ripe fruits in the garden.

References

  1. Creswell, Toby (2006). 1001 Songs : The Great Songs of All Time and the Artists, Stories and Secrets Behind Them. Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 1-74066-331-4.
  2. 1 2 Triple J Hottest 100 of All Time, Triple J, 2009.
  3. Cave, Nick: The Love Song, Atelierhaus der Akademie der Bildenden Künste, 25 September 1999.
  4. Order of Service, Official Michael Hutchence Memorial Website.
  5. "Celebrities and fans share Hutchence family grief". BBC News. 27 November 1997.
  6. Discogs, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Into My Arms (CD, Maxi) at Discogs http://www.discogs.com/Nick-Cave-The-Bad-Seeds-Into-My-Arms/release/1704247 Retrieved from discogs.com on 25 April 2010.
  7. The Work of Director Jonathan Glazer, Palm Pictures.
  8. The Work of Director-Jonathan Glazer (2005), MichaelDVD, 7 March 2007.
  9. "australian-charts.com – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Into My Arms". 1997. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
  10. "charts.org.nz – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Into My Arms". 1997. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
  11. "norwegiancharts.com – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Into My Arms". 1997. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
  12. "swedishcharts.com – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Into My Arms". 1997. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
  13. Warwick, Neil; Tony Brown; Jon Kutner (2004). The Complete Book of the British Charts. Omnibus Press. ISBN 1-84449-058-0.
  14. 11th Annual ARIA Awards, ARIA, 1997.
  15. Hottest 100 1997, Triple J, 1998.
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