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Where the Wild Roses Grow

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"Where the Wild Roses Grow"
Song
B-side"The Ballad of Robert Moore & Betty Coltrane" / "The Willow Garden"

"Where the Wild Roses Grow" is an alternative-rock song written by Australian singer-songwriter Nick Cave[1] for Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' ninth album Murder Ballads (1996), with guest vocals by Australian pop-singer Kylie Minogue. The song was produced by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Tony Cohen and Victor Van Vugt and received a positive reception from music critics. The song was released as the album's first single in October 1995 and became the band's most successful single worldwide reaching #3 in Norway, the top five in Australia, and the top twenty in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany and New Zealand. It also received a limited promotional release in the United States.

The song was certified Gold in Germany in 1996 for 250,000 copies sold, despite never reaching the top ten in that country.[2] It charted again at the bottom of the German Top 100 in 2008 because of digital downloads. "Where the Wild Roses Grow" was also certified Gold in Australia where it sold 50,000 copies.

Cave was inspired to write "Where the Wild Roses Grow" after listening to the traditional song, "Down in the Willow Garden", a tale of a man courting a woman and killing her while they are out together. Cave arranged this tale as second of two B-sides, "The Ballad of Robert Moore & Betty Coltrane" / "The Willow Garden", released on the CD-Maxi single version.

Although the song does not feature on a Minogue studio album, it can be found on her compilations Hits+, Greatest Hits 1987-1999 and Ultimate Kylie. Minogue performed a chorus of the song during her Showgirl and Homecoming tours.

It reached number 8 in Triple J's Hottest 100 1995.

Background

Cave described writing the song:

Where The Wild Roses Grow was written very much with Kylie in mind. I'd wanted to write a song for Kylie for many years. I had a quiet obsession with her for about six years. I wrote several songs for her, none of which I felt was appropriate to give her. It was only when I wrote this song, which is a dialogue between a killer and his victim, that I thought finally I'd written the right song for Kylie to sing. I sent the song to her and she replied the next day.[3]

— Nick Cave, quoted in Molly Meldrum presents 50 years of rock in Australia (2007)

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Kylie Minogue first performed the song publicly on 4 August 1995 in Cork, Ireland.[4]

Music video

Minogue, as Elisa Day, is admired, then murdered by Nick Cave's character. The chorus of the song suggests either that she's come to be known as the "Wild Rose" rather than as Elisa Day by people who recall her murder or that her body has never been found, and her ghost lingers at the place of the murder, but people, seeing only the roses, talk about them, when Elisa Day believes they talk to, or about, her (e.g., "They call me the Wild Rose; but my name was Elisa Day; why they call me that, I do not know; for my name was Elisa Day"). Cave's character is entranced by Elisa's beauty and hates the idea of its fading, so he kills her in order to preserve the memory of her beauty forever. He visits her home, and becomes obsessed with her. The next day, he brings her a beautiful red rose, then asks her if she'd like to see where such beauty could come from. On the final day, he takes Elisa to the river, where he gives her a farewell kiss, then kills her with a rock. A small rabbit comes to visit her body. He then places her in the river where the wild roses grow, in the pose of Millais' painting Ophelia. A large python courses over her body, symbolizing her death. He puts a rose in her mouth, and closes her eyes. The video was shot by director Rocky Shenck.

Formats and track listings

These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "Where the Wild Roses Grow".

European 2-Track CD Single

  1. "Where the Wild Roses Grow"
  2. "The Ballad of Robert Moore & Betty Coltrane"

International CD Maxi

  1. "Where the Wild Roses Grow"
  2. "The Ballad of Robert Moore & Betty Coltrane"
  3. "The Willow Garden"

Vinyl Single

  1. "Where the Wild Roses Grow"
  2. "The Ballad of Robert Moore & Betty Coltrane"

Live performances

Kylie performed the song on the following concert tours:

Charts

Chart (1995) Peak
Position
Australian ARIA Singles Chart[5] 2
Finnish Singles Chart[5] 5
UK Singles Chart 11
Swedish Singles Chart[5] 3
French Singles Chart[5] 37
Swiss Singles Chart[5] 11
Dutch Singles Chart[5] 9
German Single Chart.[5][6] 12
Belgium Singles Chart[5] 3
Irish Singles Chart 6
Denmark Singles Chart 12
Austria Singles Chart[5] 4
New Zealand Singles Chart[5] 11
Norway Singles Chart[5] 3
Eurochart Hot 100 8
Italian Singles Chart 18

Sample

Sample of "Where the Wild Roses Grow"
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Awards

Covers

Other version

A guide track with The Bad Seeds guitarist, Blixa Bargeld, singing Kylie Minogue's vocal part was released on the compilation B-Sides & Rarities.

References

  1. ^ ""Where the Wild Roses Grow" at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 23 October 2009.
  2. ^ "Gold/Platin-Datenbank". International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (in German). Retrieved 2010-03-04.
  3. ^ Jenkins, Jeff (2007). Molly Meldrum presents 50 years of rock in Australia. Melbourne, Vic: Wilkinson Publishing. p. 227. ISBN 9781921332111. Retrieved 23 October 2009. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ Maes, Maurice. "Nick Cave - chronological song list - 1996". home.vianetworks.nl. Retrieved 23 October 2009.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds + Kylie Minogue - Where The Wild Roses Grow". australian-charts.com. Retrieved 22 October 2009.
  6. ^ "German Chart Information". Retrieved August 9, 2007.
  7. ^ "ARIA Awards - History: Winners by Year 1996: 10th Annual ARIA Awards". Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Retrieved 23 October 2009.
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