Cave in Amsterdam

September 26 & 27 Nick Cave played in Amsterdam, the city of Favas.net. Although there is no direct relationship between motto and work of Favas.net, the music of Nick Cave is an important source of inspiration for our world-wide practice. During the concert we were particularly impressed by Cave’s old masterpiece ‘Red Right Hand’, whereby we interpret possible divine allusions about a man and his red right hand as a warning about how to deal with dangers associated with urban life (see the complete lyrics below).

Source: Favas.net
Image graphics: Favas.net

“Red Right Hand”

Take a little walk to the edge of town
And go across the tracks
Where the viaduct looms
Like a bird of doom
As it shifts and cracks
Where secrets lie in the border fires
In the humming wires
Hey man, you know
You’re never coming back
Past the square, past the bridge
Past the mills, past the stacks
On a gathering storm comes
A tall handsome man
In a dusty black coat with
A red right hand

He’ll wrap you in his arms
Tell you that you’ve been a good boy
He’ll rekindle all the dreams
It took you a lifetime to destroy
He’ll reach deep into the hole
Heal your shrinking soul
But there won’t be a single thing
That you can do
He’s a god, he’s a man
He’s a ghost, he’s a guru
They’re whispering his name
Through this disappearing land
But hidden in his coat

Is a red right hand

You don’t have no money?
He’ll get you some
You don’t have no car?
He’ll get you one
You don’t have no self-respect
You feel like an insect
Well don’t you worry buddy
’cause here he comes
Through the ghettos and the barrio
And the bowery and the slum
A shadow is cast wherever he stands

Stacks of green paper in his
Red right hand

You’ll see him in your nightmares
You’ll see him in your dreams
He’ll appear out of nowhere but
He ain’t what he seems
You’ll see him in your head
On the TV screen
And hey buddy, I’m warning
You to turn it off
He’s a ghost, he’s a god
He’s a man, he’s a guru
You’re one microscopic cog
In his catastrophic plan
Designed and directed by
His red right hand

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Nick Cave, Mick Harvey & Thomas Wydler