Nick Cave Gives T. Rex’s “Cosmic Dancer” a Piano Ballad Twist

Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat

Since the passing of producer Hal Wilner, Nick Cave contributed a cover of “Cosmic Dancer” as part of a tribute album titled AngelHeaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan and T. Rex. The album is 26-song tribute album to the late Marc Bolan that was produced by Hal Willner and features a star-studded lineup including Joan Jett, Kesha, U2, Elton John, Father John Misty, Perry Farrell and many more. Cave also did a solo piano performance of the song at London’s Alexandra Palace earlier this year and according to Brooklyn Vegan, he performed the T. Rex cover most recently on James Corden’s Late Late Show. Watch the beautiful cover of it below.

Cave and his band The Bad Seeds were scheduled to hit the road this fall alongside Weyes Blood but has since been canceled due to COVID. It was set to being this month. Earlier this year, Cave also debuted 24-hour streaming channel called “Bad Seed TeeVee” that featured videos, live performances and interviews. Musicians  Devin Townsend, Angel Olsen and Margo Price all took part.

While some of his lyrics from past songs have been problematic, he stated that he would not change his lyrics. Earlier this year from fan mail, a  fan brought up a line from his 1992 song “Papa Won’t Leave You, Henry,” that read: “a f*g in a whalebone corset dragging his dick across my cheek,” with the fan asking “Are you happy to preserve the lyric as a product of its time, and respect the original content?” Cave responded saying, “…But what songwriter could have predicted thirty years ago that the future would lose its sense of humour, its sense of playfulness, its sense of context, nuance and irony, and fall into the hands of a perpetually pissed off coterie of pearl-clutchers? How were we to know?”

Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat

Roy Lott: College grad and aspiring music journalist. I have a passion for all things music, listen to most genres and go to many shows and festivals (if the lineup is good). Discovering new music and artists is another habit of mine that I can't shake.
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