The Singer/The Folk Singer

Nick Cave has quite the back catalog. I first got into him around Let Love In, but didn't really come to appreciate him until No More Shall We Part. He's been quite prolific lately, releasing a double cd a few years back, the full length Grinderman side project in 2007, and 2008's excellent Dig, Lazurus, Dig. So the recent years have kept me pretty busy, but the recent reissues of his first four albums provide an excellent reason to start exploring those early albums again.

It's a pleasure to hear 1986's Kicking Against The Pricks in remastered form, especially "The Singer." Originally known as "The Folk Singer" and written by Johnny Cash, the song is strangely absent from almost all of Johnny Cash's numerous box sets and greatest hits albums. It's a forgotten jem. And today, while listening to Kicking Against The Pricks, I finally was able to listen to the original. It's a great take on what it means to be an entertainer, and sounds great coming from Cave, as well as Cash. Both are pretty sublime.


.
Nick Cave's version from 1986's Kicking Against The Pricks:



Johnny Cash's version from 1968, the B-side to "Folsom Prison Blues:"