Like most of the boatman's call album, this one is very sparse - it's essentially the piano and Nick's voice. The lyrics are Nicks best ever effort though I reckon - it's him trying to decide if someone really is the love of his life: "well we would know, won't we?/ stars would explode in the sky/ But they don't, do they?/ Stars have their moment, and then they die."
 
It really does repay listening to about a hundred times - very moving.

All birthday party songs are pretty much the same - start the drums, then the bass, and repeat these till the end of the song. Meanwhile, Nick rants over the top, and guitars come in at the dramatic bits. Sounds bad I know, but once you have listened to them about a hundred times, they suddenly become absolutely incredible. This is my favourite one - the unbelievably low bass line kicks in, and Nick yells such gems as "Express yourself! Say something! Say something! Like 'Er'! Or 'Um'! or 'Er'!" For about 6 minutes. Brilliant.

Ah - yet another classic about killing women. Cave is excelling himself here - it opens with the immortal line 'there is woman-pie in here.' This one breaks from the standard Birthday Party template - first drums, then bass, then nick, then guitars - by doing all the above, but with the mental leap of playing it at a quarter of the normal speed. The highlight is the inevitable moment when Nick says 'And all the girls across the world.....
.........
...........
are........
hit. '
MAGNIFICENT. Why didn't the sugarhill gang sing it that way?
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As far as I know, this the only song bassist Tracy Pew is credited with writing. His part is pretty obvious. It's the bass line.