The Deathly Hallows and Nick Cave

I finally got to see the new Harry Potter movie. I say finally because I hadn’t seen a movie in the theatres since…I wanna say Up but not sure…a very long time. But these movies/books are definitely high on my list of current favorites. I still remember reading through all the books in hopes to latch onto this immense band-wagon by the time the fifth movie came out in 2007. Back then I was a substitute teacher and I would pour into these books every day at work and got through all of them, finally, in the winter of 2007. I ended up watching that movie alone in the dollar theatres back then and hell, I still loved it, but fortunately, I was able to watch the new one in a packed theatre with good friends yesterday and as another good friend told me earlier, it was simply magical.

Besides that ridiculous rant (and really bad run-on at the end there, yikes. HOVA would say “that shit is…fucking ridiculous!”), the point of this post was that in the movie, they usually only use classical scoring. However in the new movie, there is a scene written specifically for the film that features Hermione and Harry dancing to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ “O Children.” I was stunned that they would feature some kind of rock music with lyrics but even more surprised that it was this gorgeous song. It’s off their 2004 double-album, Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus, and it happens to fall under the category of one their better albums to date. There’s swooning adoration (“Babe, You Turn Me On”) and still, shining rolls (“Supernaturally”) all over.

Cave is a master songwriter that is capable of soaring highs – in my opinion, all of his music has always been downright spectacular. This particular song is on the second disc and it closes everything with a beautiful closure. There’s a memorable piano line that’s, Cave’s battered voice and the background singers are a fitting touch; the director of the Harry Potter film probably said it best, “It has that capacity to lift you up and break your heart at the same time.”

Hmm, a lot of music is that way when you think about it; especially the bitterly good stuff – the stuff that hits you that much harder than the rest. Then again, the same could be said about women. – Bryan