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Red Right Hand

As mentioned on my ridiculously over-long analysis of Come Back, All Is Forgiven

Analyzing a joke is like dissecting a frog, in the end they both die.

—Woody Allen

...hence I must first apologise for the murder I am about to perform upon this most perfect song. I only pray that I am not subsequently touched by the crimson appendage of a vengeful ghost, god, man, or guru.

The Lyrics

The copyright of the lyrics is presumably owned by Nick Cave. You can read them at his website, in the font he has chosen for you.

Now I apologise in advance that when we start reading these lyrics we might get excited and just read the whole thing in one go, they’re that exciting. So anyway — breathless in anticipation here we go — the actual lyrics!

Line 1: Take a little walk to the edge of town

Let me stop the track there for a moment. Sorry if you were just getting into it.

What have he learned so far?

I would say that Fact 1 is: There is a town. Further -- I would state that Dr Cave has indicated, Fact 2 which is: There is a "small" town.

Dr C. has effectively evoked the smallness of the town, in a stunning brevity of words, by relying on the innate mathematical instincts of his audience.

A "little walk" implies a walk that does not take very long. (I believe we can accept that as axiom 1, I won't dwell on it further). Using basic mathematical theory (see for example 7 Bridges of Königsberg which is concerned with the mathematics of a taking a little walk in a town, but also involves a lot of drinking) (sorry for the digression) (I was saying) if, and I mean if we, "we" meaning "you and I", or indeed "any listener of the song", if we "assume" a person is randomly placed anywhere inside a town (a somewhat Brownian assumption!), and further, we posit that the town is roughly circular in its extent, then the maximum distance from the random person's current location to the nearest perimiteroidal point, will be equivalent to the radius of the town circle. And the mean distance will be approximately half of this.

The Cavernous one doesn’t meekly state “I hope that your walk to the edge of town is a little one.”

No! Dr Cave boldly asserts that your walk to “the edge of town” will be a "little" walk, i.e. the town must be quite small. Had Dr Cave written, "Pack adequate provisions to set out on a lengthy hike, with a bearing directly toward the nearest edge of the metropolis," his lyrics — barring exceptional delivery — would have achieved a very different result.

He chose what he chose.

What is the significance of the size of the town? Why would it matter a figging hoot whether the damn town is small or large? I'm glad you asked! Professor Cave is relying on your innate knowledge of economics. I haven't had time to document this to any terrific extent just yet (I humbly admit there is a draft article here: Why Do Cities Exist?) -- but it’s not at all controversial to say that it's a well understood maxim of economics that small towns are poor towns.

Agglomeration itself creates economic flows that provide value or relative value (ie efficiency) to the system.

Hence, what we've learned so far, if you're paying attention — and I hope that you were paying attention — is that this song's setting is amongst people who are afflicted by poverty.

That is to say, Fact 3 — there is a poor town.

I must say.

It is somewhat ridiculous the density of ideas the Mr N. Cave has smuggled into just one line. These lyrics are quite gruelling. At this rate I'm not sure that we'll ever get through it.

I suggest that the simplest way to save time from here on, is if you please try to read a little more quickly. Stop overthinking each word you read! Honestly! Just read as if these are merely a flowing stream, a waterfall of words, rippling over you like a whimsical wordy wind.

Line 2: And go across the tracks

Wait wait wait. How about that!

What he have here is a nod to the famous "wrong side of the tracks" (see, for example, wiktionary: wrong side of the tracks).

The "other side of the tracks", or the "wrong side of the tracks", are a terrible place to be (though arguably not as bad as the "wrong side of the bed").

Descriptions of living on the "wrong side of the tracks" tend to include high poverty and high crime.

What sort of "tracks" is NC referring to? Is is a goat-track? A cow-track? Do we need to employ a skilled tracker to track these tracks?

I assert -- and this would have to be accepted as an axiom (axiom 2), if accepted at all, that these tracks are "train tracks".

And are these "train tracks" a naturally occurring feature of the landscape? Negative, no, nein, næfre..

"Train tracks” — right across the globe — train tracks owe their existence to the Industrial Revolution.

Train tracks, here in this small town, as in endless small towns everywhere, are a remnant, from long ago, when the rush of industrialisation puffed into town, perhaps a boom time soon occurred, whether for riches or crime. And the only reminders now are the opulent though dilapidating facades of the high street buildings, and the clanking rusted tracks of the single train line — the only way out of this hellhole existence. Unless, of course, you can be saved by a stranger.

In 1929 , Thorne Smith wrote ‘In most commuting towns…there are always two sides of which the tracks serve as a line of demarcation. There is the right side and the wrong side. Translated into terms of modern American idealism, this means, the rich side and the side that hopes to be rich.’

— Free dictionary - the wrong side of the tracks

Any border can also be the boundary for segregationist housing policies, which create, reinforce and perpetuate multi-generational poverty. See Redlining - Wikipedia. For even more on the topic I suggest TV Tropes: Wrong Side of the Tracks. There is much wisdom contained at TV Tropes.

Hence, this second line has reinforced the facts established in the first line, but further, Nick has updated the setting to be after the advent of the railway, in a post industrial-revolution world. Fact 4 — The year is post-industrial revolution.

Line 3: Where the viaduct looms

Ah, now Professor Nick has begun to draw in not just the mathematicians, the economists, and the urban planners, but also the historians and the architects.

Line 4: Like a bird of doom

Line 5: As it shifts and cracks

Line 6: Where secrets lie in the border fires

Line 7: In the humming wires

Line 8: Hey man, you know

Line 9: You're never coming back

Line 10: Past the square, past the bridge

Line 11: Past the mills, past the stacks

Line 12: On a gathering storm comes

Line 13: A tall handsome man

Line 14: In a dusty black coat with

Line 15: A red right hand

Line 16: He'll wrap you in his arms

Line 17: Tell you that you've been a good boy

Line 18: He'll rekindle all the dreams

Line 19: It took you a lifetime to destroy

Line 20: He'll reach deep into the hole

Line 21: Heal your shrinking soul

Line 22: But there won't be a single thing

Line 23: That you can do

Line 24: He's a god, he's a man
Line 25: He's a ghost, he's a guru

Line 26: They're whispering his name

Line 27: Through this disappearing land

Line 28: But hidden in his coat

Line 29: Is a red right hand

Line 30: You don't have no money?

Line 31: He'll get you some

Line 32: You don't have no car?

Line 33: He'll get you one

Line 34: You don't have no self-respect

Line 35: You feel like an insect

Line 36: Well don't you worry buddy

Line 37: 'Cause here he comes

Line 38: Through the ghettos and the barrio

Line 39: And the bowery and the slum

Line 40: A shadow is cast wherever he stands

Line 41: Stacks of green paper in his

Line 42: Red right hand

Line 43: You'll see him in your nightmares

Line 44: You'll see him in your dreams

Line 45: He'll appear out of nowhere but

Line 46: He ain't what he seems

Line 47: You'll see him in your head

Line 48: On the TV screen

Line 49: And hey buddy, I'm warning

Line 50: You to turn it off

Line 51: He's a ghost, he's a god

Line 52: He's a man, he's a guru

Line 53: You're one microscopic cog

Line 54: In his catastrophic plan

Line 55: Designed and directed by

Line 56: His red right hand

wiki.secretGeek

Red Right Hand

The Lyrics

References

See also