The fifth track from Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds' 2016 album Skeleton Tree. The title, “Anthrocene”, is a variant of the proposed scientific term Anthropocene (from Greek anthro- or anthropo- meaning “man” and -cene meaning “new” or “era”).
“Anthropocene” refers to the modern geological era, when...
[Verse 1]
All the fine wind is gone
And this sweet world is so much older
The animals pull the night around their shoulders
The flowers fall to their naked knees
Here I come now, here I come
I hear you been out there looking for something to love
There's a dark force that shifts at the edge of the trees
It's alright, it's alright
Well, you've turn so long and lovely, it's hard to believe
That we're falling now in the name of the Anthrocene
[Verse 2]
Oh the things we love, we love, we love, we lose
It's our bodies that fall when we're trying to rise
And I hear you been out looking for something to love
Sit down beside me and I'll name it for you
Behold, behold, the heaven-bound seas
The wind cast its shadow and it moves through the trees
Behold the animals and the birds and the sky entire
I hear you've been out there looking for something to set on fire
The head-bowed children fall to their knees
Humbled in the age of the Anthrocene
[Verse 3]
Here they come now, here they come, pulling you away
There are powers at play more forceful than we
Come over here and sit down and say a short prayer
A prayer to the air, to the air that we breathe
And the astonishing rise of the Anthrocene
[Outro]
Come on now, come on now
Hold your breath while you say
It's a long way back and I'm begging you please
To come home now, come home now
Well, I heard you been out looking for something to love
Close your eyes, little world and brace yourself
Anthrocene was written by Nick Cave & Warren Ellis.
Anthrocene was produced by Nick Cave & Warren Ellis.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds released Anthrocene on Fri Sep 09 2016.