Anthrocene – English Lyrics

• By: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
• Album: Ghosteen

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

All the fine winds gone

...

And this sweet world is so much older

...

Animals pull the night around their shoulders

Flowers fall to their naked knees

Here I come now, here I come

I hear you been out there looking for something to love

The dark force that shifts at the edge of the tree

It's alright, it's alright

When you turn so long and lovely, it's hard to believe

...

That we're falling now in the name of the Anthrocene

...

All the things we love, we love, we love, we lose

...

It's our bodies that fall when they try to rise

...

And I hear you been looking out for something to love

...

Sit down beside me and I'll name it for you

Behold, behold

The heaven bound sea

The wind cast its shadow and moves for the tree

Behold the animals and the birds and the sky entire

I hear you been out there looking for something to set on fire

The head bow children fall to their knees

...

Humbled in the age of the Anthrocene

...

Here they come now, here they come

Are 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, the air that we breathe

And the astonishing rise of the Anthrocene

...

Come on now, come on now

Hold your breath while you're safe

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 worm

And brace yourself

...

Key Grammar Structures

• I hear you been out there looking for something to love

  ➔ Colloquial Present Perfect

  ➔ Informal contraction of "you have been" ("you've been"). Common in spoken English but grammatically incomplete without auxiliary "have".

• When you turn so long and lovely, it's hard to believe

  ➔ Adverbial Clause + Dummy Subject "it"

  ➔ "When" introduces a time adverbial clause. "It" functions as a dummy subject for the impersonal expression "it's hard to believe".

• That we're falling now in the name of the Anthrocene

  ➔ Present Continuous Tense

  ➔ "We're falling" describes an ongoing action in the present. Structure: subject + "be" verb ("are") + present participle ("falling").

• All the things we love, we love, we love, we lose

  ➔ Repetition + Omitted Relative Pronoun

  ➔ Triple repetition of "we love" for emphasis. The relative pronoun "that" is omitted in "things (that) we love".

• It's our bodies that fall when they try to rise

  ➔ Cleft Sentence

  ➔ Emphasizes "our bodies" using "It is...that..." structure. Shifts focus from the action (falling) to the subject (bodies).

• Sit down beside me and I'll name it for you

  ➔ Imperative + Future Simple

  ➔ "Sit down" is a command (imperative). "I'll name" shows future action using modal "will" + base verb.

• Behold, behold The heaven bound sea

  ➔ Archaic Imperative

  ➔ "Behold" is an old-fashioned command meaning "look" or "see". Repeated for dramatic effect.

• There are powers at play more forceful than we

  ➔ Comparative Adjective + Subject Pronoun

  ➔ "More forceful" is the comparative form. "We" is used instead of "us" as it functions as subject of implied verb ("we are").