Nick Cave addresses “panties” lyric: “The discomfort is, in a way, the point”

The second-to-last song on Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds‘s 2024 album Wild God is “O Wow O Wow (How Wonderful She Is),” begins with the line, “She rises in advance of her panties.” It’s a line that’s inspired some strong opinions, so it’s not surprising that people wrote in to Nick’s Red Hand Files site, where he answers people’s questions, to ask about it. One reader, Nick, from Peebles, UK, writes:

I hope you realise I’m asking as lord did this line on Wow O Wow from the new album give me a wtf moment, one that genuinely threw me. Surely not, I’ve misheard, he’s usually so measured, so beautiful, so right. But no!!! You actually sing, “She rises in advance of her panties”! Sorry if it sounds harsh, but I’ve never had a single line pause an album like that before. I’ve listened to the album many weeks now, and that line don’t shift, so I’m asking, did it give you pause? Were you actually happy with it? Should ‘panties’ ever be in a song lyric? Idk, but the line leaves me hitting the skip button. Anyway, I thought long and hard and decided to let you know. I hope you don’t take offence.

A second question, from Merel in Utrecht, Netherlands, reads, “I often wonder how Susie [fashion designer Susie Cave, Nick’s wife] feels about the song for Anita Lane [Nick’s late collaborator in The Birthday Party and The Bad Seeds] o wow o wow.”

“Dear Neil and Merel,” Nick writes, “You may be encouraged to know that several other people have written to The Red Hand Files expressing similar discomfort at the first line of ‘O Wow O Wow’. Indeed, I was recently sent a review of Wild God in an online music magazine that felt the need to single out – She rises in advance of her panties – as ‘the worst line Nick Cave has ever written’. But as its creator I feel the need to defend it – not just out of some paternal urge, but because I have always thought the line was rather good. Truthfully, when I wrote the first verse of ‘O Wow O Wow‘, I was so pleased, that I took the rest of the day off!”

He continues:

The opening verse is, of course, a recollection of my younger days with Anita – in this instance, she rises naked from our shared bed –

She rises in advance of her panties
Whereupon I declare the devotional nature of that holy spectacle –
I can confirm that God actually exists!
Anita responds with her full and famous smile –
She turns and smiles but never ever scantily
Which inspires the happy bromide –
O wow, O wow, how wonderful she is!

This simple, silly, happy verse brings Anita’s playful nature to the fore. The vocal delivery echoes the clumsy first line, which is out of time and rhythm with the track, giving the verse its sweet, goofy naivety. For me, it recalls a time when innocent love could be such. The discomfort of the “panties” line is, in a way, the point – it represents a kind of freedom or unburdening, a way to exist outside the constraints of good writing or good taste or good behaviour and become something emergent and disorderly.

The song continues on its merry way with further foolishness –

The horses have kicked down the stable
The rabbits have put carrots in their ears
Her coloured crayons dance upon the table
O wow, O wow, how wonderful she is!

And later –

The country doctor whistles across the meadow
And Carly Paradis gaily whistles as –
The schoolboy jumps up and says, “Gee Whiz!”

All this happiness, punctuated by Warren’s untroubled vocoder, leads to the final verse, where we see that Anita has passed away. She is watched over by her friends, who are spirits too, braiding violets through her hair and all agreeing, “How wonderful she was.”

As I played the song on the piano at home, Susie commented on its tender beauty. I told her it was for Anita, and Susie smiled, not scantily, because she loved Anita just as Anita loved her. And so, Merel, the song is not just an honouring of Anita by The Bad Seeds but also by Susie, who sat by my side as I wrote it. Susie understands that many of my lyrics are attempts to keep those who have passed away at the vanguard of our being, not just as vague and shadowy ghosts but as fully embodied incantations of our love. When The Bad Seeds play ‘O Wow O Wow’ live, I can see on the faces of the audience a communal conjuring of Anita’s spirit – and through her, all our various departed, placing them at the forefront of our collective adulation.

Understanding Anita, as I do, I know she loves this song and is happy to be occasionally awakened and called back to us. The dead are glad to be remembered. As for the contentious first line, Neil, I think she likes it a lot.

Love, Nick

There you have it. Cave’s North American tour with The Bad Seeds begins in April and includes a Brooklyn show at Barclays Center on April 17 with St. Vincent. See all dates below.

NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS: 2025 TOUR
15.04.2025 Agganis Arena, Boston, MA with special guest ST. VINCENT
17.04.2025 Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY with special guest ST. VINCENT
19.04.2025 Masonic Temple Theatre, Detroit, MI
21.04.2025 The Anthem, Washington, DC
23.04.2025 Meridian Hall, Toronto, ON
24.04.2025 Place Bell, Montreal, QC
26.04.2025 The Met, Philadelphia, PA
28.04.2025 The Salt Shed, Chicago, IL
29.04.2025 The Salt Shed, Chicago, IL
30.04.2025 Miller High Life Theatre, Milwaukee, WI
2.05.2025 Palace Theatre, Columbus, OH
4.05.2025 The Armory, Minneapoolis, MN
5.05.2025 Kansas City Music Hall, Kansas City, MO
7.05.2025 Mission Ballroom, Denver, CO
10.05.2025 Theater of the Clouds, Portland, OR
11.05.2025 Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Vancouver, BC
12.05.2025 Paramount Theatre, Seattle, WA
14.05.2025 Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco, CA
17.05.2025 Cruel World Festival, Pasadena, CA