About X/Z Song Trader: Steve is a music journalist, author and musician. Lucy is a diehard music fan and college student. They have always enjoyed a father/daughter bond over music. Each week one of them picks a song and they both share their perspectives. These are casual conversations based on musical connections. Opinions are their own. Keeping it positive.
Check out the whole X/Z Song Trader series.
Steve’s Perspective
A Nick Cave song in a Harry Potter movie?
As a longtime fan of Cave’s darkly poetic music, I couldn’t believe they chose to use “O Children” from Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus for such a pivotal scene in Deathly Hallows—Part 1. The bleak pairing seemed incongruent at first, but I came to realize it was a perfect choice.
That initial response was mostly my music-addled brain selfishly separating Cave and Harry Potter into distinct buckets. I first fell for his 1988 album Tender Prey—which is still an all time favorite—while Harry Potter is something I specifically associate with you and your sibling. It was the series that taught both of you how to read, books and movies we’ve enjoyed together many times, and a connection we share as a family.
The collision of those worlds created a dissonance that took a while to resolve in my mind. Once it did, I finally appreciated how the song’s tone and rueful lyrics perfectly underscore Harry, Hermione, and Ron’s painful final step into adulthood, while shining a spotlight on the seemingly insurmountable legacy they inherited from previous generations.
That’s something I think about a lot these days.
The sections of the song they chose to highlight in Deathly Hallows is slightly more tame and thematically appropriate compared to lines in the first few verses.
That awkward Harry/Hermione dance scene leans on the song’s outro, featuring lyrics that call The Hogwarts Express to mind over sorrowful music that encapsulates the overall mood of the film:
Hey, little train! Wait for me!
I once was blind but now I see
Have you left a seat for me?
Is that such a stretch of the imagination?
While bleak lyrics from earlier in the song read more like cautionary lamentations:
They are knocking now upon your door
They measure the room, they know the score
They’re mopping up the butcher’s floor
Of your broken little hearts
I remember watching the movie with you during elementary school and wondering how you were experiencing a scene that felt to me like a mash up of vastly different worlds.
It wasn’t until your early high school years that I started hearing “O Children” pop up on your playlists more frequently. I think I took the opportunity to play a few of my other favorite Nick Cave songs for you, including “Mercy Seat” and “Deanna,” but none of those seemed to stick the way “O Children” has to this day.
Which got me wondering about your connection to this song. Is it a track that you specifically enjoy because it’s from one of your favorite childhood film series? Or has your relationship with “O Children” evolved as you have grown up?
Lucy’s Perspective
This song holds a lot of interesting memories for me.
I mean, the first time I heard it was definitely when I watched Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 1 with you. I think my first impression of it had a lot to do with the feeling of the movie as a whole; melancholy and dark. The song itself has a pretty dark meaning and in the context of the movie that holds true as well.
I think it was when I was maybe 15 or so that the song got popular on the internet along with all of the Harry Potter movies (again). That’s when a friend and I really started to listen to the song often and delve into the lyrics. Although I know that when Nick Cave originally created the song, his intention likely was not to appeal to teenage Harry Potter fans, I must say whenever I hear the song that is still where my head goes.
Harry Potter, to me, has always been special because of how much we have bonded over it. For most of my life I have been your ‘Harry Potter kid’ and that is something that I think will always bond us, same with this song.
I love the lyrics you highlighted.
They bring such a specific feeling and transport me right back to laying on the couch in our house, watching the movie with you and loving that scene the most every time, despite its awkwardness.
Even though the lyrics about the train are my favorite, I also love when he sings:
I’m hanging in there, don’t you see?
In this process of eliminationWe’re happy, Ma, we’re having fun (children)
It’s beyond my wildest expectation (oh, children)
I think this part of the song is special for no reason other than the way it ties back to those original lyrics about the train, as though a response to himself earlier. That feels reminiscent of the movie scene itself, dancing through dark times as a way to remind themselves of the fun they used to have with one another.
To answer your question, though, I do think that even though I have loved this song at different times in my life, it will always be the most special to me because of the memories you and I share around it.
Hopefully many more young Potter fans discovered Nick Cave similarly. I saw NC on the First Born Is Dead Tour, and I have to say it was truly a thrilling show, the music and atmosphere beyond what I could adequately describe. My friends I had brought were only 16 and they had an age limit at the Palace, but they saw our innocent faces and let them in anyway. I stood next to Henry Rollins, and at one point I asked if I could take his photo. Henry looked at me with that standard-issue angry face and simply said, “Yes.” After the show, my two friends and I afterward wanted to meet NC, and hung around the parking lot. NC came over to us, saw my Bad Seeds t-Shirt and said, “those guys aren’t very good”, then asked us if we had any drugs. My friend Kevin said we only had nicotine, and NC thought about it for a moment, then said alright, I’ll take one. He signed my slip of paper “NC” in block letters.
I digress. NC’s music is so theatrical with such contrast in it that it works beautifully in movies. I don’t remember the Harry Potter movie, but I’m glad they snuck some NC into the happy meals. I’m sure you and Lucy are both already familiar with the Red Hand Files, where NC answers fan questions with a lot of thought and deliberation. It’s great stuff, particularly with regards to grief and loss.
The connection young Potterheads will have to this song for the rest of their lives is truly immeasurable. The feeling I got watching that scene at 11 years old & continue to feel at 26 as I rewatch or listen to this song over and over again, is very unique. The scene really reminds me of Dumbledore's line: "happiness can be found in the darkest of times if one only remembers to turn on the light". Nick Cave is truly legendary for many songs, but this one really seals it: it's melancholic yet hopeful and almost has a lullaby ring to it so I think some may find it comforting as well. Thank you for this post! I could read/talk about this song all day & I love getting the perspective from you who was already familiar with Nick Cave and your daughter who has a similar experience to me.