"Palaces of Montezuma" | ||||
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Single by Grinderman | ||||
from the album Grinderman 2 | ||||
B-side | "When My Baby Comes" (Cat's Eyes remix) | |||
Released | 14 March 2011 | |||
Format | Digital download, 12" | |||
Recorded | August 2008RAK Studios, State of the Ark and Assault & Battery 2 in London, United Kingdom | –2009 at|||
Genre | Alternative rock | |||
Length | 3:32 | |||
Label | Mute | |||
Songwriter(s) | Nick Cave, Warren Ellis, Martyn P. Casey, Jim Sclavunos | |||
Producer(s) | Nick Launay, Grinderman | |||
Grinderman singles chronology | ||||
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"Palaces of Montezuma" is a song by the alternative rock band Grinderman. It is the eighth track and third single from the band's second and final studio album, Grinderman 2, and was released on 14 March 2011 on Mute Records. Produced by Nick Launay and written collectively by vocalist Nick Cave, multi-instrumentalist Warren Ellis, bassist Martyn P. Casey and drummer Jim Sclavunos, the song has been described as an "atypically straightforward love song" and was written for Cave's wife, Susie Bick.
Grinderman was accused of plagiarism by Frankie Duffy, the frontman of the defunct Scottish rock band Rising Signs, upon "Palace of Montezuma" inclusion on Grinderman 2. Duffy claimed the song was a rip-off of the Rising Signs' 2005 song "Grey Man," however, Nick Cave denied the claims. Upon its single release, "Palaces of Montezuma" received positive critical acclaim, though the song failed to chart.
"Palaces of Montezuma" was recorded during the sessions for Grinderman 2. The sessions began in August 2008 at RAK Studios in London, United Kingdom and continued in State of the Ark and Assault & Battery 2 until August 2009. Nick Cave has claimed that "Palaces of Montezuma" was the song that Grinderman had planned leaving off of the album. Three versions of the songs were mixed. The album mix was mixed by producer Nick Launay. The single and radio edit version was mixed by Cenzo Townshend and featured alterations—including increasing the tempo, editing out the final refrains and adding different vocal takes. Barry Adamson, a former member of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, done a remix of the song, stripping most of the guitar instrumentation and emphasising the piano. Adamson's remix was featured as one of the single's three b-sides and was included on the remix album, Grinderman 2 RMX (2012).