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Red Right Hand

"Red Right Hand"
RedRightHand.jpg
Single by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
from the album Let Love In
Released 24 October 1994
Genre Alternative rock,Southern gothic
Length 6:10
Label Mute Records
Songwriter(s) Mick Harvey, Nick Cave and Thomas Wydler
Producer(s) Tony Cohen
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds singles chronology
"Loverman"
(1994)
"Red Right Hand"
(1994)
"Where the Wild Roses Grow"
(1995)
"Loverman"
(1994)
"Red Right Hand"
(1995)
"Where the Wild Roses Grow"
(1995)
Let Love In track listing
  1. "Do You Love Me?"
  2. "Nobody's Baby Now"
  3. "Loverman"
  4. "Jangling Jack"
  5. "Red Right Hand"
  6. "I Let Love In"
  7. "Thirsty Dog"
  8. "Ain't Gonna Rain Anymore"
  9. "Lay Me Low"
  10. "Do You Love Me? Pt 2"

"Red Right Hand" is a 1994 song from the band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. A dark, malicious alternative rock track, it's attracted critical praise from various publications such as Spin. It first appeared on the album Let Love In (1994), where it ran at 6:10, and the song was later released at the condensed length of 4:48 as a single.

It has become one of Cave's signature songs, being performed at most of his concerts. The website Setlist.fm stated, as of March 2017, that it was his second-most played track from 1994 to present. The title itself, as well as partial inspiration for the tone of the other lyrics, come from English literary figure John Milton's Paradise Lost, in which it refers to divine vengeance; the Red Hand of Ulster (usually a right hand) is also a traditional symbol of Ulster, a province in Ireland.

The liner notes for Murder Ballads point out that the phrase "red right hand" is from a line in John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost that refers to the vengeful hand of God. The opening song on the album, "Song of Joy," states of a murderer: "It seems he has done many, many more, / quotes John Milton on the walls in the victim's blood. / The police are investigating at tremendous cost. / In my house he wrote 'his red right hand'. / That, I'm told, is from Paradise Lost."

The aforementioned appearance in Paradise Lost () is: "What if the breath that kindled those grim fires, / Awaked, should blow them into sevenfold rage, / And plunge us in the flames; or from above / Should intermitted vengeance arm again / His red right hand to plague us?".


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