A Real Hero

Real human being
And a real hero

Back against the wall and odds
With the strength of a will and a cause
Your pursuits are called outstanding
You’re emotionally complex

Against the grain of dystopic claims
Not the thoughts your actions entertain
And you have proved to be
A real human being and a real hero

A pilot on a cold, cold morn’
One-hundred fifty-five people on board
All safe and all rescued
From the slowly sinking ship

Water warmer than, his head so cool
In that tight bind you knew what to do
And you have proved to be
A real human being and a real hero

In 1994, Australian musician Nick Cave was jamming with band mates to create new music for an upcoming album. He did not particularly like the repetitive and atmospheric groove they had come up with for one song, but when he began to pen lyrics for the music he focused on a story of a mysterious figure in black.

The song, Red Right Hand, has inspired many covers by other artists including the Arctic Monkey’s, PJ Harvey, and Snoop Dog. The song also found it’s way into the soundtracks of numerous TV shows and films including the X-Files, the horror-comedy series, Scream, and most notably as the theme song to the Netflix outlaw crime-drama, Peaky Blinders.

The repeating image of the Red Right Hand lends itself to interpretation. Nick Cave has never revealed who the mysterious figure is. The audience must interpret who he could be, based on context, and in the Peaky Blinders series the refrain ‘Red Right Hand’ occurs juxtaposed with killers, communists, and the IRA.

The phrase ‘red right hand’ is also associated with a line from John Milton’s lengthy poem, Paradise Lost, to signify the vengeful hand of God.

To this day, Nick Cave’s co-writer, Mick Harvey, has said that Nick never told him who the mysterious figure was intended to be (and perhaps the figure was always intended to be ambiguous, to allow the audience to participate in a the transactional experience of meaning).

Red Right Hand

Take a little walk to the edge of town
And go across the tracks
Where the viaduct looms
Like a bird of doom
As it shifts and cracks
Where secrets lie in the border fires
In the humming wires
Hey man, you know
You’re never coming back

Past the square, past the bridge
Past the mills, past the stacks
On a gathering storm 
Comes a tall handsome man
In a dusty black coat with
A red right hand

He’ll wrap you in his arms
Tell you that you’ve been a good boy
He’ll rekindle all the dreams
It took you a lifetime to destroy
He’ll reach deep into the hole
Heal your shrinking soul
But there won’t be a single thing that you can do

He’s a god, he’s a man
He’s a ghost, he’s a guru
They’re whispering his name
Through this disappearing land
But hidden in his coat
Is a red right hand

You don’t have no money?
He’ll get you some
You don’t have no car?
He’ll get you one
You don’t have no self-respect
You feel like an insect
Well don’t you worry buddy
‘Cause here he comes
Through the ghettos and the barrio
And the Bowery and the slum
A shadow is cast wherever he stands
Stacks of green paper in his
Red right hand

You’ll see him in your nightmares
You’ll see him in your dreams
He’ll appear out of nowhere but
He ain’t what he seems
You’ll see him in your head
On the TV screen
Hey buddy, I’m warning
You to turn it off
He’s a ghost, he’s a god
He’s a man, he’s a guru
You’re one microscopic cog
In his catastrophic plan
Designed and directed by
His red right hand