Today's Lesson

Nick Cave (From The Sun March 7, 2008): "'Today's Lesson' came about because I wanted to write a lyrically chaotic song concerning the received masculine erotic desire on women."

Nick Cave (From Mojo magazine April 2008): "It came from a series of stories - from my wife, Susie, and from Marilyn Monroe. (Marilyn) talked about noticing that, once she'd started to mature, she made people happy - which was actually the way that Susie put it. It's always felt that Marilyn died of other things than a simple drug overdose, that it was the extent of the male attention, which a human can't really take without something bad happening. You only have to look at certain women in the media these days, the way they're pursued. It's sickening."

Nick Cave elaborated to Q magazine June 2008 as to how his wife Susie, at the age of 12, realized she was sexually potent when lorry drivers started parping their horns at her. He explained: "The song's about the pleasure and pain she took in that. There's a great French film about a fat girl who has a beautiful sister. They share a room and the beauty is always bringing men back and having lots of sex. Then one day the beauty and her mother are stabbed and beaten to death by a psychopath and the fat one is dragged into the woods. When the police find her there's a little smile on her face. It's perverse in the extreme. But I'm interested in what male attention and libido does to women."