It wasn't entirely apparent to me at the time, but I think the trouble I had with Henry's Dream translates to a few other songwriters as well: Morrissey is the first that comes to mind. The trouble is that, sometimes, I wonder whether I've completely misunderstood their stance and statement, and if I'm just completely imagining the virtues that I claim to see in them. This is because the general reputations of songwriters like Nick Cave and Morrissey are wildly different to what I think of them.

With Cave, I really don't associate him with his Birthday Party days all that much, and neither for that matter most of his '80s solo material. Definitely not as much as I used to, at any rate. It's primarily his '90s catalogue by which I place him, and of course The Good Son by which I judge everything. But sometimes I think about it, and...The Good Son? For Nick Cave? The supposed prince of darkness, heir to Jim Morrison and all that, and I think his masterwork is bookmarked by a Brazilian hymn and "Lucy"!?! Am I crazy!?! While I've come across people who like the more strained albums, like Your Funeral, the safest bet for someone's choice of quintessential Cave is Tender Prey, I think. But while I still like the album (after all, it contains most people's choice of the quintessential Cave song), I still sense something special in The Good Son.

Similar deal with Morrissey. I hardly think of him as a depressing, maudlin songwriter, but instead as a very emotional one whose capacity for wit makes hints of sadness seem to be positive acceptance. I guess I associate him with "Cemetry Gates" say instead of "How Soon Is Now?" (wow, never thought that day would come!). In fact, I get positively uncomfortable when I sense him going too much to the other side. Part of it is probably because it makes me worried whether this is in fact the real him, and I've been imagining a different songwriter all these years.

It could just be that people are lazy to categorize songwriters, mind you, which wouldn't surprise me at all. But given how ready I am to forsake all sense of restraint when it comes to an above average songwriter, I do worry whether I've been getting it all wrong.