Red Right Hand

"Red Right Hand" is a song by Australian rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. It was released as a single from their eighth studio album, Let Love In (1994), on 24 October 1994. A condensed version was included in the single, while the longer version was included with the album. The title comes from John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost, in which it refers to the vengeful hand of God.

"Red Right Hand"
Single by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
from the album Let Love In
B-side	"That's What Jazz Is to Me" "Where the Action Is"
Released	24 October 1994
Recorded	September – December 1993
Genre	Southern gothic[1] blues[2] gothic folk[3] gothic rock[4]
Length	6:10
Label	Mute
Songwriter(s)	Nick Cave Mick Harvey 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)
Let Love In track listing
"Do You Love Me?" "Nobody's Baby Now" "Loverman" "Jangling Jack" "Red Right Hand" "I Let Love In" "Thirsty Dog" "Ain't Gonna Rain Anymore" "Lay Me Low" "Do You Love Me? Pt 2"

The song has become one of Cave's signature songs, being performed at most of his concerts; only "The Mercy Seat" has appeared in more of his live sets since 1984.[5] It has since become best known as the theme song to the British crime drama series Peaky Blinders, which resulted in the song receiving a re-release single in 2014. It has been covered by Arctic Monkeys, PJ Harvey, Iggy Pop, Jarvis Cocker and Snoop Dogg, among others.

Background

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 divine vengeance. 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 (Book II, 170-174) 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?".

The term itself appears to be Milton's translation of the term "rubente dextera" in Horace's Ode i.2,2-3

In 2004 researcher Kim Beissel claimed that "Red Right Hand" was loosely based on the 1987 Tom Waits song "Way Down in the Hole".[6]

Film and television

Advertising

• The song was used in the South Australian Tourism Board's Barossa Valley television commercial campaign, Barossa, Be Consumed, directed by Jeffrey Darling.[7]
• The song was used by New York design firm GrandArmy in a promotional clip for the Mexican tequila company El Jimador.[8]

Films and soundtracks

• Dumb and Dumber (1994 film)
• Songs in the Key of X: Music from and Inspired by the X-Files (1996)
• Scream (1996 film)
• Box of Moonlight (1996)
• Hellboy (2004), the song appears on the soundtrack in a cover version by Pete Yorn
• Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (2009)
• Peaky Blinders (2013-present), title track of the show - the album version and several cover versions have been played
• Wentworth (2019-present)

Scream franchise

• The song was used in the first three films in the Scream franchise. The original version appeared on the soundtrack album for the first film in 1996, while a remixed version by DJ Spooky appears on the Scream 2 (1997) album.
• Nick Cave recorded another version, sometimes referred to as "Red Right Hand 2", for Scream 3 (2000) and released it on his B-Sides & Rarities (2005) album.

Television

• The song was used in the 1994 The X-Files episode "Ascension", playing during Duane Barry's car ride, with Dana Scully in the trunk. In the liner notes for the compilation album, Songs in the Key of X: Music from and Inspired by the X-Files (1996) The X-Files producer Chris Carter explained that the song was the direct inspiration for the anthology.
• The song was used in promos for the UK television show Hollyoaks, during "Fire Week" in 2010.
• It was used as the main theme for the BBC television show Peaky Blinders. A version by popular British rock band Arctic Monkeys appeared in episode 3 of series 2, a version by US punk rock band Fidlar in the opening episode of series 4, and a cover by British folk singer Laura Marling in the season 4 finale.[9]
• The song was the main theme song for ABC television program Jack Irish, starring Guy Pearce.

Covers

• English indie rock band Arctic Monkeys performed a cover of "Red Right Hand" during their tour of Australia in early 2009, their performance in the Reading and Leeds Festival in August 2009, as well as in their North American tour in December 2009. A recorded version of the song appears on the Japanese version of their third album, Humbug (2009) and as a b-side on the single "Crying Lightning" (2009).[10]
• Australian jazz musician Frank Bennett recorded a lounge version of the song for his album, Five O'Clock Shadow (1996)
• Giant Sand covered the song on their album Cover Magazine (2002).[11]
• Ernst Molden covered the song in Austrian German on his album Weida Foan.[12]
• Various artists have covered the track for the television series Peaky Blinders, including PJ Harvey, Laura Marling, Iggy Pop and Jarvis Cocker and Snoop Dogg.[10]
• King Ralph Once (2020).

Track listing

• Euro three-track CD single

1. "Red Right Hand"
2. "That's What Jazz Is to Me"
3. "Where the Action Is"

Charts

Chart (1995)	Peak Position
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	62
UK Singles Sales Chart (2017)	81

References

1. "Joshua Cutchin: Weird Words & Brass Beats". Joshua Cutchin: Weird Words & Brass Beats. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
2. Trakin, Roy (8 February 2018). "Case Study: How a 1994 Nick Cave Song Became a Favorite of Music Supervisors". Variety. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
3. Graves, Wren (8 October 2019). "Nick Cave says Snoop Dogg's "Red Right Hand" cover left "a giant smile on my face"". ConsequenceOfSound. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
4. Goth Music: From Sound to Subculture by Isabella van Elferen and Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock. Page 27.
5. "Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Tour Statistics - setlist.fm". www.setlist.fm. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
6. Original Seeds Vol. 2: Songs that inspired Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Kim Beissel, CD liner notes, Rubber Records Australia, 2004
7. Newstead, Al (23 May 2013). "Nick Cave Provides Soundtrack For Barossa Valley Tourism Campaign". Tone Deaf. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
8. "El Jimador". Grand-Army.com.
9. "Peaky Blinders playlist". Retrieved 16 November 2017.
10. Britton, Luke Morgan (14 December 2017). "Listen to Iggy Pop and Jarvis Cocker's cover of 'Peaky Blinders' theme 'Red Right Hand'". NME.
11. Fennessy, Kathleen C. "Cover Magazine - Giant Sand". AllMusic. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
12. "Resetarits*, Lang*, Molden* – Weida Foan". Discogs. Retrieved 2 February 2018.