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Nick Cave praises song by non-verbal teen that makes music inspired by him

24 August 2020, 15:46 | Written by Cerys Kenneally

Nick Cave has praised a non-verbal Australian teen after he was inspired by Cave's music to create a song called "The One You Feed".

In the latest response on Nick Cave's Q+A site The Red Hand Files, Nic from Denmark, Australia decided to approach Cave slightly differently. Instead of presenting a question, Nic shared a link to a story on ABC Australia about 16-year-old Tyler Hartfield, who relies on a digital voice generator in a computer app to speak.

The non-verbal teenager was born with cerebral palsy and is a non-verbal communicator, but has worked with his classmates to create a song called "The One You Feed". Hartfield revealed to ABC Australia that the song is about "the battle inside my brain" and his relationship with his education assistant Jayne Taylor.

In response to Nic's link on The Red Hand Files site, Cave wrote, "This is so good. The band are great. I love the slow crawl of the song, the backing vocals coming in half way, and everything kicking in at 3:15. Genuinely thrilling. And Tyler’s writing is something else."

He went on to praise Hartfield's lyrics in the song, ""The wolf who wins? / The one you feed" - is about as smart and as true as something can be, and the final verse. "Playing on my heartstrings / You never pour your picky jealousy / Onto my growing love for you / Help me beat my way to you" - is as good as it gets. That last line! "Help me beat my way to you" Wow!"

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