Where the Wild Roses Grow (3:55)

“Where the Wild Roses Grow” is an alternative-rock song written by Australian singer-songwriter Nick Cave for Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ ninth album Murder Ballads (1996), with guest vocals by Australian pop-singer Kylie Minogue. The song was released as the album’s first single in October 1995 and became the band’s most successful single worldwide reaching #3 in Norway, the top five in Australia, and the top twenty in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany and New Zealand. It also received a limited promotional release in the United States.

The song was certified Gold in Germany in 1996 for 250,000 copies sold, despite never reaching the top ten in that country. It charted again at the bottom of the German Top 100 in 2008 because of digital downloads after it was used in a soap opera. “Where the Wild Roses Grow” was also certified Gold in Australia for selling 50,000 copies.

Cave was inspired to write “Where the Wild Roses Grow” after listening to the traditional song, “Down in the Willow Garden”, a tale of a man courting a woman and killing her while they are out together. Cave arranged this tale as second of two B-sides, “The Ballad of Robert Moore & Betty Coltrane” / “The Willow Garden”, released on the CD-Maxi single version. Although the song does not feature on a Minogue studio album, it can be found on her compilations Hits+, Greatest Hits 1987-1999 and Ultimate Kylie. Minogue performed a chorus of the song during her Showgirl and Homecoming tours.

Cave described writing the song: