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On changing their mind
Back then I thought I was remaking the world, tearing down the old and erecting something new in its place.
Nick Cave
Musician and writer; answers readers' questions weekly at The Red Hand Files, and fronts Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.
Nick Cave did not write this page. ppll compiled it from their own words, each linked to the source. Is this you? · Report a mistake
What they believe
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A work does not have to be unlike everything before it to be worth making; what makes it new is that this particular person made it.
There may be nothing new under the sun, but it is our distinctiveness that matters, our specialness.
theredhandfiles.comSaid 29 Jun 2026This on korrents
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Changed their mind The ideas an artist believes are radically their own are illusions: whatever they thought was original had already been said, and said better.
Now Back then I thought I was remaking the world, tearing down the old and erecting something new in its place.
Said 29 Jun 2026This on korrents
The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These one: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.
Feed
As its own page →Hiding
29 June
From one piece How have your beliefs evolved? What did you once hold true in your beliefs that you don't hold now? 2 beliefs · theredhandfiles.com
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Their words
Over time, that fiery intensity ebbed away, and I realised that the past wasn’t something to discard but to respect.
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Their words
There may be nothing new under the sun, but it is our distinctiveness that matters, our specialness.
23 April
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Likedrcmnd.app
Awake! William Blake and the Power of the ImaginationTheir words
At the moment, I’m halfway through Mark Vernon’s illuminating Awake! William Blake and the Power of the Imagination, and I’ve just finished Darcey Steinke’s This Is the Door: Notes from a Body in Pain
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Readrcmnd.app
This Is the Door: Notes from a Body in PainTheir words
I’ve just finished Darcey Steinke’s This Is the Door: Notes from a Body in Pain, a kind of wild theology of the body
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Lovedrcmnd.app
Flash Count DiaryTheir words
(I loved her book on menopause, Flash Count Diary).
+ 5 more
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Likedrcmnd.app
Do Not Go GentleTheir words
I also recently finished Kathleen Stock’s fierce argument against the UK’s proposed assisted dying bill, Do Not Go Gentle, which I read while taking rich, salutary dives into my dear friend Maria Popova’s luminous Traversal.
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Likedrcmnd.app
TraversalTheir words
taking rich, salutary dives into my dear friend Maria Popova’s luminous Traversal.
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Likedrcmnd.app
DishcastTheir words
A few that come to mind – the deeply humane Catholic conservative Andrew Sullivan in conversation with philosopher and atheist John Gray (Dishcast); the ridiculously Christ-literate non-believer Alex O’Connor (Within Reason) speaking to the mighty Iain McGilchrist
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Likedrcmnd.app
Within ReasonTheir words
the ridiculously Christ-literate non-believer Alex O’Connor (Within Reason) speaking to the mighty Iain McGilchrist
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Likedrcmnd.app
Sheldrake/Vernon DialoguesTheir words
an arm wrestle over René Descartes and Blaise Pascal at UnHerd; the beautiful Sheldrake/Vernon Dialogues.
23 January
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korrents.com
Suffering is not an interruption of a good life but the ground the good things grow out of.Their words
Suffering is the essential and nourishing ground from which all the delightful gifts of life emerge.
1 February 2024
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Their words
I suppose I do this by practising compassion rather than empathy – being moved by someone’s suffering and wanting to help, rather than putting myself in their position and feeling their pain. Standing a step away and seeking to assist someone in need, rather than being disabled by their despair, seems to be the way to manage these things.
20 November 2023
From one piece What do I do with these songs? 2 beliefs · theredhandfiles.com
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korrents.com
The only thing a maker really controls is telling the good work from the bad; what arrives is not up to them.Their words
Where we do have control is in identifying which is which.
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Their words
But I have come to understand that the feeling of creative control is an illusion, that the songs are predetermined and have their own destiny, that they are not our own.
10 August 2023
From one piece I work in the music industry and there is a lot of excitement around ChatGPT... what's wrong with making things faster and easier? 2 beliefs · theredhandfiles.com
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korrents.com
The struggle of making something is not an obstacle in front of the work; it is where the meaning comes from.Their words
It is our striving that becomes the very essence of meaning.
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Their words
ChatGPT is fast-tracking the commodification of the human spirit by mechanising the imagination. It renders our participation in the act of creation as valueless and unnecessary.
16 January 2023
From one piece I asked Chat GPT to write a song in the style of Nick Cave and this is what it produced. What do you think? 3 beliefs · theredhandfiles.com
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korrents.com
Making something great is the opposite of resembling what is already recognised as great.Their words
What makes a great song great is not its close resemblance to a recognizable work. Writing a good song is not mimicry, or replication, or pastiche, it is the opposite.
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korrents.com
Songs come out of suffering, and a system that has endured nothing has nothing to make one from.Their words
Songs arise out of suffering, by which I mean they are predicated upon the complex, internal human struggle of creation and, well, as far as I know, algorithms don’t feel. Data doesn’t suffer.
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Their words
What ChatGPT is, in this instance, is replication as travesty. ChatGPT may be able to write a speech or an essay or a sermon or an obituary but it cannot create a genuine song.
29 June 2021
From one piece Do you think it is more important to find inspiration or to get to work and write? 2 beliefs · theredhandfiles.com
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korrents.com
A maker cannot summon the good line, only be at the desk when it arrives, and the outcome is not theirs to influence.Their words
Pen poised, I sit to attention, in my suit, on the edge of my imagination, prepared for the beautiful line to arrive. Sometimes it does, sometimes it does not — either way I am powerless to influence the outcome.
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Their words
I also have an affinity with artists who treat their craft as a job and are not dependent on the vagaries of inspiration — because I am one of them. Like most people with a job, we just go to work.
31 May 2019
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Their words
With regards to sexual desire and songwriting, creativity and desire have always been inextricably linked for me.
23 January 2019
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Their words
A sense of awe is almost exclusively predicated on our limitations as human beings. It is entirely to do with our audacity as humans to reach beyond our potential.
Nothing matches.
Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 16 beliefs, 1 changed mind — each backed by an exact quote.
Each is a — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.
Recent
A work does not have to be unlike everything before it to be worth making; what makes it new is that this particular person made it.
There may be nothing new under the sun, but it is our distinctiveness that matters, our specialness.
How have your beliefs evolved? What did you once hold true in your beliefs that you don't hold now? Said 29 Jun 2026
The past is not something a maker should discard but something to draw on, and approaching it with humility is what lets the work come out distinct.
Over time, that fiery intensity ebbed away, and I realised that the past wasn’t something to discard but to respect.
How have your beliefs evolved? What did you once hold true in your beliefs that you don't hold now? Said 29 Jun 2026
Suffering is not an interruption of a good life but the ground the good things grow out of.
Suffering is the essential and nourishing ground from which all the delightful gifts of life emerge.
Do you think humans have to suffer before harnessing genuine human sympathy? Said 23 Jan 2026
Show 13 more
Faced with someone's raw suffering, compassion from a step away seems to work better than empathy, which can leave you disabled by their despair.
I suppose I do this by practising compassion rather than empathy – being moved by someone’s suffering and wanting to help, rather than putting myself in their position and feeling their pain. Standing a step away and seeking to assist someone in need, rather than being disabled by their despair, seems to be the way to manage these things.
It appears that answering to people’s grief is somewhat cathartic for you. Is it cathartic? Said 1 Feb 2024
The feeling of creative control is an illusion: the work has its own destiny and does not belong to the person making it.
But I have come to understand that the feeling of creative control is an illusion, that the songs are predetermined and have their own destiny, that they are not our own.
What do I do with these songs? Said 20 Nov 2023
The only thing a maker really controls is telling the good work from the bad; what arrives is not up to them.
Where we do have control is in identifying which is which.
What do I do with these songs? Said 20 Nov 2023
Mechanising the imagination commodifies the human spirit, because it makes a person's own part in making things look valueless.
ChatGPT is fast-tracking the commodification of the human spirit by mechanising the imagination. It renders our participation in the act of creation as valueless and unnecessary.
I work in the music industry and there is a lot of excitement around ChatGPT... what's wrong with making things faster and easier? Said 10 Aug 2023
The struggle of making something is not an obstacle in front of the work; it is where the meaning comes from.
It is our striving that becomes the very essence of meaning.
I work in the music industry and there is a lot of excitement around ChatGPT... what's wrong with making things faster and easier? Said 10 Aug 2023
What a generative model makes is a replication of art rather than art, because it can only imitate or average the choices human makers have already made.
What ChatGPT is, in this instance, is replication as travesty. ChatGPT may be able to write a speech or an essay or a sermon or an obituary but it cannot create a genuine song.
I asked Chat GPT to write a song in the style of Nick Cave and this is what it produced. What do you think? Said 16 Jan 2023
Songs come out of suffering, and a system that has endured nothing has nothing to make one from.
Songs arise out of suffering, by which I mean they are predicated upon the complex, internal human struggle of creation and, well, as far as I know, algorithms don’t feel. Data doesn’t suffer.
I asked Chat GPT to write a song in the style of Nick Cave and this is what it produced. What do you think? Said 16 Jan 2023
Making something great is the opposite of resembling what is already recognised as great.
What makes a great song great is not its close resemblance to a recognizable work. Writing a good song is not mimicry, or replication, or pastiche, it is the opposite.
I asked Chat GPT to write a song in the style of Nick Cave and this is what it produced. What do you think? Said 16 Jan 2023
Making art is a job you turn up to whether or not you feel inspired, and the work only arrives for people who are already at the desk.
I also have an affinity with artists who treat their craft as a job and are not dependent on the vagaries of inspiration — because I am one of them. Like most people with a job, we just go to work.
Do you think it is more important to find inspiration or to get to work and write? Said 29 Jun 2021
A maker cannot summon the good line, only be at the desk when it arrives, and the outcome is not theirs to influence.
Pen poised, I sit to attention, in my suit, on the edge of my imagination, prepared for the beautiful line to arrive. Sometimes it does, sometimes it does not — either way I am powerless to influence the outcome.
Do you think it is more important to find inspiration or to get to work and write? Said 29 Jun 2021
Desire and the making of art draw on the same faculty, and neither dries up with age.
With regards to sexual desire and songwriting, creativity and desire have always been inextricably linked for me.
How is the correlation between the sexual and the creative going in old age? Said 31 May 2019
A sense of awe depends on the limits of the person who made the thing, so unlimited potential has nothing left to transcend.
A sense of awe is almost exclusively predicated on our limitations as human beings. It is entirely to do with our audacity as humans to reach beyond our potential.
Considering human imagination the last piece of wilderness, do you think AI will ever be able to write a good song? Said 23 Jan 2019
What moves a listener is not the song alone but a human being straining against their own limits, which is why a machine can write a good song and never a great one.
What we are actually listening to is human limitation and the audacity to transcend it. Artificial Intelligence, for all its unlimited potential, simply doesn’t have this capacity.
Considering human imagination the last piece of wilderness, do you think AI will ever be able to write a good song? Said 23 Jan 2019
Beliefs others hold too
Making art is a job you turn up to whether or not you feel inspired, and the work only arrives for people who are already at the desk. 3 hold this
I also have an affinity with artists who treat their craft as a job and are not dependent on the vagaries of inspiration — because I am one of them. Like most people with a job, we just go to work.
Do you think it is more important to find inspiration or to get to work and write? Said 29 Jun 2021
A work does not have to be unlike everything before it to be worth making; what makes it new is that this particular person made it. 2 hold this
There may be nothing new under the sun, but it is our distinctiveness that matters, our specialness.
How have your beliefs evolved? What did you once hold true in your beliefs that you don't hold now? Said 29 Jun 2026
What a generative model makes is a replication of art rather than art, because it can only imitate or average the choices human makers have already made. 2 hold this
What ChatGPT is, in this instance, is replication as travesty. ChatGPT may be able to write a speech or an essay or a sermon or an obituary but it cannot create a genuine song.
I asked Chat GPT to write a song in the style of Nick Cave and this is what it produced. What do you think? Said 16 Jan 2023
What is a korrent?
A korrent is a belief a person has stated in their own words: one sentence stating the claim, backed by a quote and a source, kept at korrents.com.
Under a name here, the quoted block is what they actually said. The korrent beneath it is the claim those words support, in korrents' wording — tap it to see the record, its source, and who else holds it.
Nobody here wrote their own korrents. They are compiled from public statements, and a person can change their mind, which is recorded too.
Recommends rcmnd
rcmnd What they recommend 8 things — each backed by an exact quote.
Compiled by rcmnd.app, not by them: the quotes are theirs, and each links to the post it was copied from.
Recent
Liked Sheldrake/Vernon Dialogues
an arm wrestle over René Descartes and Blaise Pascal at UnHerd; the beautiful Sheldrake/Vernon Dialogues.
theredhandfiles.com 23 Apr 2026
Liked Within Reason
the ridiculously Christ-literate non-believer Alex O’Connor (Within Reason) speaking to the mighty Iain McGilchrist
theredhandfiles.com 23 Apr 2026
Liked Dishcast
A few that come to mind – the deeply humane Catholic conservative Andrew Sullivan in conversation with philosopher and atheist John Gray (Dishcast); the ridiculously Christ-literate non-believer Alex O’Connor (Within Reason) speaking to the mighty Iain McGilchrist
theredhandfiles.com 23 Apr 2026
Show 5 more
Liked Traversal
taking rich, salutary dives into my dear friend Maria Popova’s luminous Traversal.
theredhandfiles.com 23 Apr 2026
Liked Do Not Go Gentle
I also recently finished Kathleen Stock’s fierce argument against the UK’s proposed assisted dying bill, Do Not Go Gentle, which I read while taking rich, salutary dives into my dear friend Maria Popova’s luminous Traversal.
theredhandfiles.com 23 Apr 2026
Loved Flash Count Diary
(I loved her book on menopause, Flash Count Diary).
theredhandfiles.com 23 Apr 2026
Read This Is the Door: Notes from a Body in Pain
I’ve just finished Darcey Steinke’s This Is the Door: Notes from a Body in Pain, a kind of wild theology of the body
theredhandfiles.com 23 Apr 2026
What others say about This Is the Door: Notes from a Body in Pain →
Liked Awake! William Blake and the Power of the Imagination
At the moment, I’m halfway through Mark Vernon’s illuminating Awake! William Blake and the Power of the Imagination, and I’ve just finished Darcey Steinke’s This Is the Door: Notes from a Body in Pain
theredhandfiles.com 23 Apr 2026
What others say about Awake! William Blake and the Power of the Imagination →
Where they publish
Site The Red Hand Files Where he answers one reader's question a week, at length.
“You can ask me anything. There will be no moderator. This will be between you and me.” Begun in September 2018; the answers range from grief and faith to songwriting and what he thinks of a particular record.
Link verified 20 Sept 2026.
About the English under a post
Some people here publish in a language other than English. Where they do, this site shows a machine translation beneath the post, in this typeface — the site's own, not theirs.
The post itself is never changed, moved or hidden: what is set in the serif above is exactly what the person published, and it is what to quote them on. A translation can be wrong in ways that matter, especially about tone.
Only the post's own words are translated. A quoted post, a linked article and a belief on korrents.com are left in their original language.