Dear Peter and Ansel,

When I’m working on an album with The Bad Seeds, I occasionally record a song alone at the piano. Stylistically, these songs usually sit outside the new record and they are generally fragmentary things, circular in shape, softly sung, unspectacular and unformed. There is little love for them from the band, and they aren’t strong enough to compete with the larger, more imposing songs – consequently they tend to fall by the wayside.

When I listen back to the recordings, I’ll come across one or two of these songs, languishing in some forgotten corner, and I will find myself secretly moved by their unassuming loveliness. As a result I become very attached to them. ‘Euthanasia’, which I played in Asheville, is a song that I wrote around the time of Skeleton Tree, and is a perfect example — dismissed at the time, it has now become one of my favourites.

The song that I played in Chicago is another such song, but this one didn’t survive long enough to even warrant a title. The words are –

Sometimes I see you in the morning

When the dew is on the ground

And I know that it will always be so

In the morning when the dew is on the ground

And sometimes I see you in the evening

When the sky makes no sound

And I know that I will always love you

In the morning when the dew is on the ground

And the evening when the sky makes no sound

And when the waters cover the ocean

And when the waters cover the ground

And the sun, it rises, and turns to you

In order to be found

The sentiment is simple and softly spoken, the song unable to even declare its name, but still it is a special song, full of unspecified emotional impact and a great pleasure to play. Ansel, I am glad you enjoyed it. I think I’ll call the song ‘To Be Found’.

Love, Nick