Listen free for 30 days
-
The Sick Bag Song
- Narrated by: Nick Cave
- Length: 1 hr and 53 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Arts & Entertainment, Music
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Listen with a free trial
Buy Now for £12.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Death of Bunny Munro
- By: Nick Cave
- Narrated by: Nick Cave
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bunny Munro sells beauty products and the dream of hope to lonely housewives along the south coast of England. Set adrift by his wife's sudden death and struggling to keep a grip on reality, he does the only thing he can think of - with his young son in tow, he hits the road.
-
-
spellbinding
- By Patricia Moffett on 09-09-09
-
Introduction to the Gospel According to Mark
- By: Nick Cave
- Narrated by: Nick Cave, Richard Holloway
- Length: 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nick Cave reads from his introduction to the earliest of the four Gospels, which portrays Jesus as an enigmatic figure, struggling with enemies, his inner and external demons, and with his devoted but disconnected disciples. Unlike other gospels, his parables are obscure, to be explained secretly to his followers. Cave's reading is preceded by Richard Holloway, former Bishop of Edinburgh, reading an extract from the gospel.
-
-
Only a short excerpt
- By Mark Brown on 27-05-19
-
Sing Backwards and Weep
- By: Mark Lanegan
- Narrated by: Mark Lanegan
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Mark Lanegan first arrived in Seattle in the mid-1980s, he was just 'an arrogant, self-loathing redneck waster seeking transformation through rock 'n' roll'. Little did he know that within less than a decade, he would rise to fame as the front man of the Screaming Trees, then fall from grace as a low-level crack dealer and a homeless heroin addict, all the while watching some of his closest friends rocket to the forefront of popular music.
-
-
Compelling and sad
- By Mr. S. Burgess on 16-05-20
-
But Beautiful
- By: Geoff Dyer
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 5 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lester Young fading away in a hotel room; Charles Mingus storming down the streets of New York on a too-small bicycle; Thelonius Monk creating his own private language on the piano.... In eight poetically charged vignettes, Geoff Dyer skilfully evokes the embattled lives of the players who shaped modern jazz. He draws on photos and anecdotes, but music is the driving force of But Beautiful, and Dyer brings it to life in luminescent and wildly metaphoric prose that mirrors the quirks, eccentricity and brilliance of each musician's style.
-
-
Great reading but lacking the afterword
- By Anonymous User on 29-12-21
-
Creeping Waves
- By: Matthew M. Bartlett
- Narrated by: Dexter Herron
- Length: 7 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Where is the real Leeds? How does one get there? Is it floating on the air—words and music you can almost reach out and grab like wriggling worms of sound and ether? Is it in the carnival that seethes under the corrupted church, drawing the lost along shadowy corridors and through the strangely angled funhouse doors to the place where the city fathers perform secret rites with the goat-headed masters of the dark?
-
-
Amazing!
- By Spencer on 18-03-21
-
Book of Longing
- By: Leonard Cohen
- Narrated by: Leonard Cohen
- Length: 3 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Book of Longing by Leonard Cohen. Book of Longing is Leonard Cohen's first book of new poetry since Book of Mercy was published two decades ago. It collects Cohen's poetry written between the 1980s and the present. Book of Longing demonstrates the range and depth of Cohen's work, revealing an extraordinary gift of language that speaks with rare clarity, passion and timelessness.
-
-
rediscovering Leonard Cohen
- By Amazon Customer on 13-02-20
-
The Death of Bunny Munro
- By: Nick Cave
- Narrated by: Nick Cave
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bunny Munro sells beauty products and the dream of hope to lonely housewives along the south coast of England. Set adrift by his wife's sudden death and struggling to keep a grip on reality, he does the only thing he can think of - with his young son in tow, he hits the road.
-
-
spellbinding
- By Patricia Moffett on 09-09-09
-
Introduction to the Gospel According to Mark
- By: Nick Cave
- Narrated by: Nick Cave, Richard Holloway
- Length: 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nick Cave reads from his introduction to the earliest of the four Gospels, which portrays Jesus as an enigmatic figure, struggling with enemies, his inner and external demons, and with his devoted but disconnected disciples. Unlike other gospels, his parables are obscure, to be explained secretly to his followers. Cave's reading is preceded by Richard Holloway, former Bishop of Edinburgh, reading an extract from the gospel.
-
-
Only a short excerpt
- By Mark Brown on 27-05-19
-
Sing Backwards and Weep
- By: Mark Lanegan
- Narrated by: Mark Lanegan
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Mark Lanegan first arrived in Seattle in the mid-1980s, he was just 'an arrogant, self-loathing redneck waster seeking transformation through rock 'n' roll'. Little did he know that within less than a decade, he would rise to fame as the front man of the Screaming Trees, then fall from grace as a low-level crack dealer and a homeless heroin addict, all the while watching some of his closest friends rocket to the forefront of popular music.
-
-
Compelling and sad
- By Mr. S. Burgess on 16-05-20
-
But Beautiful
- By: Geoff Dyer
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 5 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lester Young fading away in a hotel room; Charles Mingus storming down the streets of New York on a too-small bicycle; Thelonius Monk creating his own private language on the piano.... In eight poetically charged vignettes, Geoff Dyer skilfully evokes the embattled lives of the players who shaped modern jazz. He draws on photos and anecdotes, but music is the driving force of But Beautiful, and Dyer brings it to life in luminescent and wildly metaphoric prose that mirrors the quirks, eccentricity and brilliance of each musician's style.
-
-
Great reading but lacking the afterword
- By Anonymous User on 29-12-21
-
Creeping Waves
- By: Matthew M. Bartlett
- Narrated by: Dexter Herron
- Length: 7 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Where is the real Leeds? How does one get there? Is it floating on the air—words and music you can almost reach out and grab like wriggling worms of sound and ether? Is it in the carnival that seethes under the corrupted church, drawing the lost along shadowy corridors and through the strangely angled funhouse doors to the place where the city fathers perform secret rites with the goat-headed masters of the dark?
-
-
Amazing!
- By Spencer on 18-03-21
-
Book of Longing
- By: Leonard Cohen
- Narrated by: Leonard Cohen
- Length: 3 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Book of Longing by Leonard Cohen. Book of Longing is Leonard Cohen's first book of new poetry since Book of Mercy was published two decades ago. It collects Cohen's poetry written between the 1980s and the present. Book of Longing demonstrates the range and depth of Cohen's work, revealing an extraordinary gift of language that speaks with rare clarity, passion and timelessness.
-
-
rediscovering Leonard Cohen
- By Amazon Customer on 13-02-20
-
Nightmare Carnival
- By: Dennis Danvers, Ellen Datlow - editor
- Narrated by: Jed Drummond
- Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A man determined to kill a clown. A child's eleventh birthday heralds the arrival of a bizarre new entourage. A suicidal performer just can't seem to die. All of these weird marvels and more can be found at the Nightmare Carnival!
-
I Wanna Be Yours
- By: John Cooper Clarke
- Narrated by: John Cooper Clarke
- Length: 15 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John Cooper Clarke is a phenomenon: Poet Laureate of Punk, rock star, fashion icon, TV and radio presenter, social and cultural commentator, reluctant national treasure. At 5 feet 11 inches (116lb, 32in chest, 27in waist), in trademark suit jacket, skin-tight drainpipes and dark glasses, with jet-black back-combed hair and mouth full of gold teeth, he is instantly recognisable. As a writer his voice is equally unmistakable and his inimitable dry Salford drawl shines through the prose.
-
-
Fabulous!
- By Sue ONeil on 16-10-20
-
From Manchester with Love
- The Life and Opinions of Tony Wilson
- By: Paul Morley
- Narrated by: Paul Morley
- Length: 22 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To write about Tony Wilson, a.k.a. Anthony H. Wilson, is to write about a number of public and private characters and personalities, a clique of unreliable narrators, constantly changing shape and form. At the helm of Factory Records and the Haçienda, Wilson unleashed landmark acts such as Joy Division and New Order into the world as he pursued myriad other creative endeavours, appointing himself a custodian of Manchester's legacy of innovation and change.
-
-
An unconventional account of an unconventional man
- By Robert Smith on 11-11-21
-
And Away...
- By: Bob Mortimer
- Narrated by: Bob Mortimer
- Length: 7 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bob Mortimer’s life was trundling along happily until suddenly in 2015 he was diagnosed with a heart condition that required immediate surgery and forced him to cancel an upcoming tour. The episode unnerved him but forced him to reflect on his life so far. This is the framework for his hilarious and moving memoir, And Away....
-
-
A wonderful book
- By Lauren on 17-09-21
-
Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division
- By: Peter Hook
- Narrated by: Peter Hook
- Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Inspired by the attitude and energy of punk, Peter Hook and school friend Bernard Sumner joined lead-singer and lyricist Ian Curtis and drummer Stephen Morris, and with some cobbled-together instruments, they created their own unique sound. In 1980 they had released two albums and were on the cusp of touring America when Ian Curtis committed suicide. In this no-holds-barred account, Peter Hook gives us the inside story of life with Joy Division. He talks with candour and reflection about Curtis's suicide and covers the band's friendships and fall-outs....
-
-
Superb!
- By simmering123 on 02-04-16
-
Levels of Life
- By: Julian Barnes
- Narrated by: Julian Barnes
- Length: 3 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
'You put together two things that have not been put together before. And the world is changed...' Julian Barnes's new book is about ballooning, photography, love and grief; about putting two things, and two people, together, and about tearing them apart. One of the judges who awarded him the 2011 Man Booker Prize described him as 'an unparalleled magus of the heart'. This book confirms that opinion.
-
-
The tropics of grief
- By Paul S. Turner on 20-07-14
-
The Storyteller
- Tales of Life and Music
- By: Dave Grohl
- Narrated by: Dave Grohl
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
So, I’ve written a book. This certainly doesn’t mean that I’m quitting my day job, but it does give me a place to shed a little light on what it’s like to be a kid from Springfield, Virginia, walking through life while living out the crazy dreams I had as young musician. From hitting the road with Scream at 18 years old, to my time in Nirvana and the Foo Fighters, jamming with Iggy Pop or playing at the Academy Awards or dancing with AC/DC and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, drumming for Tom Petty or meeting Sir Paul McCartney at Royal Albert Hall....
-
-
You Are Not Dave
- By VW on 07-10-21
-
Kitchen Confidential
- By: Anthony Bourdain
- Narrated by: Anthony Bourdain
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After 25 years of 'sex, drugs, bad behaviour and haute cuisine', Chef and novelist Anthony Bourdain decided to tell all. From his first oyster in the Gironde to his lowly position as a dishwasher in a honky-tonk fish restaurant in Provincetown; from the kitchen of the Rainbow Room atop the Rockefeller Center to drug dealers in the East Village, from Tokyo to Paris and back to New York again, Bourdain's tales of the kitchen are as passionate as they are unpredictable, as shocking as they are funny.
-
-
Finished this book in 2 sittings.
- By Peter Brookes on 01-08-20
-
How to Be a Rock Star
- By: Shaun Ryder
- Narrated by: Shaun Ryder
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As lead singer of Happy Mondays and Black Grape, Shaun Ryder was the Keith Richards and Mick Jagger of his generation - one of the last real rock 'n' roll stars. A true rebel, who formed and led not one but two seminal bands, he's had number-one albums, headlined Glastonbury, toured the world numerous times, taken every drug under the sun, been through rehab - and come out the other side as a national treasure.
-
-
Loved every minute
- By Campesque on 12-10-21
-
Cyberabad Days
- By: Ian McDonald
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The world: 'Cyberabad' is the India of 2047, a new, muscular superpower of one and a half billion people in an age of artificial intelligences, climate-change induced drought, water-wars, strange new genders, genetically improved children that age at half the rate of baseline humanity and a population where males out-number females four to one. India herself has fractured into a dozen states from Kerala to the headwaters of the Ganges in the Himalayas.
-
-
good companion to River of gods'
- By russ on 18-06-18
-
The Psychopath Test
- By: Jon Ronson
- Narrated by: Jon Ronson
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is a story about madness. It all starts when journalist Jon Ronson is contacted by a leading neurologist. She and several colleagues have recently received a cryptically puzzling book in the mail, and Jon is challenged to solve the mystery behind it. As he searches for the answer, Jon soon finds himself, unexpectedly, on an utterly compelling and often unbelievable adventure into the world of madness.
-
-
It is indeed utterly compelling.
- By Graeme on 30-08-11
-
Johnny Ruin
- By: Dan Dalton
- Narrated by: Ash Rizi
- Length: 5 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
'If a tree falls in a forest and Jon Bon Jovi is with you when it happens, is it still a figment of your imagination?' Johnny Ruin is a literary novel that explores themes of heartbreak and mental health. The novel is set in the mind of the narrator, a surreal United States where each state is a new state of mind: lust, anger, jealousy. Haunted by the idea that he is somehow broken, the narrator, a depressed 30-something writer, embarks on a trip through his own mind with his spirit guide, Jon Bon Jovi, for company.
Summary
The Sick Bag Song chronicles Cave's journey with his band, the Bad Seeds, on a 22-day North American tour. Inspired by John Berryman's Dream Songs, it is an epic exploration of inspiration, creativity, loss, love and death.
The book blends poetry, lyrics, memories, musings, flights of fancy and journal entries. The Sick Bag Song began life scribbled onto airline sick bags acquired during the internal flights taken by Cave during the tour. To some degree a companion piece to his feature doc 20,000 Days on Earth, The Sick Bag Song further explores and develops the mystique of Nick Cave.
Critic reviews
More from the same
What listeners say about The Sick Bag Song
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Dominic Morris
- 07-04-20
fabulous
fabulous. fabulous. fabulous. This is a must. Beautifully poetic from start to finish. 5 Stars
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Wheels!
- 04-08-16
An emotional masterpiece!!!
A real journey that keeps you engrossed throughout!! It simply grabs you takes you along for the ride. Through perfectly chosen words, you'll feel like you understand Nick Cave's perspective on the world a little better from listening to this!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 11-11-21
rambling
struggled to understand nicks rambling dreams ,i know its about isolation and boredom but cant recommend it
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Granthum
- 10-09-17
Author's and their work
It is a real gift when you get to hear the author read their own work. Because their reading will always have a special verve. This is one of the many things that makes The Sick Bag Song wonderful to listen to. This is an incredible mix of prose, poetry, musings, lyrics, creative workshop, travelogue, and linear story. This is something truly special that defies categorization. I loved every second of it.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Kk
- 09-04-22
The voice of a high priest speaks
Nick Cave’s writing and words are that of divine illumination, horror, grief and hope. This short little book accompanied me through a gloomy early spring Saturday and soothed all the raw nerves, heartache and fear that the last 2 years have brought to us. Thank you Nick for your beauty in the form of your written word.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Brandon
- 17-05-21
Surpassed my expectation, while aiming for the sky
Nick Cave is a rock star?, a poet? writer?. He's an ARTIST no matter what medium he choose's to indulge in. This peace has such a range of emotions while remaining on tone. THAT TONE is where the heart of the book is lies.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Diana M. Jeong
- 07-11-19
Yes, Nick Cave, read to me!
I loved listening to Nick Cave read this book to me. It was the best.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- ZR
- 08-06-19
Enchanting
I was mesmerized.. I recommend listening in the evening with candles .. joining Nick Cave on his journey
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Anonymous User
- 06-05-19
Wow. Just wow.
It took me nearly 4 hours to listen to this because I kept rewinding to hear all of the parts that struck me again and again. Now I just want to listen to it all over.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Liss
- 10-10-18
_
Nick Cave is scooping the brains out of my decapitated head. My guts are exposed my heart is in my hands and the most amazing fucking unfold behind my eyes. Thanks Nick Cave