The BBC has had some big-hitting television shows over recent years, with countless series finding global fame. However, none have captured the hearts and minds of the globe more powerfully than the brilliant Peaky Blinders. The show has a stellar cast, incredible writing and a theme tune from Nick Cave that sends shivers down your spine. But perhaps our favourite version of the song comes from Snoop Dogg.
‘Red Right Hand’ is one of Nick Cave’s finest tracks. Drenched in mystique and intrigue, the song chronicles the notion of a murderous cowboy whose right hand is a bringer of death for all who crosses him. of course, it makes for a perfect title sequence for Stephen Knight’s masterful show about Thomas Shelby and his familial gang known as the Peaky Blinders. Cave’s version of the track does a fantastic job of capturing industrial Britain between the wars, as it offers clanging riffs and a brashness that reeks of metallic menace.
Though many artists have covered the track in recent times, Iggy Pop in Athens and Jehnny Beth & Anna Calvi’s versions being the pick of the litter, this homage to the Birmingham gangster family is a little more hip-hop. Naturally, when Snoop Dogg had his own go at the song things turned out a little differently.
It will naturally divide the fans of Nick Cave and the show but the track is if nothing else, the most ‘Snoop Dogg cover of Nick Cave’ you’re ever likely to hear. However, Cave himself was a huge fan of the cover and respected the intent of Snoop to cover it.
At the time of the release, Cave was embarking on his ‘Conversations Tour’ around the States where he was performing in a more intimate setting, playing stripped-back versions of classics as well as taking questions from audience members. As NME reported, in Tennessee he fielded a question regarding Snoop Dogg’s recent cover which was used as promotional material for the new series for the BBC show and Cave is full of admiration for Snoop’s version.
Cave admitted that over the years he has fallen out of love with the song which he says “follows me around like a junkyard dog.” However; it seems like that he may have fallen back in love with the 1994 song thanks to the West Coast rapper.
He told the Tennessee crowd: “Of all the versions, his is the one that I had a giant smile on my face after. He didn’t perform it with great reverence, he just fucked around with it and reignited my love for that song.”
