In the summer of 2014, the musician, screenwriter and sometimes-novelist Nick Cave embarked on a 22-city tour of North America along with his band, The Bad Seeds. As they flew from town-to-town – often, it should be noted, on Air Canada – Cave began writing on the sickness bags that are staples of air travel around the world. A curious, dream-like narrative began to emerge, often absorbing colour and details from the cities in which he found himself, be it Nashville, or Seattle, or Toronto, which is reproduced here. (In Calgary, the narrator crosses “the pleasant Bow River under a faultless sky and stroll along the Chevron Learning Pathway – the fabulous environmental educational walkway on the east end of Prince’s Island Park.”)
The results of this odyssey will be unveiled on April 8, when Scottish publisher Canongate releases one of the most ambitious projects in their 40-odd year history: The Sick Bag Song. A strange hybrid of poems, song lyrics, prose and diary entries, the book is described by its publisher as falling “somewhere between The Wasteland and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.”
"I don’t think Canongate has ever been involved in a publishing project quite as unusual or as ground-breaking as The Sick Bag Song,” said Canongate’s CEO, Jamie Byng, in an e-mail. “Watching it evolve from the original, scrawled-upon sick bags into this epic prose poem that is a modern day odyssey through North America and into the mind of one of the most interesting and singular talents working today has been both fascinating and a joy. Not only do I think it will delight his fans worldwide but I think it will surprise many people who are less familiar with the work of Nick Cave. I can think of few publishing collaborations that I’ve been part of that have resulted in something quite so sublime and multi-faceted rock ‘n’ roll.”
The book, which features full-colour reproductions of all 22 sick bags, may be ordered at thesickbagsong.com. A pricier limited edition comes with a “fully functional” sick bag – signed and customised by the author – as well as a signed and numbered special edition of the book and “a limited pressing of Nick Cave reading the book produced on a white vinyl double LP.” Something to read on your next flight.