Nick Cave sings “What the World Needs Now Is Love” for “Joker 2”

No joke: this is Nick Cave sings an upbeat rendition of Burt Bacharach's upbeat “What the World Needs Now Is Love” on the newly released soundtrack Joker: Folie à Deux. The performance comes at the end of a medley with “Slap That Bass” and “Get Happy”, where his voice is not clearly heard on these songs.

Although Cave is best known for writing profound songs that explore themes of loss and redemption, it is not an exaggeration to assume that he is a fan of Bacharach's songcraft, even if the context of the song is somewhat strange and perhaps disingenuous Combined with Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga strolling through Gotham City, Cave would probably agree that the world needs a little more love. (Just listen to his latest album, Wild Godon which he sincerely sings: “We've all had too much suffering, now is the time for joy” to the song “Joy”.)

The tune is the second that Cave, who has been composing film music with his creative partner Warren Ellis for years, has contributed to a film soundtrack this year. In April, he and Ellis contributed “Song for Amy” to the soundtrack of Back to blacka biopic about Amy Winehouse. They also composed the film music.

“In my opinion, Nick and Warren were the only musicians who could score Back to black“,” Back to Black's said director Sam Taylor-Johnson. “Over the years, I listened to everything they composed and longed to realize the dream of collaborating. Their sensitivity and understanding of this story has resulted in a deeply deep and moving score.”