The album was recorded in the Hansa StudiosinBerlin, Germany. Cave later said of this album, "Berlin gave us the freedom and encouragement to do whatever we wanted. We'd lived in London for three years and it seemed that if you stuck your head out of the box, people were pretty quick to knock it back in. Particularly if you were Australian. When we came to Berlin it was the opposite. People saw us as some kind of force rather than a kind of whacky novelty act."[11]
The album's name is a reference to Jesse Garon Presley, the stillborn identical twin of Elvis Presley.[12]
The album was remastered and reissued on 27 April 2009 as a collector's edition CD/DVD set. The CD features the original 7-song vinyl LP's track listing, while "The Six Strings That Drew Blood" is featured as a bonus audio track on the accompanying DVD.
Spin wrote, "Mournfully authentic blue lines of harmonica and guitar, journeys through a mythical southern reality heavy on train wrecks, suicides, prison life, and big black crows. Cave's concept of America has been peeled from the grooves of old blues and Western cowboy 78s."[13]
"Tupelo" is loosely based on the John Lee Hooker song of the same title, which is about a floodinTupelo, Mississippi (Hooker's song appears on Original Seeds). Tupelo is the birthplace of Elvis Presley. Cave's song incorporates imagery of the birth of Elvis and the apocalypse at the second coming of Christ. However, the "Looky, Looky Yonder" motif that features in the song is derived from a song of the same name recorded by Lead Belly, usually found as part of a medley which Cave himself covered under the title "Black Betty" on his third album, Kicking Against the Pricks.
"Wanted Man" evolved from a song composed by Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash. Cave was granted permission to alter the lyrics. Cave's lyrics include references to his friends, such as photographer Polly Borland.
"The Six Strings that Drew Blood" is included on the 1988 CD reissue of the album, but not on the original LP. It was the B-side of the "Tupelo" single and is a remake of a song Cave originally recorded with the Birthday Party during the Mutiny sessions in 1982.
^"Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: The Firstborn Is Dead". NME. 1 July 1995. p. 50.
^Fyfe, Andy (May 2009). "Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: From Her to Eternity / The Firstborn Is Dead / Kicking Against the Pricks / Your Funeral... My Trial". Q. No. 274.
^Strike, Andy (29 June 1985). "Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: The First Born Is Dead". Record Mirror. pp. 18–19.
[2]
[8]
