Into My Arms

The song takes the form of a love ballad, with a piano and an electric bass as the sole instruments used. Music journalist and critic Toby Creswell included "Into My Arms" in his book 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time and the Artists, Stories and Secrets Behind Them, in which he attributed the song's melancholic lyrics to the break-up of Cave's long-term relationship with Viviane Carneiro and his subsequent brief relationship and break-up with English musician PJ Harvey.^[1][2] In Cave's lecture "The Secret Life of the Love Song" to the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, he counts the song among those he is most proud of having written.^[3]

Cave said he wrote the song in rehab: "I was actually walking back from church through the fields, and the tune came into my head, and when I got back to the facility I sat down at the cranky old piano and wrote the melody and chords, then went up to the dormitory, sat on my bed and wrote those lyrics."^[4]

Cave performed the song at the funeral of his friend, INXS singer Michael Hutchence, but requested the cameras recording the service be switched off as he performed.^[5][6]

The song was also nominated for Single of the Year at the 1997 ARIA Awards,^[7] and came No. 18 in the Triple J Hottest 100 of that year.^[8] It was No. 84 in the 1998 Hottest 100 of All Time, and No. 36 in the 2009 Hottest 100 of All Time.^[2] In 2025, it was No. 44 in the Triple J Hottest 100 of Australian Songs.^[9] In 2020, Far Out ranked the song number three on their list of the 20 greatest Nick Cave songs,^[10] and in 2023, Mojo ranked the song number two on their list of the 30 greatest Nick Cave songs.^[11]

The song's music video was directed by British director Jonathan Glazer. In an interview on the DVD The Work of Director Jonathan Glazer, Nick Cave praised the video as well-produced, but said he considered it a poor fit with the song as the video's depressing imagery overrode the melancholic optimism Cave had intended the song to convey.^[12][13]

The song has been adapted into Greek by songwriter Dionysis Savvopoulos. The recording is included on his music album titled "To Xenodocheio" (1997).^[14]

UK CD single (Mute Records, CD MUTE 192)

1. "Into My Arms" – 4:15
2. "Little Empty Boat" – 4:25
3. "Right Now I'm A-Roaming" – 4:21

UK 7-inch single (Mute Records, MUTE 192)

1. "Into My Arms" – 4:15
2. "Little Empty Boat" – 4:25