Palaces of Montezuma
single by Grinderman
"Palaces of Montezuma" is a song by the alternative rock band Grinderman. It is the eighth track and third single from the band's second and final studio album, Grinderman 2, and was released on 14 March 2011 on Mute Records. Produced by Nick Launay and written collectively by vocalist Nick Cave, multi-instrumentalist Warren Ellis, bassist Martyn P. Casey and drummer Jim Sclavunos, the song has been described as an "atypically straightforward love song" and was written for Cave's wife, Susie Bick.
Upon its single release, "Palaces of Montezuma" received positive acclaim, though the song failed to chart.
Frankie Duffy of Scottish rock band Rising Signs claimed the song was a rip-off of the Rising Signs' 2005 song "Grey Man". Nick Cave denied the claims.
Origin and recording
"Palaces of Montezuma" was recorded during the sessions for Grinderman 2. The sessions began in August 2008 at RAK Studios in London, England and continued in State of the Ark and Assault & Battery 2 until August 2009. Nick Cave has claimed that Grinderman had initially planned leaving the song off the album.
Three versions of the songs were mixed.
The public source identifies “Palaces of Montezuma” as single by Grinderman. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Palaces, Montezuma and single.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7126289. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2011, 2005, 2008 and 2009.
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This entry incorporates text from “Palaces of Montezuma” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.