For over thirty years, The Cure has been producing music that appeals to a broad audience of listeners: from the lovesick teenager to the soulful young person to the experienced adult, all can find a song by this English band that suits any particular emotion felt at any one moment. The Cure has a distinct sound that is all its own and very difficult, if not impossible to imitate well. The band employs a variety of special effects, unique instruments, and the soulful voice of its lead singer, Robert Smith, to achieve this distinction. Smith himself describes the band as “not categorizable” due to the wide variety of genres--and integration of such--covered by their music. Spin magazine has even stated that "The Cure have always been an either/or sort of band: either [. . .] Robert Smith is wallowing in gothic sadness or he's licking sticky-sweet cotton-candy pop off his lipstick-stained fingers.” However, the “gothic” label has long been associated with The Cure due to the more melancholy nature of many of their songs. This quality goes hand in hand with a recurrent theme present in much of the band’s work, early and contemporary: love. The Cure has influenced other bands such as My Chemical Romance and Interpol, which many would argue have a darker sound as well; however, there is more to music than that which is immediately apparent, as can be made clear by thinking about a song by The Cure for any length of time. The very complexity of the music, its content, its contributions to listeners, and the eccentricity of the band itself make The Cure, in my opinion, worthy of being distinguished as one of the most important bands of all time by Rolling Stone magazine.
Some of the more well-known songs by The Cure, such as “Pictures of You” (featured in a printer commercial a few years ago) and “Friday I’m In Love” are deserving of this popularity in their own right, but some of their best work can be found in their more obscure, older recordings, such as “Close to Me” and “The Love Cats”. The latter of those two songs was released by The Cure in 1983 as a single and can today be found on several compilations, including greatest hits collections, released by the band. Its ever-effective lyrics follow; the original music video has been included in order to share its infectious melody with readers.
Ah
We move like cagey tigers
We couldn't get closer than this
The way we walk
The way we talk
The way we stalk
The way we kiss
We slip through the streets
While everyone sleeps
Getting bigger and sleeker
And wider and brighter
We bite and scratch and scream all night
Let's go and throw
All the songs we know...
Into the sea
You and me
All these years and no one heard
I'll show you in spring
It's a treacherous thing
We missed you hissed the lovecats
We're so wonderfully wonderfully wonderfully
Wonderfully pretty!
Oh you know that I'd do anything for you...
We should have each other to tea huh?
We should have each other with cream
Then curl up by the fire
And sleep for awhile
It's the grooviest thing
It's the perfect dream
Into the sea
You and me
All these years and no one heard
I'll show you in spring
It's a treacherous thing
We missed you hissed the lovecats
We're so wonderfully wonderfully wonderfully
Wonderfully pretty!
Oh you know that I'd do anything for you...
We should have each other to dinner huh?
We should have each other with cream
Then curl up in the fire
Get up for awhile
It's the grooviest thing
It's the perfect dream
Hand in hand
Is the only way to land
And always the right way round
Not broken in pieces
Like hated little meeces...
How could we miss
Someone as dumb as this?
I love you... let's go...
Oh... solid gone...
How could we miss
Someone as dumb as this?
“The Love Cats” employs a variety of special effects to replicate the sounds of cats meowing, gnashing their teeth, hissing, and clawing; such sounds set the tone for the song, the lyrics of which emphasize the similarities and closeness of a couple in love by comparing their actions to those of two prowling wild cats. The song has much replication of the word “we”, emphasizing the couple’s relationship. Deftly do the lyrics assimilate the couple’s actions with those of cats; described as biting, scratching, screaming, stalking, and moving like "cagey tigers", one does not immediately call to mind an image of two human beings behaving like felines, but rather a couple of people who are truly in sync with each other in every way imaginable as they “slip through the streets while everyone sleeps” together. The pairing of these terms with more human ones, such as walking, talking, and kissing completes the juxtaposition of humans and cats, telling listeners that they themselves become the cats in this song; Smith crooning about curling up by a fire, having each other to tea, and landing hand in hand further makes this point about animals and humans..the point being that it’s good to think of ourselves in more carefree, happy terms at times, especially when dealing with something as potentially complicated and overwhelming as love. The emphasis of the animalistic couple sorting out dumb ones reiterates the pair's unity in action and thought. After all, it is better to land with someone, together and whole, than to land apart and shattered.
As shown by the lyrics of “The Love Cats” and the ways in which the sounds of the song complement them, The Cure exhibits great skill in pairing its messages with its music. Their songs have even even been described by Tim Pope, a director who has worked with the band on many of its music videos, as “cinematic”, largely due to Smith’s personality itself and the way he conveys it to his songs. The message of the music, as previously stated, is often about love, in an either direct or indirect, implied manner. Robert Smith says that his main objective in producing music is simply to make songs that sound like The Cure, whatever that sound may be.
Personally, I feel that whatever the objective of The Cure in cutting a track, it succeeds very well. This is a band that does not bother to conform to society’s standards and, as a result, produces music that continues to be pertinent to the human condition long after it was recorded and released. While The Cure may be synonymous with Gothic rock to many, it tries to abandon those ideas by consistently mixing up its style while still retaining its own unique sound, even within the space of one studio album. The most recent release by The Cure, entitled 4:13 Dream, is a picture-perfect example of a melting pot of music with something in common throughout its thirteen tracks: the solid emotion and raw meanings that come from the music of The Cure.
If The Cure ever has one objective at least at the back of its members’ minds in putting forth new music, it must be to challenge societal expectations through the portrayal of raw emotion. As in “The Love Cats”, does it really ever hurt people to think of themselves as something so simple and even whimsical as animals in relation to complex human emotion? We oftentimes must break things down in order to see their true meaning. A reluctance to conform to expectations is not necessarily a bad or a dangerous thing; it makes people think, and it makes people question the things that they’ve long been told are right and acceptable. The Cure thinks outside of the box in a world that is all too apt to just take what comes in the box and run with it as best they can. The Cure gives something back to society when it gives us its music; it gives us the excuse to challenge ourselves and our feelings as we listen to them so eloquently and so purely set forth for us by this band. It is absolutely possible to find an emotional refuge in The Cure.
Some of the more well-known songs by The Cure, such as “Pictures of You” (featured in a printer commercial a few years ago) and “Friday I’m In Love” are deserving of this popularity in their own right, but some of their best work can be found in their more obscure, older recordings, such as “Close to Me” and “The Love Cats”. The latter of those two songs was released by The Cure in 1983 as a single and can today be found on several compilations, including greatest hits collections, released by the band. Its ever-effective lyrics follow; the original music video has been included in order to share its infectious melody with readers.
Ah
We move like cagey tigers
We couldn't get closer than this
The way we walk
The way we talk
The way we stalk
The way we kiss
We slip through the streets
While everyone sleeps
Getting bigger and sleeker
And wider and brighter
We bite and scratch and scream all night
Let's go and throw
All the songs we know...
Into the sea
You and me
All these years and no one heard
I'll show you in spring
It's a treacherous thing
We missed you hissed the lovecats
We're so wonderfully wonderfully wonderfully
Wonderfully pretty!
Oh you know that I'd do anything for you...
We should have each other to tea huh?
We should have each other with cream
Then curl up by the fire
And sleep for awhile
It's the grooviest thing
It's the perfect dream
Into the sea
You and me
All these years and no one heard
I'll show you in spring
It's a treacherous thing
We missed you hissed the lovecats
We're so wonderfully wonderfully wonderfully
Wonderfully pretty!
Oh you know that I'd do anything for you...
We should have each other to dinner huh?
We should have each other with cream
Then curl up in the fire
Get up for awhile
It's the grooviest thing
It's the perfect dream
Hand in hand
Is the only way to land
And always the right way round
Not broken in pieces
Like hated little meeces...
How could we miss
Someone as dumb as this?
I love you... let's go...
Oh... solid gone...
How could we miss
Someone as dumb as this?
“The Love Cats” employs a variety of special effects to replicate the sounds of cats meowing, gnashing their teeth, hissing, and clawing; such sounds set the tone for the song, the lyrics of which emphasize the similarities and closeness of a couple in love by comparing their actions to those of two prowling wild cats. The song has much replication of the word “we”, emphasizing the couple’s relationship. Deftly do the lyrics assimilate the couple’s actions with those of cats; described as biting, scratching, screaming, stalking, and moving like "cagey tigers", one does not immediately call to mind an image of two human beings behaving like felines, but rather a couple of people who are truly in sync with each other in every way imaginable as they “slip through the streets while everyone sleeps” together. The pairing of these terms with more human ones, such as walking, talking, and kissing completes the juxtaposition of humans and cats, telling listeners that they themselves become the cats in this song; Smith crooning about curling up by a fire, having each other to tea, and landing hand in hand further makes this point about animals and humans..the point being that it’s good to think of ourselves in more carefree, happy terms at times, especially when dealing with something as potentially complicated and overwhelming as love. The emphasis of the animalistic couple sorting out dumb ones reiterates the pair's unity in action and thought. After all, it is better to land with someone, together and whole, than to land apart and shattered.
As shown by the lyrics of “The Love Cats” and the ways in which the sounds of the song complement them, The Cure exhibits great skill in pairing its messages with its music. Their songs have even even been described by Tim Pope, a director who has worked with the band on many of its music videos, as “cinematic”, largely due to Smith’s personality itself and the way he conveys it to his songs. The message of the music, as previously stated, is often about love, in an either direct or indirect, implied manner. Robert Smith says that his main objective in producing music is simply to make songs that sound like The Cure, whatever that sound may be.
Personally, I feel that whatever the objective of The Cure in cutting a track, it succeeds very well. This is a band that does not bother to conform to society’s standards and, as a result, produces music that continues to be pertinent to the human condition long after it was recorded and released. While The Cure may be synonymous with Gothic rock to many, it tries to abandon those ideas by consistently mixing up its style while still retaining its own unique sound, even within the space of one studio album. The most recent release by The Cure, entitled 4:13 Dream, is a picture-perfect example of a melting pot of music with something in common throughout its thirteen tracks: the solid emotion and raw meanings that come from the music of The Cure.
If The Cure ever has one objective at least at the back of its members’ minds in putting forth new music, it must be to challenge societal expectations through the portrayal of raw emotion. As in “The Love Cats”, does it really ever hurt people to think of themselves as something so simple and even whimsical as animals in relation to complex human emotion? We oftentimes must break things down in order to see their true meaning. A reluctance to conform to expectations is not necessarily a bad or a dangerous thing; it makes people think, and it makes people question the things that they’ve long been told are right and acceptable. The Cure thinks outside of the box in a world that is all too apt to just take what comes in the box and run with it as best they can. The Cure gives something back to society when it gives us its music; it gives us the excuse to challenge ourselves and our feelings as we listen to them so eloquently and so purely set forth for us by this band. It is absolutely possible to find an emotional refuge in The Cure.
