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The Cure – Never Enough Lyrics 6 years ago
@[Nereus:25187] I wrote the above comment 12 years ago so hardly remembered it and have long since changed my opinion on the meaning of this song. I do appreciate the intelligent, mature and insightful response though.

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Everything But the Girl – Missing Lyrics 12 years ago
At first I assumed that the girl in the song was missing someone she used to be in love with, but I've read that the song was written about an old friend of Tracey Thorne's who she used to share a house with, who later vanished without a trace. So the song is about missing a former close friend and the times they used to share together. She's finding it hard to move on, and the loss she feels is made worse by the fact she has no idea where that person went, where they are now or if they're even still alive- a real sense of sadness and hopelessness.

It could be interpreted from a much darker angle, i.e. a proper 'missing person' case, of someone who was reported missing and never found. Or it could just be that the friend moved on abruptly of their own choice without leaving any contact details. Either way, the narrator is still traumatized by her loss even after several years, and keeps travelling to her friend's old house and street in the hope of finding some clues as to what happened to her friend, but never having any luck.

I can relate to the song as a friend of mine with mental problems suddenly broke off contact after a period of regular communication, and I only found recently that he committed suicide shortly after. Although I've moved on I do still miss the contact and in-depth conversation we used to have.

Great song anyway- real deep emotion and conjures up some powerful images.

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The Divine Comedy – Something For The Weekend Lyrics 12 years ago
Neil Hannon was inspired to write this song by the actress Kate Beckinsale in the film Cold Comfort Farm, based on the book of the same name that made famous the quote "There's something nasty in the woodshed". He was quoted as saying: "Inspired by Kate Beckinsale's lovely face, and the idea that if anybody quite that beautiful ever took the slightest bit of interest in me, I'd be forever wondering whether they were simply humouring me, or had some more devious intentions hidden up their delicate sleeves. The idea, as the album opener, is that while love is a dangerous game, and usually ends in heartbreak, it's usually much more fun to dive in head first!"

That's exactly what the song about; the man in the song is being taken advantage of by a beautiful woman, and although he's aware of this deep down he falls prey to his natural sexual instincts and allows her to lead him astray. The girl is only with him for his money and her concerns about 'something in the woodshed' are part of her scheme to rob him.

The lyrics in the chorus mean that his heart is telling him to come clean about himself, i.e. he's probably lied about himself and his background to get with the girl. But 'Something in his genes/jeans' (a clever double meaning- 'genes' as in his natural male sex drive and 'jeans' meaning the condom in his pocket- the Something for the weekend) makes him turn a blind eye to his girlfriend's tricks purely out of the desire to get laid with her.

So she tells him to go and check the woodshed, promising him sex if he does so. He gives in and goes to the woodshed, and lo and behold he's attacked by someone she's sent to hide in there (presumably a gang of hired thugs, I believe Mr Hannon said something along those lines) and gagged and bound so she can escape with his car and money.

Message of the song: Men can be easily led astray by their own sex drive. Certain femme fatales may exploit this for their own gain (and having been involved with very attractive but very scheming women myself I know just where Neil Hannon was coming from!)!

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Soft Cell – Facility Girls Lyrics 12 years ago
The way I see it...

From the short version of the song, we can gather she is a secretary who gets by at work mainly due to her good looks and figure. She's perfectly competent at the job, yes, but the reason she gets ahead in the job is purely because she is physically attractive in a male-dominated workplace. "She's got the abilities, she's got the facilities"- a 'facility' is something functional, so the 'facilities' in question are, to put it bluntly, her dirty parts. "A smile for boss and she's doing fine"- really she doesn't need to work hard, because she's treated well on the basis of her physical beauty.

Now onto the 12" elaborations...
"And she's dreaming of Terry, a mechanic,
sometimes working 8 'til 10,
It's so rare she ever sees him,
And she wants so much to see him again"

We can gather from this that Terry is not her 'boyfriend' as such, he is a man with whom she has become acquainted and fallen in love with, but she hardly gets to see him due to his long work hours and does not know if he feels the same about her. Why specify that Terry is a mechanic? Possibly because his job is a manual one and this may indicate Terry does not particularly excel in the brains department, plus a mechanic is a typical 'alpha-male' job, and we've already established that the girl in the song is viewed as a pure sex object by most, i.e. treated in a misogynistic manner. We also need to raise the question of how she became acquainted with Terry in the first place if his working schedule prevents her from seeing him- most likely a one-night stand and we can gather they had a sexual liaison of some kind.

"She's a working girl now, and Mummy lives so far away,
So She bites her lip,
she knows that Terry will be calling soon one day."

Aha. So she's a 'working girl'? Of course what will spring to mind here is that she is a prostitute. Of course Marc could just mean 'working girl' in the literal sense, but this is a Soft Cell song after all, so women on the game is what we've come to expect. This could also answer the question of how she came to meet Terry, i.e. he was a client. What we can gather for sure at this point is that she is very young and has probably only recently left the family home, and has no close friends or family to turn to so she lives in a fantasy world where her impending relationship with Terry is everything to her. And she 'knows' he will be calling soon one day? Most likely to pay her for sex once again.

"I'm thinking of you in some-one else's arms,
I'm thinking of you in some-one else's eyes,
You're everything I like and everything I despise. "

She feels uncomfortable with the thought of Terry with another woman. He is 'everything she likes' i.e. she has idealized him, but he's also 'everything she despises', i.e. a misogynist just like the people at her day job.

"Playing your games with your innocent eyes,
I try hard to smile through all of your lies,
That start to hurt me, hurt me"

Perhaps when Terry visits her for his illicit sexual liaisons he tells her he loves her, gives her what she wants to hear. She knows he is lying but tries to turn a blind eye to it to maintain the fantasy, but deep inside she is starting to hurt.

"She found a message on her typewriter,
It said that she was just a normal girl,
They also felt she was a human being
They said that she was a facility"

This verse is pretty cryptic but what I gather from it is that she's been left a message on her typewriter by an employee at the office she works at telling her how the other employees view her... i.e. she's nothing special despite the rewards she gets at work, she's just a normal girl, but they see her as a 'facility' i.e. a sex object, so they keep her on for this reason. Who left the message then? It could be Terry playing games again, or maybe just a muted colleague who wants to convey the truth to her- possibly also indicating that rumours about her sex work have spread around the office?

"Dream, dream, dream, dream,
Shhhhhhh, Goodnight"

She feels no escape from the dire lifestyle she leads, i.e. serving as a mere sex object in both her day job and her night work as a prostitute, so her only escape is by retreating into her dream world where Terry, in reality just another client, is in love with her.

IMO one of the best Soft Cell B-sides!

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Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – Dollar Girl Lyrics 14 years ago
I see this song as being about a prostitute who's fallen in love with one of her clients. This man went to her just for the sex, but she ended up falling in love with him and now she won't leave him alone. She keeps putting on an emotional show by breaking down and crying in front of him so that he'll feel sorry for her and won't leave her, and though he does not reciprocate her feelings he finds it difficult to break away.

"She burns you with her confidence
And prays that you won't dare"

-she intimidates him so that he's too afraid to say no to her, and his whole life has been ruined by this girl's persistence and his own inability to reject her.

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James – Fairground Lyrics 16 years ago
This seems to be about a relationship, both people are in love but somehow they just can't seem to get along easily or make it work smoothly. "Lost in memory"- sounds like things were once all smooth and blissful for them, but that's no longer the case and they're desperately clinging to that memory and trying to make it work again. "You cry, I, I, can't take anymore, But you can't find the bloody door"- They're reaching the point they can't stand it anymore, but can't quite bring themselves to leave one another.

Interestingly enough, in the Folklore biography it states the initial lyric sprang from an argument Tim had with Larry Gott before a full band jam. There were quite a few tensions within the band at the time given the pressure they were under from their record company.

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James – Everybody Knows Lyrics 16 years ago
This song is a love song about meeting someone who uplifts you and brings a sense of meaning back into life... very uplifting lyrics, though it's often been noted that the chord progression is rather downbeat given the positive subject matter. I've never minded that though, to me it adds a sense of mystery to the song, combined with the Eastern flavour of the music it sounds like the narrator is falling for a really exotic, mysterious girl, with whom he's completely in love but perhaps cannot fully comprehend. Not to mention that it's not uncommon for James songs to have upbeat tunes but dark and morbid lyrics, so why not have it the other way round for a change...

Is the lyric really 'everybody knows your fate' or 'everybody knows your faith'? I've discussed this with other James fans and never quite been able to work it out.

Brilliant song anyway.

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James – Come Home Lyrics 16 years ago
Surprised there haven't been any comments on this yet... IIRC this song has a double meaning; it's partly about the decline of Tim Booth's relationship with the band's ex-manager Martine McDonagh and how he was feeling like the bad guy in the relationship... and also about Tim's escape from the sect Lifewave that he succumbed to in the mid-80s; he was completely devoted to this group until it collapsed after the guru was found to have slept around.

Either way, the song is about pure self-loathing and paranoia, the need to 'come home' being the return to one's self and sanctity. Tim has said in interviews that it was through performing this song live that he realized the shamanic impact of James' songs when the crowd sang his lyrics back at him in euphoria, a total release of negative emotions.

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James – Coffee and Toast Lyrics 16 years ago
Tim Booth often described this as a 'scientific love song'; it's about a scientist who tries to impress a girl by blinding her with science when really he just wants to take her home for coffee and toast. Similar subject matter to Thomas Dolby's "She Blinded Me With Science".

This is one of my favorite of all the later James songs, IMO it should have made the cut for the Pleased To Meet You album, possibly even been a single. Maybe they were afraid of getting sued by Blondie for the tune (listen carefully, the tune of the verse is almost identical to Blondie's "Sunday Girl")!

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Thomas Dolby – She Blinded Me With Science Lyrics 17 years ago
I think it's pretty straightforward really... a scientist falls in love for the first time, and all his scientific knowledge and investigations lose all meaning to him as his emotional side is awakened. Scientists are stereotypically thought of as being firm and emotionless; this song is about a scientist of that nature being awakened to his emotional side through love.

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James – Don't Wait That Long Lyrics 17 years ago
This song is about a relationship that's gone sour... it's turned into nothing but arguments and violence, and the song's narrator is blaming himself for the destruction. It was inspired by the break-up of Tim Booth's relationship with the band's ex-manager Martine McDonagh. Stunning song from the Seven album.

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James – Confusion Lyrics 17 years ago
This song is about SEX... the narrator has had loads of sexual experiences but has never really connected with anyone emotionally, so now his experiences are all blurring together and confusing him... he's had all sorts of relationships from mundane to daring but they've all been just for the sake of sex.

I think musically this is one of the best songs from the later era of James... Tim Booth apparently never liked it much, hence why it didn't make the Millionaires album. I personally think it's great, and should not only have gone on the album but should have been a single... it would probably have stood a better chance in the charts that the tracks off Millionaires that they did release.

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James – Chunney Chops Lyrics 17 years ago
This is a good dance tune, IMO one of the better b-sides from the Whiplash era. The lyrics seem to be an attack on a religious leader or something.

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James – Burned Lyrics 17 years ago
This song is a pure, scathing attack on the expectations record companies have of bands, specifically directed at Sire Records after they let James down. The corruption of the music industry is a recurring theme throughout James songs, and this one says it best.

This is a rare but stunning track, worth tracking down the One Man Clapping album just to hear this song.

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James – Black Hole Lyrics 17 years ago
This song's about depression, digging one's self into a hole emotionally and choosing to cling to the negative feelings... A state many people find themselves in; finding it easier to cling to the depression despite how much they may complain about their 'misfortunes'. I tend to avoid such people myself nowadays.

Great song anyway and a powerful closer for the Stutter album, love the way the song seems mellow throughout then suddenly builds up into yelping mania at the end. This song was also used as the foundation for the Inspiral Carpets song "This is How it Feels"; if you listen carefully it's possible to sing the chorus of this song along with some of the instrumental breaks in the Inspirals' tune.

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James – Billy's Shirts Lyrics 17 years ago
This song is brilliant and very under-rated. The band have been pretty dismissive of this track and dropped it from their live sets early on, but in my opinion it's one of the best tracks on Stutter. It sounds like a good sea shanty, and the backing music has more of a 'Rock' feel than later James songs.

The lyrics don't seem to make much sense, it could possibly be a metaphor for someone's craving for Rock stardom... but Tim Booth has been quoted as saying that on several tracks on Stutter he has no idea now what he was singing about, so this may well be one of them.

Interestingly enough, another of my favorite bands, The Bolshoi, did a song a few years before this called "Billy's New Boots"... whoever Billy is, the contents of his wardrobe sure must have fascinated the Rock bands of the era. ;)

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James – Avalanche Lyrics 17 years ago
This is a powerful song about business hierarchy and the desire for control and dominance within a corporation. It can be interpreted as being about workers standing up to a controlling power-mad boss, but the line "Now we got into your shoes, it's your turn to be abused" would indicate everyone is just as power-hungry as one another, purely desiring control within the workplace. It's also possible to interpret the song as having a political meaning, about rising up against an oppressive regime.

Definitely one of my favorite James songs and a high point of the Whiplash album. I hope they bring this one back into their live set now they're back together. This song always should be played really LOUD to get the full effect!

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James – Assassin Lyrics 17 years ago
Apparently this song is about the thoughts of a Middle-Eastern Executioneer and his disillusionment with his role in life and the way he is paid to take the lives of others. The term 'Baksheesh' is a Middle-Eastern term for a form of charity, often in exchange for services.

This is one of my favorite James b-sides. I can see why it ended up as a b-side as it seems kind of unfinished musically, it ends very abruptly, but I think if it was expanded and reworked a bit it would easily have been strong enough for an album track.

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James – Are You Ready Lyrics 17 years ago
This is a great song with a strong, optimistic message. It's about how low self-esteem and a negative approach to life will get you nowhere, it'll only drag you down, and all you have to do to make things better is to rebel against all the negative feelings, believe in yourself and take a positive approach.

The live version of this track on the One Man Clapping album is IMO far superior to the studio version on Strip-Mine.

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James – All One To Me Lyrics 17 years ago
Great tune and one of the better b-sides of the Whiplash era. The meaning of the song seems pretty straightforward, just about cutting the crap and seeing the bigger picture.

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James – Afro Lover Lyrics 17 years ago
I think this song's great! It's pure cheesy pop, very Pet Shop Boys-esque and very atypical of James, but it's one of the stronger tracks off Millionaires regardless. Tim's vocal sounds a lot more passionate on this track than most others on the album. It should have been a single, I think this had more hit potential than any of the songs they did release off Millionaires.

The lyrics are pretty weak and cheesy for a James song, but for me that just contributes to the song's appeal, it's just an upbeat dancey pop tune that doesn't seem to take itself too seriously... it's one of few songs I can actually listen to over and over again and not get bored of, and it always brightens my state of mind.

Despite the cheesiness of the lyrics there does seem to be a deeper message in them somewhere... it seems to be about a soldier in a war feeling a real sense of fighting for freedom and virtue amidst all the violence. The whole 'everybody wants to be happy/everybody wants the same things' verse would seem to refer to what lies at the heart of war in the end... everyone's desire to be free, wealthy and loved... possibly one of, if not the only, optimistic war song I've heard. Not exactly pro-war, but optimistic amidst the violence.

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Public Image Ltd – Don't Ask Me Lyrics 17 years ago
I love this song, it's one of my favorites. Would be worth reissuing this song now given all the current controversy about global warming. It's the perfect protest song- infectiously catchy, to the point, serious in its message yet sharply sarcastic in its tones.

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Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – We Love You Lyrics 17 years ago
This song was originally written about girls and unrequited love- it was written for the soundtrack to a movie called Playing For Keeps, about girls lusting after three guys who were unaware of their affection to them, and the song was originally about lusting after girls who are unaware of your affection for them and what they really mean to you. The first line of the song was originally "Got to get a message to the girls we love, blowing kisses over oceans". But the filmmakers felt the lyrics did not really match the film since it was about girls lusting after men rather than vice versa, so the band had to change the lyrics to avoid contradicting the film's plot, and Andy McCluskey described the resulting lyrics as "absolutely meaningless drivel".

Nevertheless, I think that by changing the lyrics they unwittingly produced a very meaningful song, since at face value the lyrics seem to be about people's craving for something meaningful in life. It could easily be about religion or spirituality; people's desire to beleive in a higher power that gives their life some real meaning.

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The Bolshoi – Happy Boy Lyrics 17 years ago
This song is about a young man breaking free from an oppressive family and going to university where he's free to be himself and rebel. I suspect it may relate to Trevor Tanner's own sense of freedom after leaving home- he was brought up in a strict Christian family, and his upbringing is referred to in many other Bolshoi lyrics.

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Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – Tesla Girls Lyrics 18 years ago
Nikolai Tesla was a pioneer of electrical power. 'Tesla' in the song would seem to be an analogy for the intelligence and planning within these girls the narrator is in awe of. It could be seen as quite a feminist song, an ode to the intelligence of girls within a relationship, their ability to make the man become in awe of them.

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Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – Talking Loud and Clear Lyrics 18 years ago
I think this song is about a couple who don't need words to communicate, they just understand one another naturally without having to talk in detail.

Has anyone seen the video for this song though? The song is one of OMD's more conventional, mainstream numbers but the video is fucking bizarre! Excuse my language, but it is goddamn weird, surreal as anything!

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Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – Stand Above Me Lyrics 18 years ago
I love this song. Andy McCluskey hates it apparently, and sure enough it's cheesy but it's good fun. I see this song as a dig against 'couply' couples who always cling to one another and make out they're soulmates when really their 'love' is very superficial. Often in these kind of relationships one person is particularly dominant, trying to make the other conform to this illusion of true love, and this song is a fantastic retort against that kind of superficiality.

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Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – Sailing On The Seven Seas Lyrics 18 years ago
This was the song that got me into OMD. I was 9 at the time and just getting into real music properly.

I find the lyrics of this song quite intriguing. It sounds to me like he's involved with a girl who's very deviant, possibly criminal, and he knows the relationship is bad for him yet he doesn't want to leave her because he's totally in awe of the girl (note in awe rather than in love, he idolises her rather than being in love with her). So he's allowed himself to become caught up in this risky situation even though he knows it's bad for him. Possibly she may be a prostitute or just some kind of criminal, though I wonder if Andy wrote the lyrics with anyone particular in mind.

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Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – Messages Lyrics 18 years ago
Correction- this song features Andy's vocals, not Paul's.

The lyrics of this song I find pretty touching. I think it's about someone who is being bombarded by mail from his ex-lover, who he is happy to forget but she keeps sending him mail which gives him memories of their relationship, and second thoughts as to whether or not he should have ended it. "Memories are uncertain friends when recalled by Messages"... that says it all really.

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Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – Enola Gay Lyrics 18 years ago
The pilot named the plane after his mother, so you can bet the topic of 'Is mother proud of Little Boy today' is pretty damn valid.

Lyrically this song is amazing. To the casual listener it may seem like a break-up song, like the narrator is lamenting after his break-up with a girl called 'Enola Gay'. But of course, we know what the song is really about- a bombing that would provide a kiss which would truly never, ever fade away. Pure genius.

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Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – Christine Lyrics 18 years ago
This is my favorite song on the Liberator album. Overall I feel it's OMD's weakest album (an opinion which Andy McCluskey himself shares) but this song alone makes the album worth buying. The lyrics and music are beautifully atmospheric and dreamlike.

The song is about a woman who works as a stripper or prostitute because it's the only way she can support herself and feed her kids. The line "If someone calls her name out, all she ever hears are cars" I think indicates that there are people who want to help her, but she's oblivious to this, all she hears are cars, possibly those of punters pulling up outside the strip club/brothel.

Going by the final verses I think she chooses suicide as an escape by drowning herself in the river, leaving the money for her kids. The way the lyrics and music combine at the end convey a feeling of escape, a carefully planned suicide that gives her a sense of triumphance in escaping. The lyrics "And faint through the water, the lights like brittle stars" are beautiful imagery. In my opinion this is the one song on Liberator that proved 100% that OMD still had it.

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Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – Big Town Lyrics 18 years ago
I always thought this song was a pretty straightforward song about the pressures of urban life, but I've read that the big town is actually a metaphor for the music industry. So it would seem the song is in part about the pressures of being a recording artist and the expectations others have of you.

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The Cure – Torture Lyrics 18 years ago
Like "The Kiss", this song could be about an intimate act with someone who's overly forceful and who you've no real attraction to... though a lot of this song sounds to me as though it's about sadomasochism; possibly he's involved with a girl who's into domination though maybe he doesn't quite enjoy it so much...

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The Cure – The Kiss Lyrics 18 years ago
This song describes a situation many of us have found ourselves in- getting caught up in a relationship with someone you have no actual attraction to, and the repulsion you feel at being forced to kiss someone who disgusts rather than arouses you. The forcefulness of the other person's grasp is really well displayed here. "I never wanted any of this, I wish you were dead"... sums up the feelings perfectly.

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The Cure – The Kiss Lyrics 18 years ago
This song describes a situation many of us have found ourselves in- getting caught up in a relationship with someone you have no actual attraction to, and the repulsion you feel at being forced to kiss someone who disgusts rather than arouses you. The forcefulness of the other person's grasp is really well displayed here. "I never wanted any of this, I wish you were dead"... sums up the feelings perfectly.

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The Cure – The Empty World Lyrics 18 years ago
The lyrics to this song are pretty confusing, and sure enough Robert Smith was permanently high on drugs at the time the album was recorded, so that may explain the seemed incoherence. But I do know that the inspiration comes in part from the book 'Charlotte Sometimes' which inspired the song of the same name. The line 'stiff as toys but tall as men' is taken from the book, and the title itself is also mentioned in the book at some point. And apparently it also has something to do with Simon Gallup (who had departed from the band at this time and had not yet resolved his dispute with Robert) and his pride at the time getting in the way of their friendship, or something like that.

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The Cure – The 13th Lyrics 18 years ago
This is one of my favorite Cure songs. I'm surprised it isn't more popular, it was a single after all and did OK in the charts over here (UK). Brings back lots of good memories from the time, though nothing interesting enough to write here.

Onto the meaning of the song: I think it's about Robert having a one-night stand with an exotic dancer in a bar, which he enjoys but feels guilty about at the same time because he's already married. Going by some of Robert's comments on the song, it sounds to me as though this incident actually did happen, but his wife forgave him.

Apparently it was originally called 'The Two Chord Cool' but Robert changed the title after he noticed a strange coincidence; the incident described in the song happened on the 13th of the month, and he wrote the lyrics on the 13th of another month, so he wondered if it had some significance. If you listen very carefully to this song there's some interesting sounds in the background, at the beginning of the second verse there's a strange high-pitched laugh somewhere behind the vocal.

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The Cure – Meathook Lyrics 18 years ago
This is a joke song, the band came up with the song to take the piss when someone at Hansa (their first record company) complained that one of their songs had no hooks in it.

Very rough interpretation of the lyrics:

A young gay man tries it on with a big, butch drag queen and finds this big guy is into pretty hard sex and possibly sadomasochism... the young guy wants to break out of it but the big guy has him 'hooked' and he can't get away... think something along the lines of Lola by the Kinks.

I might be well off, but hey, it makes sense when you look at the lyrics. :)

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The Cure – See the Children Lyrics 18 years ago
The Cure were a Punk band at the time they did this song, and part of the whole Punk ethic was to shock, so they obviously just wrote this song to be shocking in a very tongue-in-cheek manner. I also find this song hilarious, maybe it would have been better suited to Gary Glitter! :)

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The Cure – Out of Mind Lyrics 18 years ago
According to Robert Smith this song's about drugs, and I think that alone basically explains it all. It's about someone who's so addicted to drugs that they dominate their life.

"But as long as I can breathe
Then I know I'll be OK"

As long as he feels he's got some kind of hold on awareness, he's quite happy to let the drugs retain control of him, as far as he can see he's OK. He's completely detached from reality, yet he's happy with it, so he's genuinely out of mind. I think in the last verse he's trying to convince someone else to join him in a trip, share the fun of the delusion.

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The Cure – Never Enough Lyrics 18 years ago
I think this song is about trying too hard to make a relationship work when it's obviously doomed to failure. The narrator is determined to make it work with the girl, but no matter how much he does for this purpose, it's never enough because they're just not right for one another. I think the first verse is about their sex life not being up to much, and 'However I smile I smile the most' means he always smiles more than her, because he's trying to create the idea they have a good relationship.

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The Cure – Let's Go to Bed Lyrics 18 years ago
I agree the song is about a relationship, but I think some of the lyrics have a double meaning. Robert Smith wrote this song under pressure- The Cure had more or less broken up after the tensions of the Pornography tour and Chris Parry forced Robert and Lol to meet up again to write a radio-friendly pop song. Robert was still disillusioned with The Cure after the Pornography tour and wasn't really up for it, but he gave into pressure and came up with this song. Therefore...

"The two of us together again
But it's just the same
A stupid game"

He's back in the studio with Lol, but now sees the band as little more than a daft game. The chorus could also possibly represent this, indicating he's willing to pack it in if Lol is too.

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The Cure – Just One Kiss Lyrics 18 years ago
I'm unsure about the meaning behind this one, I think it's pretty widely open to interpretation. It could be about someone who sacrificed their life to be with someone they loved in their moment of death, but the verses seem to suggest a much wider, bigger meaning, like a whole load of people, maybe even a society, being oblivious to or ignorant of some kind of disaster or earth-shattering event.

I find the idea of it being about Christ interesting, for I have always felt the lyrics in the verses conjure up a kind of Biblical imagery. Musically I think it's one of The Cure's best songs, I know that Robert Smith wanted this to be the A-side of the "Let's Go To Bed" single rather than the B-side and I would have agreed, it would have made a perfect single. Definitely a very underrated Cure song.

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The Cure – How Beautiful You Are... Lyrics 18 years ago
I see this song as a cynical retort against the idea of soulmates. When people think they've found their soulmate they conjure up this wild fantasy idea that they are two souls as one, the same mind in two different bodies, then once an incident occurs which reveals they think completely differently about something, have a wild disagreement, that fantasy is immediately shattered and exposed to the reality of it all, their love turns to hatred as they realize they aren't actually much like one another at all.

This song is one of my favorites because I myself am pretty cynical about the idea of soulmates. I personally feel it's a lot more romantic to connect with someone who's different to you in certain ways, so that even though you may disagree on various things you still respect one another's views and love one another for who you are. The 'two souls as one' idea to me sounds naive and vain, and that is pretty much exposed in this song.

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The Cure – Hot Hot Hot!!! Lyrics 18 years ago
Thanks for posting that hothothot!... That's pretty strange, as I also thought of the bloke in the Guinness Book of Records, I believe he was a forest ranger who was struck by lightning about seven times on separate occasions and survived each time. He was also the inspiration behind the song "Sometimes" by James, another favorite band of mine, which is about a boy wanting to be struck by lightning for spiritual ecstasy. That could be another interpretation for this song, if we take it more literally, we could assume the narrator has actually been struck by lightning on different occasions and survived them all, but he gets a kind of spiritual ecstasy from the experience each time, as is evident in the chorus.

Going by what I've read it seems as though it's about three sexual experiences Robert had while on a particular drug, but it's definitely open to some fantastic interpretations.

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The Cure – Harold and Joe Lyrics 18 years ago
This is one of my favorite Cure songs ever. Definitely in the top 10, I think it's amazing, I'm surprised more people haven't commented. I think it was criminally wasted by just being a B-side, it should have been the A-side rather than "Never Enough", a good song but nothing compared to this.

I haven't really thought about the lyrics of this one much, I see at as quite a straightforward, sarcastic, cynical song, about someone being a miserable bastard but being proud of it. According to the 'Join the Dots' booklet, Harold and Joe are none other than the characters of Harold Bishop and Joe Mangel from the Australian soap Neighbours (which is popular in the UK), Simon came up with that title because he came up with the song's music and he happened to be watching Neighbours at the time, so Robert Smith kept the title for a laugh...

My favorite memory of this song is one night I had in a Goth club years back when it was the late hours and the place was near deserted as most people had gone home... and the DJs played this song last. The only time I've ever heard it in a club; and as my favorite 'obscure' Cure song I was thrilled to hear it and I had a great dance to it, I was in my element on the dancefloor, one of my most memorable clubbing moments ever.

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The Cure – Grinding Halt Lyrics 18 years ago
I read in The Cure's biography that this song's lyrics were actually written by Lol Tolhurst and the lines were originally longer, but then Robert shortened them so they only contained the start of each sentence. And it's apparently about 'apathy and decay'. It could be interpreted literally as being about the world coming to an end, but more likely it represents a state of mind, a person not caring any more to the extent that their world comes to a grinding halt, as in it no longer means anything for them.

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The Cure – Friday I'm in Love Lyrics 18 years ago
I'm quite surprised at how few people have mentioned the sexual implications of the final verse:

"Always take a big bite
It's such a gorgeous sight
To see you eat in the middle of the night"

I've always seen that as a sexual reference. Eat = blow jobs. Friday nights are the only time of the week they get laid.

To me the song as a whole implies a relationship that's mostly dysfunctional because the girl is overwhelmed by day-to-day stress every day of the week except Friday, which means the relationship is pretty sour apart from then. Since the narrator is in love with the girl he clings onto the relationship and basically lives for Friday nights since they're the only time he can have fun with the girl.

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The Cure – Hot Hot Hot!!! Lyrics 18 years ago
I see the lightning as a metaphor for drugs. Possibly ecstasy, which was a newish drug at the time. Although I read in one interview that Robert Smith's fascination with lightning actually came from a book called Earthfast, in which a boy gets struck by lightning and goes back in time.

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