According to Robert Smith, the song is called "Mint Car" because whenever bassist Simon Gallup got a new car (a "mint" car) he'd be very happy, and thus within the band they came to associate the phrase "mint car" with being happy.
@alia612 Is it just me, or has Smith, when asked what a song is "about," tended to reply by telling the questioner about something rather simple and straightforward that could be more specifically described as what inspired the song? I can think of a couple of possible reasons he might do this [insert standard disclaimer about how this is all pure speculation]:
@alia612 Is it just me, or has Smith, when asked what a song is "about," tended to reply by telling the questioner about something rather simple and straightforward that could be more specifically described as what inspired the song? I can think of a couple of possible reasons he might do this [insert standard disclaimer about how this is all pure speculation]:
1) He might have been trying to avoid mention of subject matter that was likely to be (or might have been in the not-so-distant past) regarded as unmentionable to certain cowardly publishers (you know, too sexy for the bourgeoisie). I'm thinking that if he was indeed leaving out deeper shades of meaning, the reason was a pragmatic one: he knew they could just "edit out" any comments they regarded as being potentially offensive to the more white-bread elements in their readership (although, of course, any publication interested in interviewing Smith would have to have at least a fair number of not-so-white-bread readers!). I admit that it's hard to imagine Robert Smith self-censoring for the sake of avoiding conflict with publishers who are afraid of anything that might cause them to make less money, I also think that he has a pragmatic streak — while he could refuse to give the publication interviews and the like afterwards if they censored one of his comments like this, he didn't have any way to stop them from making such "editorial decisions" if they were really unwilling to publish the quote, so it would seem the conflict wouldn't have any positive effects. (OTOH, at the time this album came out (1996), although I can't remember specifically whether The Cure had an online presence then, certainly the internet was available as a forum: the WWW had been released in '91.)
2) I've generally gotten the impression that Smith is a rather private person (or at least, that he tries to cling to whatever shred of privacy he can, in his un-privacy-friendly career) and doesn't like to talk about the more personal aspects of his lyrics — leaving to us, his (often baffled) listeners, the entertaining task of puzzling it out. :)
My interpretation of this particular song makes (1) the more likely in this case;
Although I think some of the suggestions people have made are probably a bit over the top, I haven't quite been able to escape the feeling that there's a sexual theme here! Alia612's revelation adds a new and intriguing dimension: like Smith is perhaps making fun of on his mate's love of cars, implying that it's an outlet for repressed sexual desires (exhibitionism, etc.), or something to that effect.
An irrelevant-but-amusing recollection: when I first read the title of this song on the back of the CD case, the image that popped to mind was that of a mint-green car.
According to Robert Smith, the song is called "Mint Car" because whenever bassist Simon Gallup got a new car (a "mint" car) he'd be very happy, and thus within the band they came to associate the phrase "mint car" with being happy.
Thanks for passing that along. I'd been mildly curious, but never enough so to search for the answer.
Thanks for passing that along. I'd been mildly curious, but never enough so to search for the answer.
@alia612 Is it just me, or has Smith, when asked what a song is "about," tended to reply by telling the questioner about something rather simple and straightforward that could be more specifically described as what inspired the song? I can think of a couple of possible reasons he might do this [insert standard disclaimer about how this is all pure speculation]:
@alia612 Is it just me, or has Smith, when asked what a song is "about," tended to reply by telling the questioner about something rather simple and straightforward that could be more specifically described as what inspired the song? I can think of a couple of possible reasons he might do this [insert standard disclaimer about how this is all pure speculation]:
1) He might have been trying to avoid mention of subject matter that was likely to be (or might have been in the not-so-distant past) regarded as unmentionable to certain cowardly publishers (you know, too sexy for the bourgeoisie). I'm thinking that if he was indeed leaving out deeper shades of meaning, the reason was a pragmatic one: he knew they could just "edit out" any comments they regarded as being potentially offensive to the more white-bread elements in their readership (although, of course, any publication interested in interviewing Smith would have to have at least a fair number of not-so-white-bread readers!). I admit that it's hard to imagine Robert Smith self-censoring for the sake of avoiding conflict with publishers who are afraid of anything that might cause them to make less money, I also think that he has a pragmatic streak — while he could refuse to give the publication interviews and the like afterwards if they censored one of his comments like this, he didn't have any way to stop them from making such "editorial decisions" if they were really unwilling to publish the quote, so it would seem the conflict wouldn't have any positive effects. (OTOH, at the time this album came out (1996), although I can't remember specifically whether The Cure had an online presence then, certainly the internet was available as a forum: the WWW had been released in '91.)
2) I've generally gotten the impression that Smith is a rather private person (or at least, that he tries to cling to whatever shred of privacy he can, in his un-privacy-friendly career) and doesn't like to talk about the more personal aspects of his lyrics — leaving to us, his (often baffled) listeners, the entertaining task of puzzling it out. :)
My interpretation of this particular song makes (1) the more likely in this case; Although I think some of the suggestions people have made are probably a bit over the top, I haven't quite been able to escape the feeling that there's a sexual theme here! Alia612's revelation adds a new and intriguing dimension: like Smith is perhaps making fun of on his mate's love of cars, implying that it's an outlet for repressed sexual desires (exhibitionism, etc.), or something to that effect.
An irrelevant-but-amusing recollection: when I first read the title of this song on the back of the CD case, the image that popped to mind was that of a mint-green car.