Don't deny that sick feeling in your stomach you can't run from it
let it guide you into high view and move beyond the summit
from peeks to valleys speed through alleys if it's done quick
you'll have time to find the caves where the days are never sunlit

find the scriptures made by a society of blind men
who suggest the best direction's where you most likely will find them..
dead set on checkmates embracing a chess set
when bedspreads get wet they're left with the scent of death threats

in 7 seconds I'll become undone, I'm breaking through
if you're around by the time I reach number one I'm taking you
You're not the traveling type? Then hide your baggage better
before you die a normal death and write the average letter

about your internal furnace
and how life's a sexually transmitted disease that you contracted from her kiss
when a boy writes off the world it's done with sloppy misspelled words if
a girl writes off the world it's done in cursive

I'm searching for the cure
this is a sickness
can you hear me, love?

I kick dirt for what it's worth listening to the birds chirp
the same cryptic speech that the breeze speaks and sea repeats
recognizing the cycles with every passing day
writing full demands in the sand with my toe til crashing waves washed it away

I watch what I say now but I hate it
trying to make my mark, afraid of the dark nature of vague statements
that plague vacant parking lots where shopping carts go uncollected
that sick feeling in my stomach start to leave my heart and soul infected

I won't accept it. I do my best to reject patterns til it hurts
every second making bad turns for the worse
she's getting further away I can feel it in the way my bones ache
The ocean sealed it's lips, now the waves won't break

The secrets it won't say has got us trying to break codes in churches
and lately I've been hating its soul purpose
when a boy writes off the world it's done with sloppy misspelled words if
a girl writes off the world it's done in cursive

I'm searching for the cure
this is a sickness
can you hear me, love?

Now I look for air pockets to pick, walk with a stick, start picking locks with it
opening up heart-shaped lockets with little arguments
the tawdry trinkets start to split and contradict
those who say one thing but think the opposite

I bit the dust tongue kissing documents in a smoke stack
faith is harder to swallow than pride it, turns our throats black
I want my home back. I know that's not an available option
it's the way that I'm walking in between a cradle and coffin

that makes me pace myself. if half the battle is done right
the other half won't take my health while jacking my shadow's sunlight
to crack it open and find the space between my breaths are desolate
life is just a lie with an "f" in it and death is definite

But after I scratched the surface
I never saw the calm before the storm act so nervous
when a boy writes off the world it's done with sloppy misspelled words if
a girl writes off the world it's done in cursive

I'm searching for her
Can you hear me, love?


Lyrics submitted by mulmo

The Cure song meanings
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13 Comments

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  • +1
    Song Meaning

    The song's main point, "when a boy writes off the world it's done with sloppy misspelled words if a girl writes off the world it's done in cursive" The meaning I believe can mean to give up on life in general, and/or about suicide, but the interpretation of contrast between males/females, as society when we hear, wether discovered from family/friends/news we as an average whole tend to "write-off" or not emotonally attach the tradgedy when it comes to male specific failures/suicide because we perceive men as being strong willed, no matter the task or situation, and tend to see them as weak or justify in our minds of the causes leading to the outcome; When we hear or know about female suicides we tie more emotional value to the person/incident, it becomes more of a feeling than a presented fact, and people tend to overlook what led up to and caused the final event, and tend to express/feel the emotional loss/care more.

    esotericagendaon May 05, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    i'm not sure if anyone else will ever post... but the part about this song that intrigues me the most and i can't get it out of my head sometimes is "when a boy writes off the world it's done with sloppy misspelled words if a girl writes off the world it's done in cursive" and to me i can't really figure out what that's supposed to mean. maybe how when writing off the world, which i think he means saying to hell with this society and all the bullshit expectations and stuff, well boys do it loudly and say fuck it, i'm done... but girls do it thoughtfully, carefully, hence the cursive. but i really have no idea. help?

    musicallyjameson June 08, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I think that by writing off the world, he means girls are more eloquent than boys when considering the world a failure. Maybe that boys are inferior to the world and girls are superior? Or that boys, being sloppy and bad spellers, aren't in a position to write off the world?

    dkrunkon June 17, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Sage Francis isn't sexist at all, you can tell from his music. I'm pretty certain that it's a snipe at society, saying that lately in the world girls have been generalized into a stereotype of being neat, fancy and eloquent (hence cursive), and that boys are oafish and lack intellect (hence the sloppy mispelled words).

    I too think the song is about life in general, and how you should set yourself goals and achieve them (with all the talk about conquering summits and finding scriptures of blind men and stuff). But some of his comments make me wonder if he's being his usual sarcastic self, saying that people set goals for themselves and try and be ambitious but end up having the same goals as everyone else (die a normal death and write the average letter). To me, the first half is both build up and then revealed sarcasm, and then the last part of the song is more personal, relating to Sage and his experiences yet again, which are really hard to interpret. Some of the lines are pretty bleak in this song, like 'life's just a lie with an 'f' in it, and death is definite'. Great line though.

    Amazing song in general. Sage Francis remains my favourite lyricist.

    Redpingon January 07, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    i'm floating on clouds everytime i hear this song.

    aestheticfrenzyon February 08, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    To me i feel this song is talking about suicide. Girls and boys "writing off the world" as their final letter. A truly Amazing song!

    ellamasonon September 25, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I think its about depression and how it can lead to suicide... The sick feeling in your stomach is talking about the depression and eventually you get to those places "caves where the day is never sunlit" the darkest points in your life. "find the scriptures made by a society of blind men who suggest the best direction's where you most likely will find them.." I feel he is talking about finding help from people who have never expieranced the depression.

    ellamasonon September 25, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I'm sure most have heard that once a good girl has gone bad, she's gone forever. Cursive to me means more carefully thought, more calculated, with more meaning. Guys will go get drunk, curse the world, and not remember a thing the next day. Girls are more likely to step the path and keep walkin..RUTHLESS..lol, j/k ladies..as such tho..hell hath no fury as a woman scorned..

    Also, this song is about a relationship ending and the feeling of losing love and the importance of embracing it for what it is, and moving on in life..

    waemunon March 10, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    About arguments, domestic tension, a divoce, and suicidal thoughts.

    Spockguyon March 22, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    i think "when a boy writes off the world it's done with sloppy misspelled words if a girl writes off the world it's done in cursive" is in generalll about semantics.

    neurotiknurseon June 18, 2009   Link

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