The Drowning Man

its based on a book by mervyn peake called gormenghast. upon realizing that her heart had been broken, fucshia, now growing old, finds it too difficult to retreat back into her imaginary world. she plays in her mind with the idea of suicide. not really knowing what she is doing, she begains to act out a story once again. suddenly she is startled by a knock on the door. it is he who had broken her heart. but before she can gain composure and pull herself from her make believe, she slips on the window sill and falls to her death. drowning in the flood water outside.

excellent book by the way. there are several cure songs that reference it.

He doesn't drown. He goes into hiding in an abandoned wing of the castle, cut off by the floodwaters. Titus blames him for Fuchsia's death, hunts him down, and kills him. It all happens just before Titus leaves.

probably my favorite cure song. holds alot of meaning to me.

Most of the Cure songs of this era had a story they were based on. Anyone know what book/story this is based on? Love the twangy guitar.

I have this art exam to do and I wanted it to do with our dieing nature. I know this song is not directly about that topic but I think the verse

One by one her senses die The memories fade And leave her eyes Still seeing worlds that never were And one by one the bright birds leave her...

Could suit it well... her being Mother Nature. I was wondering if anyone sees the reference as well or is it too abstract?

I forget, what happened to Steerpike in Gormenghast, did he drown?

As for the Mother Nature reference, that fits well with the character of " Countess Gertrude" who didn't have any relationship with any of her children but preferred her birds. Maybe, in this song Fuchsia embodied the 'bright birds' (avenues of possibility) that her mother never took notice of and whose brightness/natural spontaneity was exploited by Steerpike?

One of the greatest cure songs. They truly portray a sense of pure hopelessness in the intruments. I think its all really about depair and loneliness. A girl kills herself because she feels so alone and she fails to see all the good things in her life (One by one the bright birds leave). She sinks into the water but regrets her decision, but the water, like her unescapable loneliness "drowns her at its ease". the final verse is the most haunting as it tells of a man who loved the girl and would have died to save her. He is left as helpless and lonely as she was, "Breathing like the drowning man". All the dreams flee from him. Absolutly wonderful stuff.

Fuchsia, (misspelled in the last line above) is one of the principal characters in Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast Trilogy, of which apparently members of the band were reading at the time they were recording Faith. This song describes her death, which actually was an accident, not a suicide. Great books! I highly recommend any Cure fan pick them up.