In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
Catch me if I fall
I'm losing hold
I can't just carry on this way
And every time
I turn away
Lose another blind game
The idea of perfection holds me
Suddenly I see you change
Everything at once
The same
But the mountain never moves
Rape me like a child
Christened in blood
Painted like an unknown saint
There's nothing left but hope
Your voice is dead
And old
And always empty
Trust in me through closing years
Perfect moments wait
If only we could stay
Please
Say the right words
Or cry like the stone white clown
And stand forever
Lost forever in a happy crowd
No one lifts their hands
No one lifts their eyes
Justified with empty words
The party just gets better and better
I went away alone
With nothing left
But faith
I'm losing hold
I can't just carry on this way
And every time
I turn away
Lose another blind game
The idea of perfection holds me
Suddenly I see you change
Everything at once
The same
But the mountain never moves
Rape me like a child
Christened in blood
Painted like an unknown saint
There's nothing left but hope
Your voice is dead
And old
And always empty
Trust in me through closing years
Perfect moments wait
If only we could stay
Please
Say the right words
Or cry like the stone white clown
And stand forever
Lost forever in a happy crowd
No one lifts their hands
No one lifts their eyes
Justified with empty words
The party just gets better and better
I went away alone
With nothing left
But faith
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Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
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I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
In Smith's own words:
"I don't think I'll ever write a song that'll ever move me as much as Faith, that'll change my life as much as that song did, or encapsulates a period of my life as well as that one does."
He also said he meant for the song to offer a note of hope.
One of the best Cure songs - IMO
The only song on “Faith” that is about religion is “The Holy Hour”. The title song deals with the notion of the faith we put in other people. Whatever that entails whether it’s a girl friend, best friend, family or humanity in general.
The whole Faith album doesn't seem to be getting much respect with number of posts. Oh well.
Faith the song is great. However I don't think the song wants us to believe it is a good thing to have. With all the shitty things that happen in the world and this song touches on some of them, I feel Robert is singing to say that we've all failed. It's his "fuck you world" song. "No one lifts their eyes, no one lifts their hands..." to fix these problems. We could have "perfection" but no one even dares to try...people just don't care...all they offer are "empty words" as they have become complacent in life as they've found "faith." Why try to make anything better when you have Faith on your side? That's the kicker...
So then what is Robert to do? Well this is where rainydayboy's comments come in...you gotta have Faith to keep on going through this bleak world. And that's what Robert does...not because it is what he wants or even will make him happy. But because the only other option is suicide..."Catch me if I fall, I'm losing hold, Can't just carry on this way." He wants to carry on...even if it means giving up his idealism.
The song takes the grey feeling the album has...that there is beauty in bad things but that bad things are still bad. Silver lining in the black cloud but not good enough...at least not to me and I don't think to Robert either.
I totally agree with you. Despite the amount of people who se faith as a positive thing, this song simply cannot show it in a good light, due to the tone of the song.
Honestly, I agree with your interpretation of this song. I even think this is the only possible interpretation. The problem is that Robert Smith is not a man every word of whom you should trust. That's what he said about "Faith" song in Cure Fanzine (09/89):<br /> <br /> "self explanatory, as optimistic as i could get, it does, or should, offer a note of HOPE"<br /> <br /> So, the song meant to be quite optimistic but it actually isn't. Smith also said he didn't have any faith (neither religious, nor some other) at that time. Following your logic (i.e. logic of this song) he had to commit suicide. We all know he didn't.<br /> <br /> The whole concept of "Faith" album is unclear to me. I still haven't got a clue which faith Robert wrote about. He was and is an atheist, and in "The Holy Hour" he once again expressed his disappointment in religion. Taking into consideration the mood of the songs and the music, I think he implicated religious faith. He said he wanted to get different expressions of faith and to understand why people believe - in God, in themselves, in something else. This meant to be the main idea of the album but it's explored in just two songs - "The Holy Hour' and "Faith", the other ones are about growing old, losing purity and dying. So why call the album "Faith"? It all seems a bit pretentious to me. <br /> <br /> Nevertheless the album is great, this song is great. Just don't pay too much attention to what its creator once said and have your own opinion.
good god this song is so amazing it hurts to read it. First of all though why hasnt anybody posted comments about the cure. Of all the bands, this one's lyrics are so full of emotion and meaning. REading it, i am so curious about what painful as hell experiences Robert Smith went through to describe what he does. For me this song is the ultimate expression of life, of why we all are still alive. We all try to live up to ideals of perfection in our heads and its just imossible. Some of us fail and accept it, others spend their lives trying to live up to somehting they're not, and i dont care what religion you are what political belief you are what personal morals you have, in the end the only thing that really keeps us believing that life is worth living is faith.
i think what this song is describing is a failing relationship and the desperation of holding on to it, hoping and relying on nothing else but faith to keep you guys together.. because everything else has failed.
the first verse describes how he can't hold on to the things the way they are
'losing blind games' teamed up with 'idea of perfection holds me' is saying that he wants to be perfect for her, but somehow everythign he says or does seems to be wrong
"suddenly i see you change" and "but the mountain never moves" the mountain between them or the mountain of problems still stands there, therefore i would take the 'see you change' as he sees her change away from him.. growing more distant
and from the first verse you know he's tried all he can to no avail.. so he claims 'there's nothing left but hope'..that's the only thing he has to hold on to her
He describes her voice as dead, empty.. and yet he still begs her to trust in him that in time things will be good again because he believes that much in them, if only she'd stay.
my favorite line is 'please say the right words' and the way he sings it.. it's like when you stand there letting someone go you dont' want to and you still love and you just beg and scream in your head that they say something, anything or that you say something that will make the situation suddenly just change.. you desperately want something to change this situation
but nobody does anything 'justified with empty words' her words to him state clearly that she no longer loves him
so upon accepting this he walks away with nothing, but faith. everything else of his is gone, so the only thing he can hold on to is the faith of their love
So, so beautiful, this song makes me cry. Cure lyrics always seem to rip open healed wounds in me and heal them again. Simply amazing.
How come no one's mentioned the most disturbing lyric and what it could mean?: "Rape me like a child Christened in blood".
@Filius Robert Smith was brought up in a Catholic environment but says that from the age of 8 he knew the whole religion thing was bullshit. What is one of the most frequent accusations that critics of the Catholic Church make? That priests rape children. I'm guessing it's a dig at the Catholic Church.
@Filius I know, right. That line stops me enjoying this otherwise great song.
Robert has said this is his favorite album cuase it "saved his life" and actually the second song is primary which was dedicated to the band joy division whos lead singer ian curtis commited suicide which was the reason robert didnt kill himself
this is NOT about religion at all and i quote robert on religion (ill post the link of the interview) "I think religion is the worst invetions of man... in history of man"
youtube.com/watch
@AChainOfFlowers <br /> I think Wobert Smif is the worst invention of rock... in history of rock.<br /> <br /> He's a puffy-face silly-boy and his lyrics never even rhyme. He's a major-league whiner.<br /> <br />
@AChainOfFlowers The
There's a common saying "faith moves mountains" and here we have the line:
But the mountain never moves...
He implies that even faith somehow failed... but seemingly, at the end the only thing that he has is faith... a light at the end of the tunnel??
@leia I think he’s talking about someone he holds very dear to his heart disappointing him and letting him down. The ‘faith’ being someday things will change for the better. A sentiment that he no longer believes in anymore.
This song quite truthfully is about the death of some of Robert's family members, i think his mother was one of them? In it he talks about how he tries to use religious faith to comfort him but can't find it. Beautiful song, one of my faves.
@kurtisebear2010 I saw an interview with him in 2008 where he said his parents still lived in Crawley, which suggests his mother would still be alive in 1980. Lol Tolhurst's mother was dying of a terminal disease during the recording of Faith (the song All Cats are Grey was inspired by that). But I think Faith is a Robert Smith lyric.
I see this as rather a desperate song. I don't see where Smith sees positivity in the lyric. Here's how I understand it.
At the start of the song the narrator is seeking help as he feels so desperate. In his desperation he turns to God, who is the idea of perfection. Faith is supposed to move mountains but the mountain doesn't move.
The environment Smith grew up in was catholic and the line about raping children is probably a reference to Catholic Priests' reputation for pedophilia. Saints are numerous in the Catholic faith but who really knows much about each individual Saint.
People often turn to religion in later years ('trust in me through closing years') and are told heaven comes to he who waits ('perfect moments wait'). But yet when people pray they are often praying that someone doesn't die ('please say the right words' is surely a reference to prayer).
The bible contains references to acts of kindness and charity but this song suggests that 'no one lifts their hands, no one lifts their eyes'- ie, indifference and an unwillingness to help- in other words people's engagement with the teachings of the bible are just empty.
In an interview on French TV Robert Smith talked about his views on religion. He said it was for idiots and was all nonsense. The interviewer replied 'but you did an album called Faith'. Smith didn't dispute that the album was referring to religious faith but instead said that he was brought up in a Catholic environment and that although he saw it all as bullshit from the age of about 8 he still grappled with the legacy of that upbringing for many years afterwards.