Today there was a tragedy
Underneath the bridge
A man walked
Cold and blue
Into La Ment
The sky coloured perfect
As the man slipped away
Waving with a last vanilla smile...
Somewhere at a table
Two drowned fools
Smoking
Drinking water as they talked
Of how they loved our lady
And oh! the smell as candles die...
One more ice cream river body
Flowed underneath the bridge
Underneath the bridge
Underneath the bridge
A man walked
Cold and blue
Into La Ment
The sky coloured perfect
As the man slipped away
Waving with a last vanilla smile...
Two drowned fools
Smoking
Drinking water as they talked
Of how they loved our lady
And oh! the smell as candles die...
Flowed underneath the bridge
Underneath the bridge
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This is one of my favorit Cure songs. So sad, concise.
In Join the Dots, RS talks about recording the first (Flexipop) version, shortly after the band had come to blows and pasrted ways in the midst of the Pornography tour:
"Convinced that they would never play again, Robert disappeared to the Lake District leaving no forwarding address.
On his return, several weeks later, Flexipop magazine asked The Cure to write a track for its cover-mounted flexi-disk, and Robert was faced with the dilemma of of either doing it himslef or admitting publicly that the band was no more.
Prudently, he chose option number one and put together a song called Lament, using his trusty old Top 20 guitar. Although credited to The Cure, the contributors are in fact Robert Smith and Steve Severin. To the best of Smith's recollection, "I wrote the guitar and bass parts, then we booked the Garden Studio, London. I phoned Severin up and said, 'Get some stuff, we're going to record a song.' I went along with my Top 20, a bass, a drum machine and two wooden flutes. Severin was nominally the producer, but but actually spent most of the session gripping the edge of the mixing desk and laughing as I staggered in and out of the control room asking, "What was that like?"The volume of the high-hat in the mix, the wild 'fish-panning' and the dubious coherence of the vocals are a bit of a give-away as to our states of mind...."
RS goes to describe the re-worked Lament as his favorite track from the Steve Nye-produced The Walk / Japanese Whispers EP. (BTW, I've always suspected that the title Japanese Whispers a ref to the Davis Sylvian's band Japan--can anyone confirm/deny?)
@mrpinkeye I always thought that the "Japanese Whispers" title was a ref to "I saw you look like a Japanese baby" in "The Walk" (which begs the question, since I don't have any idea what that lyric was supposed to mean). I think "Japanese Whispers" was meant to be a version of "The Walk" EP that you could get in the States — "The Walk" EP (longer than a regular single but shorter than a full-length album — I think it had six tracks; my copy's in a box somewhere in my basement with a lot of other random stuff...
@mrpinkeye I always thought that the "Japanese Whispers" title was a ref to "I saw you look like a Japanese baby" in "The Walk" (which begs the question, since I don't have any idea what that lyric was supposed to mean). I think "Japanese Whispers" was meant to be a version of "The Walk" EP that you could get in the States — "The Walk" EP (longer than a regular single but shorter than a full-length album — I think it had six tracks; my copy's in a box somewhere in my basement with a lot of other random stuff that I've accumulated over the years, as I've long since switched to digital) was only available in Europe. It included "Speak My Language" and "The Lovecats," which weren't on "The Walk."
It seems to me there are several Japan refs in the Cure's oeuvre...the ones I can think of offhand are "Kyoto Song" and the line "And the neon bright Tokyo lights flicker through the crowd," from "Watching Me Fall" (a song that appears to be about an experience with a prostitute).
Thoughts, anyone?
@mrpinkeye There is a game called Chinese Whispers where one person whispers something to their neighbour and then that gets whispered to the next person until it has gone round the whole table and ends up distorted. The last person then tells the group what they heard. So, Japanese Whispers would be a distortion of that. When asked about the title on Japanese TV Robert Smith suggested it came about because older Japanese people were so rude.
@mrpinkeye There is a game called Chinese Whispers where one person whispers something to their neighbour and then that gets whispered to the next person until it has gone round the whole table and ends up distorted. The last person then tells the group what they heard. So, Japanese Whispers would be a distortion of that. When asked about the title on Japanese TV Robert Smith suggested it came about because older Japanese people were so rude.
@mrpinkeye There is a game called Chinese Whispers where one person whispers something to their neighbour and then that gets whispered to the next person until it has gone round the whole table and ends up distorted. The last person then tells the group what they heard. So, Japanese Whispers would be a distortion of that. When asked about the title on Japanese TV Robert Smith suggested it came about because older Japanese people were so rude.
@mrpinkeye There is a game called Chinese Whispers where one person whispers something to their neighbour and then that gets whispered to the next person until it has gone round the whole table and ends up distorted. The last person then tells the group what they heard. So, Japanese Whispers would be a distortion of that. When asked about the title on Japanese TV Robert Smith suggested it came about because older Japanese people were so rude.
@mrpinkeye There is a game called Chinese Whispers where one person whispers something to their neighbour and then that gets whispered to the next person until it has gone round the whole table and ends up distorted. The last person then tells the group what they heard. So, Japanese Whispers would be a distortion of that. When asked about the title on Japanese TV Robert Smith suggested it came about because older Japanese people were so rude.
@mrpinkeye There is a game called Chinese Whispers where one person whispers something to their neighbour and then that gets whispered to the next person until it has gone round the whole table and ends up distorted. The last person then tells the group what they heard. So, Japanese Whispers would be a distortion of that. When asked about the title on Japanese TV Robert Smith suggested it came about because older Japanese people were so rude.
@mrpinkeye There is a game called Chinese Whispers where one person whispers something to their neighbour and then that gets whispered to the next person until it has gone round the whole table and ends up distorted. The last person then tells the group what they heard. So, Japanese Whispers would be a distortion of that. When asked about the title on Japanese TV Robert Smith suggested it came about because older Japanese people were so rude.
@mrpinkeye There is a game called Chinese Whispers where one person whispers something to their neighbour and then that gets whispered to the next person until it has gone round the whole table and ends up distorted. The last person then tells the group what they heard. So, Japanese Whispers would be a distortion of that. When asked about the title on Japanese TV Robert Smith suggested it came about because older Japanese people were so rude.
@mrpinkeye There is a game called Chinese Whispers where one person whispers something to their neighbour and then that gets whispered to the next person until it has gone round the whole table and ends up distorted. The last person then tells the group what they heard. So, Japanese Whispers would be a distortion of that. When asked about the title on Japanese TV Robert Smith suggested it came about because older Japanese people were so rude.
@mrpinkeye There is a game called Chinese Whispers where one person whispers something to their neighbour and then that gets whispered to the next person until it has gone round the whole table and ends up distorted. The last person then tells the group what they heard. So, Japanese Whispers would be a distortion of that. When asked about the title on Japanese TV Robert Smith suggested it came about because older Japanese people were so rude.
@mrpinkeye There is a game called Chinese Whispers where one person whispers something to their neighbour and then that gets whispered to the next person until it has gone round the whole table and ends up distorted. The last person then tells the group what they heard. So, Japanese Whispers would be a distortion of that. When asked about the title on Japanese TV Robert Smith suggested it came about because older Japanese people were so rude.
@mrpinkeye There is a game called Chinese Whispers where one person whispers something to their neighbour and then that gets whispered to the next person until it has gone round the whole table and ends up distorted. The last person then tells the group what they heard. So, Japanese Whispers would be a distortion of that. When asked about the title on Japanese TV Robert Smith suggested it came about because older Japanese people were so rude.
@mrpinkeye There is a game called Chinese Whispers where one person whispers something to their neighbour and then that gets whispered to the next person until it has gone round the whole table and ends up distorted. The last person then tells the group what they heard. So, Japanese Whispers would be a distortion of that. When asked about the title on Japanese TV Robert Smith suggested it came about because older Japanese people were so rude.
@mrpinkeye There is a game called Chinese Whispers where one person whispers something to their neighbour and then that gets whispered to the next person until it has gone round the whole table and ends up distorted. The last person then tells the group what they heard. So, Japanese Whispers would be a distortion of that. When asked about the title on Japanese TV Robert Smith suggested it came about because older Japanese people were so rude.
@mrpinkeye I think Japanese Whispers is indeed a reference to the band Japan. The Cure shared a history with that band as they both got signed to their first label, Hansa, after taking part in a competition. Steve Nye, the producer of those songs on The Walk ep had previously been Japan's producer. When The Cure was accused of having plagiarised New Order's Blue Monday on the song The Walk, Robert Smith denied it and said they were actually trying to rip off Japan.
@mrpinkeye I think Japanese Whispers is indeed a reference to the band Japan. The Cure shared a history with that band as they both got signed to their first label, Hansa, after taking part in a competition. Steve Nye, the producer of those songs on The Walk ep had previously been Japan's producer. When The Cure was accused of having plagiarised New Order's Blue Monday on the song The Walk, Robert Smith denied it and said they were actually trying to rip off Japan.
This is a memory Robert had as a boy as he watched a body pulled from the river.
This is about a scene from Robert's youth as he and friends watched a body being pulled from the river.
Robert did watch a man get pulled from the river when he was young. The river was actually called La Ment, lending the title to a double meaning.
@rabbithowl Can you (or anyone else here) tell me where this river is? I'm intrigued (and it suggests there might be actual explanations for all the other song titles that are written (usually inconsistently) oddly — "Lovesong"/"Love Song," "Inbetween Days"/"In Between Days," "2 Late" (the only one I can think of that is consistently written that way), etc.).
@rabbithowl Can you (or anyone else here) tell me where this river is? I'm intrigued (and it suggests there might be actual explanations for all the other song titles that are written (usually inconsistently) oddly — "Lovesong"/"Love Song," "Inbetween Days"/"In Between Days," "2 Late" (the only one I can think of that is consistently written that way), etc.).
I read in a Robert Smith interview that this song was about "not so true stories". Who knows. Love the imagery and sound of this song. I love the entire Japanese Whispers album. I think it's under-rated and over looked.
JW was a sort of singles album...impressive that they had so many singles already that they could make such an album. I only got the original European version of "The Walk," EP/single, which didn't have "Lovecats" or "Speak My Language." Oh, another Japan ref:: I get the feeling that either Japan is one of his favourite places to travel, or hr had some highly memorable experiernces while there.
JW was a sort of singles album...impressive that they had so many singles already that they could make such an album. I only got the original European version of "The Walk," EP/single, which didn't have "Lovecats" or "Speak My Language." Oh, another Japan ref:: I get the feeling that either Japan is one of his favourite places to travel, or hr had some highly memorable experiernces while there.
I adore this song, and while I missed the interview in question I'll trust in this explanation since enough people seem to agree about it. (Although the "La Ment" river thing, while highly tempting, is harder to believe.)
My real question, though, is: WHAT'S WITH ALL THE ICE CREAM REFERENCES?
I mean, that isn't a connexion I would have made. Even when I was a small child.
Robert's accent is not nearly as tricky for me as those of some singers (R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe comes to mind), but occasionally I mis-hear his lyrics (the frequent obscurity of meaning and contorted context make it that much harder even if you are listening closely). This song is an amusing example: the first time I listened to it, I was really paying attention mainly to the music. Partially as a result, when it got to the last verse, between all the ice cream refs and my at-best vague understanding of the song as a whole, I heard:
"One more ice cream river bunny flowed underneath the bridge."
(oops! :) — well, it seemed to go along with the ice cream motif, )
The frequent use of the phrase "underneath the bridge" in this song reminds me of both Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Under the Bridge," Even though the first was written nearly 15 years before this one and the second a nearly a decade after, I find myself tempted to look for probably-nonexistent connexions.
One can't help but love the imagery in this song. If Robert did experience this as a boy, he doesn't seem in any way disturbed by the memory. The man who kills himself is smiling, and, although cold, seems perfectly happy to 'walk' into the water. There's no violence there.
'Two drowned fools/Smoking/Drinking water as they talked.' An allusion, perhaps, to Love Cats, a song written to be about two lovers who take their own lives. They're talking of how they love 'our lady': Mother Nature, who founded the love which they killed themselves for.
Then there's the whole addition of ice cream to further downgrade the seriousness of the situation. Robert feels no sympathy for these 'fools' because they killed themselves for fleeting reasons, and, like candles, are doomed to death one way or another. They'd kill themselves at any time, for one reason or another.
@Hgaudguad I think you're reaching with your interpretations. "Lament" was recorded around the same time as the Pornography album, which it's well-known that Smith was dealing with excessive drug use, and that would explain a lot of the lyrics in the track. While I can certainly appreciate where you're coming from and I speak with no authority on the subject, I must respectfully disagree with your take. Honestly I believe you've read way too much into the song's lyrics.
@Hgaudguad I think you're reaching with your interpretations. "Lament" was recorded around the same time as the Pornography album, which it's well-known that Smith was dealing with excessive drug use, and that would explain a lot of the lyrics in the track. While I can certainly appreciate where you're coming from and I speak with no authority on the subject, I must respectfully disagree with your take. Honestly I believe you've read way too much into the song's lyrics.