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).
@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 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.