You talked until your tongue fell out and then you talked some more
Dear friends,
1. I've become obsessed with getting my moms to move. It isn't the knife wielding muggers targeting the block or the gangs that are waging not so West Side Story type battles in the front of the building (well, maybe a little) but also, because I'd like her to live closer to me. I'm seeing the lines on her face a little clearer, I guess.
The songs below have nothing to do with this situation but everything to do with my mom buying me Staring at the Sea by The Cure on cassette back in the day when I whined and whined for it. I'd rewind these two numbers over and over again as I waited for the bus for school. The former, The Exploding Boy, is a straightforward pop song with perm fried acoustic guitars and sax versus ghost keyboards. Robert Smith could be talking about a quarrel with a friend or a lover but that hardly matters. Despite his weary, up all night delivery, he seems resigned with the outcome. The latter is something else entirely. A Few Hours After This sounds like enthusiasm as experienced by an extremely pessimistic individual. They are possessed by the elation that good fortune brings and then they can't help destroying it by directing its conclusion. There is almost TOO MUCH happening on this track what with the fussy faux orchestral arrangement and the lone tambourine marching along solemnly as Smith sounds increasingly strangled and that's part of its loony toons charm. The boy in the song is beyond help. You can only watch as he progresses from wonder to despair, all for your amusement.
Songs to seek:
The Exploding Boy/The Cure (YST link)
A Few Hours After This/The Cure (YST link)
These songs are not available on the CD version of this album but they are available on Join the Dots: B-Sides & Rarities, 1978-2001. Click here to buy.
2. Jeff K wrote this post regarding the Neon Lights presents... show we're putting on Friday, December 15th at The Delancey. He includes additional downloads for The Ballet, Thieves Like Us, Lismore and Bell. Go give 'em a listen!
Love, D
Labels: D, Neon Lights, The Cure
posted by d @ 1:16 PM
4 Comments:
i had the cassette verions too! it still had the sticker on the front saying that "kiiling an arab" was just a song and not The Cure being all hateful and such. and those b-sides you mentioned were both awesome. my favorite was "I'm Cold". how more miserable could a song title be?
idolator.com did a thing on the exploding boy yesterday & a couple of folks in the comments section bitch about how the cassette version was the one with all the goodies. it's hilarious when you find out something that you experienced alone, say a fanatical devotion to a cure cassette comp, actually happened to other people as well.
wow. these too are my single (well, double) favorite cure songs. for some reason i thought i was the only one, but that makes me a little self-absorbed, doesn't it? i think cindy posted them both when i wrote up something about the new roger o'donnell release.
you know I haven't heard that yet! I was wondering why the guy in the photos looked familiar, then I drew some eyeliner and black lipstick on him and went "ah ha!"
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