Christmas Concert by The Cure in London - A Proposed Playlist by a Fan

This week it was announced--to much fanfare--that The Cure will be playing a number of "Christmas shows" at he Eventim Appollo in London on December 21 and 22, 2014. Now this is probably the closest The Cure will ever come to playing proper Christmas music. No "White Christmas" that is for sure. Out of curiosity, I did some research to see what songs by the band mention "Christmas" and I am proposing it as a playlist!

HEY YOU!!! - Kiss Me! Kiss Me! Kiss Me!
Hey you!!!
Yes you
Yes you the one that looks like Christmas
Come over here and kiss me
Kiss me

Hey you!!!
Yes you
Yes you the one that looks delirious
Come over here and kiss me
Kiss me

LAST DANCE - Disintegration
I'm so glad you came
I'm so glad you remembered
To see how we're ending
Our last dance together
Expectant
Too punctual
But prettier than ever
I really believe that this time it's forever

But older than me now
More constant
More real
And the fur and the mouth and the innocence
Turned to hair and contentment
That hangs in abasement
A woman now standing where once
There was only a girl

I'm so glad you came
I'm so glad you remembered
The walking through walls in the heart of December
The blindness of happiness
Of falling down laughing
And I really believed that this time was forever

But Christmas falls late now
Flatter and colder
And never as bright as when we used to fall
All this in an instant
Before I can kiss you
A woman now standing where once
There was only a girl

I'm so glad you came
I'm so glad you remembered
To see how we're ending
Our last dance together
Reluctantly
Cautiously
But prettier than ever
I really believe that this time it's forever

But Christmas falls late now
Flatter and colder
And never as bright as when we used to fall
And even if we drink
I don't think we would kiss in the way that we did
When the woman
Was only a girl

LET'S GO TO BED - Japanese Whispers
let me take your hand
i'm shaking like milk
turning
turning blue
all over the windows and the floors
fires outside in the sky
look as perfect as cats
the two of us together again
but it's just the same
a stupid game

but i don't care if you don't
and i don't feel if you don't
and i don't want it if you don't
and i won't say it
if you don't say it first

you think you're tired now
but wait until three...
laughing at the Christmas lights
you remember
from december

all of this then back again
another girl
another name
stay alive but stay the same
it's just the same
a stupid game

but i don't care if you don't
and i don't feel if you don't
and i don't want it if you don't
and i won't play it
if you don't play it first

you can't even see now
so you ask me the way
you wonder if it's real
because it couldn't be rain...
through the right doorway
and into the white room
it used to be the dust that would lay here
when i came here alone

but i don't care if you don't
and i don't feel if you don't
and i don't want it if you don't
and i won't say it
if you don't say it first

doo doo doo doo
let's go to bed!
doo doo doo doo
let's go to bed!

OTHER VOICES - Faith
Whisper your name in an empty room
You brush past my skin
As soft as fur
Taking hold
I taste your scent
Distant noises
Other voices
Pounding in my broken head
Commit the sin
Commit yourself
And all the other voices said
Change your mind
You're always wrong
Always wrong

Come around at Christmas
I really have to see you
Smile at me slyly
Another festive compromise
But I live with desertion
And eight million people
Distant noises
Of other voices
Pulsing in my swinging arms
Caress the sound
So many dead
And all the other voices sing
Change your mind
You're always wrong

PRIMARY (Studio Out-Take) Also Called COLD COLOURS - Faith Enhanced CD

Red, a Christmas tree shines
And you lick your sticky lips
Never mind
I’ll stay
In love

Yellow is such a happy colour
But I feel so old
Girls sit in a room drawing pictures
Oh yellow yellow yellow yellow yellow yellow yellow
Feels so old

Oh please remember
Please don’t change

Blue is waiting for your brother
You won’t get this again
Sky high waves to you
With other colours
Primary sound and primary fine

Oh please remember
Please don’t change

STRANGE ATTRACTION - Wild Mood Swings

 It started with a dedication
"lost in admiration - happy birthday - I'm forever yours - blossom"
Faded red inside a tiny book of butterflies
I smiled surprised at how when flickered through
The wings flew by spelled out my name...

Six months went by the summer lost
Obsessively the letters dropped into my life
The same soft blood smooth flowing hand
"please try to understand - I have to see you - have to feel you -
Tell you all the ways I need you - yours forever in love... "

Strange attraction spreads it's wings
It varies but the smallest things
You never know how anything will change
Strange attraction spreads it's wings
And alters but the smallest things
You never know how anything will fade

The year grew old incessantly she wrote to me
She'd started smoking poetry!
I laughed in recognition of a favourite phrase
She'd pulled me in...
I answered her
A Christmas card in sepia
Arranging when and where
And how the two of us should meet...

Her opening so well prepared
A nervous smile
I couldn't take my eyes from her
She whispered
"can I use some of your lipstick?"
It was perfect so believable
I couldn't help but feel that it was real
And kissing crimson fell into her waiting arms...

Strange attraction spreads it's wings
It varies but the smallest things
You never know how anything will change
Strange attraction spreads it's wings
And alters but the smallest things
You never know how anything will fade

So alone into the cold new year without another word from her
I wrote to ask if we could maybe meet again before the spring
But weeks went by with no reply until once more my birthday came
And with it my surprise but this time nothing was the same...

"I'm sorry - blame infatuation - blame imagination -
I was sure you'd be the one but I was wrong -
It seems reality destroys our dreams - I won't forget you - blossom"
Faded red inside a tiny book of old goodbyes...

Strange attraction spreads it's wings
It varies but the smallest things
You never know how anything will change
Strange attraction spreads it's wings
And alters but the smallest things
And you never know...


MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY
Are you hanging up a stocking on your wall?
It's the time that every Santa has a ball
Does he ride a red nosed reindeer?
Does a 'ton up' on his sleigh
Do the fairies keep him sober for a day?

Chorus:
So here it is merry Christmas
Everybody's having fun
Look to the future now
It's only just begun

Are you waiting for the family to arrive?
Are you sure you got the room to spare inside?
Does your granny always tell ya that the old songs are the best?
Then she's up and rock 'n' rollin' with the rest

Chorus:
So here it is merry Christmas
Everybody's having fun
Look to the future now
It's only just begun

What will your daddy do
When he sees your Mama kissin' Santa Claus?
Ah ah
Are you hanging up a stocking on your wall?
Are you hoping that the snow will start to fall?
Do you ride on down the hillside in a buggy you have made?
When you land upon your head then you've been slayed

Chorus (3x)
So here it is merry Christmas
Everybody's having fun
Look to the future now
It's only just begun

Morrissey Uses Title of Cure Song in Quote

On The Cure's 4:13 Dream album there is a peppy song titled "Sleep When I'm Dead". Morrissey, perhaps unknowingly, used the phrase (or pretty darn close to it) this week in an interview about the state of his cancer:

"I'll rest when I'm dead," he said.

Watch The Cure Cover a Classic Beatles Song . . .

Not much to be said about this perfect rendition of "Hello, Goodbye" by Robert Smith and The Cure other than the special guest of the band who happens to be Sir Paul McCartney's son. He bears quite a resemblance to his famous father.

A Night with Morrissey

It may be uncouth to post a lighted Morrissey sign here on a blog about The Cure, but I had to make a quick comment about the guy who called Robert Smith a whinebag and who has garnered many pointed jabs in return over the years. The most recent of which was Robert saying he would never published a book about himself ala Morrissey's recent autobiography.

On May 27, 2014, on a rainy night in Memphis, Tennessee at the historic Orpheum Theatre, I got to see Morrissey perform with an excellent band assembled from across the country. He sang a few of his older tunes ("Every day is like Sunday") and launched into a few new ones before assaulting the senses of everyone in the audience with "Meat is Murder." Many horrible pics of animal torture were flashed on the screen in an attempt to make everyone in the pork barbecue capital of world a raging vegetarian. I guy in my section kept yelling out "I wanna eat some ribs!" during the theatrics.

I admit it was fun to watch Morrissey prance across the stage, angular chin raised, as he sang with his remarkable voice. He is, after all, the new wave crooner of the 80's generation. Most of time he had the annoying habit of snapping the microphone wire off to the side as though a matador in training. But that was only a minor annoyance to a mostly enjoyable concert.

When Morrissey strutted off the stage, he tore off his shirt to many perplexed looks from the crowd at the mid-fifties guy leaving the stage half-clothed.

A List of the Best Gothic Songs by The Cure

What are the top 10 Gothic songs by The Cure? These are the very best Gothic songs. The answer is open to much debate. The Cure have no shortage of darkly atmospheric and brooding songs, just as Edgar Allan Poe had no shortage of Goth poems. The band captures the essence of Gothic like no other and their back catalogue continues to grow with an entirely new album to be launched this year. In no particular order, here are my picks for the band's top Gothic songs and their associated Cure videos.

1. A Forest - Seventeen Seconds - "Running to What's Nothing . . .."

2. The Hanging Garden - Pornography - "Creatures kissing in the rain . . .."

3. The Figurehead - Pornography - "And sleeping less every night . . .."

4. Fear of Ghosts - Disintegration (Deluxe) - "The further I get from the things that I care about, the less I care about how much further away I get . . .."

5. Fascination Street - Disintegration - "To kick the last nail in . . .."

6. Charlotte Sometimes - Faith (Deluxe) - "All the face, all the voices blur . . .."

7. The Wailing Wall - The Top - "And I circle, like a vulture . . .."

8. Prayers for Rain - Disintegration - "I deteriorate, live in dirt . . .."

9. Edge of the Deep Green Sea - Wish - "Watched the sun come up from the edge of the deep green sea . . .."

10. The Same Deep Water as You - Disintegration - "Kiss me goodbye . . .."

The Cure Have Three New Albums in the Works

The Cure have three albums in the works! The first includes the other leftover songs from 4:13 Dream that will be released as Robert Smith intended in a 32 song double album. The second new album will be 4:14 Scream, which will include the left over songs from 4:13 Dream with full vocals. And the third new album by The Cure is one Robert is working on with his new band.

Robert Smith tells it better: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/robert-smith-explains-the-cures-forthcoming-4-14-scream-album-20140401

The Cure Announces Its First New Album in Six Years!!

The Cure announced today a new album in 2014 "tentatively" titled 4:14 Scream, a sister album to 2008's 4:13 Dream. They also announced a new trilogy world tour. The shows will feature The Top, Head on the Door and Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me played from beginning to end. Read all about it:

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/feb/03/the-cure-new-album-live-dvd-trilogy-shows-2014

A Great Remake of The Figurehead

Once in a while a band remakes a song by another band that is actually better than the original. The crackling, gritty, shattered Superstar by Sonic Youth comes to mind. Who doesn't like a gunshot at the end of a tune?

Rarely has a remake of a song by The Cure surpassed the original. I have my suspicions that it is because Robert Smith's melancholy voice is like no other and pairs with his band's melancholy music like a cabernet does a filet. That's why I was shocked to find a stunning rendition of The Figurehead by Astral Grey that is better than the original from the Pornography album. You can buy the song on Amazon here. I was unable to find it on iTunes.

I'm off to lose myself "in Chinese art and American girls . . ." as you take in the video.