I’m not sure if there’s a band that I can claim as my favorite of all time, because the reality is I have a different favorite every day. This process of choosing one favorite over all others seems futile. But, for me, The Cure, is about as close as it gets. For me, their music is irreplaceable. There are things that I feel when I put on a Cure record that I can’t experience with anything else. For the month of June, I hope to share some of this as a I cover a different Cure song each day – counting down from #30 to #1. And, in this case, I have no qualms stating my #1. #30DaysofTheCure
U.S. original release: Wish (1992) - Track 9
Ranking: 11
One of the worst, overly simplistic assumptions that listeners have made about The Cure’s music is that it exists on two extreme ends of the human spectrum: doom & gloom on one end and pure euphoria on the other. But nothing could be further from the truth. What makes The Cure so irresistible to its fans after all these years is their ability to encapsulate every human emotion with such genuineness and transparency. What takes many of their songs to the next level is their ability to encompass multiple emotions together, like what they did with Wish’s third and less successful single “A Letter To Elise”.
I think sometimes the reasons why people have such difficulty describing their emotions is because we’re feeling multiple things. There are often layers to sort through, not just these one-dimensional feelings. “A Letter To Elise” is a letter driven equally by remorse and nostalgia. Inspired by Kafka’s “Letters to Felice”, the track seems to be helplessly stuck in a complicated web of romance, regret and loss. Love is a complicated thing. Finally the world had a song that gave it some justice.
“But I let the dream go. And the promises broke. And the make-believe ran out...”