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: Disintegration (1989) - Track 3
Ranking: 30
I’m starting off with a song from Disintegration. And by the time this countdown is over, I’ll be covering off on many more from the same legendary album. The process of choosing my top 30 Cure songs is both exhilarating and excruciating. How do you narrow down from such a rich, vast catalog as The Cure’s? The very act of rating my favorite songs seems almost futile when I look at “Closedown”, the song that barely made the list at #30. Here’s a song that on any given day might be the only song I really need. It’s always been this way for me – from the very first time I heard it.
I was one of the lucky ones to hear “Closedown” before May 2, 1989, the day Disintegration was released out into the wild. My local alt rock station, WDRE, got its hands on the track and was playing it on heavy rotation despite its non-single status. “Closedown” is the anti-single. It has seven lines of lyrics in total. Just one verse without a chorus. But those seven lines are something else. The common interpretation of Disintegration – and most Cure albums, for that matter – is that the subject is dark and gloomy. But on “Closedown”, there’s a glimmer in the final line. In his final hours, the protagonist (Robert himself?) utters what he truly longs for: love – above all else.
“If only I could fill my heart with love.”