The Cure have had some great b-sides. Some are frusturatingly great...so excellent that they really should have been album tracks. "Snow in Summer" is one of these exceptional b-sides. The song originated on the "Just Like Heaven" 7" single, released in October of 1987. In case you've been living under a musical rock, "Just Like Heaven" is arguably the definitive Cure song (though some might say "Boys Don't Cry") and in my opinion the epitiome of a perfect pop song, a masterpiece on every level.
Though Robert Smith feels "Just Like Heaven" was one of his finest achievements, he was less satisfied with "Snow in Summer" particularly with the lyrics. I think he's crazy. There's something seriously wrong with "Icing Sugar" making its way onto Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, but "Snow in Summer" being ommitted on the basis of spotty lyrics.
Spotty lyrics!? Robert, might I remind you that "Why Can't I Be You" also made the record and the song featured these lyrics:
"I'll run around in circles
'Til I run out of breath
I'll eat you all up
Or I'll just hug you to death"
Oh Robert Smith. Robert, Robert, Robert Smith. Nowadays he's still truckin' along with the Cure and the questionable decisions. As of recently he performed a melody of Korn's "Make Me Bad" and "In Between Days" on MTV's Korn Unplugged. Any other time I would do a text link of the video, but this is like the musical equivlant of a train crashing into truck carrying hundreds of adorable puppies, which then somehow sets fire into a nuclear power plant demolishing and mutating the DNA on an entire city and its inhabitants. I really wish I could erase it from memory, but unfortunately it's embedded somewhere in the natural disaster category. He's also apparently guesting on the next Ashlee Simpson record, and keeps putting out Cure albums that the world doesn't want or need. There's proof of this when I saw the Cure live in 2004. Robert introduced the last song as a track they've played live only a few times before. This of course made the audience giddy with anticipation... would it be an obscure track from Three Imaginary Boys.. "Foxy Lady?" or maybe the title track on Pornography! Instead it was some bullshit acoustic b-side from the self-titled album they released that year. Perphaps the least climatic ending to a show I've ever seen, especially considering how the second to last song was "A Forest." Goddammit Robert. You're so frusturating, but at the same time so amazing.
The Cure - Snow in Summer
"High up on this mountain
The whole world looks so small
And all the rivers
Run away
Slipping in your deep green heart
I drink you as I swim
And I'm sliding
And I'm sliding with you
Slide beneath my skin
Sleek and deep
And salty sweet
You open up in me
Just like the snow in summer
High up on this mountain
The whole world looks so small
And all the rivers
Run away
Slipping in your soft white heart
I drink you as I swim
And I'm falling
And I'm falling with you
Fall beneath my skin
Sleek and deep
And salty sweet
You come
And close in me
Just like the snow in summer
Just like the snow in summer
As it melts
Into the sea"
The Cure - Join the Dots: B-Sides & Rarities 1978 -2001 @ Amazon.com
2 comments:
matt, i agree with some comments, not all, but definitely with anything relating to robert drowning in a sea of self doubt and indecision nowadays...
do i miss the cure? goddamm yeah!.. WAKE UP ROBERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and this is a nice song for cure fan(& i'm one of them), but for anyone else, it's a sped-up and unmagical version of one more time, a song too dear to me and many others, i'm sure. here's to a comeback.
It's like The Upstairs Room, or Chain of Flowers, it's Cure magic. A Strange Day is one of my all-time favorites too. Whatever mood he was trying to capture, I think, as usual, he captured it beautifully. I bet if he played Snow in Summer during this 2023 North American tour, that people would f'ing love it. Robert please add it, as a little gem.
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