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The Cure


Bad Vibes May 25, 2016 set list
Bad Vibes May 25, 2016 set list

On May 25 I was on Bad Vibes on CFRO (you can listen to it here.) Marc Godfrey and I were picking from a list of music that I brought with me depending on how the conversation went. I came armed with almost three hours of music for a one hour interview, with everything picked for a reason. This is the fourth in a series of posts where I run through those choices, including the ones that we didn't get to, and talk about why I picked them. 

In this post I'll cover the rest of the the Cure songs played and not played. But before I get started, I have one question. Is anyone reading these. Seriously. Comment here, like, +1 or comment on one of the automatic reposts, anything, because I really don't know what the fuck I am doing any of this (or anything at all) for. 



Artist The Cure
Title Just Like Heaven
Album (Year) Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me (1987)

Strange as Angels, Michael R. Barrick, 60in x 48in, acrylic on canvas, 1990We closed on this one, just because it was on my list and The Cure were going to be playing the following Tuesday. I did include it on my list for a reason, though. This was a favourite song of an old pen-pal (not the one I gave my Easy Cure flexi-disc to, though) and her writing about it inspired me back in my art-school days in Nanaimo to do a painting based on the song, specifically the lyric "Strange as angels / Dancing in the deepest oceans / You're just like a deam". It was the first time I had done a larger painting (five feet by four feet) and I was really amazinglly sick with a flu at the time. I remember falling asleep on the floor under the easel from exhaustion while working on it. 

 

Artist The Cure
Title Killing an Arab
Album (Year) Boys Don't Cry (1979)

We didn't get to playing this one, and it is a hard one to get played anyway because it is such a misunderstood song outside of the goth community and Cure fans. It is, of course, basically a 3-minute summary of Albert Camus' The Stranger (L'Étranger). That is enough for me to make the song meaningful, since being clever and misunderstood, and being seen as scary outsiders are hallmarks of the goth subculture and this resonates both the the common reception of the song and the theme of the book itself.

Personally, it also had deeper meaning for me. Despite being familiar with the plot and theme of the book for many years, I never actually got around to reading the book until a few years ago, on my way to visit my dying mother for the last time. This was a pretty weird decision since the book actually stars out with the main character learning of his mother's death and attending the post-mortem vigil and funeral. Following that visit, from something I caught either on the way there or the way back, I became deathly ill myself—and I truly mean "deathly" in that I was sick for months and actually dying was a not insignificant posibility—both of which were major milestones in a whole series of existential crises that continue right up to the moment I'm writing this that leave the lyrics "Staring at the sea / Staring at the Sun / Whichever I chose / It amounts to the same / Absolutely nothing" echoing in my head. 

 

Artist The Cure
Title Strange Attraction
Album (Year) Wild Mood Swings (1996)

On a lighter note, now. This is another one that didn't get played. The reason for picking this one is once again about the pen-pal thing that I talked about in the previous post. The pen-pal romance in this song is familiar and the whole thing conjures of a lot of pleasant memories of hours and hours spent wrting letters. Also, the title "Strange Attraction" is also a reference to fractal math (strange attractors), which is something I also devoted hours and hours to in the early-to-mid 90s when I did a whole series of artworks based around concepts in fractal math and chaos theory. 






Comments

Dear Artist in life we given

Dear Artist in life we given challenges each challenge is a learning tool we cannot force people to uderstand but what can do is make them aware of our feelings and misgivings Life is a day bye day challenge and i see you as person reaching to other such a gift young fella all we can do is accept the fact either people listen or they do not but at least you expressed from your heart so there move forward and just do you best that is all anyone can do if you get s thank you they its a plus so there for I understand you loosing your mother is not a easything there heart of our souls and they brought us into the world with uncondtional love if you donot undestand life then maybe we have to take one step a day to improve and do our best that is all that is expected in life so put a smile on your face and let life be a journy if anything Dusty can say as im must older i adopt you my new friend so paace be and just amke your life the best and never put your self down others will do it for you be thankful for that your mom gave you a life now make a good path all the love to you son Dusty xx

Well... thanks for the

Well... thanks for the sentiment. And it is kind of funny that "Atratus" gets auto-corrected to "Artist'. I can live with that ;-)

FYI though, I'm almost certainly not as young as you think I am. Just the fact that I've been running this website for 18 years should speak to that.

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