The Cure : The Year 1984


1984 was a very particular year for many reasons in the history of the Cure, making it one of the most harmful but fascinating period : The Top album was almost recorded alone (Robert Smith played all instruments except the drums), a new line-up slowly emerged, bigger popularity, the first real world tour... On a personal level, he would sleep on the floor at Steve Severin's place, as he didn't have one of his own yet (that would occur in August, finally !).The official biography (Ten Imaginary Years) describes Robert following his "schizophrenic" life on that era. The word seems well thought and accurate indeed. The conception of the album was pretty chaotic. That was pretty obvious the Cure's frontman was in a phase of self-hatred, living an alienating life style, the wound with Simon Gallup took a while to heal too... The tour that followed was excellent but exhausting. The lyrics that were made up every night on the song Forever, contrary to the other songs already rehearsed, give good insights to understand that immediate mood. Efficient for the inspiration but certainly damaging for the spirit with that confessed fear of waking up insane.One of the main recurring theme from those versions is that confuse state of mind, wondering who oneself is in reality. A line like "It's not me, it's not you, it's not anyone at all" depicts that kind of moment when you encounter yourself in front of a mirror and don't recognize your own image or realize you're not really you. Trying to find an improbable answer : dramatically begging "talk to me" to yourself. One can see difficulties to follow his public role and character. In London he sang about "wanting to see you without anything on your face". There were also mentions about "every face that you will take today".	Another interesting and usual line is "give me a look". The song Mr Pink Eyes includes the same line in its lyrics (interestingly that song is also about that dialogue with oneself tainted with low self esteem). Giving a look, like noticing another or agreeing on something. He would also sing about asking to be given "a word" or "a way" very often. Like someone being trapped in a situation becoming unbearable. This got sometimes mixed with a feminine figure, unclearly attracting and manipulating before leaving. In Tokyo, this seemed reminiscent of children's play, "hiding underground". That night, he also expressed that impossibility to communicate, to put into words feelings that overwhelm or understanding everything has gone really mad : "If I could make you live inside my head / If I could make you see what I see". Quite close to his way of singing while recording the song New Day. Finally after all this constant unstabilty in lots of domains (being out of it, -Milano/Zurich trip was done by taxi cab !, interrupting the tour to see a doctor, kicking out a drummer, finding replacements, sick on stage -in Tokyo, isolation, not socialising etc...). How could Robert Smith survive and start the next round (the pop and successful Head On The Door album) is a wonder. But instinct was the strongest and served getting through all this difficult time before redemption.

1984 was a very particular year for many reasons in the history of the Cure, making it one of the most harmful but fascinating period : The Top album was almost recorded alone (Robert Smith played all instruments except the drums), a new line-up slowly emerged, bigger popularity, the first real world tour...

On a personal level, he would sleep on the floor at Steve Severin's place, as he didn't have one of his own yet (that would occur in August, finally !).The official biography (Ten Imaginary Years) describes Robert following his "schizophrenic" life on that era. The word seems well thought and accurate indeed. The conception of the album was pretty chaotic. That was pretty obvious the Cure's frontman was in a phase of self-hatred, living an alienating life style, the wound with Simon Gallup took a while to heal too...

The tour that followed was excellent but exhausting. The lyrics that were made up every night on the song Forever, contrary to the other songs already rehearsed, give good insights to understand that immediate mood. Efficient for the inspiration but certainly damaging for the spirit with that confessed fear of waking up insane.One of the main recurring theme from those versions is that confuse state of mind, wondering who oneself is in reality. A line like "It's not me, it's not you, it's not anyone at all" depicts that kind of moment when you encounter yourself in front of a mirror and don't recognize your own image or realize you're not really you. Trying to find an improbable answer : dramatically begging "talk to me" to yourself. One can see difficulties to follow his public role and character. In London he sang about "wanting to see you without anything on your face". There were also mentions about "every face that you will take today".

Another interesting and usual line is "give me a look". The song Mr Pink Eyes includes the same line in its lyrics (interestingly that song is also about that dialogue with oneself tainted with low self esteem). Giving a look, like noticing another or agreeing on something. He would also sing about asking to be given "a word" or "a way" very often. Like someone being trapped in a situation becoming unbearable. This got sometimes mixed with a feminine figure, unclearly attracting and manipulating before leaving. In Tokyo, this seemed reminiscent of children's play, "hiding underground".

That night, he also expressed that impossibility to communicate, to put into words feelings that overwhelm or understanding everything has gone really mad : "If I could make you live inside my head / If I could make you see what I see". Quite close to his way of singing while recording the song New Day. Finally after all this constant unstabilty in lots of domains (being out of it, -Milano/Zurich trip was done by taxi cab !, interrupting the tour to see a doctor, kicking out a drummer, finding replacements, sick on stage -in Tokyo, isolation, not socialising etc...). How could Robert Smith survive and start the next round (the pop and successful Head On The Door album) is a wonder. But instinct was the strongest and served getting through all this difficult time before redemption.