[ ]   [ ]   [ ]                        [ ]      [ ]   [ ]
The Cure — Close To Me
Album: Staring At The Sea (The Singles)
Avg rating:
7.9

Your rating:
Total ratings: 4556









Released: 1986
Length: 3:38
Plays (last 30 days): 4
I've waited hours for this
I've made myself so sick
I wish I'd stayed asleep today
I never thought this day would end
I never thought tonight could ever be
This close to me

Just try to see in the dark
Just try to make it work
To feel the fear before you're here
I make the shapes come much too close
I pull my eyes out, hold my breath and wait
Until I shake

But if I had your faith
Then I could make it safe and clean
If only I was sure
That my head on the door was a dream

I've waited hours for this
I've made myself so sick
I wish I'd stayed asleep today
I never thought this day would end
I never thought tonight could ever be
This close to me

But if I had your face
Then I could make it safe and clean
Oh, if only I was sure
That my head on the door was a dream
Comments (324)add comment
brass is ace but it's the bass driving it
Gettin me dance on right now..
Can't listen to this anymore. Way overplayed on RP.
 Emmettf wrote:

This "horn-version" was always the Best version!  The trumpet really makes the song.  Thanks Bill


Agreed. Let's not forget the "heavy breathing" overdubs by Bob!
 Emmettf wrote:

This "horn-version" was always the Best version!  The trumpet really makes the song.  Thanks Bill




I Agree!
 Jelani wrote:

The brass is just too cool.




I Agree!
Fantastic.
 sajitjacob wrote:
When I was a student in the UK and American exchange student down the hall played this song at full volume at least 5 times a day, and in the Kitchen in the evenings.  And it never got old.


i can totally see that. i can see it if one of my fav books was put into screenplay and made into a movie like i always wished it would be. The Secret History. i totally picture it.  long live bunny corcoran.
 pcicatar wrote:




 danmc wrote:

From the Wiki:

That's kind of adorable of Button. He seems like he was a nice fellow. I wonder what he thought of the Cure when he gave them a listen. One might hope for at least a 7. 



Totally Cool!
 Proclivities wrote:

What makes you so sure he's a "homeless wino"?  He could just be a retired fisherman.

From the Wiki:
According to the band's 2005 biography by Jeff Apter, when asked why he agreed to lend his face to the band's media, Button's answer was, "If I can help these youngsters break through, after all, why not?"[8] He also reportedly said that he would buy a record player and listen to one of the band's songs "out of curiosity, just to see".[9]

That's kind of adorable of Button. He seems like he was a nice fellow. I wonder what he thought of the Cure when he gave them a listen. One might hope for at least a 7. 
 Jelani wrote:


Thank You for the info!
 joejennings wrote:



I haven't heard the other versions, but this is GREAT!!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
 Emmettf wrote:

This "horn-version" was always the Best version!  The trumpet really makes the song.  Thanks Bill




Wait, doesn't the remix on Mixed Up have more prominent horns? I think it does.
When I was a student in the UK and American exchange student down the hall played this song at full volume at least 5 times a day, and in the Kitchen in the evenings.  And it never got old.
 Emmettf wrote:

This "horn-version" was always the Best version!  The trumpet really makes the song.  Thanks Bill




I haven't heard the other versions, but this is GREAT!!
I consider this as part of the gamut of overplayed pablum from The Cure.  Let's hear some deep tracks off of Disintegration (and not "Lovesong").
Gorgeous, isn't it? 👍
 MattRudely wrote:

Haha, thought it was 'Shake It Off' at the very start.



Absolutely Phenomenal 
This "horn-version" was always the Best version!  The trumpet really makes the song.  Thanks Bill
Haha, thought it was 'Shake It Off' at the very start.
 inceoglu wrote:


I think the cupboard was falling off a cliff into the sea... Not that it matters, this is a great song!


Both.
It falls off a cliff into the sea ... and then it starts filling with water!

I would love this song if it wasn't for the annoying horns. I keep thinking they weren't there when the song first came out ?
 Pjesnik wrote:

This is from "Head on the Door" album. The title appears as a line in this song. I remember a funny video with Robert inside a cupboard that was flooding. 



I think the cupboard was falling off a cliff into the sea... Not that it matters, this is a great song!
Raised to 10 today because it makes me so happy.
This is from "Head on the Door" album. The title appears as a line in this song. I remember a funny video with Robert inside a cupboard that was flooding. 
 neotrogg wrote:
That Bass though
 
Simon Gallup, the longtime bassist for the Cure, has got some chops.
The brass is just too cool.
 DoctorHooey wrote:
Just heard a new cover of this by some emo noise band which started out exciting, with driving bass, elec piano, guitars and flailing drums, but the singer brayed tunelessly and it turned into a rushed trainwreck of a mess. Really made me pine for this, which I never expected. Glad to hear it today.
 

I hope you are not talking about The Get Up Kids version
That Bass though
After watching the cure at the rock hall of fame going on I skip this
Simple, but catchy tune. Always good to hear.
As far from me as possible
not necessarily a bad tune, but seems to be in rotation too much, which reflects my rating.  Had an RP cache that helped make my flight home last night more bearable, and "Close to me" came on as I loaded my bags in the car.  Short night of sleep, and it pops up again before lunch today. —(and now as I type this comment, Bobby Bland, again, followed by the Beatles- and your Bird can sing).  I don't know, perhaps Bill's recycling the playlist —I stopped XM and Sirius years ago in favor of RP for that very reason.  Hope this is a glitch, not a sign of things to come.
That's the one where they are 'playing' a comb correct? Great video 
greiffenstein wrote:
One of the wittiest music videos of all time.  If you can spare three minutes, do yourself a favor and check it out

 


One of the wittiest music videos of all time.  If you can spare three minutes, do yourself a favor and check it out
9
 BowTieDad wrote:
why is The Cure played? they stink

 
why dont you just use PSD and nothing else ... ?
 BowTieDad wrote:
why is The Cure played? they stink

 
One man's stink is another man's perfume.
 ThePoose wrote:
Why does everyone have a hardon for photographs of homeless winos? And decay—like falling apart farmhouses and rusty old trucks. Never understood the attraction.

Maybe we like to know that Mother Nature reclaims us all eventually. And that must be a comforting notion.
 
You should write the RIAA to ask them to only approve album covers with babies and spiffy clean sterile new buildings on them.
Or you could stop making assumptions and then extrapolating from them. 
 rdo wrote:

He was almost certainly thinking of Beckett.
 
The song "Killing an Arab" is on this compilation disc, I just assumed that the old man was the Arab, and that it was therefore a Camus reference.
 lezlo wrote:
I just read the lyrics. Not sure why this song makes me happy, must not notice the lyrics when I listen to it!

 
The Cure does this, a juxtaposition of either light music to dark lyrics or vice versa
why is The Cure played? they stink
 ThePoose wrote:
Why does everyone have a hardon for photographs of homeless winos? And decay—like falling apart farmhouses and rusty old trucks. Never understood the attraction.

Maybe we like to know that Mother Nature reclaims us all eventually. And that must be a comforting notion.

 
What makes you so sure he's a "homeless wino"?  He could just be a retired fisherman.
I just read the lyrics. Not sure why this song makes me happy, must not notice the lyrics when I listen to it!
This song makes me happy :)
LOVE THIS SONG - GONNA SEE THEM MONDAY!!!!!
I'm hearing this a lot here
I'm liking this a lot too 
Keith Richards looks so young on that album cover! I didn't even realize they had photography back then..
                   The gift was an homage of the heart

                         
Even an uppity Frische
                     Frosh like myself may atone
                    For the heavenly goodies,and
                  The Paradise tunes right back in.

 stickvaughn wrote:
Man, Jeremy Irons is not looking good.

 
{#Lol}
Happy Birthday, Robert Smith!!
 ThePoose wrote:
Why does everyone have a hardon for photographs of homeless winos?
  
On_The_Beach wrote:

Homeless wino?! Isn't that Robert Smith without his makeup?

 
Ha.  How you said hardon.
Just a perfect song
 On_The_Beach wrote:

Homeless wino?! Isn't that Robert Smith without his makeup?

 
Ha!
 ThePoose wrote:
Why does everyone have a hardon for photographs of homeless winos?
 
Homeless wino?! Isn't that Robert Smith without his makeup?
 rdo wrote:

He was almost certainly thinking of Beckett.
 
Or Pinter. He was rabbiting on about "going down to Sidcup" in The Caretaker, too.
Man, Jeremy Irons is not looking good.
of all the gazillions of times i've heard this, i've never listened through headphones before and i have to say, the heavy breathing is making me uncomfortable. 
Hey, the Shadows aint no Surfers and the Cure aint  alf bad.
 
The Cure...building a song around a trumpet riff..all those years ago.  Fun song.
Love, love, love this {#Jump} 10
Just realizing how tightly integrated the horns are into this piece, and in a quite meaningful way throughout. It's not a trivial thing to pull off.
 ThePoose wrote:
Why does everyone have a hardon for photographs of homeless winos? And decay--like falling apart farmhouses and rusty old trucks. Never understood the attraction.

Maybe we like to know that Mother Nature reclaims us all eventually. And that must be a comforting notion.

 
He was almost certainly thinking of Beckett.
Good thing I just came from yoga cause the moves necessitated by the staple singers and now this could have hurt otherwise. Yipeee I pretend youthfulness.
  {#Roflol}thanks
Definitely has a Sesame Street/Muppets feel to it...but that's OK. 

Muppet parody of album cover for The Cure's "Boys Don't Cry"

 
The "Closer Mix" of this song is from Mixed up is amazing. Straight up ten. 
Why does everyone have a hardon for photographs of homeless winos? And decay--like falling apart farmhouses and rusty old trucks. Never understood the attraction.

Maybe we like to know that Mother Nature reclaims us all eventually. And that must be a comforting notion.
I remember once while this was playing at a party, someone said 'this sounds like video game music'
(I will always love it)
Win! 
 rdo wrote:

Try taking the wax outta your ears....
 
I hate it when I have to agree with you :)
 oldfart48 wrote:
THE MORE I HEAR THIS WHINING THE LESS I LIKE IT.  to bad the band can't find a decent singer or even better loose the vocal altogether

 
Try taking the wax outta your ears....
{#Heartkiss}  Love this album and track - the best live band I have ever seen.  Thanks Bill.
Please, please no more - there is sure to be a cure (sorry!) for this ... really awful stuff, heard time and again on RP is getting a little predictable. Be really grateful if we could offer an alternative to The Cure in any coming compiled playlist - or switch the time when us Brits don't have to hear it. again, and again and again ...pretty please ;)
 
 TerryS wrote:
Just heard this last weekend done on a electric piano, didgeridoo, trombone, trumpet, two fiddles, 2 guitars, African percussion, accordion and voices.
H'actually it was quite good. Really? yes, really. 
Oh, I forgot the bouzouki. 

  without a vocalist pukeing the words at you ? nice......


THE MORE I HEAR THIS WHINING THE LESS I LIKE IT.  to bad the band can't find a decent singer or even better loose the vocal altogether
TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT, TOO MANY PLAYS., even with cooking horns.
Just heard this last weekend done on a electric piano, didgeridoo, trombone, trumpet, two fiddles, 2 guitars, African percussion, accordion and voices.
H'actually it was quite good. Really? yes, really. 
Oh, I forgot the bouzouki. 
 Leandra wrote:
{#Notworthy}

9!!!

 
I Love this tune

 
tend to agree, definitely low down on the like list of Cure songs - but still, nice to hear it once in a while.
nclehud wrote:
Seems like all the Cure fans don't care for this.  Funny, this is one of the few Cure songs I really like.  Oh, wait!  Maybe that makes sense after all.

Edit:  And the RIPPING horn solos!  Verrrrrry schweet! 

 


Divinely happy, LOVE the BRASS, thank you Radio Paradise.
{#Notworthy}

9!!!
so close to me forever......
 I know it dates me, but I think my first 45 RPM record was The Beatles,  I want to hold your hand. Danimal174 wrote:


First cassette tape - Duran Duran, "Decade", I think, but I can't remember if it was that one or another one by them

First CD - "Little Earthquakes" by Tori Amos, in college. Two of my roommates both had a pretty large collection of CDs, so I'd usually just listen to theirs and only buy one that they didn't own. I've since added quite a bit to my collection (around 2,000 CDs now), mainly from working at a local music store for five years.
 

Absolutely!
Seems like all the Cure fans don't care for this.  Funny, this is one of the few Cure songs I really like.  Oh, wait!  Maybe that makes sense after all.

Edit:  And the RIPPING horn solos!  Verrrrrry schweet! 
 lemmoth wrote:

Like the Cure but this tune is only one degree of separation from a Hall and Oates tune.

 
You say that like it's a bad thing. {#Snooty}
 Kanuffen wrote:

Okej, so I am no Cure magnate or anything either, but I do like this song as well.... but yeah, rocks?  Not so much.  bounces maybe
 
... it doesn't even bounce, it hops
 ziakut wrote:
More cooing and moaning from Robert Smith. Oh man...why can't it just be music only.
 
Because that's what a band is; a little of this, a little of that.

That's the extent of my wisdom for today.
Great sound in the Stax headphones
Probably the most claustrophobic video ever made.  
 Stingray wrote:

This song does what...? ROCKS...???
 
Okej, so I am no Cure magnate or anything either, but I do like this song as well.... but yeah, rocks?  Not so much.  bounces maybe
More cooing and moaning from Robert Smith. Oh man...why can't it just be music only.
 Talula wrote:
I'm not a fan of The Cure but this song ROCKS!
 
This song does what...? ROCKS...???
This terrible 1980's...
I might be liberal with my 10s, but this song is just the best right now.  Infusing me with good energy!  Thanks Bill & Rebecca. : )
Nice mix this morning — but I REALLY must stop dancing in the kitchen and get on with my day.
{#Dancingbanana}{#Bananajumprope}{#Bananasplit}
 Talula wrote:
I'm not a fan of The Cure but this song ROCKS!
 
Actually I'm going to change my 8 to a 9.  Can I do that?


 NeuroGeek wrote:
7 —> 8.  But, my fav version of this song is the slower "Closer Mix" on Mixed Up.
 
agreed!
I'm not a fan of The Cure but this song ROCKS!
{#Dancingbanana}
 NeuroGeek wrote:
7 —> 8.  But, my fav version of this song is the slower "Closer Mix" on Mixed Up.
 
Yes!
7 —> 8.  But, my fav version of this song is the slower "Closer Mix" on Mixed Up.
 jpfueler wrote:
somewhere along the line I gave this a 9. it's a week 9 but I can't bring myself to give it an 8 so it stays.
and my first album was Aldo Nova in 82. Then later I think I got Planet P Project, the whole Kate Bush library(Hounds had just come out and I finally had money), and several Pink Floyds as cassettes all about the same time
 


Aldo Nova!
somewhere along the line I gave this a 9. it's a weak 9 but I can't bring myself to give it an 8 so it stays.
and my first album was Aldo Nova in 82. Then later I think I got Planet P Project, the whole Kate Bush library(Hounds had just come out and I finally had money), and several Pink Floyds as cassettes all about the same time
 lemmoth wrote:

Like the Cure but this tune is only one degree of separation from a Hall and Oates tune.


 


OMG! I never heard it before, but you're right. It's Maneater.
And now I'm totally depressed.
 GuiltyFeat wrote:
Practically perfect pop.
 
True. And why there are soooooo many much better Cure songs.
Practically perfect pop.
HATE IT!
Just great .....
Just awful....
 1wolfy wrote:
i think the first album i ever owned was Meet The Beatles (mono recording) and or Introducing The Beatles, on Vee Jay Vinyl...still own them
 
I am not sure what order I bought them in, but my first five albums were Between the Buttons by the Stones, Highway 61 Revisited by Dylan, Super Session (Bloomfield/Kooper), East-West (Butterfield Blues Band), and Sunshine Superman by Donovan. (Glad to see all are on the RP playlist).

First concert was Blood Sweat & Tears in an auditorium in Rochester NY in winter of 1967-8. They played everything that they had worked up, and finally around 1 AM Steve Katz, who had just left the Blues Project, showed the band the chords and they played through the Blues Project playlist too.

just not my style...
 lemmoth wrote:

Like the Cure but this tune is only one degree of separation from a Hall and Oates tune.


 

I don't hear it myself. However, if it were true there are a lot worse musical groups you could be compared to. Hall and Oates is pretty damn good.
Happy feet!
The Cure is one of those bands that always makes me laugh.  Not because I don't like their music (I do) or because I don't think they are all talented (they are).  What really makes me laugh is that The Cure's music is quite varied, but the modern bands that mimic their look and attempt their sound (at least on their darker recordings) are all so one dimensional.  Their look was what would be considered now to be something like "emo" or "goth" but they made music like this...  This song is so happy and upbeat in tone, the contrast between them and their "followers" sonically is what I find funny.

On a side note, can we hear the Jamie Cullum - Katie Melua cover of The Love Cats?

 lemmoth wrote:

Like the Cure but this tune is only one degree of separation from a Hall and Oates tune.


 
I was thinking the Thompson Twins.


i think the first album i ever owned was Meet The Beatles (mono recording) and or Introducing The Beatles, on Vee Jay Vinyl...still own them


There is something tawdry about this one I like.