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The Cure — All Cats Are Grey
Album: Faith
Avg rating:
7.3

Your rating:
Total ratings: 1418








Released: 1981
Length: 5:13
Plays (last 30 days): 0
I never thought that I would find myself
In bed amongst the stones
The columns are all men
Begging to crush me
No shapes sail on the dark deep lakes
And no flags wave me home

In the caves
All cats are grey
In the caves
The textures coat my skin
In the death cell
A single note rings on and on and on
Comments (128)add comment
 deniseperry wrote:

Such a slippery soothing sound.




I  Agree.
 Tippster wrote:


This band and album basically kicked off Goth. 


Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division and Bela Lugosi's dead by Bauhaus both came out in 1979. I think these two bands fully started Goth, but credit is also due to earlier bands that were pointing in that direction such as Television, Iggy Pop, David Bowie, and probably a bunch of other really cool bands that I'm not remembering right now. 
 timmus wrote:
It's strange thinking they started out with this kind of refined, complex sound, and just 10 years later they were cranking out yacht rock drivel like "Friday I'm In Love".


You really ought to listen to the rest of Wish if you think that's an adequate summation
Such a slippery soothing sound.
It's strange thinking they started out with this kind of refined, complex sound, and just 10 years later they were cranking out yacht rock drivel like "Friday I'm In Love".
 smartn1 wrote:

Why do I feel dead inside now?




You ate too much junk food!! Too many Cheetos!!
The more I hear this, the more I like it!!  Thanx RP!
Why do I feel dead inside now?
Excellent Tune! I never heard it before. Thanx RP!
 bam23 wrote:

Never heard this before this hour. Prior to 2+ years in Japan, I was completely unaware of this band. Peter, from Ireland, introduced me, and since then this band has been one I pay attention to. But where did this piece come from? Excellent, in its genre (which is?).



This band and album basically kicked off Goth. 
 Tippster wrote:

Still one of my top 5 Cure songs.  Love the atmosphere of this piece.



Same here. The whole album really.  Changed my teenager Rock-n-Roll brain. Thank goodness. 
Reminds me a bit of OMD. This is very, very, nice.
 bam23 wrote:
 But where did this piece come from?
 
came from some time 40 years ago...
Never heard this before this hour. Prior to 2+ years in Japan, I was completely unaware of this band. Peter, from Ireland, introduced me, and since then this band has been one I pay attention to. But where did this piece come from? Excellent, in its genre (which is?).
CatsChatter
The Dire Straits Song before has an higher rating than this...not possible!
This Cure Song ist a TEN!!!
 aspicer wrote:
Yes, it was the very dark early period of The Cure, but some of their best work IMHO. Embracing the "Shadow- side"  yields beauty sometimes.
 

Not sometimes, I claim it to be ESSENTIAL
Refusing to do so can create horrible things, see history (start last night)
Still one of my top 5 Cure songs.  Love the atmosphere of this piece.
Yes, it was the very dark early period of The Cure, but some of their best work IMHO. Embracing the "Shadow- side"  yields beauty sometimes.
I can’t see how this gets a 7.3 rating,lifeless tune by the Cure when there are so many other decent tracks from them.
Perfect song, perfect album. Straight 10 every day of the week.

Thanks Bill I needed this.
 mayorr7 wrote:
 
 
can only agree
Play The Year of the Cat now
 Austin2Florida wrote:
Should follow this with Love Cats to keep the cat theme going.
 
Followed by Stray Cat Strut by the Stray Cats and Tommy the Cat by  Primus.
First time for me. Thought I’d heard all the choice cuts. 
Really like this follow up to RH's Decks Dark - Nice one Bill! {#Cheers}
Can't help but stop and actively listen to this one.....SO MANY memories to this album and song....awesome work.
Never mind the song name - I listen with my ears and that is what matters.  This song and the album that it is taken from belongs to a place and a time and hearing it brings me back to then.

I saw the Cure in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia back then and they played many songs from this album.

Sounds strange now but like all music it is indelibly linked to when we used to listen to it.

Thanks for playing it Bill.
PSD'd from another Dylan wank into this.  So smoooooth.
Well, for sure this song is grey, possibly the very essence of musical greyness. Not even miserable or angst-ridden enough to fit into the usual Cure oeuvre, but the musical equivalent of John Major*. Aural Valium. PSD and away off to the dynamism of the Afrocelts.

* Brit reference to an ancient Prime Minister famed for his mediocrity and sheer lack of personality.
Love love love this song and album.
Only heard the first 30 seconds and am loving it already.

And I don't see a single negative comment on this tune ! 
Amazing sound for an early 80's release aided by the 128 AAC natch!
never heard this Cure song before - I hate to admit, but I thought it was Phil Collins/ genesis before the singing started .... sounds a lot more Cure-y now that he's singing though (and a lot better) {#Drummer}- love the title
WOW....RH Separator into this....AMAZING!  Bill you're good!!!  {#Mrgreen}  ..but we already knew that.
...secrets is another favorite from this era...
Genius. 
This one reminds me of Joy Division. Very nice to hear it again. Brilliant
Love this!!  One of my 3 favorite songs by The Cure.  Dark and atmospheric....in a good-sounding way!! 
The Funeral Party, another excellent track of this album. Nice, Bill!
And here I was thinking "another slit-yer-wrists morning on RP..."

mayorr7 wrote:
This is just an amazing set you've got going this monday morning...Dire Straits , "follow me home", Radiohead, "separator", and now the Cure and "all cats are grey". What beautiful songs. Thanks for keeping the good stuff coming. I don't know how you manage to program such an disparate mix of tunes across genres and musical eras so incredibly well and so consistently.
Randy   
Birmingham, AL
 


This is just an amazing set you've got going this monday morning...Dire Straits , "follow me home", Radiohead, "separator", and now the Cure and "all cats are grey". What beautiful songs. Thanks for keeping the good stuff coming. I don't know how you manage to program such an disparate mix of tunes across genres and musical eras so incredibly well and so consistently.
Randy   
Birmingham, AL
My fave song from this album. .. so quiet and conducive to contemplation
..atmospheric..sucks my mind upwards..
yes, but how many shades of grey?  50, perhaps? ;)
 vivyruest wrote:
"Faith" album is from 1981, not 1988....
 
CD came out in '88, maybe?
"Faith" album is from 1981, not 1988....
 Biscobret wrote:
'Faith' & 'Seventeen Seconds' are both such great, brilliant really, moody albums.  Atmospheric.  The best of the best early - mid Eighties music!!
 
Yep!
 Biscobret wrote:
'Faith' & 'Seventeen Seconds' are both such great, brilliant really, moody albums.  Atmospheric.  The best of the best early - mid Eighties music!!
 
& it definitely did NOT come out in 1988!

Faith
Studio album by The Cure
Released11 April 1981
GenrePost-punk, Dark Wave, Dream Pop
Length36:54
LabelFiction (UK)
A&M (U.S. original release)
Elektra (1986 reissue)
Rhino (2006 reissue)
ProducerThe Cure, Mike Hedges

'Faith' & 'Seventeen Seconds' are both such great, brilliant really, moody albums.  Atmospheric.  The best of the best early - mid Eighties music!!
I'm not familiar with this one — like it!  Opening notes made me think of the "Drive" soundtrack (which is soooooo completely 80's inspired).

Big Cure fan here. Maybe my favourite band ever. Seen them perform this song live a couple of times.

9.


Amazing tune - one of the best from The Cure.  Uplifting and inspiring in a down way!
Oh wow, flashing to 1985.
some things just strike me as resonant. I don't know why, and that's what I like about it...
Don't care what color your cat is or isn't. Love the Cure though.
 Jelani wrote:

Well, actually, the saying goes: "All cats are grey in the dark" referencing the hesitance of one having a random shag with another of the opposite sex that isn't "that great looking"...once the lights are out....
 
I still don't get it, I guess. I have a cat that glows in the dark (well, if you rub his fur the wrong way...)  Still, I like this song, so I'll just switch to glide now...

 Cynaera wrote:
I have twelve cats, and only one of them is grey - and she's still a kitten, so leaning towards calico. Still - would the title have worked had it been "All Dogs Are Grey"?  All (insert single-syllable animal name here) Are Grey.  All Mice Are Grey. All Snakes Are Grey. 

I have GOT to stop over-analyzing songs.
 
Well, actually, the saying goes: "All cats are grey in the dark" referencing the hesitance of one having a random shag with another of the opposite sex that isn't "that great looking"...once the lights are out....
I have twelve cats, and only one of them is grey - and she's still a kitten, so leaning towards calico. Still - would the title have worked had it been "All Dogs Are Grey"?  All (insert single-syllable animal name here) Are Grey.  All Mice Are Grey. All Snakes Are Grey. 

I have GOT to stop over-analyzing songs.
Whoever added this song deserves a glass of red wine... served by a pale crying wench in a stained wedding dress.  Gothtacular!

Such a great tune.

I'mmmm sinnnnkkkkinnnng innntoooo aaa traaaaannnnce...
Check out the lyrics - death - that's always been my thinking. hypnotique...
the piano at the end = very cool...

I never thought that I would find myself
In bed amongst the stones
The columns are all men
Begging to crush me
No shapes sail on the dark deep lakes
And no flags wave me home

In the caves
All cats are grey
In the caves
The textures coat my skin
In the death cell
A single note
Rings on and on and on



This is probably one of their best songs. If you get a chance to check the video out to this on Youtube you should. Fits perfectly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oSBK-JS-O0


one of their finest
I like the Cure, but have never heard this one and feel that I was a better person for that.{#Stop}{#Puke}
I have 5 cats, 2 dogs and one wife and they all like this tune.
My family does have a grey cat! So I have to give this song a high rating because of its truthiness. {#Mrgreen}

Cat obsessives the lot of em.
lol cat
My cat is white and he likes this song.
My cat Annie (Animalus Insanus) is not gray. Her colors separated and she is black and white.
Isabeau (the nutty) is a bit of gray though. She is a Tabby point Siamese looking thing.

So, does anyone want some Grey Tea? Not made from cats BTW.
 dionysius wrote:
We used to have a gray cat, but then he died. Now none of our cats are gray. I think that Mr. Robert Smith should be more observant, and not make such blanket statements that are so easy to disprove. Faulty use of inductive reasoning leads to strange songwriting.
 
I repeat my original observation of people who live in Texas, something happens to them.
And it occurs no matter where they come from, maybe their brain shrinks, I don't know.
But this observation is hillarious!!!!! 

Definitely excellent! I haven't heard this one in YEARS... thanks Bill!
Beautiful.... somber, hypnotic, dramatic, a chill wind sweeping across the Russian steppes....

 Faterson wrote:
I'm a fanatic The Cure fan, but most of their songs are 7 at best, just as with any other artist. Let's not get overly excited. {#Smile}
 
And you gave The Bangles "Walk Like An Egyptian" a golden 10 {#Whistle}
I'm a fanatic The Cure fan, but most of their songs are 7 at best, just as with any other artist. Let's not get overly excited. {#Smile}
All cats are grey ... and most Cure songs are 10. :-)
Actually, my cat is white with five-point tabby coloring....

{#Roflol}
Never heard this before, but I'm likin' it.
...wow!..i'm really surprised to hear this on radio paradise - it's a stellar song, not contesting that at all, but it's not by any means what i would consider radio-friendly...
Since I can't make 1 louder, this one needs to go to 11.
6 -> 8. What was I thinking? This song is awesome!
Great archeological pop discover!
Austin2Florida wrote:
Should follow this with Love Cats to keep the cat theme going.
jeje, so true.. that song is awesome!!!
......"now there's nothing left but....faith" - Thanks for spinning a great song of the season. Happy Halloween everyone.....
Why do I have the sudden urge to swallow a bottle of xanax and wash it down with a box of merlot? I miss being a teenager.
This one takes me back to college. All black clothes, pasty women and my Vespa scooter with sidecar. What a life while it lasted.
All cats are grey
So are songs by the Cure
Maybe if he went with younger women he wouldn't be so sad. randomprime wrote:
I have no idea what this means, now that I know what cat really means. See you cats later!
I am looking after a couple of cats for my friend, the one sat on the shelf above me is grey but the other one is orange so The Cure are a bunch of liars
exciter76 wrote:
a prelude to the 2nd cure's best album: pornography!(the 1st is no way disintegration!!!)
AGREED! Pornography and Faith are far the best albums from this band. The rest is just window dressing for a popular following. Dark, mysterious, brooding, kicking a stone alone on a road going nowhere not trying to get anywhere. That is the Cure I loved. Back in college trying to figure out who the hell I am.
daveesh wrote:
Ben Franklin used this line when referring to his affinity for older women: "And as in the Dark all Cats are grey, the Pleasure of Corporal Enjoyment with an old Woman is at least equal and frequently superior; every Knack being by Practice capable by improvement.
This is correct. All Cats Are Gray is Ben Franklin's reference to the fact that all women are identical in bed when the lights are out, and (in fact) older women are often better in bed than younger women due to their experience. The word cat is a metaphor for a certain distinctive part of the female anatomy. See here. (click here)
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rKokon wrote:
They aren't saying that all cats are gray if they are quoting the saw. The saw says that in the dark, all cats are gray. That can be interpreted in various ways, none of them literal.
Ben Franklin used this line when referring to his affinity for older women: "And as in the Dark all Cats are grey, the Pleasure of Corporal Enjoyment with an old Woman is at least equal and frequently superior; every Knack being by Practice capable by improvement.
We used to have a gray cat, but then he died. Now none of our cats are gray. I think that Mr. Robert Smith should be more observant, and not make such blanket statements that are so easy to disprove. Faulty use of inductive reasoning leads to strange songwriting.
So this is it... this is as good as it gets?
fuh2 wrote:
This song dont scare me.
I ain't afraid of grey cats.
This song dont scare me.
Man, I love this chilly sound...Don't ask me why...
i'm a fan of the cure and have been since college. yet i've never heard of this album! guess i'm not a TRUE fan ... i'll work harder.
Finally! A Cure song without that guy CRYING.
a prelude to the 2nd cure's best album: pornography!(the 1st is no way disintegration!!!)
If you can't keep the clunkers off your own ipod then you really are in trouble ... passsion8 wrote:
On my ipod shuffle there comes a time when I'll get a few clunkers in a row That's whats happening with the last few songs here - UGH
It sounds like the Cure were listening to OMD when they wrote this, I think it's highly derivative.
Should follow this with Love Cats to keep the cat theme going.
LaundryDetergent wrote:
One of the BEST Cure songs... One of the BEST Cure Albums.
Too bad that means it gets a 2 instead of a 1.
One of the BEST Cure songs... One of the BEST Cure Albums.
Thank you!
This is a great track from a great album. Faith is an amazing album to listen to from start to finish with headphones. (Do people still do that?) Really takes you to another place.
On my ipod shuffle there comes a time when I'll get a few clunkers in a row That's whats happening with the last few songs here - UGH
lixy wrote:
There's a French proverb that goes "La nuit, tout les chats sont gris". It literally translates to "At nights, all cats are gray".
as in Dutch, meaning that beauty doesn't count when it's dark... Kinda cynical ;)
Not what I would consider a typical Cure-like number, but sounds like a classic to me.
in the caves all cats are grey
catmaven wrote:
They aren't saying that all cats are gray if they are quoting the saw. The saw says that in the dark, all cats are gray. That can be interpreted in various ways, none of them literal.
There's a French proverb that goes "La nuit, tout les chats sont gris". It literally translates to "At nights, all cats are gray".
They aren't saying that all cats are gray if they are quoting the saw. The saw says that in the dark, all cats are gray. That can be interpreted in various ways, none of them literal.
Another fine piece of melancholia from the Cure.
...and now for your local forecast.
Roverfish wrote:
I have insider knowledge that all cats are not, in fact, grey. :-$ Likeable and not exactly well-known Cure cut.
The Cure "broke" in Europe about 3 albums before the US...
I have insider knowledge that all cats are not, in fact, grey. :-$ Likeable and not exactly well-known Cure cut.
I uploaded this here sometime in February of 2005.