It makes sense to start with Close To Me by The Cure; I have it tattooed on my chest, I want it played at my funeral, and the slowed down Closer Mix from All Mixed Up featured on every makeout mixtape I ever made when I was a teenager. My friend Dale introduced me to The Cure when I was 13 or 14 and I've claimed them as my favorite band ever since. A couple of years later a young guy I knew passed away unexpectedly and they did play this at his funeral. That's where I got the idea.
I've only seen The Cure live in concert once, in New Zealand sometime around 2009. They played a three hour set, two and a half hours of which were elongated versions of their gothic B-sides. They didn't play Close To Me. I was pretty disappointed.
In the original version, I love how they make a dance song out of a lyric that conjures the desperation and anxiety that comes with a crush: "I've waited hours for this, I've made myself so sick, I wish I'd stayed asleep today." In the Closer Mix I love the flute, the confidence to keep an intro going for one minute and 23 seconds before Robert Smith starts singing, and the way it reminds me of the obsession I felt for a girl whose name started with M when I was 15 and didn't even own a cellphone.
If I die, you know what song to play.
I LIKE YOU!
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