When we knew nothing at all

love_cat · 14-01-10, 12:18

Do you remember when you first listened to a Cure record and didn't know anything 1) what the songs are (supposedly) about, 2) what experiences are they based on and why, and what, and what for and so on forever..

A moment has come when i stopped for a while and suddenly i wished to not know anything at all, again. I've read so many texts, interviews, interpretations, true/untrue stories that threw even too much light on a song, a record..

There was a time where i was listening to a Cure record looking at the sky at night and i didn't need any explanations. The music had its own mystery and it was there and it was so good.. it felt so good to be close to it and never touch it..

It's sometimes.. it's sometimes better to not to know..

Sometimes it's good for things to stay undefined..

Is this possible to wipe my mind clean and listen to these records again and feel the same about them as it was at the very beginning

It's so true that songs have their own life...

Descent · 14-01-10, 13:36

You certainly don't need to know about anything from the songs, that's for sure. But sometimes it brings something more if you do know what was the inspiration I suppose. But there are all kind of ways to listen to music. Some people just listen to the singing voice, others listen to the music itself, some just like the lyrics...

Listening to the same record or song, after a while, you tend to lose that magic of the "first times". Not because you know about the inspiration etc. but because you know every sound, every word on it. It's the same with playing songs live for the artist. How to retain the original emotion you had while writing a song ? It's very difficult.

Atmosphere · 14-01-10, 14:00

I still feel like that, in a way. I have never bought books or actively looked for/obsessively taped/memorised interviews, so my interpretations of Cure songs are often just my own - and that's probably why other fans rarely agree with me. I think it's also got a lot to do with my academic formation and preference, as I have a very textual approach and rarely look at biographic elements when I'm an analysing a piece of art.

Lot · 14-01-10, 20:02

I think that's a good thing, Atmosphere, to follow your own feeling. If that is what you meant. My first hearing of the Cure was with the song Lullaby and I always liked the story. But I got very curious what he really sings and now I have some more information about the song. I like that. So the first feeling I had, never got away. It's more complete now.

I never liked 'How Beautiful You Are' that much, but when I listened to the lyrics carefully, the story really got to me. So sad and beautiful. When I first heard the song I thought it was a bit boring, but now my opinion of it has changed. I still think; the story is more impressive than the song itself.

For me all the information you get from interviews, and so on, makes the music more complete.

giocat · 14-01-10, 21:05

Songs are good songs if they arise emotions. Knowledge is not emotion. They belong to different brain emispheres.
Sometimes it happens that the more you know, the more you can appreciate something. But appreciation also is a judgment, not an emotion.
Having said this, I love to go deep in the things I love.
It's not important how many things you know, but just the way you get there.
If you learn with curiosity and wonder is good, if you learn for obsession and to show off is crap. Just this line maybe is to keep in mind.

notdeadyet · 15-01-10, 04:27

Oh gosh I really know what your talking about. The first time I listened to 4:13 Dream in my best friend's basement, we had just discovered the Cure and fell in love.... I think our first favorites were This. Here and Now. With You or Underneath the Stars x] I think it's why we always crave new (Cure haha) music, to always get the magic feeling of new-ness and novelty and originality

love_cat · 16-01-10, 08:04

I mean... when I first heard a song, there was my own image to it..

I didn't look for interpretations intentionally, it came with time. Did you read Cure news? There's some talking about Robert's inspirations of the songs, and some of them really ruined my interpretation and nothing was the same later on..

I don't say it was not good to read it but it was very different

So now I'm trying to remember my first associations, feelings from the beginning..

Or I'm too sensitive

notdeadyet · 18-01-10, 07:58

ohhh yeah now I get it love_cat

like when I first listened to Disintegration I pictured this house that seemed so empty and sad and torn apart even though the outside seemed straining to look normal and suburban-y... And yeah, the nostalgia of thoughts that left can really hit you sometimes. I've been digging (frantically) on the internet for ANY material I haven't heard yet. pretty bad. But the new-ness of music is the best feeling in the world, nothing compares, except perhaps a great concert

love_cat · 18-01-10, 11:15

and now from completely different band's playground but i think it encapsulates well what i'm driving at

they have a song called "Fantastic Place"

now what the artist says

"h" is the artist

Introduction: From an interview with the Web France, in September 2004, h said, "Well, it's a simple song, really. I mean, it runs very deep, but it is really just a love song. It's about escaping from your own life into a better place, even if it's just for a moment. So, again, I'm reluctant to explain it, because I think I would weaken it. If I went saying why I wrote it; and what it means, and where that place is, then in many ways I would ruin it, because everyone has their own fantastic place and they don't want me to tell them where it is. Because they know where it is. And it could even just be a place in your mind, it doesn't have to be a real place, even though it can be. I have an idea of where it is for me. And I never could dream when I was sleeping, I never have dreams when I sleep. All my dreams happen during the day. And some of the nightmares as well... from time to time."

all i was tryin' to say was that i enjoyed being unaware of what Cure songs are about. all 'explanations' i read later have weakened the effect.

the effect that was in my mind

now i'm thinking twice before reading someone say their interpretation or reading Robert come up with any 'hints'

and desperately struggling to get back that state of mind when i heard stuff for the first time