“I was loath to sing it”: The Cure song Robert Smith never wanted to release
Every great song is normally born out of some real emotion behind the scenes. Whether it’s negative or positive, the reason why so many classic tracks work so well is that you can feel the artist in the background putting themselves through the emotional wringer trying to make sense of whatever problem they might be having. Although Robert Smith has used many Cure songs to create little nuggets of pure melancholy, he felt that one of their later tunes went a step too far over that line into outright depression.
Then again, is anyone really going to a Cure album to have a pick-me-up from start to finish? Even though there are some brilliant pop songs littered throughout their discography, almost every tune off of Pornography can’t really be considered the most uplifting tune in the world, and even when they go for singles like ‘Just Like Heaven’, Smith reminisces about a girl drowned deep inside of him by the end.
At the same time, their best albums tend to balance both sides of the emotional spectrum. The reason why albums like Disintegration sound absolutely spellbinding is because tunes like ‘Fascination Street’ and ‘Pictures of You’ are offset by ‘Lovesong’ in the mix. But by the time of Bloodflowers, something felt different within the group.
Outside of leaning more towards digital textures, the darkness seemed to be dialled up five notches since the days of Wish. Smith had already felt a distance between him and his audience by the end of that album, but listening to some of the digitised noise on display, it sounds like half of this record doesn’t want to be listened to in some respects.
Out of all the tunes on the album, though, ‘There Is No If’ is one of the most desperate performances that Smith ever gave. While the romantic lyrics about joining someone in the afterlife is definitely something that scans properly as a Cure song, Smith felt that it was far too morose to put on the album at first.
When talking about the tune upon release, the frontman discussed his fighting not to get it on the record, saying, “I think the only really depressing song on the album is ‘There Is No If,’ because in that one, there really is no way out – everything goes wrong and then you die. I originally didn’t want that song on the album, and I was loath to even sing it, but the others in the band really wanted it on there.”
Whereas most Cure songs at least have a shred of hope by the end, hearing a song that ends so bleakly actually puts them on the same level as the other heavier acts at the time. Considering their use of different sonic textures, this is almost like Smith took the makings of what Trent Reznor was doing with Nine Inch Nails and then put his own unique spin on it.
Many Cure songs have a cynical bent, but sometimes, it takes a tune like this to get so dark that you can appreciate the other pieces of their catalogue. Despite being a track Smith thought no one should hear, it’s nice to look at ‘There Is No If’ so that the joy of ‘Friday I’m In Love’ feels that much sweeter.
