The Cure song so depressing Robert Smith hated singing it: “There really is no way out”
Robert Smith has written an extensive list of songs that many would consider depressing. He is so tangled with the art form that his band, The Cure, are hailed as one of the quintessential goth acts and remain more famed for their melancholic flourishes than any other aspect of their oeuvre.
Whether it be early cuts such as ‘Boys Don’t Cry’, which arrives with a title as emo as it gets, or later moments such as ‘Pictures of You’ and ‘A Letter to Elise’, one thing that Smith excels at more than most is conjuring emotive sonic and lyrical palettes that appeal to the masses outside of the goth and indie subcultures. It’s arguably his greatest triumph.
But if there is one thing that Smith and his band will always be linked to, it is the sadder side of pop music. No matter if they were topping charts or plumbing the depths of human existence, Smith has been able to present lyrics which feel bereft and beleaguered. It’s not the only arrow he has in his quiver, but you cannot deny that when Smith plucks out a bolt gilded with sadness, he rarely misses the target.
However, if you were to ask Smih what songs of his were ultimately depressing, there is a good chance he would say none of them. Smith has always been incredibly proud of his music and how it is able to reach different areas of human existence that some bands simply won’t touch. But which is their best?
It’s an ongoing debate among fans as to which is the finest emotive moment The Cure have to their name, as each chapter from their constantly metamorphosing career produced at least one of them, meaning there’s a lot of high-quality records to choose from. Of course, the obvious choices are there for good reason, but some diehard fans of the Crawley group have their own, lesser-known picks for the title.
The big-haired singer once described Bloodflowers as part of the trilogy, which also includes the behemoth albums Pornography and Disintegration as being ‘definitive Cure LPs’. The reason being that the sonic landscape of the record is melancholy yet wistful and welcoming; it saw Smith paint with a far broader brush than ever before. But it also includes one of their more depressing tunes.
Undoubtedly, one of the most downbeat songs Robert Smith has conceived is ‘There Is No If’ from 2000’s Bloodflowers. A minimalistic piece, fusing rock and glitchy electronic textures in light of the mode of the day, à la Radiohead’s OK Computer, it’s a masterful display of songwriting featuring only the frontman, who plays every instrument.
However, Smith has made it clear that he didn’t want the song included on Bloodflowers and only gave in after the other four band members vouched for it. Yet, its time in the limelight was brief, with The Cure retiring the track from the live setting in 2002. When speaking to Pulse in 2000, the frontman provided evidence as to why they would eventually pull it from their set.
The track was so depressing that it was even too much for Smith, which seems mightily ironic. Despite this, The Cure leader had such a problem with its bleak nature that he revealed he was “loath to even sing it”.
He told the publication: “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. I normally disregard the four-to-one votes, which are as meaningless in this band as they are in any dictatorship, but everyone who heard the song really liked it.”
Listen to ‘There Is No If’ below.
