“Lovesong” by The Cure, Friday, August 25, 2023

The Cure's "Lovesong" peaked at number 2 on Billboard's Hot 100 in October of 1989. Hit Parade's 2019 episode "Lost and Lonely Edition,"  detailing the British Post-Punk movement, views this unlikely pop hit as a kind of peak of the movement that continued into the early '90s.  Of course, The Cure's commercial success came after years of songs that didn't chart and even the invention of a music chart for Alternative Rock bands, at the time called Billboard's Modern Rock Chart. 

HOWEVER FAR AWAY, I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU. When Billboard launched the Modern Rock chart in 1988, "left of the dial" college radio stations began reporting the songs that they were playing. Some of the bands included on the predecessor to today's Alternative Airplay chart were established on other charts--U2, Elvis Costello, Tears for Fears had mainstream rock and pop hits prior to charting on the Modern Rock chart. However, other acts like Siouxsie and the Banshees, New Order, and R.E.M. were given a chance to chart when they had never charted before. I've talked at length about how to classify the genre of Alternative. Looking at the list of songs that have topped Modern Rock to Alternative Airplay from 1988 to 2023, post punk from The Cure certainly look like a through-line that we could follow. In the '90s Depeche Mode, Peter Gabriel, and Morrissey continue that post-punk trend. But of course, we cannot forget that grunge made a huge impact on the chart with Nirvana, Live, and Jane's Addiction or the impact of hip hop appropriation with groups like Red Hot Chili Peppers and Third Eye Blind.

YOU MAKE ME FEEL LIKE I AM WHOLE AGAIN. The Cure's frontman Robert Smith wrote the straight-forward gothic "Lovesong" as a wedding present to his wife, Mary Poole. Smith expressed disappointment about "Lovesong" being the band's breakthrough hit and even about how its inclusion on their 1989 gloomy 

Disintegration broke the cohesion of the record. The album was a return to form for the band as Smith had written poppier, less-dark songs for his own mental health following the band's dark earlier material, especially their 1982 record Pornography. Smith wished that it were other songs on Disintegration that would have become The Cure's signature song. "Lovesong" has been covered by many artists. The first time I had heard the song was when Anberlin covered it on their 2003 debut album Blueprints for the Black Market. According to their livestream, We Are the Lost Ones, the band had seen Aaron Sprinkle perform a version of the cover similar to the arrangement that was later recorded by the band during an open mic night around the time when the band was working on their debut record. The next year, the band 311 recorded the song for the Adam Sandler/Drew Barrymore romantic comedy 50 First Dates. While Anberlin's version was only a hit on Air1 and some Christian Rock radio stations, 311's version topped Billboard's Alternative Airplay chart. And in 2011, Adele included a bossa nova cover on her sophomore record 21. I'm partial to the Anberlin version and then The Cure's version. Both versions are romantic and longing. Somehow they are songs that make me want to stay in for the evening with a romantic bath, but Adele's version makes me want to enjoy a night out with a cocktail, enjoying a jazz singer at the piano. However you listen to this song, there's a lot to love.

Read the lyrics on Genius.

The Cure's version:

Anberlin's version:

311's version:

Adele's version: