Whenever I’m alone with you…

One of my favourite songs of all time, and we are at a list that goes to about 500 at the moment, is a song by The Cure called “Love Song”.

Now when I was at school, without giving away my age, if you listened to The Cure, it was probably because you were “emotional” or “Emo”, “rebellious”, “out there”, “weird”, “depressed”, “one step away from worshipping the Devil” or worse, “just not popular.”

I have heard each one of these in my years as a teenager, used to describe my affection for this band when the more popular Sabrina, Madonna, Michael Jackson or Lionel Ritchie were available to listen to.

Not that these artists are bad, in fact on the contrary, I have one or two favourites among them all in my top 500 list, but they don’t cut into me like some of the music that The Cure has made, and none so much as this song.

So let’s go back into a little bit of history, where the song came from, why Robert Smith wrote it and maybe I’ll be able to explain why it moves me so much.

At the time Robert Smith and The Cure were gaining popularity and touring quite a bit, and being engaged to Mary Poole at the time, Robert was faced with a situation that many of us have gone through at one point in our lives, where work takes precedence over family, friends and loved ones.

Robert wanted her to know of his undying devotion and his love for her, and so he and the band created “Love Song” as a way to explain this emotion and feeling which can be felt in the lyrics “however far away, I will always love you”.

During the recording of the album “Disintegration” where this song features, Robert instilled a rule that the band members were not allowed to speak to each other other than through handwritten notes and non-verbal cues.

Yes, copious amounts of LSD were being consumed, let’s not kid ourselves, but when you look deeper into the arts that span a myriad of disciplines and forms, muses, wine, orgies, narcotics and anything and everything including the kitchen sink was used to garner that little bit of creativity that would infuse a work with greatness, so it was a little acid, no big deal.

Nonetheless, this was done so that the band could develop an intuitive understanding of the music at a deeper level and add more depth and emotion to the sound which I like to perceive as coming through in the music.

The beat starts, holds firm and forms one side of the rhythm together with the bass guitar. The melody on the keyboard dances around Roberts vocals, which rise and fall in tempo like a conductor influencing every instrument in an orchestra.

The final chorus has the lyrics “with you” accentuated by a higher pitch, breaking the previous patterns and accentuating the final stanza with the concepts of “Free again’ and “Clean again”.

Robert also infers a reference to an old Sinatra song just after the chorus of the second stanza, and you might miss it if you don’t listen carefully for the almost whispered “Fly me… to the moon”, or if you prefer, here’s a cheat version, listen to it at 2:10 seconds of the original version.

Still married today, Robert and Mary have a solid union, and Robert credits Mary with essentially saving his life and pulling him out of some dark places. Which allude to the lyrics Whenever I’m alone, with you, you make me feel like I am home again”, and “Whenever I’m alone, with you, you make me feel like I am clean again” which to me are such powerful lyrics and stir such deep emotions and together with the melody rank right up there as one of my favourite top 100 songs of all time.

There are many covers of this song, for me Adele completely botches it, making it more about how well she can sing, and far less about the actual song, and the melody, the arrangement of the sounds and therefore her version belongs in the category that I try to avoid, and like to call the “cup of tea” style of music which is purely for profit and fame and easy to assemble, one teabag, cup of hot water, sugar and milk to taste etc, like musical junk food.

(*This is just my opinion… in case the Adele nuts put a hit on me).

Two of the very best versions I have heard are the acoustic version by The Cure released as a B side of an album in 2001 called “Greatest Hits” along with a number of other tracks.

The second is by Marcus Worgull off his 2018 single release and is right up there next to the original for me because he managed to do what Adele couldn’t, make it about the music and the lyrics and use his voice to tie it all together.

If you feel like reminiscing songs old and new, give this playlist a try. It is a work in progress but contains a list of original songs and covers that might just have you saying ‘No way, I thought that was the original!” as well as “The original is so much better!”

You can find it here: Baz: Originals and Covers

Thank you for reading my ramblings.

Full song Lyrics

[Verse 1]
Whenever I’m alone with you
You make me feel like I am home again
Whenever I’m alone with you
You make me feel like I am whole again

[Verse 2]
Whenever I’m alone with you
You make me feel like I am young again
Whenever I’m alone with you
You make me feel like I am fun again

[Chorus]
However far away
I will always love you
However long I stay
I will always love you
Whatever words I say
I will always love you
I will always love you

[Interlude]
(Fly me to the moon)

[Verse 3]
Whenever I’m alone with you
You make me feel like I am free again
Whenever I’m alone with you
You make me feel like I am clean again

[Chorus]
However far away
I will always love you
However long I stay
I will always love you
Whatever words I say
I will always love you
I will always love you