10.15 Saturday Night

When you consider “10.15 Saturday Night” – the first single for The Cure’s first album, and a good b-side counterpart to “Killing an Arab” – it’s almost impossible to imagine that this band would one day grow up to give us Disintegration. The single itself has a post-punk swing that one cannot help dancing to, and the lyrics are simple, repetitive, and goofy (if a touch wistful). The production itself has all the air of something cobbled together – indeed, the overdubbed guitar rises right out of the song. Yet, for all this, there really are telltale signs of The Cure’s later efforts, if you care to look for them.

While always a exhilaratingly-energetic track in the nigh-inevitable end-concert medley, the song exhibits far more than dance sensibility. Not a lot more, but enough. Consider the lyric: “Waiting for the telephone to ring / And I’m wondering / Where she’s been / And I’m crying for yesterday / And the tap drips / drip drip drip [etc].” Culminating with “It’s always the same,” this song presents the themes of monotony and romantic disquiet that will color the majority of The Cure’s future work. The juxtaposition of these lyrics against the swinging backdrop also hints at the direction of The Cure’s later bipolar pop singles. The song is, indeed, a prototype for the band to come.

According to Jeff Apter, the song is almost straight biography – chronicling a night spent drinking homebrew, watching the tap drip, and feeling miserable. This intrigues me, as much of Robert’s later work will involve explorations of other personalities and situations – leaving behind straightforward, unambiguous biography. What intrigues me about this is that a great many later-period songs will involve themes of lost identity and alienation. This song provides, in a partial way, a reference point for charting the narrative progress of Robert Smith. (Well, maybe, anyway…)

And there we are. A micro-entry for a micro-song.

For your consideration, I present you the video found on Staring at the Sea: The Images, and a later, live clip. All compliments of the mighty YouTube.