Best tunes of 1992: #5 The Cure “Friday I’m in love”

Happy Friday! TGIF! Friday I’m in love! (Sorry. I just had to do it.)

“I don’t care if Monday’s blue
Tuesday’s grey and Wednesday too
Thursday, I don’t care about you
It’s Friday, I’m in love”

I’ve written in the past about how I finally got myself deep into the depths of The Cure after the release of their 1989 masterpiece, “Disintegration”, though the real roots of my love for the band came by way of their early singles. Nevertheless, while this love was burgeoning, Robert Smith and his bandmates were in the studio, recording the songs that would become their highest selling album to date, “Wish”. Hence, this was the first anticipated album by The Cure for me. I distinctly remember going out to buy the CD single for the first single to be released off the album, which was “High”, a happy-go-lucky, chiming and jangle pop song for sure. But it would be the next single that would knock it out of the park.

“Friday I’m in love”. Now this is pop. And as Robert Smith learned, pop magic is really that – magic. A freak of nature.

When he came up with the melody and chord progression, he was spooked. It sounded so good, so familiar, so perfect, that he was sure that he didn’t write it. Much like Paul McCartney and his worries about “Yesterday”, Smith called everyone he knew just to make sure he wasn’t plagiarizing someone. It turned out it was only the drugs and of course, another happy accident. When they recorded it, Smith messed it up and the song turned out slightly faster and at a slightly higher pitch than planned. But even that was perfect. And why mess with perfection? Why indeed? Especially when the song was happier than anything you had ever written before and had any business at all writing.

“Monday you can fall apart
Tuesday, Wednesday, break my heart
Thursday doesn’t even start
It’s Friday, I’m in love”

Like I said above: this is pop. We all need good pop sometimes. Definitely pop like this that is jangly, full of sunshine and sparkles and confetti, complete abandon, screaming Byrds and raging Beatles. This is goth having a day at the beach, lying on a holiday blanket, and eating a picnic lunch. It’s Robert Smith and the boys saying: “F**k it. It’s Friday.” Leave behind your hang ups. your stresses and anxiety, your fears and anger, everything on your to-do-list, just let it go. Give in to joy. The weekend is yours.