The Cure - Charlotte Sometimes

The song Charlotte Sometimes is based on Charlotte Sometimes, a children's novel by Penelope Farmer, published in 1969.

Lyrics include "she was crying and crying for a girl who died so many years before" and "sometimes I'm dreaming where all the other people dance". It has dream-like rhythmic and melodic structures; recurring modal transitions, numerous harmonic suspensions and lamenting vocals create a feeling of inevitable drift into darkness. Originally a non-album single released in between Faith and Pornography, the song later appears on the 2005 reissue of Faith. A powerful live take was included on the Concert album

The B-Side of 'Charlotte Sometimes' is 'Splintered in Her Head', which is also based on the novel. The mood of 'Splintered in Her Head' is overall more disquieting, with metallic, distorted vocals and heavy percussion, foreshadowing the next year's Pornography. The Cure released a third song based on the novel, called The Empty World on the album The Top.

The ten minute live version of Faith on the B-side of the 12" version was recorded at the Sydney Capitol Theatre in August 1981 by the then Australian Broadcasting Commission's youth radio station 2JJJ. This version is reproduced on Disc 2 of the deluxe reissue of album Faith.

The cover of the single is a distorted picture of Mary Poole, Robert's then-girlfriend and now-wife. The same picture was used again as the cover of The Cure's 1990 single Pictures of You, but in that case the picture was clear and undistorted.

Link removed due to DMCA notice


The Cure - Charlotte Sometimes - Video